Smart TV's , down with Sky.

prech101

Hi all,

Looking to rid of sky, good service but a bit of a rip off price wise. I also find myself watching less and less TV, too much x factor and other types of mind numbing crap, do like a couple of series, Board-walk empire, Game of thrones etc

Looking for members experience of this.

So going to buy new Smart TV (haven't decided which one yet)

Options available in replacing sky when using smart TV

"Netflix"
"Sky go" ( a well wishers a/c)
"Realplayers"
Magnet TV (get selection of channels for having BB service (about 12 channels, RTE1,2 ... a few news, fx etc)
SoarView - do smart Tv's have this installed

Drawbacks "Sports" NFL in particular but do like to watch a bit of Prem also, less and less though getting a bit tired of these overpaid babies jumping on the ground.

So has anybody made the switch to TV via BB, drawbacks, benefits???

Tried a free-view Satellite dish a few years back, didn't work out, to much hassle jumping from channel to channel, so ease of use is also a big factor.

would be nice to drop that €70 a month bill to sky though!

thanks in advance.

watty

"Freesat HD" box as easy or easier than Sky, Generic FTA is poor.
Any TV that is suitable to buy gets "Saorview" via aerial
http://www.saorview.ie/products-retailers/saorview-approved-product-listings/

Some TVs have ethernet, but usually cheaper to add it via a BD Live Player that has Internet/Ethernet.

There is no TV via Broadband. Magnet is cut down Cable Pay-TV using dedicated IPTV on their network instead of UPC's DVB-C digital Cable. Both UPC and Magnet give broadband too. Magnet is only good in the the few places with fibre, otherwise UPC cable is far better for Broadband and optional pay TV.

You can stream video via Public Internet. It's hardly TV quality. You need UPC level of quality of Internet (or Fibre) and a 120GByte to 240Gb cap. Most services are 10Gbyte to 60Gbyte caps.

Skerries

UPC is 250gb and 500GB cap depending on the package you get

prech101

Cheers for the info.

Yep happen to be in a fibre area with magnet, have to say great service.

I was looking for people experience of dropping sky or UPC and going it alone, via free sites/players( news, docs) to actually paying for a monthly service from the likes of Netflix/NFL Game pass or something on those lines.

Smart TV's are they worth the money at the moment. Any recommendations??

jjspine

I recently dropped sky just before netflix arrived so it was good timing. i download mostly and have done for a while and never even used the sky !!

Stream the football download my movies -boxsets and have netflix now for a top up every now and again.

as said above sky are rip off and i think there going to lose a lot of customers now as more and more wake up to the wonderful world of the www

Minstrel27

prech101 wrote: »

Smart TV's are they worth the money at the moment. Any recommendations??

The term Smart TV gives me a laugh. What exactly makes a tv smart? Smart would suggest it can learn. I have one and it is gimmicky nonsense

Bad Panda

Minstrel27 wrote: »

The term Smart TV gives me a laugh. What exactly makes a tv smart? Smart would suggest it can learn. I have one and it is gimmicky nonsense

I guess you don't call 'them' smartphones so :rolleyes:

You'll be left behind technology wise with such an obtuse view. Maybe they're not for you now, but they're going to be.

Nothingbetter2d

prech101 wrote: »

Hi all,

Looking to rid of sky, good service but a bit of a rip off price wise. I also find myself watching less and less TV, too much x factor and other types of mind numbing crap, do like a couple of series, Board-walk empire, Game of thrones etc

Looking for members experience of this.

So going to buy new Smart TV (haven't decided which one yet)

Options available in replacing sky when using smart TV

"Netflix"
"Sky go" ( a well wishers a/c)
"Realplayers"
Magnet TV (get selection of channels for having BB service (about 12 channels, RTE1,2 ... a few news, fx etc)
SoarView - do smart Tv's have this installed

Drawbacks "Sports" NFL in particular but do like to watch a bit of Prem also, less and less though getting a bit tired of these overpaid babies jumping on the ground.

So has anybody made the switch to TV via BB, drawbacks, benefits???

Tried a free-view Satellite dish a few years back, didn't work out, to much hassle jumping from channel to channel, so ease of use is also a big factor.

would be nice to drop that €70 a month bill to sky though!

thanks in advance.

build yourself a media centre pc like i did

step 1. buy a combo DVB S2/DVB T2 tuner card (www.hauppauge.co.uk) make good combos that work with windows 7 media centre (mine is a HVR4000 MCE edition)

step 2. build a pc able to run windows 7 64bit decently and make sure you have 1 or 2 Terabytes of storage space in it (For recording tv shows). Also give the pc wifi capability (for netflix/sky go)

step 3. Buy an indoor amplified saorview approved antenna (DID do one for €35) and an old sky dish (if u dont have one already)

once all set up u can go through all the scanned channels and block out the crap ones.... you end up with 86 decent freeview channels inc the irish ones. and no sub fee.... windows media centre will even let you reorder the channels to suit so you can find your favourites easier.

NOTE: when tuning the satellite channels do a FULL TRANSPONDER SCAN or you will end up missing loads of them cos microsoft havent updated the regional transponder lists in ages.

dharn

so essentially you are building your on combo box or freesat recorder or am i missing something here

Minstrel27

Bad Panda wrote: »

I guess you don't call 'them' smartphones so :rolleyes:

You'll be left behind technology wise with such an obtuse view. Maybe they're not for you now, but they're going to be.

I really didn't think that my post would offend someone. I suppose you do get all sorts on the internet. Roll your eyes to high heaven all you want.

wil

Minstrel27 wrote: »

The term Smart TV gives me a laugh. What exactly makes a tv smart? Smart would suggest it can learn. I have one and it is gimmicky nonsense

Have to agree. Have a Samsung, pretty TV but not all that smart.
Its not for a lack of technology, more the implementation. It has everything under the bonnet but using it is clumsy and the advanced remote still cant cut it. For a Tv you'd really prefer not to messing with the firmware just to make it work.
The limited apps are gimmicky and nowhere near as useable as on a smartphone or tablet.
The active 3D probably isnt as good as LGs passive, not a big deal.
That said I havent seen a more desireable looking TV in terms of looks and 2D picture quality.

Inclined to agree with Watty (always a first time:)) a separate internet connected BD or a media box for streaming or perhaps a HDMI connected tablet for apps would be a more useable, cheaper and upgradeable option.

Samsung do have an app to allowing control via Samsung smartphone which i havent tried.
Apparently there are several new techs on the way soon including gesture remotes, OLED screen and glassless 3D so its more a case of smart is as smart does.

evilivor

wil wrote: »

Minstrel27 wrote: »

The term Smart TV gives me a laugh. What exactly makes a tv smart? Smart would suggest it can learn. I have one and it is gimmicky nonsense

Have to agree. Have a Samsung, pretty TV but not all that smart.
Its not for a lack of technology, more the implementation. It has everything under the bonnet but using it is clumsy and the advanced remote still cant cut it. For a Tv you'd really prefer not to messing with the firmware just to make it work.
The limited apps are gimmicky and nowhere near as useable as on a smartphone or tablet.
The active 3D probably isnt as good as LGs passive, not a big deal.
That said I havent seen a more desireable looking TV in terms of looks and 2D picture quality.

Inclined to agree with Watty (always a first time:)) a separate internet connected BD or a media box for streaming or perhaps a HDMI connected tablet for apps would be a more useable, cheaper and upgradeable option.

Samsung do have an app to allowing control via Samsung smartphone which i havent tried.
Apparently there are several new techs on the way soon including gesture remotes, OLED screen and glassless 3D so its more a case of smart is as smart does.

AppleTV is nice add on box for high quality film streaming - great selection also has Netflix integration , YouTube, Internet radio and access to one's music collection.

prech101

thanks all for the info esp (Nothingbetter2d)

Think i will steer clear of smart TV and use device like suggested for a while to stream etc.

When i get set up, I will update.

Down with Sky!!!

novice

wil wrote: »

The limited apps are gimmicky and nowhere near as useable as on a smartphone or tablet.

Agreed, but being able to pop up the favourite cartoon from youtube for the nipper in a few button presses from a single remote control is nice.
The apps will follow, once Samsung don't do an about turn on their OS. Netflix must be any day now. iPlayer looks great in the UK. LG have SkyPlayer, so I'm sure Samsung will follow.

Samsung do have an app to allowing control via Samsung smartphone which i havent tried.

And, very surprisingly for Samsung, an iPhone app too, allowing control of some of the apps (e.g. youtube) as well as 'normal' TV features.

Guffy

Was in looking at one of the 7 series and the sales clerk said that if I hook my sky box up to the telly subscriptionless, the telly would decode and provide a lot of the channels, the free to air ones I'm guessing. Is this true and how would you do it

excollier

Well, practically any tv will show fta channels from a Sky box. No need for a smart tv, or am I misreading your post, or missing something here? Apologies if I am.

sham69

I have a samsung smart tv 7 series and love it.
The 3d is a bit gimmicky but some of the titles are stunning on it.
I have netflix, youtube and a few more apps and they all work fine.
I stream all my media from my mac to it wirelessly and all plays perfectly (even 1080p MKV's)

As for the sky aspect.
All you do is connect your sky cable to the tv, scan and away you go.
You will only get the free to air channels of course but the HD ones look great on the TV.

Ronnie Raygun

gufc21 wrote: »

... if I hook my sky box up to the telly subscriptionless, the telly would decode and provide a lot of the channels, the free to air ones I'm guessing. Is this true and how would you do it

The Sky box decodes the channels, nothing to do with the tv. The tv only has to deal with the HDMI, scart or RF output from the box.

Some Samsung models have a built in satellite tuner, mentioned here: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=80422056&postcount=10

These models will provide the FTA channels with no need for the Sky box or other separate satellite receiver.

zg3409

Attempting to answer the initial question as to what service is best it depends on many factors. The most important one is content. If you cannot get the shows you want then you are with the wrong service or package.

The basic UPC and Sky differ on what channels they provide. Sky offers more total number of channels than UPC
Basic Free to Air Satellite at FreeSAT cannot do/offer any pay channels.

Streaming services such as SkyGo, Netflix, Apple TV, rely very much on a really good internet connection. The channels they offer are very limited even when comparing to basic UPC and Sky.

If you want premium sports you need pay TV. If you want premium movies Sky offers the most but at a high price.

Much of what "Smart TVs" offer is a bit of a con. A laptop with a HDMI connector, connected to any TV will give more than a smart TV can offer. It can work with more "players" more services etc. A laptop in addition to Sky, with a netflix subscription, and access to Sky go and various players offers loads and loads of content.

In general 60% of people would be happy with subscription free FreeSat+HD and Saorview. This allows pause, record, series linking etc.

If you want premium sports or films you need to pay unless you go down illegal routes.

So have a look at the channel lineups of the Free and pay offerings and consider which TV programmes you can live without and which are essential. Nothing is as easy to use as a Sky+HD box with subscription but you pay highly for the service.

snow mad

Hi

thinking of getting rid of sky myself, I have apple tv and a PS3 so i already stream my sports trying to decide between free sat and a dream box what do people think of both of these

livEwirE

Does anyone know of a combo box that when connected with 2 satellite feeds will emulate a sky+ hd box's series link abilities? Series link seems to be the one thing that a sky+ hd box is FAR superior in doing than any combo box If it wasn't for this one thing I'd have dumped sky a long time ago!

zg3409

livEwirE wrote: »

Does anyone know of a combo box that when connected with 2 satellite feeds will emulate a sky+ hd box's series link abilities? Series link seems to be the one thing that a sky+ hd box is FAR superior in doing than any combo box If it wasn't for this one think I'd have dumped sky a long time ago!

There are loads and loads of threads on this. I think this thread is for Smart TVs. Start a new thread if you want more info.

Basically no. For proper series link, in simple terms, you need two boxes. Box one is the Saorview approved + box (there is only one). This allows series linking on Irish channels.
http://www.powercity.ie/?par=10-23-WP6500&pages=&prod=WP6500&brands=WALKER&image=
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056788729&page=3
For UK channels use a Freeview + HD box. This gives series linking on UK channels via Sat.
http://www.freesat.co.uk/products/freesat-box-range
Linux based combo boxes can also do this but are only for hobbiests and not straight forward.

livEwirE

Cheers zg3409, sorry I didn't mean to hijack this thread