Freesat?

coldstream4444

Any one use Freesat? I was told it would not work in Ireland, but see it for sale online?

NIMAN

I, and many others, have it and it works perfectly well in Ireland as the signal from the satellite covers Ireland with its footprint.

Buy a satellite dish, a receiver, get them installed and you're off with free TV, including 5 x HD channels.

If you have any other questions feel free to ask.

Perhaps it was Freeview they were chatting about when saying it would not work in Ireland?

coldstream4444

Great, thank you for the prompt reply!

NIMAN

Its officially only available for the UK market, thats why you might not find the branded boxes for sale in the likes of Argos in Ireland.

But I am sure plenty of people stock them.

coldstream4444

Ok, thanks again.

Maudi

NIMAN wrote: »

I, and many others, have it and it works perfectly well in Ireland as the signal from the satellite covers Ireland with its footprint.

Buy a satellite dish, a receiver, get them installed and you're off with free TV, including 5 x HD channels.

If you have any other questions feel free to ask.

Perhaps it was Freeview they were chatting about when saying it would not work in Ireland?

hi we are on free sat and are happy enough wit it.except we dont get the channel 4s i heard they can be manually reset any idea how this is done?

dowtchaboy

By the way if you are looking for a Freesat box in the Republic DON'T buy the one they still sell in Tesco for €180! It's an old Grundig box that is only €20 or so on eBay!

Get a "Freesat+HD" box in the UK (Argos is NI for instance), or the Ferguson Ariva 120 which does the Freesat channels and Saorview channels in one box though it does need occasional retuning when channels change frequencies - a true Freesat box will do this retuning automatically, and a true Saorview box has some advantages - it depends on how confident you feel in making changes or if you just want to "fit and forget".

NIMAN

@ Maudi

Can't understand why you don't get the C4 channels. I do fine.

Did you try a retune to see if your system picks them up? What sstem you using btw, I use a Humax Foxsat.

What postcode did you use when first installing?

Minstrel27

Maudi wrote: »

hi we are on free sat and are happy enough wit it.except we dont get the channel 4s i heard they can be manually reset any idea how this is done?

Which Freesat receiver are you using?

coldstream4444

Minstrel27 wrote: »

Which Freesat receiver are you using?

Sorry I have no idea how to help. I am considering buying Freesat and just looking for recommendations.

dharn

there are tons of freesat threads here on boards, read them all, of course free sat works, many people mix up freesat with freeview which is the english version of our saorview system ,which uses uhf aerial

holidaysong

dharn wrote: »

many people mix up freesat with freeview which is the english version of our saorview system

Many people also mix up England and the United Kingdom.

dharn

holidaysong wrote: »

Many people also mix up England and the United Kingdom.

Very helpful

watty

English free = saor Irish
Not to do with England. They speak English in the UK.

Maudi

Minstrel27 wrote: »

Maudi wrote: »

hi we are on free sat and are happy enough wit it.except we dont get the channel 4s i heard they can be manually reset any idea how this is done?

Which Freesat receiver are you using?

uhh...(as manuel says)i know nothing..we are on on a sky box.subscription paid in full but lapsd..so i suppose the answer is....sky dish and box..

excollier

So, not a Freesat box at all, then.

Piscator

NIMAN wrote: »

I, and many others, have it and it works perfectly well in Ireland as the signal from the satellite covers Ireland with its footprint.

Buy a satellite dish, a receiver, get them installed and you're off with free TV, including 5 x HD channels.

If you have any other questions feel free to ask.

Perhaps it was Freeview they were chatting about when saying it would not work in Ireland?

On a different but related matter -- could you recommend any make/model of TV that has internal tuners capable of picking up both Freesat and Soarview? I know that there are dual receiver boxes available, but I'm thinking about buying a new tv (46") and would like to avoid the clutter of receiver boxes if possible.
Please excuse if I disrupt this thread!

hibble

watty wrote: »

English free = saor Irish
Not to do with England. They speak English in the UK.

Actually, without wanting to digress, more than a few people would be upset if they only spoke English in the U.K. There are at least 4 other languages spoken on a regular basis, 2 of these have their own channels which broadcast on the platform.
Welsh, Gaelic, Norse, the lads in Cornwall have a language of their own.
There are official signs in the first 3 languages - don't know about Cornish signs.

NIMAN

Piscator wrote: »

On a different but related matter -- could you recommend any make/model of TV that has internal tuners capable of picking up both Freesat and Soarview? I know that there are dual receiver boxes available, but I'm thinking about buying a new tv (46") and would like to avoid the clutter of receiver boxes if possible.
Please excuse if I disrupt this thread!

Not 100% sure if there is a TV that can do both.

Very few manufacturers made TVs with built-in Freesat tuners. Panasonic definitely did. Think also some Sonys did. but trying to get one that also works with Saorview may be difficult.

emaherx

NIMAN wrote: »

Not 100% sure if there is a TV that can do both.

Very few manufacturers made TVs with built-in Freesat tuners. Panasonic definitely did. Think also some Sonys did. but trying to get one that also works with Saorview may be difficult.

Sony ones work fine (Not saorview approved), but Mheg5 text works(a bit slow though).

I believe Sony has discontinued these FreesatHD models though. (Maybe old stock available some where??)

Samsung freesatHD TV's may be the choice at the moment. (can't confirm Saorview reception) Also very expensive 46" ~ £1300+

Maudi

excollier wrote: »

So, not a Freesat box at all, then.

oh ...i see what you mean now..as in we have a sky box....so a sky box and free view box are different?and id need a recommended reciever to pick up all the free view?is that it?

NIMAN

Stop using the term Freeview, that is what people in the UK pick up with their roof top aerial. Its only adding confusion to things here! I think you mean Free to Air TV. You can't really buy a box to receive Freeview in Ireland unless you are close enough to either the border or Wales to pick up a signal, using a roof top aerial (not satellite dish).

Freesat is a tradename of a satellite service in the UK. Its basically an Electronic Programme Guide and software that is on a certain (Freesat) branded receiver, which then downloads the channels that are signed up to the Freesat service and it arranges them on your receiver in a certain order based on the postcode you entered.

Of course cheap branded Free To Air receivers from the hardware stores or B&Q or Homebase can also get these channels too, as they are free to receive, but they are NOT Freesat branded and as such NOT Freesat.

And as you ask, old Sky boxes will also pick up free to air channels as they are being beamed to the dish anyway. FTA from Sky, like what you get if you cancel a full Sky subscription and your old card will still pick up certain channels, is usually called FreeSat from Sky, but its NOT Freesat, if thats not too confusing.

joolsveer

If you have read of the contents of this site http://www.freesat.co.uk/ it will give you the low down on what Freesat is and the channels you can expect to receive.

I use this stb http://freesat.co.uk/products/freesat-box-range/humax-freesat-hd-digital-tv-recorder-500gb and I am very happy with it.

creedp

NIMAN wrote: »

Stop using the term Freeview, that is what people in the UK pick up with their roof top aerial. Its only adding confusion to things here! I think you mean Free to Air TV. You can't really buy a box to receive Freeview in Ireland unless you are close enough to either the border or Wales to pick up a signal, using a roof top aerial (not satellite dish).

Freesat is a tradename of a satellite service in the UK. Its basically an Electronic Programme Guide and software that is on a certain (Freesat) branded receiver, which then downloads the channels that are signed up to the Freesat service and it arranges them on your receiver in a certain order based on the postcode you entered.

Of course cheap branded Free To Air receivers from the hardware stores or B&Q or Homebase can also get these channels too, as they are free to receive, but they are NOT Freesat branded and as such NOT Freesat.

And as you ask, old Sky boxes will also pick up free to air channels as they are being beamed to the dish anyway. FTA from Sky, like what you get if you cancel a full Sky subscription and your old card will still pick up certain channels, is usually called FreeSat from Sky, but its NOT Freesat, if thats not too confusing.

At the risk of being hammered here for asking a stupid Q - I am clueless with this stuff - I have a panasonic tv that is saorview enabled and curently picks up these channels. I also have a satellite dish feed to this TV and want to buy a satellite receive to get free-to-air satellite channels. Should I buy a simple satellite receiver and plug this into TV or would I be better of getting a combo unit like the Ferguson 120 and feeding both feeds through the box? Would I be right in thinking that I could then record both saorview and satellite channels onto HDD via the box whereas if I don't have a combo unit I will only be able to record the satellite channels?

khumbu

Piscator wrote: »

On a different but related matter -- could you recommend any make/model of TV that has internal tuners capable of picking up both Freesat and Soarview? I know that there are dual receiver boxes available, but I'm thinking about buying a new tv (46") and would like to avoid the clutter of receiver boxes if possible.
Please excuse if I disrupt this thread!

The following models from Samsung have DVB-T & DVB-S2 tuners capable of picking up FTA satellite & terrestrial but they are neither freesat or saorview approved.
32" Samsung UE32D5700ZF €480
37" Samsung UE37D5700ZF €590
40" Samsung UE40D5700ZF €590
46" Samsung UE46D5700 €800

huggs2

+1 for the Humax freesat HDR. I am extremely pleased with mine.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Humax-500GB-Satellite-Receiver-Recorder/dp/B0039J42LM/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

coldstream4444

watty wrote: »

English free = saor Irish
Not to do with England. They speak English in the UK.

They speak English and I hope better than your post.

NIMAN

creedp wrote: »

At the risk of being hammered here for asking a stupid Q - I am clueless with this stuff - I have a panasonic tv that is saorview enabled and curently picks up these channels. I also have a satellite dish feed to this TV and want to buy a satellite receive to get free-to-air satellite channels. Should I buy a simple satellite receiver and plug this into TV or would I be better of getting a combo unit like the Ferguson 120 and feeding both feeds through the box? Would I be right in thinking that I could then record both saorview and satellite channels onto HDD via the box whereas if I don't have a combo unit I will only be able to record the satellite channels?

What is the model number, as it might have a Freesat tuner already built-in to it?

Piscator

khumbu wrote: »

The following models from Samsung have DVB-T & DVB-S2 tuners capable of picking up FTA satellite & terrestrial but they are neither freesat or saorview approved.
32" Samsung UE32D5700ZF €480
37" Samsung UE37D5700ZF €590
40" Samsung UE40D5700ZF €590
46" Samsung UE46D5700 €800

Much obliged khumbu. I'll check them out.

Piscator

NIMAN wrote: »

Not 100% sure if there is a TV that can do both.

Very few manufacturers made TVs with built-in Freesat tuners. Panasonic definitely did. Think also some Sonys did. but trying to get one that also works with Saorview may be difficult.

Thanks NIMAN I'll continue my quest

dharn

Iwas thinking of getting the humax hd hdr to recieve freesat but also thinking of connecting second lnb to recieve from other satellites eg 13e but have been told that this would not work...if you are going to go with more than one satellite do not use the Humax Freesat+ box - it is designed just for Freesat channels. You can add extra ones but will loose most of your freesat features.
that is to quote the reply i got from a dealer, can anyone explain

dodzy

dharn wrote: »

Iwas thinking of getting the humax hd hdr to recieve freesat but also thinking of connecting second lnb to recieve from other satellites eg 13e but have been told that this would not work...if you are going to go with more than one satellite do not use the Humax Freesat+ box - it is designed just for Freesat channels. You can add extra ones but will loose most of your freesat features.
that is to quote the reply i got from a dealer, can anyone explain

http://www.astra2d.com/diseqc.html

dharn

you were up early dodzy ,thanks very much for that link, that seems to answer my question, i was surprised to to be told that the humax would not work with other satellites as it has a cam slot for pay tv cards etc

tango alpha

ya freeview doesn't work here to the best of my limited knowledge :P i have dish and receiver i bought in b&q and it gives me loads of channels.. such as bbc's, channel 4 itv's etc... keeps me going

corcaigh07

NIMAN wrote: »

Not 100% sure if there is a TV that can do both.

Very few manufacturers made TVs with built-in Freesat tuners. Panasonic definitely did. Think also some Sonys did. but trying to get one that also works with Saorview may be difficult.

back home, we have a 32'' Sony that has Freesat and Saorview, its a fantastic TV, can switch from one to the other with ease. I forget the model number but its definitely been discontinued since. the same line had the same spec but bigger screens as well.