FreeSat Box with 7 Day EPG and PVR

Gringro

Hi All

I need some help. I'm looking for the cheapest FreeSat decoder that will give me a 7 Day EPG and will allow me to record programs. I have seen the Humax HDR boxes with built in 320/500/1TB Hard drives for over 200 euros but there out of my price range. Is there any box that is lower in price and could use an external hard drive for example?

Also, I receive the UK channels via Free to Air at the moment, if I get a FreeSat decoder, would I need to make any changes to my satellite dish or do they use the same feed?

Any help/advice appreciated.:rolleyes:

NIMAN

You might be able to get a 'lesser' brand within your price range, maybe a Bush or Goodmans, but sometimes they are more prone to bugs than the brands like Humax, Echostar.

All Freesat+ boxes will have a 7 day EPG.

Have you considered 2nd hand? I bought my Foxsat 2 yrs ago for £130 and never missed a beat.

Plus I got an Echostar 500gb recorder the other day for £80 delivered from the UK.

There is a new generation of Freesat receivers about to be released, so the old ones should drop off in price as they try to unload stock, and users sell to upgrade.

mike65

Just about at the 200 euro mark is the new Manhattan PVR,

http://www.joinfreesat.co.uk/review-manhattan-plaza-hdr-s-freesat-hd-receiver/

which you can get here

spockety

NIMAN wrote: »

You might be able to get a 'lesser' brand within your price range, maybe a Bush or Goodmans, but sometimes they are more prone to bugs than the brands like Humax, Echostar.

All Freesat+ boxes will have a 7 day EPG.

Have you considered 2nd hand? I bought my Foxsat 2 yrs ago for £130 and never missed a beat.

Plus I got an Echostar 500gb recorder the other day for £80 delivered from the UK.

There is a new generation of Freesat receivers about to be released, so the old ones should drop off in price as they try to unload stock, and users sell to upgrade.

Is that the echostar with the slingbox built in? Is it any good?

I presume that's a 2nd hand price..

NIMAN

spockety wrote: »

Is that the echostar with the slingbox built in? Is it any good?

I presume that's a 2nd hand price..

Yeah this one
http://www.amazon.co.uk/EchoStar-HDS-600RS-SlingLoaded-Anywhere-recorder/dp/B004S9OT92/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1347618026&sr=8-1

Yes, 2nd hand. Less than yr old.

Due to get it today, so not tested it yet. I won't be using any of the Slingbox functions as being bought for parents house.

There are plenty out there at decent 2nd hand prices, worth a punt?

mike65

The so called discount of those boxes has always intrigued me - if it was a 350 quid unit on release how are they making money selling it at 190? (and I've seen cheaper).

paultf

mike65 wrote: »

The so called discount of those boxes has always intrigued me - if it was a 350 quid unit on release how are they making money selling it at 190? (and I've seen cheaper).

I got one of these new from Amazon a few months ago. I only use it for freesat, never bothered with the sling. I got it for £160. They were overpriced at ~£350 at the start and weren't selling. I wonder is that because there is a new box due for release with the next generation of freesat? Or was the price high because of the sling technology?

Amazon have a 6 week, no quibble period - so if not happy with the box, simply return. Also you get a 1 year guarantee so can get a replacement box.

Mine is going well. There was a bug with the series link and echostar released a fix quickly. There customer service is good. I couldn't get the new software release to upload via my USB stick (update wasn't available via satellite at the time) so echostar sent me (from Holland) a USB with the software on it.

There are threads on digitalspy/avforums in the UK. Some of the posts say the picture quality is better than the humax. One or two are having issues with multiple recordings at the moment but doesn't seem to be affecting everyone. The sling is supposed to be good. You can watch live TV and recordings on your box. If someone else is watching TV at the same time, you can only watch the same programme via sling. The app needed for your phone will cost £20.

For freesat alone, I think the echostar is good. 500Gb recording space too. As mentioned above, a 2nd hand one might be a good option.

cjt156

Technisat HDFS.
No internal drive but supports USB for limited PVR-lite use. Single tuner so you can only record/pause what you are watching.

Serves my purposes for the past couple of years. I paid about EU160 on Amazon.co.uk delivered.
You can chose your postcode to determine what regional versions of BBC/ITV you get (although all the regions are included in the 900+ channels).

Gringro

Thank you

this has been really helpfull and I appreciate you taking the time to reply and help out.

I will probably go with a good 2nd hand box or a technisat box as I need to budget for a saorview box too soon.

Just on my other question, if I get a FreeSat decoder, would I need to make any changes to my Free to Air satellite dish or do they use the same feed?

Thanks again.

fish fingers

Gringro wrote: »

Thank you

this has been really helpfull and I appreciate you taking the time to reply and help out.

I will probably go with a good 2nd hand box or a technisat box as I need to budget for a saorview box too soon.

Just on my other question, if I get a FreeSat decoder, would I need to make any changes to my Free to Air satellite dish or do they use the same feed?

Thanks again.

Dish should be fine as it is.

zg3409

If your budget is really tight get a Walker WP95SAT-HD. This is not freesat approved but "steals" their 7 day TV guide and allows recording with an external hard drive. I don't know if it allows series link.

For true value for money a genuine freesat+box would probably work better even if 2nd hand.

Regarding changes to the dish if you only have an LNB with one connection and one lead to the box tyou would need an LNB with 2/4 connections and two leads to the box for any true PVR box with dual tuners (the walker above has only 1 tuner)

Gringro

Thank you fish fingers for your answer.

On further searching I have seen Linux based receivers (like Technomate, icecrypt for example) at lower prices, any advice on going down this route or not (I’m technically savvy with Linux but don’t want my satellite receiver to be a part time programming job either).

On a separate note, my brother in law asked me if there is any saorview receivers (with PVR) that can record from the Scart IN. does anyone have this setup or any experience of it? I have searched around but can’t find an answer to this.

Thanks again.

Mr Keek

Just a heads up, the Current Range of Humax Foxsat PVR which are absolutley brilliant are now being replaced by the newer 2nd Gen boxes.

As these will be discontinued you will see the prices of this slashed in the next couple months if you could hold out for a little bit longer.

Gringro

Thanks Mr Keek,

I definatly do thing its worth waiting, thanks for that advice.

Just to finish up, can anyone answer my last two questions;

1) On further searching I have seen Linux based receivers (like Technomate, icecrypt for example) at lower prices, any advice on going down this route or not (I’m technically savvy with Linux but don’t want my satellite receiver to be a part time programming job either).

2) On a separate note, my brother in law asked me if there is any saorview receivers (with PVR) that can record from the Scart IN. does anyone have this setup or any experience of it? I have searched around but can’t find an answer to this.

Mr Keek

Gringro wrote: »

1) On further searching I have seen Linux based receivers (like Technomate, icecrypt for example) at lower prices, any advice on going down this route or not (I’m technically savvy with Linux but don’t want my satellite receiver to be a part time programming job either).

2) On a separate note, my brother in law asked me if there is any saorview receivers (with PVR) that can record from the Scart IN. does anyone have this setup or any experience of it? I have searched around but can’t find an answer to this.

1. Once the Set Top box carries the "Freesat" Logo, then they all preform the exact same. They have to comply to a required standard. The only differences would be things like On Screen graphics and the menus would have slightly different layouts. Some would have various different options.

Alot of the cheaper boxes you see out are 'Free to Air', and these boxes do not have your 7Day EPG, Auto Tuning, etc. If you want the 7 days EPG, you need to get something with the 'Freesat' Logo.

2. Can't help you, sorry. I have an old DVD Recorder with a built in HDD that could record from the Scart In(I get better results from the Composite Inputs though(Red Yellow, White Cable), but this is now obsolete as it is not Saorview compatible. I now use it to back up the odd recording from my Saorview & Freesat PVR's.

Gringro

Thanks again,

anyone able to answer my last question;

is there is any saorview receivers (with PVR) that can record from the Scart IN. does anyone have this setup or any experience of it? I have searched around but can’t find an answer to this.

Kristopherus

There is a Saorview approved PVR due out in the next few weeks. It masy well have a scart socket as all Saorview approved boxes up to now must have a scart socket. Keep an eye on the Terrestial forum here.This thread may be od some help to you: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056751339 . It may be worth your while waiting the few extra weeks.

rurs

Gringro wrote: »

Thanks again,

anyone able to answer my last question;

is there is any saorview receivers (with PVR) that can record from the Scart IN. does anyone have this setup or any experience of it? I have searched around but can’t find an answer to this.

I don't think any Saorview box will record from an external source.

The only receiver I'm aware of that does is the Technomate 7102 with an optional AV card, this is a high end triple tuner combo though, and has a price to match...

Gringro

Thanks guys, sorry, I should have clarified, it dont matter if the saorview box is not saorview approved as they only require it to decode the channeles and record from an external source, there not bothered in teletext, services etc.

Thanks

revileandy

zg3409 wrote: »

If your budget is really tight get a Walker WP95SAT-HD. This is not freesat approved but "steals" their 7 day TV guide and allows recording with an external hard drive. I don't know if it allows series link.

This walker sounds a bit too good to be true, anyone got any opinions on it?

What's the EPG like? Is it responsive?

Does the recording work ok?

Could be an ideal cheapo route away from sky.

Gringro

I'd also be interested in hearing what the Walker WP95SAT-HD box is like. Does anyone have any experience with it?

Thanks

zg3409

Gringro wrote: »

I'd also be interested in hearing what the Walker WP95SAT-HD box is like.

See here:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056757154

Gringro

Thank you zg3409, thats exactly what I was looking for.
After reading this I'm tempted to go down the saorsat route as opposed the saorview route.
I'm just wondering has anyone used a 60cm dish for saorsat (with the 2nd LNB of course) and what were the results like, I know its not recomended but just interested to know if it works?

zg3409

Gringro wrote: »

Thank you zg3409, thats exactly what I was looking for.
After reading this I'm tempted to go down the saorsat route as opposed the saorview route.
I'm just wondering has anyone used a 60cm dish for saorsat (with the 2nd LNB of course) and what were the results like, I know its not recomended but just interested to know if it works?

Firstly the dish MUST be solid, so not a Sky dish. A 40cm dish solid dish will work except during heavy rain. A 60cm should work 90+% of the time. For fun you can use a Sky dish but don't expect reliable results.

If you are putting Saorsat as the prime LNB and 28.2 offset I would recommend a 90cm dish unless you are in the areas where a 1M dish is suggested.

Feasach

I have a Fresat receiver with PVR capability from Finlux, its the TS 7100 that works pretty well and is Saorview approved.
Initially I could see a 7 day EPG on virtually all channels, but I "deleted" a lot of the FTA channels on 28.2E leaving approximately 43 "favourites".

I also edited the channel numbers so that the 43 "favourites" were in alphabetical order.
I have lost a lot of the EPG information which seems to only show one or two hours and not the 7 days I was expecting.
Have I deleted some of the channels that "carry" the EPG information, or in changing the "official" channel numbering scheme to my own (i.e Ch 1, Ch 2, Ch 3....) have I upset something.

Would appreciate your comments.

Feasach

Thurston?

Finlux don't make Freesat receivers. There are no Freesat combi satellite/terrestrial receivers.

If it had 7 day EPG on UK satellite channels, it must have had something like the 'satfree' firmware option that's available on Walker receivers.

The Cush

The Finlux TS7100 is a combi Saorview/fta satellite receiver, not a Freesat receiver. It's not possible to get the 7 day guide on the satellite channels, now & next programme info. Only the Soarview channels carry a 7 day guide on these receivers.

The official 7 day guide and epg positioning for the satellite channels is only available with an official Freesat receiver - http://www.tvchannellists.com/List_of_channels_on_Freesat_(UK).

With a FTA satellite receiver channels are stored as found including duplicates and you sort them to your own requirements.

Feasach

Thank you Thurston? and The Cush (Com'on Paul O'C !) for your prompt responses.

As I indicated, initially before I started to "mess" with the channels, I had a good EPG showing up to the seven days
on most of the channels of interest (English speaking).

I wonder if I went back and reset the Finlux TS7100 to its default state, would I get back what I know for sure was there initially.
I've spent a lot of time already fine tuning what I have now, but I thought I might have corrected same when I read on line of the EPG being available on 11777 V 27500. It did not turn out to be the case.

Feasach

steveon

You need to check the firmware of the box, if its 2.9 then u you will get only a now and next on the sat channels, the software revision 3.8 will indeed give u a freesat hacked guide for the sat channels..

It is the same box as the walker combo...u need to download the firmware and update it via a usb pen...then scan the freesat menu,

http://www.tvtrade.ie/saorview-combo-walker.html