Box suggestions for a noob.

mossieh

Hi folk,
have been reading through threads here for a while and was hoping to distill your collective knowledge down to a few options. I've built a new house, moving in shortly and want to ditch my sky+ box in favour of fta alternatives.

Setup:
I had the electrician run two co-ax cables from the appropriate external wall for a dish + aerial to my (future) tv location. There's also an ethernet connection point there.

Required functions:
Access to Irish stations
Access to free satellite stations
HD
PVR
EPG
Ability to access/stream movies/tv from a server on my network.

Bearing in mind that I haven't bought any equipment yet, i.e. dish etc, if this was your setup, what would you buy? Value is important to me but decent quality kit is moreso.

Thanks for listening.

The Cush

I wouldn't be able to offer you any advice on networks, streaming etc.

As regards Saorview and the FTA satellite channels do you plan to feed them to a single TV point in the house e.g. the main living area? If so I would run 2 feeds from the sat dish (for satellite PVR) and 1 from the aerial although you could get away with 2 by piggy-backing the aerial feed on one of the sat cables.

List of Saorview approved TVs/STBs here - http://www.saorview.ie/equipment/saorview-approved-product-listings/
Saorview approved PVR - http://www.powercity.ie/?par=10-23-WP6500&pages=1&prod=WP6500&brands=WALKER&image=, http://www.tvtrade.ie/saorview-pvr.html

FTA satellite channels with 7 day epg, internal HDD, series link (Freesat+ PVR) - http://www.joinfreesat.co.uk/ (see rh column for range of available receivers)

There is a range of combi Saorview/FTA sat receivers available but without 7 day epg for the sat channels or internal HDD - http://www.saorview.ie/product/saorview-combi-options/. The Walker WP645TS-HD is an exception following a recent software upgrade which adds a 7 day guide option - http://www.tvtrade.ie/blog/walker-wp645ts-hd-how-to-install-firmware-v3-8-satfree-from-usb-drive/

If you plan to feed other TV points in the house directly from the aerial and sat dish better to plan ahead now.
- An aerial into a centrally located distribution amp will feed a lot of TV points.
- An Octo (8 outputs) LNB mounted on the satellite dish will feed 8 single tuner sat receivers or a combination of single and twin (PVR) tuner receivers.
- A quattro (4 output) LNB will feed a multiswitch (satellite distribution amp) which in turn can feed a large number of sat receivers

dmeehan

Great informative post The Cush, thanks

mossieh

The Cush wrote: »

I wouldn't be able to offer you any advice on networks, streaming etc.

As regards Saorview and the FTA satellite channels do you plan to feed them to a single TV point in the house e.g. the main living area? If so I would run 2 feeds from the sat dish (for satellite PVR) and 1 from the aerial although you could get away with 2 by piggy-backing the aerial feed on one of the sat cables.

List of Saorview approved TVs/STBs here - http://www.saorview.ie/equipment/saorview-approved-product-listings/
Saorview approved PVR - http://www.powercity.ie/?par=10-23-WP6500&pages=1&prod=WP6500&brands=WALKER&image=, http://www.tvtrade.ie/saorview-pvr.html

FTA satellite channels with 7 day epg, internal HDD, series link (Freesat+ PVR) - http://www.joinfreesat.co.uk/ (see rh column for range of available receivers)

There is a range of combi Saorview/FTA sat receivers available but without 7 day epg for the sat channels or internal HDD - http://www.saorview.ie/product/saorview-combi-options/. The Walker WP645TS-HD is an exception following a recent software upgrade which adds a 7 day guide option - http://www.tvtrade.ie/blog/walker-wp645ts-hd-how-to-install-firmware-v3-8-satfree-from-usb-drive/

If you plan to feed other TV points in the house directly from the aerial and sat dish better to plan ahead now.
- An aerial into a centrally located distribution amp will feed a lot of TV points.
- An Octo (8 outputs) LNB mounted on the satellite dish will feed 8 single tuner sat receivers or a combination of single and twin (PVR) tuner receivers.
- A quattro (4 output) LNB will feed a multiswitch (satellite distribution amp) which in turn can feed a large number of sat receivers

Great info Cush, thanks. When you mention piggy-backing the signal (which I'd need to as I've only got two cables going out and they're chased into the wall), is there any risk of interference/loss of signal?

The Cush

mossieh wrote: »

When you mention piggy-backing the signal (which I'd need to as I've only got two cables going out and they're chased into the wall), is there any risk of interference/loss of signal?

No risk of interference. If the signal strength is good at the aerial it should be OK at the TV point.

Example of satellite/aerial combiners/splitters here - http://www.tvtrade.ie/amplifiers-and-diplexers/satellite-combiners.html