Which Saorview TV can best mimic Sky Plus Recording????

JohnnyBananas

Hi All,

I am looking to buy a new soar view compatible TV. I was in Power City and the salesperson showed me a Walker brand TV. He said the TV has a built in recorder but does not exactly mimic Sky Plus in that you can’t watch something else while you are recording.

Does anyone know of a soarview compatible make/model available on the Irish market that does allow you to watch something else while recording. Alternatively, is there an additional (and cheap) electronic device that can be added that will allow this??

All help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in Advance for all responses.

thetwangman

All the cheap single tuner pvr ready saorview boxes on the market at the moment will only allow you to watch/record one channel at a time. But if you also have a saorview approved tv, you can watch one channel on the tv while recording another channel on the box (like in the old 'vcr + tv' days). Alternatively, you could wait until a proper dual tuner saorview pvr box, with all the 'sky plus' like features, comes onto the market. However, these boxes are likely to be fairly expensive.

Digifriendly

Amazing that only 2 weeks to DSO in ROI and still no Twin Tuner Saorview PVR's on the market.

zg3409

The best setup is to use a Sky box with subscription. They have spent 20+ years perfecting their system but charge a hefty minimum of 300 per year for the service.

The best nearest to this non subscription is to use a FreeSAT + HD box for the UK channels via Satellite:
http://www.freesat.co.uk/products/freesat-box-range

Then use a TV with built in Saorview or a Saorview box for the Irish channels.

There will be a proper PVR launched before X-mas that has pause, record, series link etc. It is expected to be around 250 Euro and will only record the Irish channels.

So the best free setup is to use a seperate box for the UK and irish channels. Not very neat but will allow pause, watch while record, series link etc.

Better boxes for the Irish channels will hopefully also be launched next year. One or two people have Uk versions of them at the moment but best to wait for the Irish Saorview approved PVR. Only an approved Saorview PVR will guarantee series link etc will work.

The main downside then versus Sky is the two box approach, and you don't have the option of premium sports or movies.

bridster007

zg3409 wrote: »

The best setup is to use a Sky box with subscription. They have spent 20+ years perfecting their system but charge a hefty minimum of 300 per year for the service.

The best nearest to this non subscription is to use a FreeSAT + HD box for the UK channels via Satellite:
http://www.freesat.co.uk/products/freesat-box-range

Then use a TV with built in Saorview or a Saorview box for the Irish channels.

There will be a proper PVR launched before X-mas that has pause, record, series link etc. It is expected to be around 250 Euro and will only record the Irish channels.

So the best free setup is to use a seperate box for the UK and irish channels. Not very neat but will allow pause, watch while record, series link etc.

Better boxes for the Irish channels will hopefully also be launched next year. One or two people have Uk versions of them at the moment but best to wait for the Irish Saorview approved PVR. Only an approved Saorview PVR will guarantee series link etc will work.

The main downside then versus Sky is the two box approach, and you don't have the option of premium sports or movies.

Even if you are in a Freeview spillover area ? That sounds strange and disappointing. I've come across nothing like that before. Has this been announced somewhere ?

watty

Nothing except a custom built PC (Satellite + DTT) in a single box (or two boxes use Freeview HD PVR AND Fresat PVR) can mimic Sky+.

There is no Saorview PVR at all yet. Even when there is. it won't do satellite, or if it does will be rubbish for Satellite compared with Freesat HD PVR.

Or ignore TV3 & 3e, use dual feed satellite and a PC (or Humax Foxsat HD PVR with patched software).

zg3409

bridster007 wrote: »

Even if you are in a Freeview spillover area ? That sounds strange and disappointing. I've come across nothing like that before. Has this been announced somewhere ?

Boxes have not been fully tested in spillover areas. The new Saorview PVR may work 100% in spillover areas. However they may not work 100%.

For proper series linking in spillover areas it remains to be seen for a few months yet, but it may also require 2 boxes. One approved Freeview + Hd and another Saorivew + HD. We won't know until RTENL start sending series link information and all boxes are tested. The Saorview approval does not test for freeview and vice versa.

For basic viewing in overspill areas they will work but slight differences between the UK and ROI systems may mess up series link etc, so possibly best to use a seperate box.

The Cush

JohnnyBananas wrote: »

Does anyone know of a soarview compatible make/model available on the Irish market that does allow you to watch something else while recording. Alternatively, is there an additional (and cheap) electronic device that can be added that will allow this??

The Triax TR212 is a Saorview (pending) approved receiver with twin tuners but without a built-in HDD - http://www.tvtrade.ie/saorview-set-top-box-receiver.html

Non approved pvrs being used by people who post here include the new Samsung smart pvr range, Humax T2 range and the Sony recorders. Not sure how they will handle Saorview series link but I suspect it may work

NorDig PVR specification follows as closely as possible the DTG specification (latest version D-Book 6.2.1) for the UK market in order to encourage market standards harmonization and facilitate the expansion of the standard PVRs in Scandinavia. Both NorDig and DTG specifications are based on DVB standards, including a subset of the well-established TV-Anytime metadata standard, which has been in service in the UK for years

watty

The new Saorview PVR may work 100% in spillover areas.

Unlikely unless it's DVB-T2. People in areas with Freeview & Saorview really need a "Freeview HD" or Soarview with DVB-T2 tuner (any post 2012 approval).