Why no freesat and saorview combi box?

Zebbedee

Why is this box not available?
It seems like a 'no-brainer' to use that awful phrase.

Kristopherus

Your question has been asked many times already. One reason is that the market in Ireland is too small for any of the bigger brands to be interested. Another reason is that Freesat are most reluctant to allow their proprietory firmware for their EPG to be freely available.

Peter Rhea

Freesat is jointly owned by the BBC & ITV: http://www.freesat.co.uk/about-freesat/

They don't care about Saorview, obviously & a Freesat/Freeview combi would be a bit pointless.

Slick50

Zebbedee wrote: »

Why is this box not available?
It seems like a 'no-brainer' to use that awful phrase.

Is this not what you are talking about? There are others on the market too.

NIMAN

It will never happen, so if you are waiting on it, don't!

As mentioned, 2 different countries are involved. Freesat is a UK system, Saorview is Irish, so there will NEVER be a Freesat/Saorview branded box.

You can of course get a combi box which will receive both satellite channels and Saorview, but it will never be Freesat. Remember that Freesat is actually an EPG guide on top of the channels, you can receive the same channels with any Free To Air satellite receiver, which is what all the combi boxes are, but they will have a different guide on top allowing you to view the channels, 7 day guide etc.

The closest you'll get to the holy grail would be a Linux box like the Alien 2. You still don't have MHEG-5 (but it's probably not impossible to add in future), but you'll get the full EPG on all services if you're willing to put the effort in.

Zebbedee

Thanks to all who replied.

elsie1b

You could also try Walker WP645TS-HD with satfree 7 day epg.

Mike 1972

Peter Rhea wrote: »

They don't care about Saorview, obviously & a Freesat/Freeview combi would be a bit pointless.

there are channels (e.g. "Yesterday") which are only FTA on one or other platform so not entirely pointless.

Peter Rhea

Pointless from a development, marketing & brand identity POV, especially when most in the UK would have Freeview tvs.

I'm sure most in the UK are content with one platform or the other, or maybe a Freesat PVR & Freeview tv. I don't think inability to record the likes of Dave or Quest would spur too many into investing in a machine that duplicates most of its content across 2 platforms.

Having said that, there are Freesat/Freeview IDTVs available, but with each source kept rigidly separated from the other. No integrated EPG or anything.

Sam Russell

I have a Sam sung TV that has both Saorview and Freesat on it. Unfortuneately not at the same time. Fortunately the Freeview works with the Saorview signal.