Freeview HD boxes that don't force you to choose either Freeview or Saorview?

byrnefm

Hi,

I can't remember if I ever saw an answer for this but are there any Freeview HD boxes which do not force you to select between the NI Muxes and the ROI Muxes?

For example, the Technika Freeview HD box forces you to choose one or the other when you set it up.

A colleague asked me the same question just yesterday so I thought I'd post it here. I'm sure there are others who are near NI / Wales and want to be able to watch both Freeview and Saorview on the one box also!

Apologies if this has been answered previously...

elsie1b

A freeview HD box will receive both services .
Granted it does get you to choose a country and maybe put saorview stations in the 800's.

MarkK

byrnefm wrote: »

For example, the Technika Freeview HD box forces you to choose one or the other when you set it up.

If you choose "UK" does it not put the Irish channels on 800, 801 etc?

You should then be able to move the channels areound to new numbers as suits yourself.

byrnefm

Hi Elsie1b,

The problem is that some Freeview HD boxes won't let you tune in two different Mux regions together - it forces you to select one or the other. For example, the Technika box will not tune in both NI Freeview and Saorview together when doing a scan, since it's really designed for the UK where you'd only want your local region tuned in (so your local BBC1 doesn't end up in 800s as a different region's BBC1 took 001).

I'm trying to find out if there are any Freeview HD boxes which don't force you to decide on one region to tune in - or at least let you add extra muxes in manually (which the Technika box also does not let you do).

byrnefm

MarkK wrote: »

If you choose "UK" does it not put the Irish channels on 800, 801 etc?

You should then be able to move the channels areound to new numbers as suits yourself.

Hi Mark,

I think you posted your reply at the same time as me Hopefully my previous post explains the issue If you choose "N Ireland", some boxes will only tune in Muxes which have an ID of "N Ireland" and doesn't add any channels into the 800s.

elsie1b

byrnefm wrote: »

Hi Elsie1b,

The problem is that some Freeview HD boxes won't let you tune in two different Mux regions together - it forces you to select one or the other. For example, the Technika box will not tune in both NI Freeview and Saorview together when doing a scan, since it's really designed for the UK where you'd only want your local region tuned in (so your local BBC1 doesn't end up in 800s as a different region's BBC1 took 001).

I'm trying to find out if there are any Freeview HD boxes which don't force you to decide on one region to tune in - or at least let you add extra muxes in manually (which the Technika box also does not let you do).

I have a krystel which receives freeview HD and saorview together.
Hadn't heard of other freeview HD boxes not receiving both services together ,but had heard of problems in U.K with strong Welsh broadcasts interfering with English ones.

byrnefm

elsie1b wrote: »

I have a krystel which receives freeview HD and saorview together.
Hadn't heard of other freeview HD boxes not receiving both services together ,but had heard of problems in U.K with strong Welsh broadcasts interfering with English ones.

Thanks for the info! Could you tell me where you bought that particular box?

MarkK

byrnefm wrote: »

If you choose "N Ireland", some boxes will only tune in Muxes which have an ID of "N Ireland" and doesn't add any channels into the 800s.

Do you have one of these boxes yourself?

According to this post over on Digitalspy the Technika has no problem with French and UK DTT at the same time.

http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showpost.php?p=59198576&postcount=1378

byrnefm

MarkK wrote: »

Do you have one of these boxes yourself?

According to this post over on Digitalspy the Technika has no problem with French and UK DTT at the same time.

http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showpost.php?p=59198576&postcount=1378

I did briefly a few months back - bought it for my brother who wanted a cheapie box that would pick up Saorview (he can't pick up Freeview where he lives), so he didn't mind. It was £30 I think on sale. I can't remember the specific model number but it gave no option for adding in extra Muxes and the 800s were empty.

Gerry Wicklow

I have a Technisat HDFV box. During lift conditions I get 3 UK regions. Although the box tunes and shows the channels, it only populates the full EPG for the selected region, giving only now/next for the others. However it does give the full EPG for SaorView at the same time. Unfortunately it doesn't show SaorView channels properly due to some bug with the MHEG5.

Digifriendly

I have a Sony Freeview HD Hard Disk recorder (HDT500) and there is no choosing between countries in the set up. It automatically scans in both Freeview and Saorview channels with the latter in the 800's. Sometimes overnight it will lose the Saorvoew channels and you have to manually tune them in. Also limited Saorvew EPG with minimal information though it has 7 day guide.

jonnygee

byrnefm wrote: »

I did briefly a few months back - bought it for my brother who wanted a cheapie box that would pick up Saorview (he can't pick up Freeview where he lives), so he didn't mind. It was £30 I think on sale. I can't remember the specific model number but it gave no option for adding in extra Muxes and the 800s were empty.

That was the technika box that was made by Harvard, no longer available.
The current Technika box puts Saorview channels in the 800,s so should be ok but it has the summertime problem and wont display program info. Good build quality and excellent picture though.

elsie1b

byrnefm wrote: »

Thanks for the info! Could you tell me where you bought that particular box?

Bought on ebay

holidaysong

I have the Metronic Zapbox T2 and it works having Saorview and Freeview on the same 7 day EPG. You can reorder the channels but there is limited programme info for Saorview channels. Photos of the EPG in that link too.

ardmacha

Has anyone in the border area tried the i-Can GBR2851T Freeview HD Digital Receiver from Amazon?

newleaf

Getting Welsh spillover. I have Icecrypt T2200 Freeview HD Box, tunes in Freeview, Freeview HD (much of the time, when reception good) and Saorview. As noted with some other boxes it puts Saorview in the 800s. No major problem as I watch TV through the TV tuner. The box I have is for recording, to route signal through Hard Disk recorder. Picture quality excellent, occasional freeze up of channel changing, have to turn on and off.

doney84

Does anyone "in the know" have any idea what manufacturer/s are currently testing or in the approval process for a Saorview PVR? Is there any chance that it could be someone like Samsung and the box would be Saorview approved and also Freeview HD approved? I know for example that some of their newer Tv models are approved for both services ...

lawhec

byrnefm wrote: »

Hi,

I can't remember if I ever saw an answer for this but are there any Freeview HD boxes which do not force you to select between the NI Muxes and the ROI Muxes?

For example, the Technika Freeview HD box forces you to choose one or the other when you set it up.

A colleague asked me the same question just yesterday so I thought I'd post it here. I'm sure there are others who are near NI / Wales and want to be able to watch both Freeview and Saorview on the one box also!

Apologies if this has been answered previously...

The country set up selection you see in the set up after a scan of the UHF frequency band is done is part of the D-Book specification for Freeview HD receivers. Generally within Britain, it is designed to allow whoever is installing the receiver the choice of what region should take the priority of LCN numbers and to give some level of consistency between Freeview HD receivers in setting it up. One major case of this a couple of years back was around the time when Winter Hill in NW England was DSO'd - the nearby Moel Y Parc transmitter just over the border into Wales (and which gives good signals into Liverpool and much of Manchester) was switched over just a few weeks beforehand, and when Winter Hill viewers did a full rescan when all analogue services shut down, many found that on LCN four they got S4C instead of Channel 4, Welsh news on ITV1 instead of Granada etc. because there was no set standard in how to deal with reception from more than one transmitter or network; some determined it by signal strength, others by the order in the UHF band they are found (Moel uses lower frequencies than Winter Hill, causing that headache), so with hindsight a region selection is a good idea.

However what happens to the channels that are scanned but not selected as the primary network, in this case the Saorview channels which have the network ID "RTÉNL" rather than "N. Ireland" for Freeview, is not standardised. Most will place them in either the 800's or 900's (and you may be able to move them to a lower number manually) but some will just ignore them outright. I had a problem similar to yours with the Philips HDT-8520 Freeview HD+ receiver; on the initial set up scan, it only stored the Freeview channels - no sign of the Saorview services anywhere. There is no manual scan with this receiver but a second full scan initiated in the menu without reverting to a "first-time install" state did the trick and placed the Saorview channels in the 900's (though this receiver can't move them to another LCN number either, nor will it display the Saorview 7-day EPG; only Now & Next in the info banner :( ). Maybe something similar might bring in the Saorview services on your Technika STB.

so169

ardmacha wrote: »

Has anyone in the border area tried the i-Can GBR2851T Freeview HD Digital Receiver from Amazon?

Bought two of these, works perfect picking up saorview and british freeview in Donegal.

tvman2

ardmacha wrote: »

Has anyone in the border area tried the i-Can GBR2851T Freeview HD Digital Receiver from Amazon?

Got one in Maplins Dundalk, works fine with both services, puts Saorview in the 800's. Cannot renumber channels but has a favourites list option and is fine for EPG and digital text on both. Have sent away for another on Amazon as Maplins seem to have run out of stock bar B grade by post only, didn't want to take a chance with these. BTW cheaper on Amazon if posted to a UK address.

SRB

The Humax YouView box, stores both Saorview and Freeview with no issues, as it's a customised version of the standard Humax HD Freeview recorder, I imagine the normal version of this box would be the same.

munchkin_utd

SRB wrote: »

The Humax YouView box, stores both Saorview and Freeview with no issues, as it's a customised version of the standard Humax HD Freeview recorder, I imagine the normal version of this box would be the same.

the iplayer features on this box hardly work in the south do they, or are they geoblocked like the web versions?

mrdtv2010

SRB wrote: »

The Humax YouView box, stores both Saorview and Freeview with no issues, as it's a customised version of the standard Humax HD Freeview recorder, I imagine the normal version of this box would be the same.

I have both. The Youview box only stores separate services, no duplicates, and handles the multi-region problem easily. The HDR- Fox T2 and the HD-T2 zapper box do not handle multiregions properly: they store last region scanned if higher in the UHF band and you have to use manual tuning to overwrite the last region. This is a pain.

In addition YouView must be connected to a UK ISP to work properly. It seems to use the broadband to update the guide. It is more sophisticated than the HDR -Fox T2.

tvman2

tvman2 wrote: »

Got one in Maplins Dundalk, works fine with both services, puts Saorview in the 800's. Cannot renumber channels but has a favourites list option and is fine for EPG and digital text on both. Have sent away for another on Amazon as Maplins seem to have run out of stock bar B grade by post only, didn't want to take a chance with these. BTW cheaper on Amazon if posted to a UK address.

i-Can Easy HD 2851T Freeview HD Set Top Box

This is cheaper now from Play.Com if you have a UK delivery address!

opr

Anyone know anywhere I can buy/order this particular Humax box apart from ordering it direct below?

http://www.humaxdirect.co.uk/product.asp?ProdRef=10101

Opr

Fingleberries

I have recently purchased the Samsung BD-E8900 a Freeview+HD box with Blu-Ray player. It shows Freeview and Saorview on the same EPG.

There are STB versions (without the BD player), which are slightly cheaper such as the STB-E7500.