Saorsat Setup & Receivers

funkey_monkey

Hi,

After issues trying to receive Saorview, I've found out that I need to obtain a Saorsat setup according to our local installer.

After looking about on the internet I've found out that the LNB on the dish supplies two feeds. There are no quad input LNB's for Saorsat.

Hence, as I want to install in two rooms, there will be a single feed going to each room.

I need a PVR (Sky+ style) setup in a main room which necessitates a twin tuner - although I've only got a single input from the LNB.

However, this does not matter as the Saorsat signal is vertical polarity and therefore the signal can be split. Therefore, at the inputs to the box, split the signal and feed the same source into both LNB inputs on the receiver box and off we go.

I've been looking at the following receiver which only requires on input:
http://www.technomate.com/products/TM%252d5402-HD.html

Is this a good option for a Saorsat PVR? It seems to get good reviews across a number of sites.

However, I see a number of you on here talking about Freesat - what is the difference between Freesat and Saorsat?

There are a number of recommendations for Humax boxes etc, but are these suitable for receiving Saorsat?

If I have made an incorrect statement, please let me know!

Peter Rhea

Freesat is the UK equivalent of Saorsat. The same channels are available on generic free-to-air (FTA) satellite receivers, but without the Freesat 7-day EPG & automatic retuning, when the need arises.

The TM5402 is a single tuner FTA receiver, so won't give full recording flexibility. The Humax Foxsat HDR is a proper twin tuner PVR with integral HDD & would be wasted on Saorsat alone (any sat. receiver would tbh).

Afaia, 3rd party firmware for the Foxsat can integrate non-Freesat services, such as Saorsat, into the Freesat EPG, but requires manual timers to be set for recording the non-Freesat channels.

You'll need a big dish (1m at least) for reliable all-weather Saorsat reception on the Nth. Antrim coast. The same dish could be fitted with a 2nd lnb on an offset, for the UK channels.

funkey_monkey

Hi Peter, you seem to be following my woe around Boards!

The TM5402 is a single tuner FTA receiver, so won't give full recording flexibility.

Sorry, can you expand on this a bit please? What do you mean by it not giving full recording flexibility? The blurb for the TM5402 states:
Record up to 3 channels (on the same transponder) and playback a file at the same time via USB

but requires manual timers to be set for recording the non-Freesat channels.

Sounds like it might be too complex for an elderly person?

Argh, this is all getting far too complex!

The same dish could be fitted with a 2nd lnb on an offset, for the UK channels.

Right, so the Saorsat LNB will not provide me with my UK stations? I forgot about those! I guess I could still be receive them via the freeview terrestial aerial, or as you suggest a second LNB on the dish.
Would the dish be correctly oriented for UK freesat as well as Saorsat?

What type of receiver do you recommend for me then? For a twin tuner I believe I can split the LNB feed just prior to the box and feed it into both LNB inputs on the receiver for Saorsat. Would this still be possible for UK Freesat?

Actually, what setup are people in the RoI using to get Saorsat & UK Freesat with recording ability? I've screwed up as I forgot (didn't realise) that Saorsat would not provide me with my UK stations. I've still got a terrestial aerial setup which works for that though.

The box I was looking at has an aerial input as well as a LNB input (I'm not harping on about it - it is just something I've noticed now that I relaise I need UK Freesat). The Humax box does not have an aerial input. There I cannot record the UK Freesat stations easily.


Just realised: if I just get Saorsat and continue getting the Freeview via the TV, I have a number of problems.
1. TV only has a single tuner. Therefore, cannot watch BBC1 & record ITV, etc.
2. Two remote controls & two EPG's to learn.
3. Need to remember whether watching TV tuned channel or sat receiver tuned channel.
4. Two external memory devices required (not sure if the TV and receiver can share them - can they?).

It seems too complex for an elderly person. My preference is to get a box which will take in a sat feed and aerial feed and work with it internally via a single EPG.

Peter Rhea

There are combo satellite/terrestrial receivers available & I know I've considered the Freeview/Saorsat scenario, but practically everyone else here has concentrated on Saorview/FTA (no Freesat combos), given that most are out of UK terrestrial coverage & can get Saorview without too much effort.

It all comes down to deciding what you want, in terms of functionality & how much you want to spend & maybe having to compromise.

funkey_monkey

The TV only has a single tuner with on board recorder (no memory) so I need a solution to provide a twin tuner option (so that 2x channels on UK Freeview can be simultaneously recorded or 1 recorded whilst another is being viewed.

In terms of RTE, I need the ability to view it and record it - simultaneously is not a necessity, unlike UK Freeview. A single tuner for this would be the compromise.

It has to be straightforward to operate. This is for an elderly person. The old people & the GAA followers up here are mad for RTE.

zg3409

funkey_monkey wrote: »

For a twin tuner I believe I can split the LNB feed just prior to the box and feed it into both LNB inputs on the receiver for Saorsat.

For twin tuner you need TWO cables from the receiver all the way to the dish.

If you want UK and Saorsat then you need two LNBs on a 1M dish and switch between them using a DiSEqC switch.

Recording can be problematic with this setup. Even more so with a FreeSAT box. It's complicated but you probably won't get series link working correctly and you would need to manually select the program to record and make sure if it is an Irish channel that the receiver is left on any Irish channel beforehand, and if a UK satellite station the receiver is left on any UK station beforehand.

A more reliable way to ensure recordings work is to use a single tuner box for Saorsat and possibly another tuner box for UK channels. However a non one box solution may be more complicated for elderly.

I would nearly give up on recordings for ROI channels for fear that it may not be 100% reliable depending on what channel the receiver is left on before the recording starts.

funkey_monkey

zg3409 wrote: »

For twin tuner you need TWO cables from the receiver all the way to the dish.

If you want UK and Saorsat then you need two LNBs on a 1M dish and switch between them using a DiSEqC switch.

Yeah, I seen a bloke on YouTube with this setup.

Recording can be problematic with this setup. Even more so with a FreeSAT box. It's complicated but you probably won't get series link working correctly and you would need to manually select the program to record and make sure if it is an Irish channel that the receiver is left on any Irish channel beforehand, and if a UK satellite station the receiver is left on any UK station beforehand.

Why can box not switch between the 2 feeds into the DiSEqC automatically when recording?

A more reliable way to ensure recordings work is to use a single tuner box for Saorsat and possibly another tuner box for UK channels. However a non one box solution may be more complicated for elderly.

Looks like the solution. However, I'm still not sure why the Technomate box does not support this. I've sent them an email asking for confirmation of its operation, but am awaiting a response.

I would nearly give up on recordings for ROI channels for fear that it may not be 100% reliable depending on what channel the receiver is left on before the recording starts.

Not an option!

zg3409

funkey_monkey wrote: »

Yeah, I seen a bloke on YouTube with this setup.


Why can box not switch between the 2 feeds into the DiSEqC automatically when recording?


Looks like the solution. However, I'm still not sure why the Technomate box does not support this. I've sent them an email asking for confirmation of its operation, but am awaiting a response.


Not an option!

Firstly I don't have all this setup myself. There are very few people with full Saorsat and UK channels and dual tuner and freesat box.

From what I understand the UK channels only send program information on their channels. The Irish (Saorsat) only sends info on Irish stations.

Dual tuner setups normally work like two independant receivers in many ways. Often when not recording they may only use one tuner and not use the second tuner at all.

So when not recording one tuner is in use. If you plug the box in and only watch UK stations the TV guide (EPG) will only get information on the UK stations. It will at this point know nothing on ROI stations. Thus if say you wanted to record Faircity on RTE1 it would not be in the guide, so could not be selected to record. Similarly if you had requested series link of a show, as it does not have the info it does not know the show will be on.

This is probably the case if the receiver is on standby also. It will not switch from UK to ROI to get updated program info.

For series link and guide to work, you probably need to select an ROI channel and wait for the info to update. Then it would be possible to record the show. However if the receiver goes into standby or a UK channel starts recording again you may have problems with it not having the info on what is on "the other side"

It is safer when recording to leave the receiver on the correct "side", UK or ROI.

The simplist (and most expensive) solution is to use a Sky box with subscription. This sends all the info for UK and ROI in the same stream, thus meaning the above problem does not happen. However the £21.50 minimum per month really does add up, expecially when all the main channels are available for free.

Assuming your setup working for 10 years reliably that's 21.50 x 12 x 10 = £2,600

A cheaper 100% reliable solution is to use two seperate receivers, one dedicated to UK channels another for Saorsat channels, but it's not very simple.

If recording and series linking is not critically important then a cheap combined setup for just watching TV should be fine.

What some people seem to do is buy a really really fancy universal remote that has the ability to show an option like "watch UK channels" and it sends all the right signals to the TV, right receiver etc and another button "watch ROI channels" and it switches receivers and inputs on the TV with one button press.

If you do try this then let us know. Also do searches on boards for Saorsat and dual tuner and Saorsat and FreeSat and see what others have commented.