What box do I need ..?

Stuxnet

Hey peeps,

so the recession is still biting hard in my house, so much so seriously considering dropping my 40 a month sky sub as part of some cost cutting !

I dont watch a heck of a lot of the main sky channels anyway, so I was thinking of investing in some sort of a freeview recorder box !

but i had some spec in mind,

would like the functionality of sky box, can record 2 chans simultaneously,
Im not up to speed on the Irish situation regarding Rte, and tv3 digitally fta, but I'd like them if possible,
would also like a box to be able integrate xmbc, so maybe linux based, there are tons, but I dont know which would suit me best.. I will be able leave my sky dish on the roof, and use it if needs be

any advise appreciated,

thanks in advance

John mac

something like this http://www.amazon.co.uk/Vu-Duo-Tuner-Satellite-Receiver/dp/B0032B29RQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1303634706&sr=1-1-catcorr

not exactly like a sky box , but if you are in to tinkering it will cover all the bases.

your existing sat dish will do fine. just need to get an aerial and usb tuner for the rte stations.

Sam Russell

I think you cannot go far wrong with the Humax Foxsat HDR which gives the full Freesat solution with recording etc for €300 or so. However, it will not do RTE at all. For that you will need a seperate solution. A UK FreeviewHD will sort of work, but give problems, like the time in summer is out by an hour and channel numbers may be wrong. Or go for a Saorview certified box.

Sponge Bob

The Edision Argos IP for €170 ish will do Freesat and Saorview in one...and will record to an external harddrive or even a USB Memory key.

http://www.tvtrade.ie/satellite-receivers/combined-digital-receivers.html

It also does HD unlike an out of sub Sky box.

Stuxnet

Brilliant guys I'll take all that on board !
Cheers ! If I've any qu's I'll be back !!

preytec

as "Sponge Bob" pointed out, it's a nice little box. but that site will sell you a whole kit so it will make things a little bit easier to make the switch. Edision Argus kit

there is 3 things you should keep in mind 1st.

tony from www.satellite.ie will not stock the the box as he has said the the failure rate is too high.
but as the end user you can always send it back.

also. it doesn't support mheg5 so you won't get telly text on the irish channels.
tbh telly text has nothing to offer if you use the internet anyway.

and finally the red button for the sat interactive is not supported.
again "so what?"

but even with them small things in mind it's still a good little box

Stuxnet

thanks...

right so ive been doing a good bit of reading, so i think I'd like to go with the vu+ duo hd pvr, seems to be the equivalent of a Dreambox 8000 but half the price ! I was thinking this should sort out the Irish channels for hopefully plug'n'play ?

also my missus is Italian, in the last house before we moved I had one of those lidl satellites put up for her, she was able get all the Italian fta channels, is there a way I can setup the satellite again and use the vu+ as a receiver and not have an extra box under the telly !

thanks for your advise lads

Sponge Bob

Thing to remember is that the dishes and LNB will work fine once you point them. You now have two dishes trying to feed into one viewing box and you need a €20 gizmo called a Diseq Switch to flick viewing from Astra 2 dish to Hotbird dish as required ( think Italians use that bird for FTA )

Vu and Dreambox all support Diseq commands but specific questions should go to Foreign Sat forum here

Sponge Bob

The Edision also supports Diseq Versions 1.0 and 1.1 ...in fact everything, no matter how cheap, bar a sky box, supports Diseq!

Digital Satellite TV

preytec wrote: »

as "Sponge Bob" pointed out, it's a nice little box. but that site will sell you a whole kit so it will make things a little bit easier to make the switch. Edision Argus kit

there is 3 things you should keep in mind 1st.

tony from www.satellite.ie will not stock the the box as he has said the the failure rate is too high.
but as the end user you can always send it back.

Just to clear something up. Hate to see a good box get a bad rep and all that. Either preytec or tony may have their boxes mixed up. We have sold almost 2000 of the edision argus mini 2 in 1 combos since we first imported them and have virtually a 0% return on them. The box they may be thinking of is the edision VIP2, the next revision up from the argus mini which has proved to be 'finiky' alright. Tony mave have had another experience altogether but from our own stats, the statement above would seem to be a case of 'mistaken identity'.

rurs

The USB tuner you can use will depend on the image you load - the VIX image is well regarded and has the closest resemblance to Sky+. I don't use that image myself, but from a quick scan of threads it seems the WinTV Nova-T is the one to go for.

There are also big discounts available from a Spanish site, lots of us have bought from them, delivery might take a week, but you'll save a bit!

The vu+ will take a bit of setting up, but providing you have a basic understanding of networking, and a bit of time, it works very well.

iPwnage wrote: »

thanks...

right so ive been doing a good bit of reading, so i think I'd like to go with the vu+ duo hd pvr, seems to be the equivalent of a Dreambox 8000 but half the price ! I was thinking this should sort out the Irish channels for hopefully plug'n'play ?

also my missus is Italian, in the last house before we moved I had one of those lidl satellites put up for her, she was able get all the Italian fta channels, is there a way I can setup the satellite again and use the vu+ as a receiver and not have an extra box under the telly !

thanks for your advise lads

HappyHarry

iPwnage wrote: »

also my missus is Italian, in the last house before we moved I had one of those lidl satellites put up for her, she was able get all the Italian fta channels,

what Italian channels could you get FTA, i didn't think you could get many?
have you looked into TiVu sat? (Italian version of FreeSat / SaorSat)http://www.tivu.tv/sat-eng/tivusat/index.aspx It will require another box.

Stuxnet

rurs wrote: »

There are also big discounts available from a Spanish site, lots of us have bought from them, delivery might take a week, but you'll save a bit!

great to know thanks, knocks 105 off a vu+

The vu+ will take a bit of setting up, but providing you have a basic understanding of networking, and a bit of time, it works very well.

Im a linux user & fanboy, so i should be fine

HappyHarry wrote: »

what Italian channels could you get FTA, i didn't think you could get many?
have you looked into TiVu sat? (Italian version of FreeSat / SaorSat)http://www.tivu.tv/sat-eng/tivusat/index.aspx It will require another box.

she says she got 6 of the main ones and there was about 10 other regional one's !

another n00bie question lads if you dont mind, rather then setting up the another dish, any advantage in sticking on a motor onto the pole of the current sky dish, the geek inside me wants this....

John mac

It wont work on a sky dish.
but if you get a new dish and motor it will still pick up the sky channels.plus loads of others.

loads of good info here

Gerry Wicklow

okolo wrote: »

There's a good box on eBay in Ireland that can receive both satellite and saorview channels for €149. Next day delivery too, I definetely reccomend this one :
http://cgi.ebay.ie/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=160578784151

No mention of DVB-S2 so not all HD channels

OFDM

Gerry Wicklow wrote: »

No mention of DVB-S2 so not all HD channels

okolo has spammed this in three separate thread, so s/he is likely the seller!

STB

Gerry

Apart from the spamming the Golden Media UNI-BOX 9080 CRCI HD PVR COMBO box is fine.

It does have a dvb-s2 tuner.

Its actually in the stickies of compatible boxes at the top.

And you will get it cheaper than that chap is selling them on ebay. If you shop around you will get them for €120 in Poland.

But why would you when you can get the new Ferguson Ariva HD200 combo for a €102 in Poland (plus postage).

See allegro.pl for anyone who wants cheap boxes. You have to sign up, its the polish equivelant of ebay.

Gerry Wicklow

STB wrote: »

Gerry

Apart from the spamming the Golden Media UNI-BOX 9080 CRCI HD PVR COMBO box is fine.

It does have a dvb-s2 tuner.

Not according to the linked Ebay advert. That's all I was saying.

STB

Gerry Wicklow wrote: »

Not according to the linked Ebay advert. That's all I was saying.

Okay. I get what you are saying. But for clarification it does. Heres a nice tech review.

http://www.tele-satellite-global.com/TELE-satellite-1103/eng/goldenmedia.pdf

okolo

OFDM wrote: »

okolo has spammed this in three separate thread, so s/he is likely the seller!

Someone has a lot of time on their hands to look for spammers
And no actually, I am not the seller - my girlfriend's brother is...

I got this box and I am very happy with it, and I thought I'd post it here to see what the others think.

So, I hear you can get it in Poland cheaper, what about the delivery time/cost? I guess it's hard to compete with a foreign market but I'm pretty sure I got a good deal.

I doubt you can find a decent Saorview box for this price in Ireland with next day delivery for a tener :rolleyes:

STB

okolo wrote: »

I doubt you can find a decent Saorview box for this price in Ireland with next day delivery for a tener :rolleyes:

You shouldnt have put it up to me.

Feguson Ariva HD200 Combo

€144.99 - you can even walk into the shop in Kimmage, Dublin, Ireland and buy it.

By the way its not a Saorview box as you call it, it is a HD Satellite and Terrestrial Combo Box.