TV's working with Saorview - The List

Sam Russell

You are talking price from one seller. If it was €50, would you consider it?

The box has HE-ACC, MPEG 4 HD, EPG, PVR, LCN, Subtitle, SCART, HDMI, USB, lots of playback options, etc. etc. It is hidden from view. Fits any TV.

It does not have MHEG 5. Otherwise, it has all you would want.

watty

I'll personally not buy a box without MHEG5.

At €50 it's overpriced. Honest. If people want a cheap partially compatible box, they should not pay more than €25 to €30. Otherwise wait, pay a little more and have the properly compatible box.

A laptop DTT stick is maybe under €12?

I've seen lots of CRT based TVs that will not fit for SCART, in straight or hinged mode. A male to female scart isn't easy to get. It's a stupid design for SCART. Should have SCART >>SOCKET<< for non-HDTVs. Even with SCART cables I often put some Blutack or dab of glue gun (peels off) to stop SCART plug falling off.

It's not a unique product,
It's not cheap.
It's not Actually fully compatible.

Why defend dishonest advertising of poorly designed gimmick products? Have we not enough problems?

Sam Russell

@ Watty

Look, a DDT USB stick is not plug and play, does not work with a TV, and is not suitable for non-technical punters.

The price issue is not important, as people will make up their own mind. At €100, I would go with the Walker box. At €50, there is no other box that does what this one does. I cannot see anyone selling boxes at much less if they have to support them, but you never know.

People buy Kia cars, and Ford cars, and BMW cars. There are seats at all prices.

I accept your point that certified boxes are the best, but at €20,000 for certification, the number of units to be sold to cover this charge makes certification uneconomic for a low-cost solution. It is just not possible to justify going down the certification route unless there is a market for at least 10,000 units, and probably 100,000 units. One would have to be certain of success with the certification. What if your signal strength indication was a little out? Your BER calculation was wrong? You could not handle Danish or Finnish? Or even, you had no VHF? And then you improve the product and have to go through the whole rigmerole again.

watty

A DTT stick IS plug an play on a Windows 7 netbook/pc / laptop and does MHEG5.

Some UK "Freeview HD" boxes are not far off the €50 now. €70ish is available in UK "high street"

Anyway this isn't being offered for €50 but €99 ex shipping. It's not a good concept (scart plug instead of socket) and it's not actually as compatible as "Freeview HD".

A quick ebay search reveals "Freeview HD" from €53 to €100 and no non "Freeview HD" MPEG4 box with HD under €80.

Plenty of dumped useless MPEG4 SD only DTT boxes. They are about the €50

John Dough

Shirleysrumbler wrote: »

Remember me? The one who bought the MPEG2 TV ie.the Sony. I'm still arguing with Power City about Digital Tuner and will hopefully have a reply in the post tomorrow. Materialised today that analogue tuner is only UHF and won't tune RTE 1 & 2. This proves TV could never be tuned in ROI without Skybox or STB. I really have to go to small claims court I think if they fob me off again. Also I've spoken to researchers on Eddie Hobb's consumer Show (starting on 12.04) re. doing an article on These "dumped MPEG2" TVs on their show. I'm absolutely ripping at Power City-such a shower of scheisters. Certainally won't deal with them again.

Buyers beware P C are good on price but sh*te on service and had a warehouse full of Mpeg2 sets in 2009 to shift similar to Aldi/Lidl.

John Dough

Iron Hide wrote: »

Toshiba 32AV713B, Mpeg 4 and Mheg 5 working perfectly. HD ready and not bad for €229

Funny that as the Toshiba 19DV713B is NOT mpeg4 on Amazon??

Shirleysrumbler

John Dough wrote: »

Buyers beware P C are good on price but sh*te on service and had a warehouse full of Mpeg2 sets in 2009 to shift similar to Aldi/Lidl.

Got further corespondence from Power city yesterday still failing to address my 8 points as in post#210. They're continuing to hide behind Saorview and have told me that I should "acquire" a Saorview box to receive DTT. They've also told me that no TV was saorvieew certified in DEc 09.

watty

True,
but their obligation from Spring 2008 was to label incompatible Digital TVs as incompatible and tell you about the service!

Power City and EVERY OTHER major retailer deliberately ignored this. They did not inform the public. They did not mark TVs as incompatible


The description "Digital" is an implied contract unless the retailer affixed a disclaimer

Information on DTT Receivers


Currently there are no DTT receivers ( set top boxes, PVR's or televisions) which are approved for use on the RTÉ DTT network. RTÉ has developed a specification for Irish DTT receivers. A copy of this specification is available from the RTÉNL website,


http://www.rtenl.ie/downloads/RTE-FTA-DTT-Receiver-Spec.pdf

http://www.rtenl.ie/downloads/NorDig-Unified_ver_2.0.pdf


The latest information on DTT receivers suitable for the Irish DTT market is available from RTÉ and the BAI.


Warning:


There are some digital televisions for sale in Ireland which are marked “Freeview”, have the UK’s “digital tick” logo ttp://www.digitallogo.co.uk/) or are marked as being suitable for use in other European Countries. This means that they are compatible with DTT systems in the UK or elsewhere in Europe. There are no televisions currently approved for use on the Irish DTT network.


DTT receivers/decoders


There are essentially three types of DTT receivers/decoders that are used in typical households in existing DTT markets.


A Set top Box (STB)
A Personal video Recorder (PVR)
An Integrated Digital Television (iDTV)


A description of these devices is available in the glossary.


The simplest of these is the set top box which is relatively cheap and can be used in conjunction with most existing TV sets. It is similar to the type of set top box used by those who currently receive digital cable, MMDS or satellite services.

The PVR is more expensive but offers additional functionality such as the capability to record programmes and freeze programmes for viewing later.

An Integrated Digital Television (iDTV) is the digital equivalent of the analogue TV and allows viewers to receive free to air terrestrial digital TV content without the use of an external set top box.


Information to Retailers


Retailers are requested to ensure that all iDTV’s for sale in Ireland will be compatible with the Irish DTT network, when it launches. Retailers are also requested to provide information to their customers on DTT.


In addition, retailers are urged to ensure that a sufficient range of receivers (including set top boxes, integrated digital televisions and personal video recorders) specified for use on the Irish DTT network are available to consumers for the launch of DTT services in Ireland.


The RTE free to air DTT services will use an MPEG 4 compression standard and MHEG 5 (V6) middleware MPEG 4 is different to the MPEG 2 compression standard used in the UK. Retailers should note that televisions with MPEG 2 tuners only, will not pick up the Irish DTT service, when it develops.


A free-to-air Digital terrestrial TV (DTT) service providing access to the existing national TV channels and some new Irish TV channels is due to be launched in Ireland in October 2010. This service will be provided by RTÉ using a network built by RTÉNL.


The free to air DTT service will be provided by RTÉ. There are engineering tests taking place currently on the 13 main transmitter sites in preparation for service launch. These engineering tests carrying RTÉ, TV3 and TG4 are operating using the MPEG4 specifications. More details are available from RTÉ Networks Ltd http://www.rtenl.ie/.


A commercial DTT service is also expected be made available.


The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) is responsible for contracting commercial DTT service providers. The BAI has indicated that OneVision will operate the commercial DTT service.


Updated information on RTÉ's plans for DTT services and the plans for commercial DTT are available from RTÉ and the BAI. (http://www.rte.ie/, http://www.rtenl.ie/ and http://www.bai.ie/).

Extract Copyright 2008 DCENR
Published in 2008 on http://www.digitaltelevision.ie/National+DTT/Useful+Information.htm
The page was later partially updated with 13 sites, 2010 date and claim that Boxer then Onevision would be operator of pay DTT.

suites

i have a panasonic plasma with freesat dvb and anologue integrated tv i have been receiving the test channels for months but at end of december they went down .i even had epg and mheg5 text any ideas please i am receiving the digital radios ok full signal from three rock .ilive in cabra west dublin thanks in advance
ps its a th-46PZ81B model p.s i am receving all the anologues rte 1/2 tv3 tg 4 very good reception on all

The Cush

suites wrote: »

i have a panasonic plasma with freesat dvb and anologue integrated tv i have been receiving the test channels for months but at end of december they went down .i even had epg and mheg5 text any ideas please i am receiving the digital radios ok full signal from three rock .ilive in cabra west dublin thanks in advance
ps its a th-46PZ81B model p.s i am receving all the anologues rte 1/2 tv3 tg 4 very good reception on all

Search for Panasonic here in the forum and you can read about the whole sorry saga.

suites

thanks i will do that

Sam Russell

watty wrote: »

I'll personally not buy a box without MHEG5.

At €50 it's overpriced. Honest. If people want a cheap partially compatible box, they should not pay more than €25 to €30. Otherwise wait, pay a little more and have the properly compatible box.

A laptop DTT stick is maybe under €12?

I've seen lots of CRT based TVs that will not fit for SCART, in straight or hinged mode. A male to female scart isn't easy to get. It's a stupid design for SCART. Should have SCART >>SOCKET<< for non-HDTVs. Even with SCART cables I often put some Blutack or dab of glue gun (peels off) to stop SCART plug falling off.

It's not a unique product,
It's not cheap.
It's not Actually fully compatible.

Why defend dishonest advertising of poorly designed gimmick products? Have we not enough problems?

I've found a source for that box - in Poland. It is €57 or thereabouts in Zlotti. Do not know how much shipping would be - but it is cheaper than the €99 on donedeal.

http://www.centrumelektroniki.pl/Tuner_DVBT_HD507_Signal_EuroHDMI_telewizji_naziemnej,p54583.html

Elmo

Sam Russell wrote: »

I've found a source for that box - in Poland. It is €57 or thereabouts in Zlotti. Do not know how much shipping would be - but it is cheaper than the €99 on donedeal.

http://www.centrumelektroniki.pl/Tuner_DVBT_HD507_Signal_EuroHDMI_telewizji_naziemnej,p54583.html

Found it here for 82euro

http://www.dipol.ie/tv-sat-tv/dvb-t-receivers-1/dvb-t-hdtv.html

Sam Russell

Elmo wrote: »

Found it here for 82euro

http://www.dipol.ie/tv-sat-tv/dvb-t-receivers-1/dvb-t-hdtv.html

That is dearer, and it has a 2 pin plug, like the Polish one.

Elmo

Sam Russell wrote: »

That is dearer, and it has a 2 pin plug, like the Polish one.

Yeah I noticed that. I suppose it is from the same source, I am guessing 57 +postage would be around the 70 - 80 euro mark.

I assume it does not have Digital Text?

Sam Russell

No digital text (MHEG 5) but it does have full EPG and PVR function to USB HDD. I think it is quite good for the money, particularly for a MPEG 2 set, like my Sony.

watty

Sam Russell wrote: »

I've found a source for that box - in Poland. It is €57 or thereabouts in Zlotti. Do not know how much shipping would be - but it is cheaper than the €99 on donedeal.

http://www.centrumelektroniki.pl/Tuner_DVBT_HD507_Signal_EuroHDMI_telewizji_naziemnej,p54583.html

Still not worth it. Avoid.

Butch Cassidy

I'm looking at buying a new TV. Had a gander around town. Argos had TVs on display with no info about Saorview. I couldn't see anything in Peats or PC World.

Saroview's site has info for retailers including two neat little images:





Is this going to turn into a fiasco once Analogue is supposed to be switched off? Will it be brought up in Dail Eireann? Phone calls to Joe Duffy? I'm trying to spread the word to friends as best I can. I'm utterly amazed so many people are unaware of what's going on. Has anyone written in to any of the papers or anything?

Shirleysrumbler

Butch Cassidy wrote: »

I'm looking at buying a new TV. Had a gander around town. Argos had TVs on display with no info about Saorview. I couldn't see anything in Peats or PC World.

Saroview's site has info for retailers including two neat little images:





Is this going to turn into a fiasco once Analogue is supposed to be switched off? Will it be brought up in Dail Eireann? Phone calls to Joe Duffy? I'm trying to spread the word to friends as best I can. I'm utterly amazed noone is aware of what's going on. Has anyone written in to any of the papers or anything?

I've contacted The Consumer Show on RTE and have written to THe Irish Times. If the amount of MPEG 2 sets are out there that I suspect, I feel this should become a torrent.

Butch Cassidy

Since we're getting a new govt. there must surely be one of them with some gusto to grap the nettle. It's amazing how widespread the info is in the UK versus here.

I saw Tesco's limp effort at addressing the issue with a "Freeview won't work in ROI" or something on a shelf where there are boxes that say they're good for freeview. It wouldn't take a worker an hour to cover up the boxes with a bit of black tape or something.

Elmo

Butch Cassidy wrote: »

Since we're getting a new govt. there must surely be one of them with some gusto to grap the nettle. It's amazing how widespread the info is in the UK versus here.

In fairness the UK had something to talk about. From ITV Digital to Freeview to DSO.

Saorview and DSO together here.

Butch Cassidy

Is there a TV that has Freesat and Saorview?

Souriau

Elmo wrote: »

In fairness the UK had something to talk about. From ITV Digital to Freeview to DSO.

OnDigital to ITV Digital to Freeview to DSO

watty

Butch Cassidy wrote: »

Is there a TV that has Freesat and Saorview?

Not certified. It's about €250 cheaper to add a Freesat HD PVR box to a TV that works with Saorview.

Kintarō Hattori

Can I just chip in that I work for Peats and while I don't have exact figures to hand, as far as I'm aware any TV we sell which has a built-in DVB-T tuner is Saorview compatible.

There simply wouldn't be any point in stocking the set if it wasn't. I do have to admit that our advertising instore in relation to Saorview is crap to be honest.

peking97

Butch Cassidy wrote: »

Is there a TV that has Freesat and Saorview?

A work colleague has a Panasonic TX-P46G20B which, he assures me, receives both.

applewoodgo

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

Can I just chip in that I work for Peats and while I don't have exact figures to hand, as far as I'm aware any TV we sell which has a built-in DVB-T tuner is Saorview compatible.

There simply wouldn't be any point in stocking the set if it wasn't. I do have to admit that our advertising instore in relation to Saorview is crap to be honest.

You are not doing Peats any favours here. You don't inspire confidence to a potential buyer who still isn't quiet sure whether the sets are compatible or not. I am perplexed to know why some stores selling TV's are not up front with the relevant information and leave the buyer in no doubt about what the're buying.

Kintarō Hattori

applewoodgo wrote: »

You are not doing Peats any favours here. You don't inspire confidence to a potential buyer who still isn't quiet sure whether the sets are compatible or not. I am perplexed to know why some stores selling TV's are not up front with the relevant information and leave the buyer in no doubt about what the're buying.

Em sorry what? Having acknowledged this thread you might have guessed that I will be going back into work on Monday and addressing the lack of signage in the shops. The salesmen are all clued into what sets have Saorview and which don't, so we aren't helping ourselves and will of course do something about that.

watty

http://www.saortv.info/terrestrial-saorview/for-retailers/

The Government asked in 2008 for Retailers to correctly label the compatibility or lack and inform Customers about DTT.

Kintarō Hattori

watty wrote: »

http://www.saortv.info/terrestrial-saorview/for-retailers/

The Government asked in 2008 for Retailers to correctly label the compatibility or lack and inform Customers about DTT.

Thanks Watty,

Much appreciated sir. I will push them to sign things better- just don't expect overnight results! I'm on holidays at the moment (though I'm staying at home) but will hassle them to get it done. :P


(Tried sending you a PM but you seem to have elected to not receive them)