Walker WP645TS or Ariva 250

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Hi guys

I know there are individual threads about different boxes but there appears very little about comparing setups - if there are I apologise in advance and feel free to move or merge thread

I am looking for a reasonably simple non subscription setup for an old non Saorview LCd tv to use as a second set and I am looking for opinions / advice on whether there are any advantages or disadvantages in going for the Walker WP645TS or the Ariva 250 ( or indeed if anyone can recommend a better alternative to either of these ) . I am looking at amaximum budget of €150 , any my main queries relate to
1- ease of use
2- reliability ( ie bugs etc )

and thats about it really - if the one I go for works out well I will probably switch main tv over as well , as the cost of Sky is getting ridiculous

any advice welcome

thanks

iba

scanner wrote: »

Hi guys

I know there are individual threads about different boxes but there appears very little about comparing setups - if there are I apologise in advance and feel free to move or merge thread

I am looking for a reasonably simple non subscription setup for an old non Saorview LCd tv to use as a second set and I am looking for opinions / advice on whether there are any advantages or disadvantages in going for the Walker WP645TS or the Ariva 250 ( or indeed if anyone can recommend a better alternative to either of these ) . I am looking at amaximum budget of €150 , any my main queries relate to
1- ease of use
2- reliability ( ie bugs etc )

and thats about it really - if the one I go for works out well I will probably switch main tv over as well , as the cost of Sky is getting ridiculous

any advice welcome

thanks

I dont know about the Walker box but you could get the Ariva 150 rather than the 250 - one of the main differences between teh 150 and the 250 is that the 250 hasCAM slots and since you said that you dont want a sub service you do not need a 250 box IMO.

But you are on the right track because you do need a Combo box because your TV is not saorview compatable.

Hope this helps

MenloPete

Also the Walker is Saorview certified, while the Ariva is not; if that is significant for you.

iba

MenloPete wrote: »

Also the Walker is Saorview certified, while the Ariva is not; if that is significant for you.

True, but it dosent make any difference. To get an item Saorview approved, the company has to pay the Saorview Authority (sorry I dont know there proper name) something like €20000 in order to be allowed to have Saorview approved logo on their boxes etc. It dosent mean at all that item is not saorview compatable.

Regards

Tony

If you use teletext a lot then the walker is the one to go for, if not the ariva is easier to use as you do not have to switch between terrestrial and satellite channel lists . They are both good boxes you cant really go wrong with either one.

rh5555

I am in the same boat. Cancelled Sky yesterday after a few years and will go with a combo box and looking at either the Walker or Ariva.

I still have a few questions someone can hopefully answer.

1st I don't care at all about teletext but someone wrote somewhere (don't remember where) that receivers that have Mheg5 such as the walker can also support series link on the terrestrial channels. Not sure if that's true or not. If Mheg5 is only important for teletext and nothing else I could care less but Series link even only on terrestrial side would be a big deal and it does just seem to have started a few days ago according to another thread.

2nd There seem to be rumors that the Walker gets an firmware upgrade that supports 7 Day EPG on the satellite side. Looks like they tried with v2.8 but it didn't work well and the receivers froze and now they have v2.9 that doesn't have the 7 day EPG guide for the satellite anymore. This might be difficult to answer but what are the chances that one of the next firmware versions has the full EPG guide. Maybe they are trying to fix the issues they had with v2.8. Having a full 7 day EPG, maybe including series link on the UK satellite part would make up easily for some of the shortcomings the Walker has (eg. Saorview / Satellite on different channel lists)

3rd is there any other combo receiver on the short-term horizon that may support full satellite EPG including series link?

I know these might be difficult questions but hope someone can answer at least one or two. Still stuck with Sky for 31 days so I still have some time and I can even use Sky's 'freeview' for awhile should it be worth waiting.

Thanks.

Tony

I can say for sure that series link will not be appearing anytime soon on the Ariva.

scanner

Well guys , took the plunge and bought Walker box from Powercity , €100

1st impressions - not familiar with these type of systems at all , having had Sky for years , I have to say once I figured out how to set it up and updated the firmware to 2.9 the box is actually a doddle to use

1- picture quality both terrestrial and satellite excellent , I would go so far as to say better than my Sky HD box

2 - Timer recordings - no issues so far , I don't even need it on the right channel to record as it automatically changes over to the channel to be recorded - it will actually prompt you that you are about to record on a different channel to the one you are watching( if watching and trying to record something different from same source eg satellite , but you can then switch via "opt" button to another channel on sat/terrestrial as it records what you set

3- only done a few trial recordings so far but image quality appears same;) as live broadcasts - there appears a slight delay of 15-20 seconds in starting off recording - so might be advised to maybe set recording 1-2 minutes before program due to start

4 -after initial setup , I deleted all the rubbish channels and put all my favourites in an order of my choice and then saved this configuration to usb - again this is all new to me and after a quick Google I found instructions on how to do this very easily

All in all for a one off €100 this is a no brainer for free tv - I will more than likely use as second box for most of year and use as main box from May to September while football is off , saving approx €500 in that period ( unfortunately I can't do without my football and everytime I cancel Sky I eventually succumb to temptation - I know weak but there you are , apart from that once I cancel for a few months they normally make me some sort of offer to come back

iba

scanner wrote: »

Well guys , took the plunge and bought Walker box from Powercity , €100

1st impressions - not familiar with these type of systems at all , having had Sky for years , I have to say once I figured out how to set it up and updated the firmware to 2.9 the box is actually a doddle to use

1- picture quality both terrestrial and satellite excellent , I would go so far as to say better than my Sky HD box

2 - Timer recordings - no issues so far , I don't even need it on the right channel to record as it automatically changes over to the channel to be recorded - it will actually prompt you that you are about to record on a different channel to the one you are watching( if watching and trying to record something different from same source eg satellite , but you can then switch via "opt" button to another channel on sat/terrestrial as it records what you set

3- only done a few trial recordings so far but image quality appears same;) as live broadcasts - there appears a slight delay of 15-20 seconds in starting off recording - so might be advised to maybe set recording 1-2 minutes before program due to start

4 -after initial setup , I deleted all the rubbish channels and put all my favourites in an order of my choice and then saved this configuration to usb - again this is all new to me and after a quick Google I found instructions on how to do this very easily

All in all for a one off €100 this is a no brainer for free tv - I will more than likely use as second box for most of year and use as main box from May to September while football is off , saving approx €500 in that period ( unfortunately I can't do without my football and everytime I cancel Sky I eventually succumb to temptation - I know weak but there you are , apart from that once I cancel for a few months they normally make me some sort of offer to come back

Hi,

You mentioned in your original post that you did not want a sub service but now you say you still want Sky 4 ur footie.

I dont know if the Walker has slots for sub cards (the Ariva has) but if it has what you might like to do is subscribe to Cyfra in Poland which is a lot cheaper than Sky and you can buy a card from Satskelp.pl

Cyfra is shown on Hotbird, so you would have to get an extension arm, (only costs €10 or so) and get a 2nd LNB and then you can get Astra 28.2 and Hotbird on your dish.

Regards