Saorview decoder €49.99 Lidl 27th October

fat-tony

Heads up on Lidl Saorview decoder next Thursday (27th)
http://www.lidl.ie/cps/rde/xchg/lidl_ri_ie/hs.xsl/index_14607.htm

NUTZZ

They had these on sale already back in May, here's the thread about it



* Can decode standard definition and high definition MPEG 4 signals
* MHEG5 compatible
* With HD resolution (720p/1080i): change between the two resolutions at the flick of a switch
* HDMI output (includes HDMI cable) and scart socket
* Auto/manual channel search , 7 day EPG (Electronic Programme Guide), Reminder setting, 16 languages to choose from Child lock feature, Subtitles, * 12/24 hour clock, Low standby energy consumption; <1W, Remote control included, Size: 30 x 5 x 18cm
* The once off purchase of an aerial is required


In late 2012 analogue TV transmissions will be switched off in Ireland and a new era of digital TV will begin. Saorview is Ireland's first free to air digital service. This means that no subscription fee will need to be paid and only a set top box such as this may need to be purchased. This product is Saorview approved meaning that it can decode MPEG4 signals and is compatible with the MHEG5 middleware needed for the EPG service on Saorview. There will be a number of television and radio stations available on Saorview in the near future. Available now are RTE One, RTE Two (which will also broadcast some programmes in HD), TV3, TG4, RTE jr & 3e.

ednwireland

NUTZZ wrote: »

They had these on sale already back in May,

well, aldi did

reaper180

some drop in price though,,,80euro down to 50 in a matter of months,, give it another few months and it might be under 40euro:)

NUTZZ

ednwireland wrote: »

well, aldi did

Splitting hairs are we now? :pac:

Johnboy1951

No mention of a USB port for recording ....... something to watch for if that is important to you.

loyatemu

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

No mention of a USB port for recording ....... something to watch for if that is important to you.

it says "USB" on the right-hand side of the front panel.

Gerry Wicklow

Still wondering if anyone can confirm if these boxes have a DVB-T2 tuner.

darkmaster2

loyatemu wrote: »

it says "USB" on the right-hand side of the front panel.

Does the presence of a usb port on these recievers always mean that they can record? Or are some just for media files playback?

ednwireland

NUTZZ wrote: »

Splitting hairs are we now? :pac:

yep

darkmaster2 wrote: »

Does the presence of a usb port on these recievers always mean that they can record? Or are some just for media files playback?

USB Connection.
•
You may connect a USB Hard disk drive or Memory stick to your STB by using the USB connection.
This feature allows you to play files or record programmes on the USB memory.
•
2.5” and 3.5” (Hddwith external power supply) are supported.
•To record a programme, the HDD or Memory stick must be connected while the STB is turned off. Turn on the STB and the box will enable the record feature.
•It is Possible that certain makes and types of external memory media may not work with this STB, e.gMP3 players.
•IMPORTANT. The STB only supports FAT32 disk format. NTFS is NOT supported. If a NTFS disk is connected the STB will ask you to format the Memory media.
Any data stored on the Memory media will be lost when the media is formatted in FAT 32.

if this manual is right
http://www.akura.com/images/stories/manuals/AVT8010_Instruction_Book.pdf

MidlandsM

what aerial is needed to work with this?

The Cush

MidlandsM wrote: »

what aerial is needed to work with this?

Depends on where you're located and your nearest transmitter.

Use the Saorview coverage checker

dowtchaboy

Had a look at the manual (thanks ednwireland) - some interesting bits:

RF in/out - can be handy if you want to send the signal elsewhere in the house.

12V supply - probably will be useable in my campervan (if I am forced to have a TV in it.....)

Audio output - no phono/RCA plugs - unless you use a SCART to phono lead I suppose - comes with digital SPDIF optical output though (wonder where I put my lead..... a few years ago.?...)

Does it play .avi and similar files? Sam's adapter thingy is handy for that.

And the big question - will it record? Did anybody ever buy it at Aldi last time and report on this??

NUTZZ

dowtchaboy wrote: »

Does it play .avi and similar files? Sam's adapter thingy is handy for that.

And the big question - will it record? Did anybody ever buy it at Aldi last time and report on this??

Pretty much everything you've asked have been answered already in this thread when it was previously on sale!

dowtchaboy

NUTZZ wrote: »

Pretty much everything you've asked have been answered already in this thread when it was previously on sale!

No - these questions weren't answered, which is why I was asking them AFTER I had read the other thread!
The Akura manual, on their site, now shows very specifically Saorview logo and specifically that it functions as a PVR. The ALDI thread (5 months earlier) raised doubts that it would function as a PVR - my question was had any Boardsie tried it? Perhaps they have upgraded the firmware in the 5 months?

NUTZZ

dowtchaboy wrote: »

The ALDI thread (5 months earlier) raised doubts that it would function as a PVR - my question was had any Boardsie tried it? Perhaps they have upgraded the firmware in the 5 months?

Yes they have tried it and yes it does work? Are we reading different threads?

Taken from the thread;

I can confirm that it does have a record function.

t c

For €10 more you can get this in Power City.
http://www.powercity.ie/?par=10-23-DI1180&pages=1&prod=DI1180&brands=DIGIHOME&image=

I have one, and yes it will record to a hard drive, but, you can only record either what you are watching, (one tuner), or set it to record when you are not watching tv. ie, toy cannot record one channel and view another. I am sure the Aldi/Lidl one is the same.

TC

Brian P

t c wrote: »

For €10 more you can get this in Power City.
http://www.powercity.ie/?par=10-23-DI1180&pages=1&prod=DI1180&brands=DIGIHOME&image=

I have one, and yes it will record to a hard drive, but, you can only record either what you are watching, (one tuner), or set it to record when you are not watching tv. ie, toy cannot record one channel and view another. I am sure the Aldi/Lidl one is the same.

TC

How long have you had it and how reliable is it?Any issues?

Compton

MidlandsM wrote: »

what aerial is needed to work with this?

a wideband uhf aerial like this:
http://satworld.ie/product-info.php?UHF_Wideband_Contract_Aerial-pid187.html

or

http://www.satellite.ie/cgi-bin/sh000001.pl?REFPAGE=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2esatellite%2eie%2facatalog%2fFerguson_Ariva_Diy_Kit%2ehtml&WD=aerial&PN=Terrestrial_DTT_Antenna__Aerial_%2ehtml%23aAerial#aAerial

t c

Brian P. I have had it a month or so now and it has worked with no problems at all.

I have tried recording onto a 40 GB hard drive and it plays back fine. I have found that I can only playback on the tv with the Digihome connected. In other words, I also have a Freesat receiver, and I cannot record on the Digihome box and play back on the Freesat box, I believe that the file systems are different. It can be made work, but I am not that much of a techi. Anyway, I do not see much to record on the Irish TV stations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But, yes, overall I can recommend it, it is easy to set up,and even my wife has mastered it and has not given any problems. It has tele-text and 7 day programme guide.

Here is another one from Sat World in Kimmage, http://satworld.ie/product-info.php?Opticum_HDT50_Irish_DTT_Terrestrial_Receiver-pid180.html

It is only €45, it is not Saorview approved but would work just as well. I have found Sat World to be very helpful and will explain things to you and you could get a combi unit, (both Saorview and Free to Air) in the one receiver.

TC

TC

wikily

I noticed digihome TV's with saorview had very slow teletext load times...up to 20 secs.... whats this box like?

Alun

dowtchaboy wrote: »

Had a look at the manual (thanks ednwireland) - some interesting bits:

RF in/out - can be handy if you want to send the signal elsewhere in the house.

I don't think so .. it looks like it's just an Antenna In/Out i.e. a simple pass-through of the RF signal, so no built in modulator.

Brian P

t c wrote: »

and 7 day programme guide.

Are these boxes similar to Sky in that you can simply go into the EPG and press record for a programme for any time over the next 7 days? Also, can these boxes fast forward /rewind similar to a Sky box once you have connected an external hard drive?

dowtchaboy

Alun wrote: »

I don't think so .. it looks like it's just an Antenna In/Out i.e. a simple pass-through of the RF signal, so no built in modulator.

Oh - pity about that. Thanks.

STB

dowtchaboy wrote: »

Oh - pity about that. Thanks.

If its a box with an RF modulator built in then >
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=75090304&postcount=18

Its not an "approved" box built will pick up the stations, has the RF modulator and has PVR facilities via USB. NO MHEG5 middleware for new text.

mikedublin

I'm a complete amateur so I wonder if I could ask a question - If I get one of these on Thursday and plug it in, will I still be able to use an ordinary VHS Video recorder in between it and the tv ?

I have a little indoor aerial that sits beside the tv, and at the moment the aerial is connected to the VHS recorder, and then from that there is a cable to the TV set. Would I just plug the aerial into the saorview box, and then I would guess there is a cable from the saorview box , and I wonder can I plug it into the video, or does it have to go straight into the TV set ?

Sorry if this may seem a silly question, but the video is crucial for me as I watch most things at later times.

STB

mikedublin wrote: »

I'm a complete amateur so I wonder if I could ask a question - If I get one of these on Thursday and plug it in, will I still be able to use an ordinary VHS Video recorder in between it and the tv ?

I have a little indoor aerial that sits beside the tv, and at the moment the aerial is connected to the VHS recorder, and then from that there is a cable to the TV set. Would I just plug the aerial into the saorview box, and then I would guess there is a cable from the saorview box , and I wonder can I plug it into the video, or does it have to go straight into the TV set ?

Sorry if this may seem a silly question, but the video is crucial for me as I watch most things at later times.

Mike if you get a little Hard Drive you connect it to the box and can set it to record programmes for you from an Electronic Programme Guide that is broadcast.

This would mean that you could get rid of your VCR altogether.

It would also mean that you could watch those recorded programmes on a laptop PC as well as the box itself.

Brian P

I notice that this STB supports FAT32 and not NTFS. I also see that a no. of posters have been disappointed with this info. In practice why is this a limiting factor in recording to a hard drive? I normally record a few hours of programmes to watch later in the night. Will I be able to do this?

STB

Brian P wrote: »

I notice that this STB supports FAT32 and not NTFS. I also see that a no. of posters have been disappointed with this info. In practice why is this a limiting factor in recording to a hard drive? I normally record a few hours of programmes to watch later in the night. Will I be able to do this?

Fat32 has an acceptance limit of 4g per file. It will be split automatically when you exceed that for one recording.

I wouldnt call it an issue.

johnners2981

STB wrote: »

Fat32 has an acceptance limit of 4g per file. It will be split automatically when you exceed that for one recording.

I wouldnt call it an issue.

Can you record if your hdd format is NTFS?

STB

johnners2981 wrote: »

Can you record if your hdd format is NTFS?

No. The USB device will not be recognised either afaik.

Brian P

STB wrote: »

No. The USB device will not be recognised either afaik.

I have a W.D externally powered 300gb USB hard drive which my son no longer uses. But it says ( when I check it in my in my pc windows XP) that it is NTFS. Is it an easy procedure to change it to FAT 32?

dowtchaboy

Brian P wrote: »

I have a W.D externally powered 300gb USB hard drive which my son no longer uses. But it says ( when I check it in my in my pc windows XP) that it is NTFS. Is it an easy procedure to change it to FAT 32?

Yep - just right click on whatever letter it shows up on in MyComputer and select "format" and choose FAT32 - you will of course lose any data on it.

Brian P

STB wrote: »

Fat32 has an acceptance limit of 4g per file. It will be split automatically when you exceed that for one recording.

I wouldnt call it an issue.

Do you mean that a sports recording over 3 hours will split into two parts but will otherwise be perfect? Am I correct in saying then,that besides the split,and being less efficient with space than NTFS,I can record happily for hours on end with my FAT 32 USB external drive and retain the recordings for a no of weeks if I wish and will only be limited by the size of my hard drive?

STB

Brian P wrote: »

Do you mean that a sports recording over 3 hours will split into two parts but will otherwise be perfect? Am I correct in saying then,that besides the split,and being less efficient with space than NTFS,I can record happily for hours on end with my FAT 32 USB external drive and retain the recordings for a no of weeks if I wish and will only be limited by the size of my hard drive?

Yes. Absolutely. Of course if you want to join those file back together you can copy the TS files to a PC..... but when joined it wont play back on the box itself, but they could be archived to disc to edit/encode in another format for playback on other devices.

And by the way the max size of the drive you can format in FAT32 is 32G on certain OS's (eg Win XP). This Free Tool bypasses all that.

dowtchaboy

Brian P wrote: »

Do you mean that a sports recording over 3 hours will split into two parts but will otherwise be perfect? Am I correct in saying then,that besides the split,and being less efficient with space than NTFS,I can record happily for hours on end with my FAT 32 USB external drive and retain the recordings for a no of weeks if I wish and will only be limited by the size of my hard drive?

Yep - it's really quite handy, unlike the Sky box where you can only watch it on that box. You can unplug the drive and play the files from it on a PC/Mac - suggest you install latest VLC - it's great at handling all sorts of formats. These files (presuming they will be .ts files) are not very efficient though - seems to be about 1G per halfhour (or hour - can't remember) so not brilliant for building up a library or for ending to relatives abroad.
If you end up watching some of these on a laptop in bed, say - the quality of the picture, and the detail you will notice, on a screen less than 2 feet away is amazing.

Brian P

STB wrote: »

And by the way the max size of the drive you can format in FAT32 is 32G on certain OS's (eg Win XP). This Free Tool bypasses all that.

My HD is now showing FAT32 thanks to this extremely simple tool. I'll get the decoder from Lidl on Thursday.Thanks again to dowtchaboy and STB.:)

dowtchaboy

Brian P wrote: »

My HD is now showing FAT32 thanks to this extremely simple tool. I'll get the decoder from Lidl on Thursday.Thanks again to dowtchaboy and STB.:)

Glad you are sorted.
However - just one point - I am NOT a Windows expert but AFAIK you do NOT need that tool for a simple format of the drive to FAT32. That tool, it appears, is needed in the rarer case where you need to do this format during an install of Windows, when, for some reason, the Format tool will only create a 32G maximum drive (partition??):

You cannot format a volume larger than 32 gigabytes (GB) in size using the FAT32 file system during the Windows XP installation process.

I don't think you need to do anything other than rightclick/format/select FAT32 under normal circumstances. However, using that tool isn't going to hurt!

BTW: even though NTFS is considered to be better than FAT32, if you are in the habit of transferring stuff back and forth between PCs, external Hard disk and Apple Macs you will need to stick to FAT32 - Mac's can read but can't write to NTFS drives without some additional software.

Brian P

dowtchaboy wrote: »

Glad you are sorted.
However - just one point - I am NOT a Windows expert but AFAIK you do NOT need that tool for a simple format of the drive to FAT32. That tool, it appears, is needed in the rarer case where you need to do this format during an install of Windows, when, for some reason, the Format tool will only create a 32G maximum drive (partition??):



I don't think you need to do anything other than rightclick/format/select FAT32 under normal circumstances. However, using that tool isn't going to hurt!

Believe me I tried your suggestion numerous times and one other "fix" which I Googled rather than STB's link which totally intimidated me due to the amount of instructions:rolleyes: but for some reason "Format" would not allow me to change from NTSC to FAT32 and didn't even give me the option of changing to FAT32. Luckily the first link in STB's "fix" changed the drive to FAT32 almost immediately and I was thankfully able to ignore everything else.... but I'm becoming less illiterate daily thanks to the help of you and others.Thank s again.

Mark#1

Hi.

I'm not too interested in the PVR functionality of this Lidl machine - just fancy a basic DTT solution for now.

Anyone care to offer thoughts on whether this machine should/would be integratable into an AV system controlled by a Logitech Harmony One remote?

I'll nip over to AVForums & Logitech's site later on anyway, but if any of you guys know, do tell.


Thanks,

Mark

martin12

Sold out within hours nationwide

Brian P

yep:mad:Approx. 40 sold in my local within a few hours.Doesn't really matter anyway as I had a rush of blood yesterday and ordered the Ferguson Ariva120 combo box off eBay for approx.€90 delivered.I have Sky which I'll hang on to but my curiosity got the better of me and I need a toy to play with.

nowhersjohnny

Got one this mornning, people where buying them in 3s and 4s, they where sold out in 1 minute in Dundalk,

I have been messing with it and it does support PVR functions, but you have to format the hard drive to 80gis or less in FAT32, anything above this crashed the box. (i used... EASEUS Partition Master 9.1.0 Home Edition) free from filehippo

It plays divx and mp3 files but not mkv. Supprised

The record timer works well.

Nice system for the money.

dambarude

Got one of these today.. but it won't work. It shows 'In it' on the LCD but nothing appears on the screen? Any solutions?!

dahamster

dambarude wrote: »

Got one of these today.. but it won't work. It shows 'In it' on the LCD but nothing appears on the screen? Any solutions?!

Thats init-> initialisation. You need to go through the installation process. Press menu - setup - installation(or similar). Make sure u have an aerial connected.

dambarude

But shouldn't something show up on screen? Everything's connected but nothing appears on the screen - so I don't know what is actually happening (if you know what I mean).

MrSneeg

is the box connected by HDMI lead, if so select the HDMI input via you TV remote, AV or SOURCE or INPUT button on TV remote.

dambarude

No, I've had to connect it by SCART (our TV is reasonably old).

Greenpiece

I have same issue as you, tried with older Sony set via scart lead.

So I connected the stb via hdmi to my newer Samsung tv and was able to go through the setup menu and tune it it. Then I tried, again using scart lead with my Samsung and it worked fine. So stb is working fine and scart lead is ok.

When I went back to old Sony set again it does not seem to recognize the stb via the scart. I am now looking for scart to phono type lead to see if that may work instead.

Nyquistic

I got this to work from the "init" display while connected to an old TV via SCART, so that does work. Sometimes a set needs a 5V switching voltage on one of the SCART pins before it will display anything, but you may be able to get something from the "AV" key on the remote of the TV.

Nice little unit, records fine in SD and HD and finds all the Irish TV and radio channels and also records radio. I used a Tevion 8GB USB stick (recent deal in Aldi) and it was already formatted as FAT32.

One thing though: you can't watch one channel while recording another ... even on timer, it will switch from what you're watching to the channel you set to record. Still not bad as an extra feature though, and all for €49.99!

Greenpiece

Yes agree, good value. Just tried same set up connecting via scart to a Philips without any problems so must be tv scart specific as you say.

Media centre worked fine as well just plugged in USB stick and no problem. How many hours SD will an 8GB stick record?

Does anybody know a work around to the 5V scart problem?