best brick and mortor store

frankie2shoes

I know we have a sticky for stores but I was wondering if anyone has any experience of decent showrooms/ sales people with real knowledge here in ireland. Ideally I'd like to be able to see the various setups working before commiting 300 plus euro on, for example, a humax (or similar)and saorview box. I've been to a place in kilkenny but left as they'd never even heard of the humax.

watty

There are none.
Some may say "Richer Sounds" but their background is HiFi. They are not great on Digital Receiver box advice.

A recent Analyst report said actually that dedicated Electrical stores are doomed as Supermarkets sell gear and Online is cheaper. Part of the reason they cite is the lack of staff expertise. You'll generally get in reality no better advice than Argos or Tesco. Which is useless.

Another aspect is of course the rent.

evilivor

frankie2shoes wrote: »

I know we have a sticky for stores but I was wondering if anyone has any experience of decent showrooms/ sales people with real knowledge here in ireland. Ideally I'd like to be able to see the various setups working before commiting 300 plus euro on, for example, a humax (or similar)and saorview box. I've been to a place in kilkenny but left as they'd never even heard of the humax.

Machines like the Humax Freesat+ box are not meant to be sold in Ireland - initially at least you had to give a UK post code when purchasing one.

Yamanoto

frankie2shoes wrote: »

I know we have a sticky for stores but I was wondering if anyone has any experience of decent showrooms/ sales people with real knowledge here in ireland. Ideally I'd like to be able to see the various setups working before commiting 300 plus euro on, for example, a humax (or similar)and saorview box. I've been to a place in kilkenny but left as they'd never even heard of the humax.

DID in Kilkenny carried the Sagem Freesat box at one stage, but their product & platform knowledge (Saorview included) was painfully sub-standard.

Youtube has plenty more reviews of the Humax Foxsat, allowing you a look at the EPG, recording and playback functions etc.

Also, you'll pick up the Echostar Freesat+ 500GB PVR for considerably less than €300 from Amazon.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/EchoStar-HDS-600RS-SlingLoaded-Anywhere-recorder/dp/B004S9OT92/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1336322352&sr=8-1

zg3409

very few places even have a good selection, those that do often don't actually have them connected nor the remote to hand.

http://www.youtube.com/user/tvtradedave/videos
TV trade have some good videos of user interfaces of some boxes.

Also check online reviews. In particular bad reviews from Irish users.

On boards you have lots of users which have done it all so give your specs and we can advise best. Most shops have a vested interest to get certain stock out the door.

Buyer beware

rurs

Freesat.ie have a small shop in Fairview. I found Michael there helpful. If you contact him beforehand, maybe he could have what you're interested in set up. I believe he sells the Humax boxes amongst others.

t c

If you are in Kilkenny this may be a bit out of the way.

http://www.satworld.ie/

They are in Kmmage in Dublin and i have dealt with them. Whenever I call they always have time to explain and show things. They also do Humax.

Hope this helps.

TC

Yamanoto

t c wrote: »

http://www.satworld.ie/

They are in Kmmage in Dublin and i have dealt with them. Whenever I call they always have time to explain and show things. They also do Humax.
TC

Sounds good, but at €334.00 for the Humax, picking it up elsewhere may be wise.

http://satworld.ie/product-info.php?Humax_Foxsat_HDR_500gb_PVR_Freesat__Satellite_Receiver-pid253.html

t c

A bit pricey, agreed, but OP said he just wanted to "see the various set-ups", but not necessarily buy here.

But saying that, the same box is about £220, (Amazon, Freesat web site) convert to Euro, about €270, €60 odd Euro for piece of mind if anything goes wrong...........not too bad.

Humax will not sell a refurbished unit to Ireland.

By the by, I did not buy mine here, have it about 12 months and was hard and VERY expensive here then, but off Flea Bay, nor do I have any affiliation to Sat World, only found them helpful and good to deal with.



TC

Yamanoto

Got mine on Ebay too

Only thing I miss is the Heineken Cup, but happy to be rid of Murdoch tbh.

frankie2shoes

Thanks for all the info there guys. I think I would be willing to pay extra for the peace of mind. I believe if the shop has gone to the trouble of acquiring all the knowledge to make sales then they should reap the reward. I will however haggle like hell and have the internet prices to hand.
My plan is to have the humax set up along with a basic enough saorview box and control it all from the wonderful logitech harmony one remote I've recently gotton. For rte catch-up I already have rte player thru my ps3.
Really like the look of the echostar hds-600rs though. great price for what seems like a super little box