Sat4Free/Freesat in Ireland

Tony

TheDriver wrote: »

Will humax follow suit I wonder?

That would be interesting

byte

Mayo Exile wrote: »

Can it do HD? Just in the second picture of the back of the box, I don't see component or HDMI connections. Is that an ethernet port on the right?

Yeah, that's an ethernet port alright.

It's identical to the Grundig Freesat boxes we have at work. Only some differences in menu colours and of course the logo.

Thanks for the images, coffee to go, good work.

Zaphod

Very interesting and a bit puzzling.

Presumably Grundig got the official OK from Freesat to sell the receiver in ROI? The box seems to be specifically aimed at ROI, rather than continental Europe, as they are using the NI EPG as default.

I'm guessing that C4 doesn't appear on slot 104 on an NI Freesat receiver either as per the screenshot - what's the rationale for this?

It also keeps open the possiblity of RTÉ/TG4 appearing on Freesat using the ITVHD approach. Or if they worked in co-operation with Grundig, get them to incorporate PowerVu or even BISS software into the receiver and dual encrypt the existing streams on 10.744GHz in Videoguard and PowerVu/BISS.

Mylow

coffee to go wrote: »

Don't really know why anyone would bother when you can get an official Freesat Foxsat for the same price on several Irish websites, and no doubt cheaper in the North.

Originally Posted by scruffy66
Bush , Grundig seem to have copied their own freesat box and called it sat for free , from what ive heard they've patented this SATFORFREE box for the irish market and the official launch will be in the Guinness hops store sometime in october , Tesco will be selling them for 89 euro ,299 euro fitted ,The satforfree name must be away of getting around the fact that freesat is meant to be only for english license fee payers

Looks like they will be a lot cheaper than the north if the €89 diy price is correct.

redout

C4 is on the EPG but it appears on number 974. Easy to access, just hit the up arrow BBC1 highlighted and it appears.

TheDriver

Its all good really, for once us Paddy's aren't left behind!! Especially as we can add in other bits via other channels, then its no bad thing

mullingar

Does the manual say anything about the eternet ports functionality? or is it a dummy port?

It would be great if we could use the freesats interactivity planned for this port

redout

The lnb out is a dummy port on the official box.

Kensington

mjsmyth wrote: »

# GRUNDIG HIGH DEFINITION(HD)BOX.

# LOOK AT HD BBC AND HD ITV.

Emm..... yet Kensington is telling us that there is no ITV HD... Anyone spot the problem here??

MJ

All of the ITV and BBC regions are now accessible on the Grundig. Presumably, when a simulcast HD version is available on ITV, the ITV HD channel will become available. But since they (ITV) actually broadcast so little on HD, it's hard to tell when to check.

redout wrote:

C4 is on the EPG but it appears on number 974. Easy to access, just hit the up arrow BBC1 highlighted and it appears.

Any channels you add on manually get sent to the very end of the EPG so if you do tune in extra regional variants, Channel 4 will no longer be placed at the end. Just worth mentioning!

mullingar wrote:

Does the manual say anything about the eternet ports functionality? or is it a dummy port?

It would be great if we could use the freesats interactivity planned for this port

Disabled for the moment - what use it will have (if any) in the future remains to be seen. BBC won't allow access to their On Demand iPlayer service from an IP address outside of the UK at present. Whether this will change in the future is anyone's guess!

muincav

Hi all,
I was in Cavan town today in a TV and electrical shop and they were selling the Humax Foxsat HD Freesat Set Top Box for 199 euro, and yes before you all ask it was FREESAT and not sat4free.
Not sure if he is supposed to be selling them but he is and says he cant wait for the Freesat PVR to arrive....:D

Zaphod

Kensington wrote: »

All of the ITV and BBC regions are now accessible on the Grundig.

Have you been able to find a factory reset option or an option to change the EPG line-up based on postcode? Or does it appear that NI EPG is "hardwired" into the receiver?

Kensington

Zaphod wrote: »

Have you been able to find a factory reset option or an option to change the EPG line-up based on postcode? Or does it appear that NI EPG is "hardwired" into the receiver?

Damn, knew there was something else I was meant to check out - will get back to you on this one

copacetic

Kensington wrote: »

Damn, knew there was something else I was meant to check out - will get back to you on this one

as I mentioned above the freesat version has the option under:
settings > first time install.

redout

"Any channels you add on manually get sent to the very end of the EPG so if you do tune in extra regional variants, Channel 4 will no longer be placed at the end. Just worth mentioning!"

Is this for real ? No added channel section like on Sky ? I am sure that I saw in the menu one that said "added channels" or something along those lines. I am talking about the official box.

FearDark

Whats the difference between freesat and the sattelite dish and reciever I bought in LIDL a few months back.

*still sitting under the stairs in the box

redout

Not a lot. Main difference is that freesat has an EPG like Sky with a 7 day programme guide. New channels automatically appear as opposed to manually tuning with the lidl box. Freesat will also get a couple of exclusive channels in the future that you might not.

FearDark

redout wrote: »

Not a lot. Main difference is that freesat has an EPG like Sky with a 7 day programme guide. New channels automatically appear as opposed to manually tuning with the lidl box. Freesat will also get a couple of exclusive channels in the future that you might not.

Thanks, i've been meaning to ask that question for a while now. Is there a way to set up the channels on the LIDL box so I have BBC1, BBC2, BBC3... in a line as opposed to all over the shop?

TheDriver

think so, try to manual under sorting of channels

Kensington

copacetic wrote: »

as I mentioned above the freesat version has the option under:
settings > first time install.

Checked tonight - menu is there alright but it does not ask for a postcode, it asks for a 4 digit access code to setup - default is 0000. So perhaps the feature is there to add regional variants but for the moment the NI EPG version is the only one that can be loaded onto it.

redout wrote:

Is this for real ? No added channel section like on Sky ? I am sure that I saw in the menu one that said "added channels" or something along those lines. I am talking about the official box.

Added channels are assigned programme slots at the end of the EPG - they're not put into an "Other Channels" menu like on a sky digibox.

Zaphod

So the boxes could potentially have a customised EPG specifically for ROI, with RTÉ1/2 & TG4 listed and not accessible with a UK Freesat receiver.

copacetic

Kensington wrote: »

Checked tonight - menu is there alright but it does not ask for a postcode, it asks for a 4 digit access code to setup - default is 0000. So perhaps the feature is there to add regional variants but for the moment the NI EPG version is the only one that can be loaded onto it.

the std box asks you for your passcode too, but then it gives you the option of entering your postcode. what do you see after you enter your passcode? std box has a big freesat logo and two fields, one for postcode, other for screen type (16:9 or whatever)

So the boxes could potentially have a customised EPG specifically for ROI, with RTÉ1/2 & TG4 listed and not accessible with a UK Freesat receiver.

No, they won't be available outside sky system

Zaphod

copacetic wrote: »

No, they won't be available outside sky system

It's perfectly feasible to have the channels transmitted outside of Sky/NDS. Whether RTÉ pursue it or not is another question.

copacetic

Zaphod wrote: »

It's perfectly feasible to have the channels transmitted outside of Sky/NDS. Whether RTÉ pursue it or not is another question.

I didn't say it wasn't feasible, I said it will never happen.

Kensington

Zaphod wrote: »

So the boxes could potentially have a customised EPG specifically for ROI, with RTÉ1/2 & TG4 listed and not accessible with a UK Freesat receiver.

RTE going FTA isn't going to happen. Rights issues are a big stopper for them being able to broadcast in the clear to what is potentially 50million+ people , in the strong ROI/UK footprint of 2D, when they currently buy in programmes for a market of approx. 5million people. Besides, under the current agreements, Sky pay for the annual transponder leasing costs for both RTEs, TV3 and TG4 aswell as giving them prime EPG slots on SkyGuide (101-104). In turn, they encrypt the four channels using NDS Videoguard and make you have to subscribe to a sky package in order to get access to these channels. In order for RTE to appear on freesat boxes, or go FTA, they would have to pay the annual transponder leasing costs for Astra themselves (thousands per year) and in all likelihood pay for a Sky Guide listing for each channel (tens of thousands per slot, per year), in order to appear on the SkyGuide, something RTE quite simply can't really afford or justify right now. Even to get a FTV type system, they would probably have to pay sky for encryption of the channels (again, tens of thousands, per channel, per year) on top of transponder and EPG carriage fees. At the moment, the current setup suits them both very nicely - RTE essentially get free carriage on 2D and Sky get subscription revenues from the fact RTE are tied into a subscription package.

copacetic wrote:

the std box asks you for your passcode too, but then it gives you the option of entering your postcode. what do you see after you enter your passcode? std box has a big freesat logo and two fields, one for postcode, other for screen type (16:9 or whatever)

You have the "First Time Install" under "Settings". When you choose it, you get a dialog box appear at the bottom right hand corner prompting you for the code, after which you are presented with a screen to choose only your screen type (4:3, 4:3 P&S, 16:9 Widescreen etc.), - no field to choose postcode here - followed by a screen which checks for updated software versions etc. and then the STB scans in the EPG channels. Box doesn't offer the choice of entering postcode at any stage, it defaults to the NI freesat EPG.

Tony

based on what?

copacetic wrote: »

I didn't say it wasn't feasible, I said it will never happen.

copacetic

Tony wrote: »

based on what?

see post above yours for just some of the reasons.

copacetic

Kensington wrote: »

But since they (ITV) actually broadcast so little on HD, it's hard to tell when to check.

Should get the option for the England game coverage from 4.30 today, if you want to check it then.

Bog Butter

Thanks Trevord and Tony for your replies to my post regarding the freesat box last weekend. Much obliged!

Tony

I'm afraid you have missed Zaphods point

copacetic wrote: »

see post above yours for just some of the reasons.

copacetic

Tony wrote: »

I'm afraid you have missed Zaphods point

I don't believe I did. restricting a box to a hardcoded NI postcode isn't secure,besides it still uses the freesat system and the Irish channels won't ever be on it.

I'm sure you will have another cryptic one liner that implies no-one else knows what they are talking about without actually saying anything of substance. Can't wait.