Looking for advice

m8

Hi
I have a sky box and only get freeview ie:BBC's and so on but the box is on it's last legs so needs replacing.

My question is should I go for a technomate 9100 super as a bit of a toy

Or should I go for a cheap HD receiver and just look at the free HD channels

any advice would be welcome.

Fat_Fingers

Sorry, your question is "loaded" and answering it or any further discussion might get you or anyone else discussing it banned.



[EDIT BY MOD: There is nothing loaded about the question. There are Free HD channels.
It's also legal to subscribe to Mainland European providers. Sky is Foreign too]

You could get a Freesat box and get a few Free HD channels such as bbc HD.

Nothing illegal with that.

m8

Fat_Fingers wrote: »

Sorry, your question is "loaded" and answering it or any further discussion might get you or anyone else discussing it banned.

I'm not talking about anything dodgy just playing with the box for things like streaming to my PC's over wireless and so on. I don't want to talk about anything the would break the rules just advice on what people think would be the best option to go for or maybe anyone with either of these as a setup.

m8

cisk wrote: »

You could get a Freesat box and get a few Free HD channels such as bbc HD.

Nothing illegal with that.

Is the Technomate 9100 not a freesat box?

Fat_Fingers

No, 9100 is linux box. Very capable but you need to know a bit of Linux.

Rigel

I was in a similar situation with an old Sky Pace digibox after I cancelled my sub. I replaced it with a Lidl Silvercrest SL45 HDMI FTA box, works great for all the UK channels and only cost €50

By the way reason I cancelled my sub was my reception is seasonal due to large trees blocking my reception in the summer months.

John mac

By the way reason I cancelled my sub was my reception is seasonal due to large trees blocking my reception in the summer months

so what do you do now during the summer months?

m8

Rigel wrote: »

I was in a similar situation with an old Sky Pace digibox after I cancelled my sub. I replaced it with a Lidl Silvercrest SL45 HDMI FTA box, works great for all the UK channels and only cost €50

By the way reason I cancelled my sub was my reception is seasonal due to large trees blocking my reception in the summer months.

Yes this is exactly is where I am but have no reception issues just no sub and don't want it.

1.) Would a technomate 9100 super be overkill for freesat?

2.)Will it pickup the freesat out of the box?

3.)Would a HD receiver be able to pickup many HD channels on astra? (no interest in non english channels)


The price I can get a TM9100 super is not a ton more than a reasonable HD sat receiver.

Thats my question taking all the above into consideration which would I get better value with?

watty

1) The technomate 9100 will do Free To Air, not Freesat.
Freesat is FTA:
plus red button interactive
Digital Text
Auto channel tuning
Weekly detailed EPG like Sky
Some FTA channels have to be added Manually.

2) NO. Only Sky, Sat4Free and Freesat branded boxes "work out of the box". Other setboxes must be setup and scanned.

3) No. Because there are not many HD channels. Which Astra? 19.2E, 23.5E, 28.2E or ??? What ever channels that are FTA or you have a viewing card and subscription for (not many) it will receive.

Depends if you want Mainland European Subscription TV (via a valid viewing card), requires receiver with CAM or CI + CAM.
OR
Free To Air Only. Unlike Sky, a good Freesat box can be used with Diseqc switch for 13E and 19E via "Other channels" and Sky/Freesat FTA channels on 28.2E. You'd need a multifeed dish, or toroid dish with multiple LNB or multiple dishes (avoid Monoblocs)

m8

Thanks Watty
I ment free to air but did'nt know the difference till now.

I only want free to air channels so which do you think would be best.

What I will say is I like to play with things I don't understand at the beginning, I find that I learn a lot that way and thats why I'm considering the TM9100.

If theres nothing on I want to watch I can have some fun trying to configure the box to do more than it did before or just customising it.

I think the TM9100 is for me?

When you say "2) NO. Only Sky, Sat4Free and Freesat branded boxes "work out of the box". Other setboxes must be setup and scanned.
"

Do you mean through the menu scan and setup each channel or is there much more to it?

Thanks

tomslick

I have 3 tm9100s and they are a great piece of kit for all sorts of things. You can install a harddrive for recording and when connected to the internet you can use the best epg (radio times version) for sky uk/italy and Nordic channels. It comes with card slots which with a bit of software can read Sky cards ( and other stuff that we don't talk about )

All that said, if you want an easy plug and play with little maintance avoid these like the plague. It's tricky to learn but the payoff is massive (I'm watching Utd Vs Wigan Live now on Premiere Sport Germany

m8

Thanks tomslick
I'm almost ready to buy one as I think I would like the learning curve and treat it as a project.

Whats the best price you've seen for these?

want to get the best bargin I can

tomslick

You shouldn't pay more than £150 for a new super. They're are two versions 9100 and 9100super. You need super. You can usually get bargins off fleebay from guys who tried and died. Alsat (google) do one for £145 new + p&p which wouldn't be too bad.
Before you invest do alot of reading as even setup for sky can be complicated at first. I'll help you out as best I can.

Utd 1-0 Wigan 88mins

Rigel

John mac wrote: »

so what do you do now during the summer months?

I don't watch satellite that's for sure but I also got NTL cable after cancelling Sky.

snaps

For what you are looking for i wouldnt suggest a 9100 linux box. very complicated for the novice. A standard FTA reciever or a offical freesat box is what you want. I have the bush freesat HD reciever recently installed on an HD tv in the bedroom, i find it does everything i want it to and the picture via HDMI is second to none. It will auto install out of the box, with all you really having to do is put in a UK postcode of your choice (For the BBC/ITV region you want set) and TV picture format setting.

It will plug into a sky dish thats currently installed and away you go.

m8

Thanks for the advice snaps.

I like the idea of setting up and configuring the box, I am a novice to Sat boxes but not to PC's and networking, from what I have read so far I think I could have fun with the tm9100.

All is left now is to make that decision.
(not much on HD at the moment so I'm leaning twords the TM9100)

snaps wrote: »

For what you are looking for i wouldnt suggest a 9100 linux box. very complicated for the novice. A standard FTA reciever or a offical freesat box is what you want. I have the bush freesat HD reciever recently installed on an HD tv in the bedroom, i find it does everything i want it to and the picture via HDMI is second to none. It will auto install out of the box, with all you really having to do is put in a UK postcode of your choice (For the BBC/ITV region you want set) and TV picture format setting.

It will plug into a sky dish thats currently installed and away you go.