Saorview / Freeview question

gooner99

Hi,

I'm was checking out saorview / freeview options for my mother in law who lives in Carrigans village on the Donegal/Derry border.

So to do my test I brought my Edison Argos Combi receiver, did a scan and it returned all the saorview stations, but only a few freeview ones, BBC1 NI , BBC2 NI, BBC 3, BBC 4 , BBC NEWS , BBC PARLIAMENT , 301. Her TV is a couple of years old and was bought in the North. I tried a scan on it too and got the saorview stations, but no picture as expected and the same freeview stations as listed above.

Anyone know if I should be getting more freeview stations like UTV, CH4, CH5, etc. If so I wonder what is the problem, wrong type of box , arial pointing the wrong direction or maybe it's just not possible to get saorview/freeview in Carrigans and we need to look at freesat instead?

Would be handy to go the soarview/freeview route as it would mean no installation of a sat dish.

Thanks in advance for your help with this!

The Cush

gooner99 wrote: »

Anyone know if I should be getting more freeview stations like UTV, CH4, CH5, etc. If so I wonder what is the problem, wrong type of box , arial pointing the wrong direction or maybe it's just not possible to get saorview/freeview in Carrigans and we need to look at freesat instead?

They'll be there from next Wed once the rest of the analogue channels are switched off. Retune sometime during that day.

http://www.digitaluk.co.uk/when_do_i_switch/northernireland/limavady
http://help.digitaluk.co.uk/display/4/kb/article.aspx?aid=8283
http://help.digitaluk.co.uk/al/197/146/article.aspx?aid=8281&tab=search&bt=4

gooner99

Thanks for that, so as she has freeview sd on her kitchen tv, all she needs is a soarview box.Although for ease she may be better with a freeview hd box i guess, as i would think it would be easier for her to have all stations on one remote and from what i have read on boards she would also get freeview hd stations along with saorview,etc?

Can anyone recommend a good freeview hd box that is easily got in the shops in derry/strabane and is pretty striaght forward to use.doesn't need to have all the latest saorview teletext,etc. just freeview/saorview?

Also in her sitting room she has an old tv which has scart only.i guess she could go the route of freeview hd box or replace the tv.i take it that if she decides to replace the tv, then in order to get both freeview and saorview then a saorview approved tv will be no good and she needs to get a freeview hd tv?

mrdtv2010

gooner99 wrote: »

Thanks for that, so as she has freeview sd on her kitchen tv, all she needs is a soarview box.Although for ease she may be better with a freeview hd box i guess, as i would think it would be easier for her to have all stations on one remote and from what i have read on boards she would also get freeview hd stations along with saorview,etc?

Can anyone recommend a good freeview hd box that is easily got in the shops in derry/strabane and is pretty striaght forward to use.doesn't need to have all the latest saorview teletext,etc. just freeview/saorview?

Also in her sitting room she has an old tv which has scart only.i guess she could go the route of freeview hd box or replace the tv.i take it that if she decides to replace the tv, then in order to get both freeview and saorview then a saorview approved tv will be no good and she needs to get a freeview hd tv?

http://www.richersounds.com/product/digital-set-top-boxes/ican/easy-hd-2851t/i-can-freevew-hd

Works a treat with Freeview HD and Saorview!. Has SCART and HDMI. Is being used by members on this board. I have two myself and bringing a further two for relatives next week in the DSO.

Also good the Humax HD Fox T2 box but it looks like it is sold out in the UK at humaxdirect! Great box I have one myself, controls many TV/DVDs with URC, and fantastic tuner sensitivity. I am not sure if they are making T2 zapper boxes anymore as they are focusing on Youview and HDR products. Any prices have soared on other outlets, no longer available on Amazon alas.

In overspill areas always get FreeviewHD receivers. Your mother could be on any of Sheriff's Mountain or Strabane now with the proliferation of Freeview signals.

gooner99

mrdtv2010 wrote: »

http://www.richersounds.com/product/digital-set-top-boxes/ican/easy-hd-2851t/i-can-freevew-hd

Works a treat with Freeview HD and Saorview!. Has SCART and HDMI. Is being used by members on this board. I have two myself and bringing a further two for relatives next week in the DSO.

Also good the Humax HD Fox T2 box but it looks like it is sold out in the UK at humaxdirect! Great box I have one myself, controls many TV/DVDs with URC, and fantastic tuner sensitivity. I am not sure if they are making T2 zapper boxes anymore as they are focusing on Youview and HDR products. Any prices have soared on other outlets, no longer available on Amazon alas.

In overspill areas always get FreeviewHD receivers. Your mother could be on any of Sheriff's Mountain or Strabane now with the proliferation of Freeview signals.

Cheers for the reply.Was in Derry this morning,so had look in Maplin, as I saw that i-can box on their webiste for £30. They didn't have any in stock,but they ordered one for me and they should have it store mid week. Back home now and noticed the receipt says b-grade. Not sure exactly what that means, but hoping that it just means it was returned for some minor defect or because it wasn't suitable for the original buyer.They did tell me they have a 29 day return in same condition policy and it comes with a 1 year warranty. Do you think I'm safe enough?

Thanks again for you help!

mrdtv2010

gooner99 wrote: »

Cheers for the reply.Was in Derry this morning,so had look in Maplin, as I saw that i-can box on their webiste for £30. They didn't have any in stock,but they ordered one for me and they should have it store mid week. Back home now and noticed the receipt says b-grade. Not sure exactly what that means, but hoping that it just means it was returned for some minor defect or because it wasn't suitable for the original buyer.They did tell me they have a 29 day return in same condition policy and it comes with a 1 year warranty. Do you think I'm safe enough?

Thanks again for you help!

Yes, b grade is usually a return because of clumsy consumers! And you have a 29 day return period. I suspect there has been a local run on the icans. BTW does your mother have a vertical UK aerial in which case its either Strabane or Sheriff's Mountain? A horizontal aerial might well get Limavady from her location with more channels than the relays after Wednesday.

sesswhat

You mention that she has Freeview on the kitchen TV. If she was getting any freeview channels on this before 10th October, then it was from Limavady.

Carrigans may be in a bit of a blind spot for Limavady though. It may be the case that she has a horizontal aerial for Holywell Hill, which could easily pick up nearby Londonderry as well, despite this being vertical.

gooner99

Forgot to check if the aerial was horizontal or vertical.will be installing the new box next weekend,so will see what she has then.is there much difference in the number of stations between the transmitters?

watty

gooner99 wrote: »

...They did tell me they have a 29 day return in same condition policy and it comes with a 1 year warranty.

They lie. They as retailer have to give you a two year warranty to meet Sale Of Good Act. Manufacturing Defects or product not as Advertised/Described.

All you need is proof of purchase. You don't need packaging. The 29 day thing is completely separate. Any manufacturer Warranty is up to the shop to chase.

sesswhat

gooner99 wrote: »

Forgot to check if the aerial was horizontal or vertical.will be installing the new box next weekend,so will see what she has then.is there much difference in the number of stations between the transmitters?

Strabane and Londonderry have the same statons. Limavady also carries 'commercial muxes' which have non Public Service channels.

On this wikipedia table, channels on the commercial muxes are marked COM4, COM5 and COM6.

gooner99

watty wrote: »

They lie. They as retailer have to give you a two year warranty to meet Sale Of Good Act. Manufacturing Defects or product not as Advertised/Described.

All you need is proof of purchase. You don't need packaging. The 29 day thing is completely separate. Any manufacturer Warranty is up to the shop to chase.

Yes I agree. the 29 day thing is a money back if for some reason you are not happy with the product.I believe the 1 year is for defects. Didn't know that this should be 2 years under the sale of goods act.I take it this is a UK rule?

gooner99

sesswhat wrote: »

Strabane and Londonderry have the same statons. Limavady also carries 'commercial muxes' which have non Public Service channels.

On this wikipedia table, channels on the commercial muxes are marked COM4, COM5 and COM6.

cheers for this.

winston_1

gooner99 wrote: »

Yes I agree. the 29 day thing is a money back if for some reason you are not happy with the product.I believe the 1 year is for defects. Didn't know that this should be 2 years under the sale of goods act.I take it this is a UK rule?

No it is an EU rule.

http://www.wak-tt.com/tt/2yearwarranty1.htm

gooner99

Picked up the I-can freeview hd box in Maplin. They told me they wouldn't be getting any in future and when I looked it's gone from their website. Anyway it still seems to be available online from other retailers.

Got my mother in law sorted with this box.As reported on other threads on this box it picks up freeview fine, but you have to manually tune in saorview in order for it to save those stations. Signal shown on saorview was strong, but freeview was not as strong as I was hoping and I thought that it might be down to the sensitivity of the tuner. After talking to her son I found out that things were not set up as I first thought and that the outside aerials were only feeding the living room and her kitchen tv was served by an attic aerial(s). Anyway it returned most of the channels that were listed as available on Sherrifs mountain and all the saorview from Holywell hill. Despite messing around a bit, I failed to get a picture on all the freeview stations. This could be sorted I'm sure by checking the indoor aerial or changing to the outside. Anyway after talking to her about what she was receiving, she decided she only wanted a few stations, rte1, rte2, tv3, tg4 , bbc1 , bbc 2 , utv and ch4. So happy days as it picked up good pictures on all of those including the hd stations.

I have to say it's a good little box for the money,probably not as feature rich as some. But great for someone who just wants to watch digital tv in hd.

Thanks for all the help I received on here.