Was the name Saorview a mistake ?

Jenny_94

Too many people are saying "its not Free" I think it should have been called Irish Digital, DTT ireland or Digital Eireann

testicle

It is free though, once you own a compatible television or set top box.

Jimoslimos

Yes, because everybody keeps mistyping it as "Soarview". What is it, an eagle cam?

Seriously though, it's not a bad name if only because of its similarity to the "Freeview" name in the UK, piggybacking on the awareness of that.

lawhec

Jenny_94 wrote: »

Too many people are saying "its not Free" I think it should have been called Irish Digital, DTT ireland or Digital Eireann

By that definition analogue was never free.

watty

testicle wrote: »

It is free though, once you own a compatible television or set top box.

yes. free in exactly the same sense as Analogue TV.

JaneAusten

Like 'Television' - nothing good can come of it, since it's an amalgam of two languages.

Now with Saorview Television we can show our command of four languages

formerly scottish paddy

Is anything free?...............someone, somewhere pays.

ardmacha

Now with Saorview Television we can show our command of four languages

Not really, view and vision have the same root.

Apogee

Not at all, it was a most excellent suggestion, if I do say so myself...

The Real B-man

€160 a year is not Free

MarkK

The Real B-man wrote: »

€160 a year is not Free

The €160 is for having a TV.
The TV the license is the same cost whether you use Saorview or not.

Charisteas

I don't know how they can call it free when you need to purchase a set top box which currently priced at hefty minimum 59.95 for 'saorview approved'.

Obviously I can understand why they are branding it as free; to make it sound better and to cushion the blow for the thousands of people who have to cough up 60 quid for a few basic channels which they were already getting.

Not unlike an advert I saw in a newspaper yesterday - 'free calls and texts for €30 a month' - well then it's not 'free' is it

The Cush

Charisteas wrote: »

I don't know how they can call it free when you need to purchase a set top box which currently priced at hefty minimum 59.95 for 'saorview approved'.

Subscription free.

The UK has Freesat and Freeview, Australia and New Zealand also use the Freeview brand. All services require the purchase of reception equipment just as like the analogue FTA service.

Fingleberries

Jenny_94 wrote: »

Too many people are saying "its not Free" I think it should have been called Irish Digital, DTT ireland or Digital Eireann

Was Freeview Free? No.
Freesat? Also, no.

The Saorview name is just using the same type of branding with an Irish twist to show that it's Irish.
It's free after you have the compatible devices (TV Licence aside), compared to subscription services where you'd usually have to pay for installation and then a regular monthly fee.

Jpmarn

Saorview means subscription free. You will have to incur expenses upgrading the equipment to receive Saorview. And you pay the TV licence. With Sky and UPC you will have to pay monthly sub charges on top of the licence fee.

TPM

as the crush said its subscription free, and the saor (free) in the name was stressed in the advertising to inform people there was another option to sky and upc.

watty

You have to buy a TV to watch TV. That hasn't changed at all.

People had to buy a set-box in 1955 in many cases to watch ITV in England. It was just as free to watch as BBC. People that had more recently bought a TV already had ITV band.

In 1962 to 1967 in UK if you wanted BBC2 there was NO set box. You had to buy a new TV unless you had a recent Dual-Standard TV. BBC2 was free.

When Colour came there was no setbox or upgrade other than buying a new Colour TV.

In the 2002 to 2005 people wasted money on CRT WS TVs even though these would never do HD or Digital. The only WS TV was on Subscription Digital and DVD.
Then people wasted money on LCD SD and then LCD so called HD Screens that could never do Irish Digital or HD.

In many cases chucking out working TVs. Spending €200 to €5000.

Now people are complaining about a once off purchase of a €50 to €90 box. 1/2 the price of TV licence and 1/8th cost of a decent HDTV. The box works with HDMI for HD TVs or SCART for SD TVs.

I blame the importers and retailers for selling so much incompatible TVs when the spec was known in 2007 and official in March 2008 and TVs available easily from October 2008. FOUR years ago!

So, yes it's free. There is no subscription. But like every other TV system that was ever received you need the right equipment.

All the main UK channels are now free instead of only rubbish quality from Chorus or NTL analogue (now rather better from Digital Sky and Digital UPC), but you need to install a dish and buy suitable satellite receiver.

It IS free. A box is less than 30 cups of coffee. In 1955 a TV was about 5,000 cups of coffee. A decent HDTV is 250 cups of coffee today.

If you don't want to buy a box, go buy a decent compatible 42" HDTV instead of dumped UK product.

Yes importers, Government and big retailers have been nasty over last four years, but the ancient Romans said Caveat Emptor (Buyer Beware). Still true. A lot of people would NOT need a box today if they had decent checking before buying a TV.

Sam Russell

I agree with Watty. Further, not only must you have a TV or STB to receive Saorview, you need the correct aerial. Insisting on using a rabbit ears type of indoor aerial is more stupidity. A properly installed aerial is just as necessary as the right receiver. No-one complains about having to get a dish installed properly for satellite (it will not work if you do not) but insist in scrimping on a decent aerial because it would save a few euros because it might work sometimes with a €40 amplified bit of plastic from a major importer, and the salesman said it would work.

Why are people still surprised that analogue actually turned off when they said it would 18 months ago.

Capt'n Midnight

I like having miles and Km on my car's speedometer.

There is an argument that TV's sold here in since the launch of saorview should not have had analog. Realistically of course analog doesn't add much to the cost and still has uses.

watty

Sam Russell wrote: »

Why are people still surprised that analogue actually turned off when they said it would 18 months 14 years ago.

Though not till I think 2005 or so was the end of 2012 the deadline. So all that happened about 2 years ago was that there was an actual day in October. To Co-ordinate with N.I. it had to be before December, as they didn't do any regional ASO I think in Dec/Jan due to holidays and weather.

The Cush

watty wrote: »

So all that happened about 2 years ago was that there was an actual day in October.

The actual ASO date was only announced last Oct, up to that time the speculation was anytime between this Oct and New Year's Eve and even into 2013.

Sam Russell

The fact is that Saorview was launched (softly) in October 2010, and formally launched by the current Minister, Pat Rabbitte in May 2010. Since then, RTE have not treated it as the main service, with analogue being a legacy service. They have just ignored it.

Today, RTE News have carried stories about the 'switch to digital' and the 'new' digital channels, like RTE NewsNow. Hello! They were launched 2 years or eighteen months ago, depending on your point of view. The 'switch' should have occured on launch of Saorview, not when analogue gets switched off. No wonder people are running around at the last minute to get sorted.

All of this was predicted a long time ago.

kippy

Charisteas wrote: »

I don't know how they can call it free when you need to purchase a set top box which currently priced at hefty minimum 59.95 for 'saorview approved'.

Obviously I can understand why they are branding it as free; to make it sound better and to cushion the blow for the thousands of people who have to cough up 60 quid for a few basic channels which they were already getting.

Not unlike an advert I saw in a newspaper yesterday - 'free calls and texts for €30 a month' - well then it's not 'free' is it

Did someone magicilly give everyone a free TV with analog receiver in 1961 when analog was "switched on"?

formerly scottish paddy

Everyone wants something for free (that is: someone else paying, taxes etc.)
Any wonder the country is in the state it is?

kippy

formerly scottish paddy wrote: »

Everyone wants something for free (that is: someone else paying, taxes etc.)
Any wonder the country is in the state it is?

I suppose the issue that people have is/was:
I was getting a perfectly adequate TV signal, it worked for me and met my needs, and it didn't actually cost me anything outside of the license fee.
Now I've to pay 40-60 quid *minimum for a service I was already getting but is called "free", in a time of financial turmoil.

I can appreciate the issues to be honest.

formerly scottish paddy

Yea, fair enough, but how many of these people will go out and get the latest mobile phone when it comes out? We haven't had a change to the tv system for 50 years (you didn't HAVE to get colour)..........imagine not changing your phone for 50 years!