New House- Satellite Options

andrew1977

Hello Folks

New home ready to move into shortly.
Whats my best and budget friendly satellite option to get installed to keep me entertained until the initial finances of a new house settle down.
I wont be taking out sky subscription or any pay per view service for at least 12 months.

I currently have no aerial on the house but all wired up for tvs round the house.

Any pointers on whats the most cost effective satellite/tv i can get installed to tide me over.

Any help greatly appreciated, looking to get it done asap .
Want to try and keep the cost down but willing to part with a few quid to have some half decent entertainment on the tv and installed professionally.

Thanks a lot.

P.s I aint got a clue when it comes to things like this

St Senan

A Branded Freesat system for your English channels and a Aerial for your Irish tv DTT/Saorview. If you are buying a new tv make sure it has a Mpeg4 tuner needed for irish channels when they change over to digital

andrew1977

scaller wrote: »

A Branded Freesat system for your English channels and a Aerial for your Irish tv DTT/Saorview. If you are buying a new tv make sure it has a Mpeg4 tuner needed for irish channels when they change over to digital

Thanks for the reply,appreciate it.

Yip the 3 tvs for the house are sorted for the changover to digital.

What freesat system would you recommend and anything i need to look out for ?
I presume ringing any of the local " free to air providers" will be selling the same thing and i aint likely to get done up am i ?
One local price ( Drogheda area) is179 euro free to air installed.. thats what i am looking for ?

Any ideas on rough prices for the aerial installation and wiring/labour costs ?

Thanks again

St Senan

The price of Free to air systems have came down over the last couple of years. They can now be bought in Supermarkets and DIY shops. All free to air receivers need to be retuned every couple of months. Nowadays most long term Installers will only install Freesat systems instead of Free to air systems. I would suggest to you to Get a Freesat system instead of Free to air. The advantages are you have a 7 day programme guide and the freesat box dont need to be retuned. Also if your budget stretches you could get a Freesat pvr. Have a look here http://satellite.ie/acatalog/FreeToAirSatelliteSystems.html

watty

There are Freesat logo boxes. They are user friendly. There are Generic Free To Air boxes that can be less friendly.

local " free to air providers"

Are not at all, all selling the same thing. Quality of parts and install varies widely. Some are not VAT registered or even pay tax, nor have Public Liability (if he drops a dish on a neighbour's child you could be paying the bill).

See http://www.isaa.tv/

andrew1977

scaller wrote: »

The price of Free to air systems have came down over the last couple of years. They can now be bought in Supermarkets and DIY shops. All free to air receivers need to be retuned every couple of months. Nowadays most long term Installers will only install Freesat systems instead of Free to air systems. I would suggest to you to Get a Freesat system instead of Free to air. The advantages are you have a 7 day programme guide and the freesat box dont need to be retuned. Also if your budget stretches you could get a Freesat pvr. Have a look here http://satellite.ie/acatalog/FreeToAirSatelliteSystems.html

Whats recommended off the link you give me ?
What exactly will a freesat give me channel wise (myself , missus and a ten year old boy to entertain)
Dont mind paying the extra few quid now to get a decent system installed, no messing round in a few months having to change over/ left with a useless system.
As said, need to watch the outgoings and aint paying Sky etc subscriptions for the forseeable future.

Anyone recommended close to Drogheda to price and install what i need ?

And do i need a Tv aerial installed on the roof also ?

Thanks again.

watty

Yes you need a roof aerial too. For Irish Channels.

montgolfiere

i would suggest you avoid Bush Freesat HD Receivers. they have had loads of problems over the last year or so. If you can afford it, a Humax Foxsat HDR would be a good buy then you have the recording Capability as well.
The Skyman

kuro_man

If you have good reception from NI, you could get a freeview HD box (or recorder) which will receive both UK and Irish channels from an aerial.

Aerial signals are easier to distribute to additional rooms because sat cable cannot use a splitter.

Make sure freeview box is HD, the SD version won't work with Irish digital service.

byte

Agreed ,the Humax Foxsat HDR's are the way to go, with the Sky+ functionality but without the subscriptions (and admittedly some channels too:))

If you've no interest in recording, I'd still recommend Humax HD box (the non-recording model).

danjo-xx

Will a HD stb work for SD broadcasts, ie backwards compatible?

The Cush

danjo-xx wrote: »

Will a HD stb work for SD broadcasts, ie backwards compatible?

Yes.

watty

Virtually all HD boxes also work ordinary TVs and you can add HDTV later.

Really anyone buying now should only buy DVB-S2 HD (all backward compatible) as even non-HD transmissions need that in future.