where to get best Free to Air installation deal?

Choice One

Looking to get Free to Air installed.Can anyone tell me where the best deals are and recommend an installer? I`m in Meath.Thanks.

St Senan

Choice One wrote: »

Looking to get Free to Air installed.Can anyone tell me where the best deals are and recommend an installer? I`m in Meath.Thanks.

The best deals are not always the best product. Lidl/Aldi and B+Q have good deals on free to air kits but i personally would not install any of them. I dont work in Meath but i would recommend a Freesat/Sat4free system that dont need to be retuned every time a channel changes frequency or Transponder.
Try http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=155714 or golden pages or local tv shop. Expect to pay €250 upwards for top notch system or you could take a chance on cheap deal and pay to get the problems sorted out at a later date

steveon

Totally agree with Scaller, I personally charge approx €250 for a technomate 5200D Super which comes fully programmed, channels in order etc and a 60 cm sky dish. Cheaper models are available which are easily blown off line in the wind etc from places like Aldi or maplins etc and do not come tuned in so channels are all over the place....

I personally hate installing Lidl Dishes as people constantly question me when I tell them of their limitations etc...and months later when they bend or buckle in the wind they maintain I never told them that in the beginning...and expect me to fix or replace it for free....Pay more in the beginning get a better system...

bk

steveon wrote: »

I personally hate installing Lidl Dishes as people constantly question me when I tell them of their limitations etc...and months later when they bend or buckle in the wind they maintain I never told them that in the beginning...and expect me to fix or replace it for free....Pay more in the beginning get a better system...

Might be an idea to ask people to sign off on a disclaimer about the quality of Lidl/Aldi dishes before installing them.

snaps

i wouldnt install a dish brought from a 3rd party. If your installing you should be supplying your own gear.

steveon

bk wrote: »

Might be an idea to ask people to sign off on a disclaimer about the quality of Lidl/Aldi dishes before installing them.

Have started doing this as lately and offer them a choice of using Lidl box with a sky dish instead as I personally dont have a problem with the comrag boxes just those seriously badly designed dishes they sell...

Funny thing about them is everywhere I GO i see them on houses and always in badly installed locations and always either pointing up or down due to the wind...

slegs

People think whatever Lidl and Aldi sell must be great value. They dont even compare prices or think of quality. The receivers are fine but their dishes are pure rubbish.

bigbru

Pardon my ignorance if I'm wrong here, but if I get a TV with built in Freeview receiver, would the charge from a reputable fitter be only for the dish and aerial for RTE etc., seeing as a separate reciever may not be needed, and therefore less than the ball-park €250?

St Senan

Freeview is an DTT Aerial system you will still need a satellite receiver and dish for Freesat or free to air channels

Tony

You need Freesat built in not freeview which is a Uk terrestrial system. You may find installers reluctant to fit dish only as if a problem occurred it may not be clear where the fault lies and the installer may be put in a position where he/she has to do a service call that may be related to the tv which he/she did not supply. Ball park 250 is for a free to air system i would imagine, a freesat box is a little more expensive, there are subtle differences between the two

bigbru wrote: »

Pardon my ignorance if I'm wrong here, but if I get a TV with built in Freeview receiver, would the charge from a reputable fitter be only for the dish and aerial for RTE etc., seeing as a separate reciever may not be needed, and therefore less than the ball-park €250?

bigbru

Ah, ok. Can those uk freeview channels be picked up with a standard RTE-type aerial from Dublin? Just wondering is there any benefit having Freeview built into the TV. Are built-in Freesat receivers as common as built-in Freeview and is there much difference in cost if they exist? (I'm just trying to use the least space)
Here's summary of what I'm thinking, please advise if I'm looking in the right direction.

- I want the RTE/terrestrial channels
- I want the freesat channels
- I want these channels to go to at least 3 TVs in my house
- I have a co-ax TV point in all of my rooms, running from a 6-way amp/splitter in my attic
- I am currently using Chorus basic digital from the cable point in my living room only

So what is the best solution for me? Any advice much appreciated, as are prices (PM'd if necessary). Based in Malahide.

Thanks.

Tony

bigbru wrote: »

Ah, ok. Can those uk freeview channels be picked up with a standard RTE-type aerial from Dublin? .

No because its Uk based as I mentioned earlier. Go for a tv with mpeg 4 built in, you can see a list on the terrestrial forum.

um7y1h83ge06nx

You could do much worse than going with Tony here from satellite.ie. (I'm not affliated with him or personally know him btw)

The kit is an official Freesat receiver from Grundig with a good quality mesh dish and all the accessories.

Install was done neatly by one of his agents.

Two months or so after the installation the receiver just died on me. A quick ring to Tony and he got me to run a few simple tests. Once he was happy that it was dead, he sent a new receiver to his agent and the dodgy receiver was quickly replaced and I was up and running again.

Good kit and good service.

bk

bigbru, TV's with Freesat do exist from Panasonic, but there are only a few.

Most likely you will need a separate Freesat box for each TV [1]. Eventually you will also probably want to upgrade to RTE's new Digital Terrestrial service. This will also require a separate box for each TV.

Some TV's do come with built in support for RTE's new digital service, most of Samsungs B series TV's do and soem other brands. Look for TV's that support DVB-T + MPEG4 (or labeled with TNT-HD, the french system that uses the same tech as RTE's system).

[1] Alternatively you can have just one Freesat box and use a Magic eye device + coax to transmit the output from the main box to the other TV's. However this means you have to watch the same thing on all TV's.

Choice One

Thanks for all the advice.Think I`ll give satellite.ie a call.

targus

Hi all

Interestinf forum,haven't been here before.I was wondering if I could get some advice as to what is the best option for football channels.
On UPC basic cable at the moment.
I have an 80cm dish(sky)installed but not being used.
What decoder would you guys recommend for me to recieve the football channels and how much am I looking at roughly..
Thanks in advance.

VERYinterested

Sky sub is your best bet. You won't get the football channels any other way. Great deals with Sky+ boxes and installation for €45.

evilivor

targus wrote: »

Interestinf forum,haven't been here before.I was wondering if I could get some advice as to what is the best option for football channels.

Depends what you are looking for really. Sky Sports, ESPN and Setanta Ireland have the Premier League games in the main - you will have to pay a subscription for each. Sky and Setanta also have Champions League games and both Sky and ESPN have games from out foreign;

The BBC have, afaik, 10 games from the Championship that the will be broadcasting in High Definition (they've shown one so far). No sub needed, just a HD box;

ITV HD have a Champions League game every Wednesday, again, no sub needed, just a capable box;

Five have Europa Cup games on Thursday for free too and I think BBC Alba have a Scottish Premier League each weekend too;

As for international matches…

bigbru

I can see that some TVs do have Freesat built in.
In your experience, are they better avoided i.e. not as good as the standalone ones?
I was just thinking they'd be neater..

Tony

In terms of picture quality I'd say no difference and if you get the right one you can have digital terrestrial from RTE too

bigbru wrote: »

I can see that some TVs do have Freesat built in.
In your experience, are they better avoided i.e. not as good as the standalone ones?
I was just thinking they'd be neater..

Martin_F

bigbru wrote: »

I can see that some TVs do have Freesat built in.

Panasonic & LG are currently selling some. Sony are supposed to be launching some. A lot of folks might want PVR functions for a main TV - hence are not so bothered about built in freesat. If you've a small room or are looking for a 2nd room then having a built in freesat & DDT flatscreen TV on the wall would certainly make sense from neatness/space etc.

I'd expect great picture quality from the pannies & Sony's. I assume LG would be pretty good too.