Record one - View another channel on FTA

Jay Dee

Hi,

From reading various posts here , it seems that to have the ability to view one channel and record another on FTA, you need to run 2 cables from the dish.

My question is where does the second cable go to ?
My FTA box has only " one line in "

Thanks

Jay

Peter Rhea

The 2nd lnb-in connection will only be found on receivers with 2 tuners. You need 2 tuners for full recording flexibility i.e. all channels available to view 1/record 1 or record 2 simultaneously.

Jay Dee

Hi,

Are there " receivers with 2 tuners" available ?
I have not seen any, anywhere ?

Thanks

Jay

cgarvey

Any Freesat+ / FreesatHD+ box will be dual-tuner .. most of the cheaper FTA receivers (even if marketed as "PVR Ready" or as having "Recording Feature") will not.

watty

All "real PVRs" have internal HDD and dual tuners. Anything else is a set-box or TV with a "recording feature".

Jay Dee

Hi,

@cgarvey

" Any Freesat+ / FreesatHD+ box will be dual-tuner .. most of the cheaper FTA receivers (even if marketed as "PVR Ready" or as having "Recording Feature") will not."
Does this mean I can use a FreesatHD box INSTEAD of a FTA box ?
or does it mean ONLY a FreesatHD box has this facility ?

" Real PVRs" have internal HDD and dual tuners."
Are FTA versions of this box available ?

Thanks

Jay

cgarvey

Jay Dee wrote: »

Does this mean I can use a FreesatHD box INSTEAD of a FTA box ?
or does it mean ONLY a FreesatHD box has this facility ?

I don't know of any dual-tuner that are not Freesat(HD)+ certified boxes, though I presume there are. A quick Google shows some on eBay, and a Lidl special offer from ages ago. Couldn't find anything on the TVTrade & Satellite (the owners of those post here regularly) either.

So they're rare, but do exist. To be honest, for the sake of a few quid more, I'd recommend a Freesat+/FreesatHD+ for the better UI & full 7-day EPG. They're proper PVRs, and things like series link & EPG just work without any messy hacks, or custom software.

PogMoThoin

The Amiko Alien 2 is a FTA triple tuner combo, has been discussed in a few threads here
http://www.amikostb.com/?q=product&id=153

Jay Dee

Hi,

@Cgarvey :

" Freesat+/FreesatHD+ for the better UI & full 7-day EPG. They're proper PVRs, and things like series link & EPG just work without any messy hacks, or custom software."

I thought that they could not used as FTA boxes ?

@ PogMoThoin

The Amiko Alien 2 is a FTA triple tuner combo, has been discussed in a few threads here
That seems to be the one ?

Thanks

jay

Peter Rhea

FTA = free-to-air, 'free' as in Freesat. Which features of the generic FTA receivers do you think will be missing from the Freesat receiver? Maybe you want something for reception of satellites other than those at 28 east?

Jay Dee

Hi Peter,

I was assuming " Freesat is a free-to-air digital satellite television joint venture between the BBC and ITV plc, serving the United Kingdom."
meant that I would not get it, so I would have to use a FTA box instead.
I was not looking for anything else, or anything extra.
I'm not very savvy with this, I just find it very confusing.
There are lots of posts available, but a lot of them are specific rather than the basics.

I have an old basic Triax box and want to upgrade/update it.
I wanted to have "view one/record another" from the satellite.
Anything I looked at only did this with the satellite and Saorview, one from each.
Sales assistants seemed to know less than me, hense my post.

Hope this makes things clearer, and I would still welcome any advice/suggestions,

Thanks

jay

theoneeyedman

A fairly effective workaround for this I find is using the terrestrial and satellite tuners on a combo box. I find most of what you will actually watch or record will be on the main BBC ITV or RTE channels. Simply record on the terrestrial say BBC1 and this will leave the other satellite open or vise versa record on satellite and watch the terrestrial version. It's not 100% effective but it will work in most instances and handier than extra lnbs wires etc.

PogMoThoin

Jay Dee wrote: »

Hi Peter,

I was assuming " Freesat is a free-to-air digital satellite television joint venture between the BBC and ITV plc, serving the United Kingdom."
meant that I would not get it, so I would have to use a FTA box instead.
I was not looking for anything else, or anything extra.
I'm not very savvy with this, I just find it very confusing.
There are lots of posts available, but a lot of them are specific rather than the basics.

Why would you think Freesat wouldn't work here? You can see the satellites, how would they go about stopping you? You just have to pick UK postcode into the box to set the region.

Peter Rhea

Jay Dee wrote: »

I was assuming " Freesat is a free-to-air digital satellite television joint venture between the BBC and ITV plc, serving the United Kingdom."
meant that I would not get it, so I would have to use a FTA box instead.

In ROI, Freesat receivers wouldn't be as widely available as FTA. Presumably it's a condition of the manufacturers' licence that they aren't marketed here, what with the service being at least partly financed by UK tv licence payers.

Jay Dee

Hi,

@ PogMoThoin:
@ Peter Rhea

My assumption on Freesat was based on the fact you do not see them for sale in any shop,
only the FTA ones and there had to be a reason for that.

From the few I've seen -- The Amiko Alien 2 FTA triple tuner combo, seems to be very popular/well received,

Any other comments would be welcome.

Thanks

Jay

dharn

freeview is probably gettable off an aerial along the border and the east coast, so no need for freesat, the rest of the country ( less population ) need satellite dish and are probably using sky, so limited market for freesat receivers hence little evidence of sales here

watty

The Freesat official Distributors have to sign an agreement not to market them outside UK.
So there are only Grey Sales and personal imports of real Freesat Equipment.

Not many shops sell Satellite gear anyway as there are install issues for DIY, and the Pile It High Crowd (B&Q, Aldi, Dunnes, Lidl etc) are hardly likely to sell other than "budget" generic gear best avoided.

The absolute best solution by a long distance for Free UK TV is "Freesat HD" gear.