What is the best option on a Receiver

eskerman

I am canceling my Sky contract and I am looking for a Saorview receiver to replace it..

Not bothered about recording stuff..

Anybody recommend a decent quality set-top box ? and where to purchase.

Regards

EM

swoofer

you dont say how much so get a humax but delievry is a snag

Willby

GBCULLEN wrote: »

you dont say how much so get a humax but delievry is a snag

Got mine from Richersounds Belfast.......no delivery problems to Republic and good prices.

snaps

Hes asking about a saorview receiver. Do humax make saorview receivers? As far as i know they only make Freesat receivers?

OP, If your after just the Irish channels ask in the Terrestrial section.

Peter Rhea

eskerman wrote: »

I am canceling my Sky contract and I am looking for a Saorview receiver to replace it..

Will you be keeping the Sky box for the free-to-air satellite channels? Most Saorview approved boxes will only get you the Irish channels*, unless you also have UK terrestrial reception.

*There are a small no. of approved satellite/terrestrial combi receivers, as well as some non-approved.

Yamanoto

GBCULLEN wrote: »

you dont say how much so get a humax but delievry is a snag

No it's not, Amazon deliver Humax with no issues whatsoever.

eskerman

Peter Rhea wrote: »

Will you be keeping the Sky box for the free-to-air satellite channels? Most Saorview approved boxes will only get you the Irish channels*, unless you also have UK terrestrial reception.

*There are a small no. of approved satellite/terrestrial combi receivers, as well as some non-approved.

I will keep my Sky box and use it for whatever I get free.. I am not the TV addict in this household, and I want to get the best solution at the right price. I know zero about satellite systems and I have no intention of spending hours and hours on internet researching it.. plug and play works for me.

Seems the Humax is recommended.. as long as I can get the Irish stations and some BBC1234 / UTV and Channel 4 im good to go..

Not interested in recording stuff.. basic simple is my preference without buying a piece of junk.. I guess most of this gear has a shelf life of a couple of years, and its hardly worth repairing if it goes wrong

Paul

zg3409

If you are keeping your Sky box and want RTE and are not interested in recording what you need is a Saorview box and probably a rooftop aerial if you don't already have one.

A basic Saorview box is 50 Euro to 90 Euro. If you need a rooftop aerial professionally installed you might be looking at up to 150 Euro depending on the setup, location etc. An indoor rabbits ears may work but not recommended and you would need to test first.

If recording is not important then nearly every Saorview box is the same. They only pick up the Irish stations so you would need to go to the Sky box for the free UK stations. That may mean 2 or 3 remotes and switching back and forth. I would recommend setting up all the free UK stations as "favourites" on the Sky box and then you can flick between them using the blue button without having to go through dozens of "you are subscribed to this channel" screens.

Sky will remotely disable the recording feature on their box once you cancel and you may not be able to play most recordings kept on the box.

swoofer

snaps, yes humax do freeview hd, its this one Humax HD-FOX T2 Freeview HD Set Top Box. By the way its actually very very good in fact its the best.

@ yamanoto its out of stock in amazon so thats a snag and its in short supply so thats a snag, its on ebay but usually uk only so thats a snag, check before you post

eskerman

zg3409 wrote: »

If you are keeping your Sky box and want RTE and are not interested in recording what you need is a Saorview box and probably a rooftop aerial if you don't already have one.

A basic Saorview box is 50 Euro to 90 Euro. If you need a rooftop aerial professionally installed you might be looking at up to 150 Euro depending on the setup, location etc. An indoor rabbits ears may work but not recommended and you would need to test first.

If recording is not important then nearly every Saorview box is the same. They only pick up the Irish stations so you would need to go to the Sky box for the free UK stations. That may mean 2 or 3 remotes and switching back and forth. I would recommend setting up all the free UK stations as "favourites" on the Sky box and then you can flick between them using the blue button without having to go through dozens of "you are subscribed to this channel" screens.

Sky will remotely disable the recording feature on their box once you cancel and you may not be able to play most recordings kept on the box.

Thank you for your advice.. much appreciated.

I think I have to buy a Combi unit to give me terrestrial and satellite.. and I have a friend who purchased Normende, "Saorview Approved" from DID at €150 and he has had no problems at all.

I can then buy a basic Saorview unit for Irish channels only and use this with my original sky box to give me both Sat and Terrestrial..

I think this is the way I will go..

Regards
Paul

zg3409

eskerman wrote: »

I think I have to buy a Combi unit to give me terrestrial and satellite.. ...I can then buy a basic Saorview unit for Irish channels only and use this with my original sky box to give me both Sat and Terrestrial..

I don't understand. Is this a setup for two TV's?

You are correct in that an unsibscribed Sky box combined with a Saorview box and an aerial will get you both UK and Irish channels

Similarly a combo will get you both UK and Irish channels on one box but there are downsides
1) It's more expensive than using exitisting Sky box and buying a Saorview only box.
2) You will not get a 7 day guide on the UK channels
3) You do not have a fancy interface and remote you know (from Sky)
4) You may need to retune some of the satellite channels 2 or 3 times per year (this does not need to be done with a Sky box)

In your case where you have a sky box anyway for free you want to keep a combo may not be the best box for your needs. You also may need to factor in the cost of getting a TV aerial installed into the cost calculations.

winston_1

zg3409 wrote: »

An indoor rabbits ears may work but not recommended and you would need to test first.

And completely unsuitable, they are VHF aerials, only suitable for FM radio these days. Indoor UHF aerials can occasionally be bought for €2 or made free of charge with a bit of coax cable.

stanley1

GBCULLEN wrote: »

snaps, yes humax do freeview hd, its this one Humax HD-FOX T2 Freeview HD Set Top Box. By the way its actually very very good in fact its the best.

@ yamanoto its out of stock in amazon so thats a snag and its in short supply so thats a snag, its on ebay but usually uk only so thats a snag, check before you post

for ebay uk delivery only have a look at parcel motel.com

seaniefr

stanley1 wrote: »

for ebay uk delivery only have a look at parcel motel.com

You can get a SaorTv combo box online for €89 delivered can use the satellite wire from your sky box and put up a UHF Arial or get one professionally installed with a coax wire down to the combo box you are going to have to fit the UHF Arial anyway as your Irish channels previously came from the the sky box. I have the saorTV box at home just haven't gotten around to hooking it up yet! It's not Saorview approved but the reviews appear to be ok.

dharn

i think there is some confusion here between humax freeview box and freesat box i got a humax freesat box delivered within 2 days for free ordered stuff from satellitetv.ie based in mayo and from amazon they both arrived together !