free to air channels and saorview

boarduser100

What is the cheapest way to get free to air and saorview channels for 4 televisions? I do not have a satellite dish.

The Cush

Saorview combi receiver at each TV attached to an aerial and satellite dish - http://www.saorview.ie/saorview-combi/, http://www.saorview.ie/what-is-saorview/make-the-switch/

boarduser100

Thanks for reply. Is there a combi box which you would recommend?

Kristopherus

boarduser100 wrote: »

Thanks for reply. Is there a combi box which you would recommend?

There's quite a few different makes available. Have a look at www.satellite.ie and www.tvtrade.ie. Very useful info on both of those sites.

The Cush

boarduser100 wrote: »

Is there a combi box which you would recommend?

There are 2 Saorview approved combis that come up regularly in posts here (I haven't used either)

- Walker WP645TS-HD - http://www.tvtrade.ie/saorview-combo-walker.html, http://www.satworld.ie/product-info.php?Walker_WP645TS-HD_Saorview_Approved_Combo-pid565.html, http://www.powercity.ie/?par=10-23-WP645TS&pages=1&prod=WP645TS&brands=WALKER&image= , http://www.satellite.ie/acatalog/Saorview-Approved-Combo-set-top-box.html
- Triax TSC114 - http://www.tvtrade.ie/saorview-combo.html, http://www.satworld.ie/product-info.php?Triax_TSC_114_Saorview_Approved_Combo_Receiver-pid432.html

I posted this in similar threads previously - http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=84296402#post84296402, http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=84297523

boarduser100

What I don't understand is why people continue to pay UPC for tv when free to air and saorview seem to be a much better option. Am I missing something?

mike65

Sport subscription channels and bundling broadband - UPC is very good by all accounts. Skys new BB package marketing will put it up to UPC, though its still quite slow typically 7 mbps v 50 mbps for UPC as they use standard lines.

icdg

Moved to Satellite.

photofinish

boarduser100 wrote: »

What I don't understand is why people continue to pay UPC for tv when free to air and saorview seem to be a much better option. Am I missing something?

Sky Sports and Sky Movies mostly.

doreilly58

boarduser100 wrote: »

What is the cheapest way to get free to air and saorview channels for 4 televisions? I do not have a satellite dish.

Depends on type of tv you have, if they have digita,l tuners/saorview combined with a satellite receiver gives you access to main tv channels, rte,bbc,itv ch4 etc. If tvs are not Saorview then combo boxes in each location might be an option. Both options require a dish unless you are in overspill areas(east coast/border counties), in which case an aerial might do.

boarduser100

I live in Shankill, does that mean I can get channels using a combi box without a satellite or aerial?

Mountjoy Mugger

You'll need an aerial to get all the Saorview channels.

To get anything apart from Irish channels, you'll need a satellite dish.

Peter Rhea

The only way you'll get anything without an aerial of some kind (satellite dish, UHF terrestrial, or both) is, if you live in a cabled area & have a cable tv subscription.

The poster above, in mentioning 'overspill areas (east coast/border counties)' is referring to UK terrestrial broadcasts, known as 'Freeview'. In my experience, this is only a reliable option in some areas close to the NI border. Everywhere else would be well advised to go with satellite for free UK tv.

boarduser100

Following your advice I have decided to go with a satellite, aerial and 4 combi boxes, one of which is saorview approved as I want teletext.
Together with instalation, I got a quote of 700 euro, does that seem reasonable?

doreilly58

boarduser100 wrote: »

I live in Shankill, does that mean I can get channels using a combi box without a satellite or aerial?

You will need a dish and or an aerial, in shankhill you may be able tto receive signal from wales through an aerial, I am in bray and in some parts of the town a rooftop aerial will pick signal. If not then a combo box, connected to an aerial and a dish will get you the main channels,( the aerial for the Irish channels and the dish for the British ones). In Bray,Greystones right the way down the coast a rooftop aerial is sufficient to receive both.

doreilly58

boarduser100 wrote: »

Following your advice I have decided to go with a satellite, aerial and 4 combi boxes, one of which is saorview approved as I want teletext.
Together with instalation, I got a quote of 700 euro, does that seem reasonable?

It depends on the type of boxes supplied, standad boxes can be got for 70 euro, up to 150euro for good quality ones. If you need a dish and aerial and bearing in mind the time involved it could possably be done cheaper but if you are getting good equitment and service, then it is a one off cost and you can get years of viewing without subscription. It compares with about two years of basic Sky for one room.

I forgot to mention to check your existing tv's for saoview/mpeg4 and to ask if you have or have had sky, do you have an existing dish, it is worth noting that a Sky box without a subscription card becomes a freesat box, with the added bonus that you get a 7 day epg and the remote can be programmed to
operate many brands of tv.

Capt'n Midnight

What's the budget / timescale ?

If you want cheap be aware that there are no nice simple all in one solutions.

First check if any of the TV's support Saorview.
If all you get is radio then they don't.


One suggestion
- one dish with a quad lnb (for Astra) and the special ka lnb for saorsat
- a pair of two way splitters , one for each of the Ka lnb outputs

you now have 8 cables
going in to four A/B disecq switches (a tenner each) these let the satellite box choose either FTA or sarosat

( a distribution system may be cheaper , esp. if you want to add a 5th box or a satellite box that can record )


Yes you will loose TV3 and 3e but save the price of 3 saorview receivers and only need one remote control instead of a pair of them


EDIT - keep forgetting that saorsat means you need HD receivers

Peter Rhea

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

One suggestion
- one dish with a quad lnb (for Astra) and the special ka lnb for saorsat

. . . Yes you will loose TV3 and 3e but save the price of 3 saorview receivers and only need one remote control instead of a pair of them

Why Saorsat?

Could be hard enough to get a decent Saorsat install in an area where it's needed, never mind finding someone to do it where in all likelihood a basic aerial installation will get the full Saorview service.

Combi boxes have been mentioned.

Capt'n Midnight

Peter Rhea wrote: »

Why Saorsat?

Could be hard enough to get a decent Saorsat install in an area where it's needed, never mind finding someone to do it where in all likelihood a basic aerial installation will get the full Saorview service.

Combi boxes have been mentioned.

Its an option

Like I said it may save buying saorview boxes, and it's one remote control instead of two - and then I remembered that you saorsat needed HD boxes :pac:

Having to buy 8 boxes for 4 TV's is another way of doing it.

When any of the telly's are replaced they won't need the saorview box (but it can be used to record). And it's likely the replacement will be HD and there will be more HD channels in the future. So maybe getting HD boxes isn't the worse idea.


mixing saorview + freesat on a budget means some compromises, it's pick your poison time

For someone moving from UPC or SKY the big questions on the ease of use side are things like One Remote / EPG / series link / Recording / channel updating every few months

re the EPG
www.tvbrowser.org will take care of reminding you what's on when ( I love the way you can go into Genres and hide all the Property / Soaps in the listings )

8 boxes is getting close to the stage where if you didn't mind complexity and the TV's were in adjacent rooms you'd nearly consider that each box has at least two outputs ( Scart / HDMI / RF / vga if using computer + cards ) so you might save a box by mixing and matching, and it you don't mind picture quality or wifi there are always video senders. Modulators aren't that cheap so probably better off going for a receiver.

Peter Rhea

Ah, so more about Freesat than Saorsat.

Certainly worth bringing up the subject of Freesat, as you say, OP could be in for a bit of a letdown wrt EPG etc.