Combo box recommendation?

Dublin Deluge

Hi there,

I would like to get a freesat/FTA and Saorview combo system (or alteratively a freesat/FTA AND Saorsat system), and I would like to ask some advice on which box to get. I've been reading posts here as well as the products available at satellite.ie, satworld.ie and Powercity. It looks like the most popular boxes are the Ariva 150 and Ariva 250. As far as I understand, the main limitation of these boxes (and other boxes) is that you don't get an EPG for the satellite channels, only for the terrestrial channels. Also, it seems that broadcasters change channel/frequency quite often and you have to re-tune, add the new frequency manually or download a channel list put together by somebody. Is there no way to automate this or at least to know in advance when a broadcaster will change frequency?

More generally, my ideal box would have these features:

1. (Must) Allows me to watch SD and HD Irish and UK channels – By UK channels I mean the main channels out there like BBC, C4, UTV and their variants (E4, BBC3/4, etc). Not a sports enthusiast so I don't need any sports channels.

2. Allows me to change between Irish and UK channels seamlessly, i.e. I don't need to change from Aux1 to Aux2 on the TV or need to use a menu to select between Terrestrial and Satellite, etc. Ideally, I would love to set channels in whatever order I want, i.e. Channel 1 is RTE1, Channel 2 is BBC1, Channel3 is TG4, etc. and I can just use my up and down buttons to browse channels.

3. The box has a “universal” EPG, i.e. in one view I can see programming from both terrestrial and satellite TV and perhaps the radio channels too.

4. The box “retunes” itself when a channel changes frequency, and this happens on both the Irish and the UK channels. (This requirement is not that important if somehow I can know in advance of such a change)

5. The box allows me to record to a hard drive (internal or external via USB, doesn't matter).

6. The box can also connect to the Internet (i.e. to YouTube). A nice to have feature would be ability to connect to Netflix (but not a must by any means).

7. If the “universal” EPG is not possible, can it connect via the Internet to some service with TV listings?

Is there a box that tick all or most of these boxes?

Thanks a lot in advance for the advice. I'm completely new to satellite technology but at the same time I want to replace my ageing analogue UPC service with something more modern that allows me to watch HD and that is free.

Thanks,
DD

zg3409

If one of the main channels are due to change then normall someone mentions it on boards.ie However that is not much use to you as it would still require retuning, after the channel moves as retuning before the channel moves would be worse.

If you are insisting on 7 days EPG for Sat and Terrestrial and a combo box then only linux or open source boxes can do this. These need to be manually configured and are more of a hobbiest box than plug and play - If you are not willing to download a channel list then these would be too difficult to use.

So in short what you want is not possible in an easy manner.

Dublin Deluge

Thanks for your reply, zg3409. I was actually thinking that there might be a way of setting up a Linux machine to do this, but as you say, it won't be that easy. Thanks again for your answer!

Samson

Are you in an area where you could possibly pick up Freeview (UK digital terrestrial) transmissions?
Along the coast or north county Dublin.

I think some of the latest generation UK Freeview+ HD boxes will probably do most of what you want.

Chuck Stone

Check out the spec of the Amiko Alien Triple Tuner.

It doesn't have a 7 day EPG or auto tuning but it does tick a lot of boxes.

Dublin Deluge

@Samson: Not sure I'll be able to pick up UK Freeview signals. I live in the Dundrum area in Dublin.

Dublin Deluge

Thanks Chuck. I'll have a look at that box.

Dublin Deluge

Chuck: That box looks quite impressive and it seems to tick most of my boxes. Thanks for the link!

Chuck Stone

Dublin Deluge wrote: »

Chuck: That box looks quite impressive and it seems to tick most of my boxes. Thanks for the link!

You're welcome Sir.

steveon

Chuck Stone wrote: »

Check out the spec of the Amiko Alien Triple Tuner.

It doesn't have a 7 day EPG or auto tuning but it does tick a lot of boxes.

3rd party software can give u 7day guide.

Dublin Deluge

Hi steveon, do you mean something like a plug in / app for the Amiko can give you 7day guide?

Chuck Stone

steveon wrote: »

3rd party software can give u 7day guide.

Had no idea about that tbh. I have an Ariva 150 and it does me fine for the moment.

Could the Saorview channels be integrated into the 7 day EPG for UK channels on AA triple tuner? Sounds interesting if so.

Dublin Deluge

Chuck Stone wrote: »

Could the Saorview channels be integrated into the 7 day EPG for UK channels on AA triple tuner? Sounds interesting if so.

I also have that question. From what I've read, it looks like you can't. But I don't know for sure.

Also, it looks like you can't mix terrestrial from sat channels. I.e. If you want to watch Saorview you have to select "terrestrial" in a menu and if you want to watch UK channels you have to select "Satellite". I think in the Ariva 150/250 you can mix terrestrial and satellite channels together and for you it's completely transparent whether a channel is coming from Saorview or Satellite. Is that correct? I think that is a nice feature from a user-friendliness point of view.

PogMoThoin

steveon wrote: »

3rd party software can give u 7day guide.

Can you confirm that you have that working?

Chuck Stone

Dublin Deluge wrote: »

I think in the Ariva 150/250 you can mix terrestrial and satellite channels together and for you it's completely transparent whether a channel is coming from Saorview or Satellite. Is that correct?

That's correct. I have the Ariva 150.

The Saorview EPG populates next to the Saorview channels (when the guide button is pressed) while now/next is as good as it gets for the UK FTA channels.

Dub12Dave

The Amiko Alien2 Triple Tuner box is a GREAT box for the price and as it has a dual boot system and a full 7 day EPG is available on the E2 side of this box, this is a full E2 box and yes you can mix the Saorview channels in with the FTA channels and there is no need to switch from Sat to Terrestrial, On the Spark operating system same again Saorview channels can be mixed with all the other channels but the EPG is now and next only. I am also a vu+ duo owner and my vu duo box now resides in a bedroom as IMHO the AA2 triple tuner box is much better, there is also a combo box from Amiko that does all the triple tuner can do but for 70/80€ cheaper, for what you actually get these boxes are great value for money.

TheChevron

Dub12Dave wrote: »

The Amiko Alien2 Triple Tuner box is a GREAT box for the price and as it has a dual boot system and a full 7 day EPG is available on the E2 side of this box, this is a full E2 box and yes you can mix the Saorview channels in with the FTA channels and there is no need to switch from Sat to Terrestrial, On the Spark operating system same again Saorview channels can be mixed with all the other channels but the EPG is now and next only. I am also a vu+ duo owner and my vu duo box now resides in a bedroom as IMHO the AA2 triple tuner box is much better, there is also a combo box from Amiko that does all the triple tuner can do but for 70/80€ cheaper, for what you actually get these boxes are great value for money.

Have you managed to get a HDD set up to record on your Alien 2 in E2?
I can not get a disk drive to initialize, I have tried a 160gb, a 500gb and a 32gb flash drive all formatted to FAt32.

Its doing my head in as a triple tuner box is not much use unless I can record.

Dub12Dave

I am luck enough to have a 128gb Kingston flash drive and that is all I use but I do prefer the Spark side so have never tried on E2 have a look here http://www.satstation.co.uk/forum/f268-amiko-alien-2-enigma-2/e2-mounting-hdd-14920/ should help you out and possibly others too, look around the site it has a great section for the AA2 and there are some great downloads in there AA download section, sorry I can't be of more help to you but the site I linked is very very good.

TheChevron

Dub12Dave wrote: »

I am luck enough to have a 128gb Kingston flash drive and that is all I use but I do prefer the Spark side so have never tried on E2 have a look here http://www.satstation.co.uk/forum/f268-amiko-alien-2-enigma-2/e2-mounting-hdd-14920/ should help you out and possibly others too, look around the site it has a great section for the AA2 and there are some great downloads in there AA download section, sorry I can't be of more help to you but the site I linked is very very good.

Cheers mate, that forum looks great.

Dublin Deluge

Thanks for all your recommendations guys, I got an Alien 2 box and I'm quite happy with it so far! Cheers

mustang01

hi , how is the box going for you , looking to purchase a combo box myself and dont know which is best to choose, looking at the Triax TSC114 what extra benifits does the Amiko Alien2 over the triax ? tks for help

Dublin Deluge

Hi mustang01,

Happy new year!

I'm very, very happy with the box. So far I've been using mostly the Spark software it comes with (after I upgraded the firmware over the Internet though). And yes, it ticks most of my boxes. The only two things I'm not completely happy with is that it doesn't really offer a 7 day EPG for Satellite channels. The latest firmware version (1.2.60) does come with a CrossEPG plug in, but I haven't been able to make it work. At the same time, I've been experimenting with the Enigma software, but as of today I don't have it completely set up yet. Was planning to finish doing that today. You can read the posts about all the amazing things the Enigma2 software is supposed to do.

I have no experience with the Triax box you mention. In fact, this Alien2 box is the very first satellite receiver I own, so I couldn't be able to make a comparison between the Alien2 box and any other box, sorry about that.