freesat , south dublin

timetunnel

living in leopardstown/ sandyford area.
has anybody got freeview uk.
the channel selection is better than freesat and the basic ntl package.
would stick a aerial up , if i thought i would get a signal.
a lot of aerials around were i live,

coylemj

Freeview is UK DTT, it's broadcast on UHF frequencies so the answer to your question can be provided by your neighbours chimney stacks, do any of them have aerials pointing towards NI or Wales? The DTT signal from Divis in NI is currently low power so you can't pick that up from south Dublin yet but might in the future if the current analog reception is good, you'll see lots of big yagis pointing north around Whites Cross and the upper reaches of Newtownpark Ave., they are currently picking up the UK analog channels from Divis.

If you can't wait for Divis to ramp up the power of the DTT signals, you might be able to pick up DTT from Wales, see the sticky thread (Welsh digital switchover....) at the top of this forum.

STB

Get Freesat/ or a DVB-S/DVB-T MPEG4 Combo Box - see sticky.

You will not pick up Freeview in Dublin without a mammoth aerial in your garden similar in size to the old Atlantic 252 Tx tower.

coylemj

STB wrote: »

You will not pick up Freeview in Dublin without a mammoth aerial in your garden similar in size to the old Atlantic 252 Tx tower.

Why not? The people in Wexford have aerials pointing at Preseli which is 120 kms from Rosslare Harbour. From Whites Cross to Llandona is 136 kms and to Arfon is 130 kms, if the OP's house is at a good elevation wouldn't a decent yagi on the roof pick up Freeview from north Wales?

OP, check out the sticky thread in this forum about the Welsh digital signals and reception reports for Ireland...

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055658286

STB

coylemj wrote: »

Why not? The people in Wexford have aerials pointing at Preseli which is 120 kms from Rosslare Harbour. From Whites Cross to Llandona is 136 kms and to Arfon is 130 kms, if the OP's house is at a good elevation wouldn't a decent yagi on the roof pick up Freeview from north Wales?

OP, check out the sticky thread in this forum about the Welsh digital signals and reception reports for Ireland...

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055658286

Parts of Wicklow to Wexford will pick up Freeview with a decent aerial. South Dublin - Leopardstown - it would be unusual to see a 60 foot mast in these locations unless on your own land. You certainly wouldnt get PP for one.... Everything is possible, it would be freakishly difficult. Freesat would be an easier/cheaper option!

mrdtv

coylemj wrote: »

Why not? The people in Wexford have aerials pointing at Preseli which is 120 kms from Rosslare Harbour. From Whites Cross to Llandona is 136 kms and to Arfon is 130 kms, if the OP's house is at a good elevation wouldn't a decent yagi on the roof pick up Freeview from north Wales?

OP, check out the sticky thread in this forum about the Welsh digital signals and reception reports for Ireland...

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055658286

There is ONLY one way to find out: that is to try it. I am surprised the dxers are not on the case as they will have the antennas and the kit.

Full list of frequencies here:

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/tv/ifi/tech/dsodetails/

You don't need a 60ft aerial if theres nothing in the way [tree's,a higher field etc].
Theres people down here getting arfon and presely perfectly with just a chimney aerial.

Honestly the myths some people have!

STB

Deleted User wrote: »

You don't need a 60ft aerial if theres nothing in the way [tree's,a higher field etc].
Theres people down here getting arfon and presely perfectly with just a chimney aerial.

Honestly the myths some people have!

Its not myth, its reality its not the same terain. Most people in South Dublin/housing estates cant have a huge aerial on top of their house regardless of line of sight. The OP's is in very close proximity to Three Rock which will almost certainly wipe out their chance of a decent (if any) signal from Wales. Any further up than Arklow and the chances of Freeview diminish. (Black Briar - arent you using a 60ft aerial ? ) Either way you are getting into specialist aerial equipment which would still not work - Arfon/Llanddona are a no no. Is Blaenplwyf still on low power ?

For anorak purposes I'm sure it could be done. Not for your everyday Dublin punter who wants to know whether freesat or freeview is a viable cost effective stable solution.

mrdtv

STB wrote: »

Its not myth, its reality its not the same terain. Most people in South Dublin/housing estates cant have a huge aerial on top of their house regardless of line of sight. The OP's is in very close proximity to Three Rock which will almost certainly wipe out their chance of a decent (if any) signal from Wales. Any further up than Arklow and the chances of Freeview diminish. (Black Briar - arent you using a 60ft aerial ? ) Either way you are getting into specialist aerial equipment which would still not work - Arfon/Llanddona are a no no. Is Blaenplwyf still on low power ?

For anorak purposes I'm sure it could be done. Not for your everyday Dublin punter who wants to know whether freesat or freeview is a viable cost effective stable solution.

Actually its always : location, location and location. In the higher parts of South Dublin they are receiving Divis analogue in the hills and it may well be possible to receive Welsh DTT now. Three Rock/Kippure DTT is not cochannel with either LLanddona DSO (less likely) or Arfon DSO (more likely). Blaen-Plwyf is not being DSO'd till 24 February 2010 when it goes to 40kW. Those who were receiving Welsh analogue off-air are probably in business for Welsh DTT.

I fully agree that those in low lying South Dublin/housing estates will need NTL, Sky or Freesat. BTW the prices being charged for single set Freesat installations in ROI are a complete rip-off by comparison with GB and NI. Now why might that be, he inquired ever so innocently?

gkp1

Here are two aerials in my estate in Sandyford, both pointing east and vertically polarised from what I can see. Anyone know what these might be picking up?

mrdtv

gkp1 wrote: »

Here are two aerials in my estate in Sandyford, both pointing east and vertically polarised from what I can see. Anyone know what these might be picking up?

ARFON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The horizontally polarised antenna is at the right angular separation to be for Three Rock (small, low gain local antenna) and the high gain antenna is vertically polarised, if its out over the sea east it is for Arfon. Check its not pointing north towards the Mournes as that will be for Kilkeel (analogue only till 2012) Call on the neighbours in a nice friendly way and ask if they are getting Welsh TV in analogue or digital. From next Wednesday Arfon is all digital. Let us know what happens....

Update NB: the angular separation looks spot on from Google maps between Three Rock and Arfon at about 210 degrees, whereas the separation with Kilkeel is more like 90-120 degrees from a cursory inspection. Arfon DTT channels are 41 now and 44 from Wednesday

Update 2: The horizontal aerial could be for Kippure, but the angle is 150 degree plus so its probably Arfon.

STB

mrdtv wrote: »

ARFON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The horizontally polarised antenna is at the right angular separation to be for Three Rock (small, low gain local antenna) and the high gain antenna is vertically polarised, if its out over the sea east it is for Arfon. Check its not pointing north towards the Mournes as that will be for Kilkeel (analogue only till 2012) Call on the neighbours in a nice friendly way and ask if they are getting Welsh TV in analogue or digital. From next Wednesday Arfon is all digital. Let us know what happens....

Update NB: the angular separation looks spot on from Google maps between Three Rock and Arfon at about 210 degrees, whereas the separation with Kilkeel is more like 90-120 degrees from a cursory inspection. Arfon DTT channels are 41 now and 44 from Wednesday.

I'd say they are set up for UHF from three rock. The satellite dish is presumably pointing towards 28.2 ! But as MrDTV says Arfon is also technically a possibility due to the same polarisation. They probably dont know that mind you - but it would be a cheap DX if you knocked in!

mrdtv

STB wrote: »

I'd say they are set up for three rock. The satellite dish is presumably pointing towards 28.2 ! But as MrDTV says Arfon is also technically a possibility due to the same polarisation. They probably dont know that mind you - but it would be a cheap DX if you knocked in!

Looking at the pictures again: the angular separation between the UHF antennas is about 150 degrees which is the correct separation between Kippure and Arfon. That between Three Rock and Kilkeel is about 90-100 degrees. The sure fire way to find out is to ask if

a) they get UK Tv off-air

b) which ITV: if HTV its not Kilkeel

c) has BBC2 gone off, if yes its Arfon.

Time to be friendly with the neighbours...

stb

I'd be fairly certain those are pointed to arfon. and I'd be certain that whoever installed them didn't do so for 3rock lol...

stb wrote:

Its not myth, its reality its not the same terain. Most people in South Dublin/housing estates cant have a huge aerial on top of their house regardless of line of sight. The OP's is in very close proximity to Three Rock which will almost certainly wipe out their chance of a decent (if any) signal from Wales. Any further up than Arklow and the chances of Freeview diminish. (Black Briar - arent you using a 60ft aerial ? ) Either way you are getting into specialist aerial equipment which would still not work - Arfon/Llanddona are a no no. Is Blaenplwyf still on low power ?

For anorak purposes I'm sure it could be done. Not for your everyday Dublin punter who wants to know whether freesat or freeview is a viable cost effective stable solution.

With respect,and I don't mean this dis respectively at all but you haven't a clue what you are talking about.For a start 3 rock is not co channel with arfon.
I know for a fact that arfon digital is being received well up around greystones and certainly in wicklow town.
It's also even been reported on this forum and digital spy.
Regulars here would know what the position is with Blaenplwyf-it has to cover areas of west wales that at 40kw erp ,going on the presely experience [at half that erp] further south would blast the signal into north wicklow and south dublin.
Yes I do have a 60ft mast at my location and twins...historically there, to pull in analogue arfon above tree's and a small hill in the way.
I didn't bother switching to a single aerial or removing the mast when switching to presely
Neighbours over the road are pulling in perfect reception on a chimney grid.

How hard is it to grasp the simple point I was making-if theres nothing in the way,reception can be possible at sea level where you are in the line of fire of the new high power tx and theres no cochannel locally..
In such cases large masts aren't needed and ergo neither is planning permission
Thinking that you do need a mast in such circumstances is the myth.

STB

Deleted User wrote: »

I'd be fairly certain those are pointed to arfon. and I'd be certain that whoever installed them didn't do so for 3rock lol...
With respect,and I don't mean this dis respectively at all but you haven't a clue what you are talking about.For a start 3 rock is not co channel with arfon.
I know for a fact that arfon digital is being received well up around greystones and certainly in wicklow town.
It's also even been reported on this forum and digital spy.
Regulars here would know what the position is with Blaenplwyf-it has to cover areas of west wales that at 40kw erp ,going on the presely experience [at half that erp] further south would blast the signal into north wicklow and south dublin.
Yes I do have a 60ft mast at my location and twins...historically there, to pull in analogue arfon above tree's and a small hill in the way.
I didn't bother switching to a single aerial or removing the mast when switching to presely
Neighbours over the road are pulling in perfect reception on a chimney grid.

How hard is it to grasp the simple point I was making-if theres nothing in the way,reception can be possible at sea level where you are in the line of fire of the new high power tx and theres no cochannel locally..
In such cases large masts aren't needed and ergo neither is planning permission
Thinking that you do need a mast in such circumstances is the myth.

Tell me about it. Years wasted doing Telecommunications in College,many more working in the communications industry and far too much time up the hills. You could have saved me the bother.

To get back to the question that was asked in the first place. Freesat is a more economical and stable way of picking up the FTA UK stations in South Dublin and Dublin in general. To answer your question.... i do grasp what you have said. What you must grasp is that not everyone in Dublin lives right on the coast. Most people live in built up areas and aerials will be subject to all kinds of crap I/F.

Also whilst you may not pick up co-channel I/F from Three Rock (its Mt Leinster that I had in the back of my mind) and if you are on the South side of Dublin with direct line of site to Arfon or Blaenplwyf you must bear in mind that the signal will not be strong at the moment. Arfon is the PSB mux so the Freeview Channels will not include Dave etc. Blaenplwyf is currently on 1.5 killowatts which will increase to 25kw in March.

In short, at the moment I remain to be convinced BlackBriar that Freeview will be stable enough to just hook a yagi your TV anywhere lower than Arklow/Wicklow Town. I'd love to be wrong though.

mrdtv

STB wrote: »

Tell me about it. Years wasted doing Telecommunications in College,many more working in the communications industry and far too much time up the hills. You could have saved me the bother.

To get back to the question that was asked in the first place. Freesat is a more economical and stable way of picking up the FTA UK stations in South Dublin and Dublin in general. To answer your question.... i do grasp what you have said. What you must grasp is that not everyone in Dublin lives right on the coast. Most people live in built up areas and aerials will be subject to all kinds of crap I/F.

Also whilst you may not pick up co-channel I/F from Three Rock (its Mt Leinster that I had in the back of my mind) and if you are on the South side of Dublin with direct line of site to Arfon or Blaenplwyf you must bear in mind that the signal will not be strong at the moment. Arfon is the PSB mux so the Freeview Channels will not include Dave etc. Blaenplwyf is currently on 1.5 killowatts which will increase to 25kw in March.

In short, at the moment I remain to be convinced BlackBriar that Freeviewwill be stable enough to just hook a yagi your TV anywhere lower than Arklow/Wicklow Town. I'd love to be wrong though.

Facts please. Blaen-Plwyf is 40kW from 24 February 2010. I posted the official Ofcom list in the thread opened today on Preseli channels by pyecontinental. I think less talk and more action on this reflector with antennas and cheap Freeview/MPEG4 boxes than academic speculation would be highly illuminating: when I was a twentysomething I was a very active DXer and had all the kit including log periodic antennas which had only just been commercialised. Freesat is OK in the UK for a single set solution, a ripoff in ROI, and very expensive for multiset solutions.

STB

STB wrote: »

Also whilst you may not pick up co-channel I/F from Three Rock (its Mt Leinster that I had in the back of my mind) and if you are on the South side of Dublin with direct line of site to Arfon or Blaenplwyf you must bear in mind that the signal will not be strong at the moment. Arfon is the PSB mux so the Freeview Channels will not include Dave etc. Blaenplwyf is currently on 1.5 killowatts which will increase to 25kw in March.

In short, at the moment I remain to be convinced BlackBriar that Freeview will be stable enough to just hook a yagi your TV anywhere lower than Arklow/Wicklow Town. I'd love to be wrong though.

The chances of mt leinster co channel in south dublin with the wicklow mts in the way would be zero.
It's co channel with presely here with nothing in the way and can't win.
Anyway,it's only going to be using one channel ever probably as commercial dtv here is such a non runner.
Arfon's working perfectly for anyone thats had it already in places like wicklow and greystones on just 2kw erp.
Presely is very stable here on 20 and Blaen is waiting in the wings next march at 40 with some beams from it going to light up the same areas.

You can remain unconvinced all you like but to be honest frank and candid with you,you are posting uninformed irrelevant stuff that bears no relation to the facts on the ground so far.

Nevertheless such twaddle won't make the signals go away so whats keeping me happy is the knowledge that they are there,they are perfectly useable and it's only a matter of time before more and more people with digital tv's discover them...given that plug in and play for people who havent disconected their welsh aerials [as most are combined with RTE etc] will do a digital search and you will have people quietly going wow.

You may diss arfons freeview "light" selection but it's magic to anyone with just 8 channels heretofore.
It's also magic in that it needs no set top box and can very easily be made available multiroom with no cumbersome extra boxes given that practically all tv's bought these days are digital aswell as analogue.

peneau

Guys any chance of picking up freeview in the Sandymount, Dublin area located quite near to the coast?

Apols if this has been asked before.

steveq

MRDTV: I can't agree with your: "Freesat is OK in the UK for a single set solution, a ripoff in ROI, and very expensive for multiset solutions".

Freesat is very simple and cheap for a home diy install (under €100). I find it hard to believe that a professional install would be a ripoff. Multiset can be easily achieved by a dual or quad LNB. Freesat STBs start at about Stg£70. Freesat TVs are also easily available with no STB needed.
The end result is not dependent on atmospheric conditions or physical location with respect to NI or Wales.

bmaxi

steveq wrote: »

MRDTV: I can't agree with your: "Freesat is OK in the UK for a single set solution, a ripoff in ROI, and very expensive for multiset solutions".

Freesat is very simple and cheap for a home diy install (under €100). I find it hard to believe that a professional install would be a ripoff. Multiset can be easily achieved by a dual or quad LNB. Freesat STBs start at about Stg£70. Freesat TVs are also easily available with no STB needed.
The end result is not dependent on atmospheric conditions or physical location with respect to NI or Wales.

I enquired about Freesat enabled TVs a while back, nothing under a grand.

peneau

peneau wrote: »

Guys any chance of picking up freeview in the Sandymount, Dublin area located quite near to the coast?

Apols if this has been asked before.

The difficulty might be Howth.

steveq

"I enquired about Freesat enabled TVs a while back, nothing under a grand"


I suggest that you enquire again:- I took a quick look at Richersounds.com and they have an 32" LG Freesat for Stg£379, a 42" LG Freesat for Stg£549 and a 32" Panasonic for Stg£559.

The Freesat STB boxes start at about Stg£70 with the Humax range (probably the best) with HD starting at Stg£140. Perfect for those already with a TV.

WHL

I bought a 37" Panasonic LCD HD-TV back in February from buyitdirect.co.uk. Carraige was about €50 but I still saved. This set had MPEG-4 digital terrestial capability so I can pick up the Irish digital channels as well as Freesat

peneau

Deleted User wrote: »

The difficulty might be Howth.

Thanks for that BB

bmaxi

steveq wrote: »

"I enquired about Freesat enabled TVs a while back, nothing under a grand"


I suggest that you enquire again:- I took a quick look at Richersounds.com and they have an 32" LG Freesat for Stg£379, a 42" LG Freesat for Stg£549 and a 32" Panasonic for Stg£559.

The Freesat STB boxes start at about Stg£70 with the Humax range (probably the best) with HD starting at Stg£140. Perfect for those already with a TV.

That's a big drop. There seems to be more brands now, when I enquired AFAIR, only Panasonic made them. Still a lot more expensive than an STB if you don't need a new TV though.

gerrymartin

The Freesat STB boxes start at about Stg£70 with the Humax range (probably the best) with HD starting at Stg£140. Perfect for those already with a TV.[/quote]

---

Triax and televes basic freesat boxes start around 40 to 45 sterling.

burgess1

gerrymartin wrote: »

The Freesat STB boxes start at about Stg£70 with the Humax range (probably the best) with HD starting at Stg£140. Perfect for those already with a TV.

---

Triax and televes basic freesat boxes start around 40 to 45 sterling.

I was in Currys in Bristol yesterday and saw Freesat HD set-top boxes from £99.

GoGoBoss

To back up black briar...I have install aerials around south dublin every week and I have never seen any signals from mount leinster on the spectrum analyser. To suggest that mount leinster could cause co-channel interference with UK channels from wales in south dublin is simply not true.

mrdtv

GoGoBoss wrote: »

To back up black briar...I have install aerials around south dublin every week and I have never seen any signals from mount leinster on the spectrum analyser. To suggest that mount leinster could cause co-channel interference with UK channels from wales in south dublin is simply not true.

Agreed! Have you installed any Llanddona or Arfon DTT systems yet, bearing in mind analogue from there is being axed on Wednesday? Mount Leinster only interferes with Preseli Channel 45 and with none of the PSB channels (BBC, ITV, Four, Five) etc...

GoGoBoss

Hi mrdtv,
I don't get any requests for DTT from the UK in dublin, anyway by in large most of dublin wouldn't get a reliable reception at the moment unless they have a line of sight to the coast, however I'm not sure how this will pan out when all UK transmitters broadcast on full power. However I do recommend to customers not to remove there existing aerials that have served them well during the analogue days. Tests carried out in the UK have shown that over 70% of aerial users didn't need to change anything to recieve a reliable DTT signal with their existing equipment. Alot of the older aerials dont have integrated baluns, In my opinion in most cases if you simply insert a balun on some of the older aerials this will usually fix any problems at the cost of 2 or 3 euro. A balun is critical to a reliable reception by reducing signal ingress from the outer conducter (braid) reaching the inner conductor at the aerial dipole which can dramatically improve your c/n and can improve your signal by upto 15db and obviously eliminating a mismatch between the aerial and cable. A cheap fix for a couple of euro...

mrdtv

GoGoBoss wrote: »

Hi mrdtv,
I don't get any requests for DTT from the UK in dublin, anyway by in large most of dublin wouldn't get a reliable reception at the moment unless they have a line of sight to the coast, however I'm not sure how this will pan out when all UK transmitters broadcast on full power. However I do recommend to customers not to remove there existing aerials that have served them well during the analogue days. Tests carried out in the UK have shown that over 70% of aerial users didn't need to change anything to recieve a reliable DTT signal with their existing equipment. Alot of the older aerials dont have integrated baluns, In my opinion in most cases if you simply insert a balun on some of the older aerials this will usually fix any problems at the cost of 2 or 3 euro. A balun is critical to a reliable reception by reducing signal ingress from the outer conducter (braid) reaching the inner conductor at the aerial dipole which can dramatically improve your c/n and can improve your signal by upto 15db and obviously eliminating a mismatch between the aerial and cable. A cheap fix for a couple of euro...

Thanks. Very interesting: maybe they don't know about it or have tuned any digital tvs they use. Sound advice to retain existing aerials since they'll be fit for any local DTT services and the availability of long distance analogue TV is always a good proxy for reception of high power DTT services. I agree with you re baluns to eliminate impulse noise problems and most modern aerials especially logs and the new high performance aerials have baluns fitted as standard.

GoGoBoss

mrdtv wrote: »

Thanks. Very interesting: maybe they don't know about it or have tuned any digital tvs they use. Sound advice to retain existing aerials since they'll be fit for any local DTT services and the availability of long distance analogue TV is always a good proxy for reception of high power DTT services. I agree with you re baluns to eliminate impulse noise problems and most modern aerials especially logs and the new high performance aerials have baluns fitted as standard.

Hi MRDTV,
All very interesting and good to see their are others that appreciate its quite a different ball game with DTT compared to the old analogue days and the problems we find are not as easy to see. When there were problems with analogue reception, it was usually obvious such as ghosting and impulse noise etc.....quite a long list. However generally whatever the manifestation was on the TV it could usually be fixed as we knew what the problem was. With DTT we dont have these tell tale signs of exactly what the problem is, making it alot more difficult to remedy. It could save alot of people spending money on higher gain amps etc...when it in most cases getting the basics right is all thats required. From CAI tests you can expect a 17dB difference between a aerial installation using budget parts compared to one using benchmarked products, thats a huge 50 times more signal power at the tuner.....Anyway I guess I am getting off topic here, if there is any interest maybe we should start a new thread

mrdtv

GoGoBoss wrote: »

Hi MRDTV,
All very interesting and good to see their are others that appreciate its quite a different ball game with DTT compared to the old analogue days and the problems we find are not as easy to see. When there were problems with analogue reception, it was usually obvious such as ghosting and impulse noise etc.....quite a long list. However generally whatever the manifestation was on the TV it could usually be fixed as we knew what the problem was. With DTT we dont have these tell tale signs of exactly what the problem is, making it alot more difficult to remedy. It could save alot of people spending money on higher gain amps etc...when it in most cases getting the basics right is all thats required. From CAI test you can expect a 17dB difference between a aerial installation using budget parts compared to one using benchmarked products, thats a huge 50 times more signal power at the tuner.....Anyway I guess I am getting off topic here, if there is any interest maybe we should start a new thread

You are on the money there. There are good cheapo DTT signal strength meters from Fringe Electronics for £40 (originally for the caravan/mobile home market) but as you say a clean install with new cables, balun quality aerial, correct orientation etc works wonders. I saw that some very knowledgeable retired TV engineer over in Wales had made Preseli work at 75 miles distance from him on the LLeweyn peninsula (near Portmadoc) for a total of £75: as I always believe knowledge is very empowering. Equally in Ireland they should be able to get UK DTT work in overspill areas quite easily.

I saw today that with installation minimum Freesat all-up connecteds are north of £150!!! Better to get Sky and cancel after the minimum contract period...

cnocbui

mrdtv wrote: »

I saw today that with installation minimum Freesat all-up connecteds are north of £150!!! Better to get Sky and cancel after the minimum contract period...

Yes, but if you buy the freesat gear from Lidl and DIY, it can be done far only about twice the cost of a decent UHF antennae.

mrdtv

cnocbui wrote: »

Yes, but if you buy the freesat gear from Lidl and DIY, it can be done far only about twice the cost of a decent UHF antennae.

That wasn't the point: cancel Sky after the contract period and keep the FTA channels. Nice way to get Sky HD box in the UK...

Estimated cost:

Box : £50
Dish/Quad LNB: £50
Satellite meter: £40
Cables: £10
Time: Free if you are a DIY enthusiast.

It also depends on UK PSB's staying in the clear: I think that if the Conservatives win the election there Mr M might want to see BBC et al reencrypted again as part of the 'deal' and studios don't want unencrypted satellite HD. Therefore it can't be assumed Freesat will stay free forever. We'll see....

GoGoBoss

I know of the kits lidl sell, as far as I know they are FTA receivers and not freesat. These receivers are actually of decent quality, however I don't think much of the dishes. I probably get call outs from customers to realign these dishes about once a week because of their poor quality. As for UK DTT, if you were previously receiving the analogue service you most likely won't have to change anything in the future other than get a DTT receiver for about £25 from the UK or maybe your TV has a DVB-T tuner....alot cheaper than getting freesat. Also if your house was wired for aerial there is a chance that all cables dont go back to a central point as aerial can work ok with splitters etc. But this is no good for freesat and will require new cabling.

mrdtv

GoGoBoss wrote: »

I know of the kits lidl sell, as far as I know they are FTA receivers and not freesat. These receivers are actually of decent quality, however I don't think much of the dishes. I probably get call outs from customers to realign these dishes about once a week because of their poor quality. As for UK DTT, if you were previously receiving the analogue service you most likely won't have to change anything in the future other than get a DTT receiver for about £25 from the UK or maybe your TV has a DVB-T tuner....alot cheaper than getting freesat. Also if your house was wired for aerial there is a chance that all cables dont go back to a central point as aerial can work ok with splitters etc. But this is no good for freesat and will require new cabling.

No they don't have the Freesat EPG. This makes it easier to navigate around the services than a generic FTA DVB-S2 box like Lidl etc. By the end of next year there will be combined Freesat/DVB-T2 tvs from the usual suspects which will make it interesting. As you say satellite multiroom with PVRs etc has lots of cables.

STB

mrdtv wrote: »

No they don't have the Freesat EPG. This makes it easier to navigate around the services than a generic FTA DVB-S2 box like Lidl etc. By the end of next year there will be combined Freesat/DVB-T2 tvs from the usual suspects which will make it interesting. As you say satellite multiroom with PVRs etc has lots of cables.

I dont know where you guys are shopping!

You dont have to subscribe to Sky for 1 year to get this either.

You can get a full 60cm Raven sat kit online for €50 and that includes a Quad LNB, fittings and a load of CT100. The FTA sat boxes can be bought at the like of lidl (and are pretty good - comag) or you can pick up a SD Freesat/I cantbelieveitsnotfreesat boxe for €79 in an Irish electrical shop.

Those Freesat/DVB-T2 tvs and combo boxes will probably compare pricewise with the DVB-S/DVB-T MPEG4 boxes currently on the market for €200. Maybe more. You cannot compare the price of old MPEG2 with this. Main reasons - This is all fine if you are in an overlap area for Freeview (the majority of the country are not) AND you still will not receive Irish DTT. Secondly you will need to have a digital tuner in each TV regardless for multiroom anyhow.

The current combo boxes already on the market are the way to go though for the FTA solution - DVB-T and DVB-S. This would apply to the majority of the country.

And if you are in an overlap area within Ireland you could wait for the DVB-t2 boxes to come on stream.

quinner1955

Hi
I'm not sure if this has been asked before but here goes. Since the changeover last week the UK channels have disappeared of two of our televisions (the other one is on a SKY box). We're on a hill over looking Wicklow Town with a clear view of the sea and we have an aerial which provided a pretty good signal (better BBC than RTE). I know from reading the posts that my choice is either get Sky multi room, Freesat or Freeview. We don't use the tvs that much so I want a cheap , quick solution (and I don't want to pay Sky any more).
On Amazon I came across a "Kubik Scart Freeview Receiver DVB-T Adapter Box". Would this enable me to get the UK channels?
Thanks in advance.

mrdtv

quinner1955 wrote: »

Hi
I'm not sure if this has been asked before but here goes. Since the changeover last week the UK channels have disappeared of two of our televisions (the other one is on a SKY box). We're on a hill over looking Wicklow Town with a clear view of the sea and we have an aerial which provided a pretty good signal (better BBC than RTE). I know from reading the posts that my choice is either get Sky multi room, Freesat or Freeview. We don't use the tvs that much so I want a cheap , quick solution (and I don't want to pay Sky any more).
On Amazon I came across a "Kubik Scart Freeview Receiver DVB-T Adapter Box". Would this enable me to get the UK channels?
Thanks in advance.

Get this instead for the same price (read the reviews on Amazon). I have it: its very adaptable with excellent tuning options. Let us know how you get on...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Philips-DTR220-Compact-Digital-Freeview/dp/B000UX11AA/ref=pd_cp_ce_3

quinner1955

Thanks for the reply mrdtv. I'll order one today. One more thing. On Amazon it suggested getting a SLX Gold digiTop Amplified High Performance Indoor TV Aerial. Is this necessary? Also, will I be able to receive the Irish channels through the freeview box or will they come in through the regular aerial?

mrdtv

quinner1955 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply mrdtv. I'll order one today. One more thing. On Amazon it suggested getting a SLX Gold digiTop Amplified High Performance Indoor TV Aerial. Is this necessary? Also, will I be able to receive the Irish channels through the freeview box or will they come in through the regular aerial?

That box is MPEG2. No RTE DTT tests. Its got better software than the Sagem which is MPEG4 and also does RTE DTT tests (no doubt they'll bring out a T2 version next year which will do Freeview HD and Irish DTT if it launches.)

I would not get the indoor aerial as you already had off-air analogue from Wales. You can carry on with analogue RTE which I presume you were using on the other TVs. The Philips box will loop through UHF signals but if you were using VHF you might need a diplexer . It all depends on your set-up.

quinner1955

Thanks again for the prompt reply. I don't know if I have UHF or VHF. I'll order the Philips box and see how I get on.

BigMoose

I'll be interested to hear how you get on. I also live on a hill the Rathnew side of Wicklow Town and many houses in our estate have grid aerials pointing out to sea and I'm curious as to which Welsh transmitter they are getting signal from. As I have a freesat setup I'm not overly fussed about the "lite" freeview from Afron but the full set would be very handy.

quinner1955

Hi BigMoose
I'll keep you posted on how I get on. I'd also like to find out about Freesat. Did you install it yourself or is there someone local who can do it without charging a fortune?

mrdtv

BigMoose wrote: »

I'll be interested to hear how you get on. I also live on a hill the Rathnew side of Wicklow Town and many houses in our estate have grid aerials pointing out to sea and I'm curious as to which Welsh transmitter they are getting signal from. As I have a freesat setup I'm not overly fussed about the "lite" freeview from Afron but the full set would be very handy.

If they are vertical grids its for Arfon and there is now no analogue TV. If they are horizontal grids they could be for Preseli (full DTT, but Mount Leinster CCI issues) or Blaen-Plwyf (analogue + low power DTT until February 2010.). The OP said he lost analogue last week: most likely Arfon.

BigMoose

House at the back of ours is vertical. Will keep an eye out for any horizontal! I'm guessing Llanddona is a no no? Although I am on the right side of Wicklow looking at the ukfree.tv maps. In which case my only real hope is Blaen-Plwyf in Feb/March 2010.

mrdtv

BigMoose wrote: »

House at the back of ours is vertical. Will keep an eye out for any horizontal! I'm guessing Llanddona is a no no? Although I am on the right side of Wicklow looking at the ukfree.tv maps. In which case my only real hope is Blaen-Plwyf in Feb/March 2010.

Most likely Arfon then! It radiates two MPEG2 muxes (15 channels including Channel 4 and Five now) and will radiate HD from next July. LLanddona is poorly positioned for Wicklow and as we discussed before its a pretty pathetic mast compared to Arfon. There may be some Llanddona in North Dublin and on very high ground but Blaen-Plwyf is really going to belt it out despite the HRP restriction towards Arklow. Arfon is a good idea if you don't want to spend too much money, you had decent analogue Wales, and going from 4 UK to 15 UK channels is fine. Any horizontals out to sea particularly large Yagis would be very interesting: just north of Arfon would be Llanddona but SE would definitely be Preseli. The cheapo grids provided a good analogue service off Arfon and will probably provide good DTT.

mrdtv

quinner1955 wrote: »

Thanks again for the prompt reply. I don't know if I have UHF or VHF. I'll order the Philips box and see how I get on.

That box is UHF only, so you might need a diplexer if you are using VHF for RTE, otherwise it will pass through RTE UHF analogue signals. It has excellent signal information status and will directly read out the carrier-to-noise ratio which will be very interesting!

quinner1955

Well I got my Philips DTR box, plugged it in and it worked perfectly. Only 10 or so channels but it's still better than the 4 we had before. RTE/TV3 still work on pass through. All in all €25 well spent. Thanks for all your help guys.
BigMoose, at some stage, I want to pick your brains about building a PVR. I have a couple of old PCs which aren't good for much. I'm going to build a Linux server with one so I might use the other to build a PVR.
Thanks again

mrdtv

quinner1955 wrote: »

Well I got my Philips DTR box, plugged it in and it worked perfectly. Only 10 or so channels but it's still better than the 4 we had before. RTE/TV3 still work on pass through. All in all €25 well spent. Thanks for all your help guys.
BigMoose, at some stage, I want to pick your brains about building a PVR. I have a couple of old PCs which aren't good for much. I'm going to build a Linux server with one so I might use the other to build a PVR.
Thanks again

You should have about 14. I presume its Arfon on Chs 41 & 44. As a matter of interest what are the signal strength, quality & C/N numbers which that box reads out directly. Next year with a different box you can get FTA HD as well. Glad to hear it did Irish TV on passthrough. Tell the neighbours and sit back and relax!