Can somone provide me with an idiots guide to DTT

mike65

Soz if this is covering old ground.

I am looking to ditch NTL my intention was to simply buy a UK freesat box/dish but I'm wondering if I should wait and see, when will the service be finalised and running? And what gear will bring both Irish and UK DTT?

I'm in Waterford city.

I doubt You'll get UK dtt in Waterford city Mike.
The Irish 4 you can get on dtt there now from Mt leinster with a wideband uhf aerial from argos.
Picture quality is excelent.
You need a tv with an mpeg 4 decoder-like the sony w4000/4500 series

I'd advise getting one of those and one of the new humax foxsat hd pvr's and bingo.

Fat_Fingers

or you can get one of the combo receivers. Look around this forum.
Read posts in here: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055408057

mike65

Hmmm, I'd be reluctant to dip my toe into that pond.

Fat_Fingers

i think then your options are:
1. get TV with an mpeg 4 decoder (you will need antenna on the roof or in the attic)
2. Freesat SD or HD receiver + installation
In installation you should include 60 or 80 cm dish Quad LNB , cabling..
Guess estimate would be Freesat SD + installation about 299 euro
Freesat HD + installation about 399 euro
and new Freesat HD PVR (like Sky+) + installation about 499 euro

mike65

When does DTT go nationwide? I presume somone will be selling "proper" combo boxes with full support as peeps are bound to start thinking about a solution that takes UPCs 30 euro a month out of the equasion.

trekster

I'd like to throw my hat into the ring and ask a question too. I'm in a similar situation in a Cork Ciy apartment. I have sky coming from a communial dish and find i only really use the british terestrials (including their offshoot channels) and the Irish Terestrials.

So i'm waiting for DTT to materialse here and plan to turn my sky box into a feesat box of sorts by taking out the card and booting up the free channels menu once I cancel.

My real question is should i buy a french mpeg4 DTT card for my mpeg2 compatable tv, a french mpeg4 box, or wait for the irish version.

As well as that when the time comes would it be a better idea to buy a freesat box or stick with the converted sky free channels offering?

Hope I didn't confuse you all too much

Fat_Fingers

trekster wrote: »

I'd like to throw my hat into the ring and ask a question too. I'm in a similar situation in a Cork Ciy apartment. I have sky coming from a communial dish and find i only really use the british terestrials (including their offshoot channels) and the Irish Terestrials.

So i'm waiting for DTT to materialse here and plan to turn my sky box into a feesat box of sorts by taking out the card and booting up the free channels menu once I cancel.

My real question is should i buy a french mpeg4 DTT card for my mpeg2 compatable tv, a french mpeg4 box, or wait for the irish version.

As well as that when the time comes would it be a better idea to buy a freesat box or stick with the converted sky free channels offering?

Hope I didn't confuse you all too much

It depends how technical you are on this whole thing.
Easy solution would be just to buy Freesat box, it will give you EPG like Sky but without all the rubbish you get on the Sky and without having to flick forever to find free channels in the mist of the all pay channels. Also if you purchase Freesat HD box you will have access to ITV HD, this you will not have on Sky box. Some other channels are also missing from Sky EPG but can be added in "others' A bit messing to add them but not a big deal.

if you are not happy with FTA combo boxes then wait for Irish Official DTT box. Stay away from mpeg4 DTT cards.

Fat_Fingers

mike65 wrote: »

When does DTT go nationwide? I presume somone will be selling "proper" combo boxes with full support as peeps are bound to start thinking about a solution that takes UPCs 30 euro a month out of the equasion.

launch date for Irish DTT, at least for now, is autumn 2009

Dot expect to see what you call proper combo box with Freesat and Irish DTT, i dont think it will happen. Rights issues...

STB

Well I suppose it would depend on who that someone is mike. The reality of the situation is that the commercial multiplex operator will not be offering "combo" boxes. Proper or otherwise, because it would not be in their interest to package the sat element.

There are plenty of combo boxes on the market at the moment. They will not come down in price because of the Irish market. Too small.

But you have plenty of choice.

AB IP9000 box. Dual tuners. Built in 500g hard disk. STG£500ish.

(all of these record but as its a single tuner you you cant flick statons whilst recording, but at least they can record off DTT, which a freesat box cant do)
Technomate HD 6900 Super STG£279
Technomate HD 6900 STG£249 (old version)
Mvision HD200 STG£170
Clarketech c-5000

Or the Globalteq STH 700 €160 (PVR mode not confirmed as stable).

Vantage also do one.

These boxes all come from the one factory in Korea, so they are proper boxes...... It doesnt matter that Sony or Phillips havent rebadged em, but its only a matter of time, and they'll cost more, if the see a market for em.

Go out and take the plunge cheap cheerful globalteq box, futureproof for a while.

mike65

That Mvision HD200 seems to offer what I want if it'll take a scart for an external recorder and input for an ariel.

STB

The Mvision actually allows you connect an external Hard Disk through the USB to which you can record to (and playback from the remote control).

"Unfortunately, you can't have RGB Scart and hi-def HDMI active simultaneously – a pain for those with both a DVD recorder and HD-Ready TV. If the 'RGB/YUV' output option is set to RGB the HDMI output delivers 576i - useful, I suppose, for viewing standard-def channels on a TV with high-quality upscaling." - techradars review.

Mike, A full review of it is below. One final thing there is a HD200 and a HD200 Combo. Make sure you get the combo one (as that has the DVB-T or DTT tuner in it as well as the SAT tuner)

http://www.techradar.com/reviews/audio-visual/digital-tv-receivers/mvision-hd200-combo-426740/review

And yes it takes an aerial input and has a loop through feed for another analogue/digital TV tuner etc.

mike65

Cheers, its the back of the box that people need to see, not the front.

TheDriver

Id wait on to see what boxes are available when it all pans out next year. Also, its probably cheaper to buy a humax hd freesat box for 99 stg and also mpeg4 box then to be looking at combos in the long run. Or panasonic z81 has both built in

Well my TV is mpeg4 and has a slot for a cam which I presume will be provided by the likes of boxer when if ever they get up and running.
Why would you want another ugly box when something could fit into the back of your TV and it's remote access all the subscribed and free channels on the EPG?

watty

How do you record or time shift DTT?

Fat_Fingers

As watty said that is why you buy receiver box. Dedicated receiver will always be able to do more then your standard TV. Apart from time shift (pause live tv) and recording depending on receiver you have you can play music, view your photo album, even access your receiver over the internet if you forgot to setup recording of the show you like.

mike65

Bump, not got round to this yet, a thought occured to me about FM distribution for UK radio off the satellite. Can anyone recommend a box for the job?

watty

Only short range "iTrip" type gadgets are legal. Some have only choice of 4 channels and some can tune 87 .. 108MHz. All do stereo multiplex.
Get one NOT specific to iPod and it will have 3.5mm stereo jack. From about €20 for a decent one.

You need one satellite receiver and gadget per parallel channel.

An 2 x RCA plug to 3.5mm stereo jack adaptor to connect the two. Some use car cigar plug power, you can get a plug top 12V DC adaptor with cigar socket lead or cut off cigar adaptor.