Saorview Connect

FRIENDO

"A Revolution in FREE TV is coming soon "

I like it, it's a good add

We could think of a song to go with it now for a TV add!

former total

No matter what that box can do it will be torn to pieces on this forum, but if it has all the features named in that ad, then it's a great addition to the market.

FRIENDO

former total wrote:

No matter what that box can do it will be torn to pieces on this forum, but if it has all the features named in that ad, then it's a great addition to the market.

I hope it's Saorsat approved, I don't think it's to much to ask.

The Cush

former total wrote: »

No matter what that box can do it will be torn to pieces on this forum,

If it performs as expected, and hopefully it will with the backing of Freesat and a reputable manufacturer like Manhattan then there shouldn't be any complaints, well, other than maybe the lack of a combined Saorview/satellite epg, 7 day sat guide, the usual issues.

I was an early adopter of the Walker PVR and we had lots to complain about with it and appears to have taken a number of software updates to resolve issues. One issue I observed being solved this way was signal strength/quality issues when my brother purchased one in recent times, when it dropped sub €100. On install we had occasional picture breakup with a reduced signal strength reading and 92-94% signal quality. We did a forced OTA software update, after that all readings displayed what the TV readings were indicating, with signal quality hitting 100%. The Walker PVR didn't do Saorview any favours.

Tigerandahalf

If it has the freesat epg it would be a major plus but perhaps that would take away from the saorview channels' ad revenue so it may not happen.

I wouldn't want a netflix button on it and I think the vast majority wouldn't need it. No guarantee netflix will be around in 5 years or will have the same name.

There could be a lot of potential to showcase old rte documentaries and big sports games from the past. They have some docs on the Rte player at the moment.

I currently just use a dongle for internet so will probably upgrade to fibre broadband when it comes on stream.

channelsurfer2

It wont have 7 day EPG from Freesat but other than that I will buy it if its reasonably priced with a pvr version. I look forward to the catch up tv section.

Tigerandahalf

I read online that users will be able to remotely record programmes through use of an app on your mobile. A handy feature I guess.

http://advanced-television.com/2016/01/20/rte-saorview-partner-with-freesat/

Also looks like you will be able to use the app as a remote control. Be handy for anyone who has kids that steal and lose the remote.

Johnboy1951

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

I read online that users will be able to remotely record programmes through use of an app on your mobile. A handy feature I guess.

http://advanced-television.com/2016/01/20/rte-saorview-partner-with-freesat/

Also looks like you will be able to use the app as a remote control. Be handy for anyone who has kids that steal and lose the remote.

No mention at all of reception of Sat channels.

Seems to be a Saorview only STB.

channelsurfer2

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

No mention at all of reception of Sat channels.

Seems to be a Saorview only STB.

well if that's the case I wont be buying it.....not much use to me.

Tigerandahalf

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

No mention at all of reception of Sat channels.

Seems to be a Saorview only STB.

From what I read previously a number of boxes will be available offering either saorview only or a saorview/freesat box.

former total

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

No mention at all of reception of Sat channels.

Seems to be a Saorview only STB.

That article is from January, just FYI.

Saorview subsequently stated (via Twitter I think) that a combo box would be available. No date for this.

The Cush

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

No mention at all of reception of Sat channels.

Seems to be a Saorview only STB.

Saorview tweeted previously that there would be a combi receiver in the range, but not a Freesat receiver it appears.

https://twitter.com/SAORVIEW/status/694224003385401346

STB.

former total wrote: »

No matter what that box can do it will be torn to pieces on this forum, but if it has all the features named in that ad, then it's a great addition to the market.

This is 2016 not 2010. Times move on and technology is moving on at a rapid pace.

All of the features that people want to have as a genuine alternative to Sky/pay tv is what matters, and Saorview should be regarding that as a basic goal.

Hardball should have been played at government level to get access to the Freesat EPG. Its already provided for Northern Ireland by that consortium. Saorview have a mux in NI that they are paying for. Would it have been too much for a reciprocal or token arrangement for that data. The elephant in the room that is existence and widespread availability of these Freesat channels (with targeted adverts) and the data in Ireland for many years.

Third party developers in Ireland made a python add on for the linux boxes for RTE and Tv3 player, many years ago, so what is being offered is nothing new.

The people who are requesting a one for all box are the general public who want a genuine alternative to pay TV (not box anoraks like me). Look at the number of individual posts from people asking in this forum, the satellite forum and the foreign satellite forum "whats the best combi box" with epg and recording on a daily basis. IT is a basic requirement. That's what they needed to package together. Saorview does not have the content alone to justify anyone buying a DVB-T only box (even with playback).

Anything that doesn't include sat and terrestrial, packaged neatly is a retrograde step. Its that simple.

Gerry Wicklow

+1 on that STB. It strikes me as yet another half-baked, Irish solution for an Irish problem. Why is it they can never give the market what it wants/needs. At the rate it is taking to bring to market it will be obsolete before it launches.

STB.

Gerry Wicklow wrote: »

+1 on that STB. It strikes me as yet another half-baked, Irish solution for an Irish problem. Why is it they can never give the market what it wants/needs. At the rate it is taking to bring to market it will be obsolete before it launches.

I would say that RTE are so sick of it all between the Oireachtas not wanting to pay for carriage (in line with the laws they actually passed!) TV3 not wanting to pay and taking it through the courts, the inability for TG4 to go HD and no one really wanting anything more than the basics to fulfill their PSB licences that they hold, including negotiating HD carriage with anyone else but the platform they are primarily licensed to.

Comreg might as well be handing out content licences to broadcast on anything but the Saorview platform for the disregard that it has been given by those outside of RTE. Yes I agree, they'd love a situation where we become an IPTV delivered country. They could just switch off the muxes then.

Johnboy1951

I am now regretting that they did not designate Saorsat as the primary delivery method in this country, and specify all channels at HD pricing whether fully utilised or not.

Yes it would have meant a huge change from terrestrial aerials to sat dishes, but if it was done from the beginning it would have worked IMO.

STB.

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

I am now regretting that they did not designate Saorsat as the primary delivery method in this country, and specify all channels at HD pricing whether fully utilised or not.

Yes it would have meant a huge change from terrestrial aerials to sat dishes, but if it was done from the beginning it would have worked IMO.

Unlike Freesat, Saorsat would have been blank the majority of the time!
You do know that RTE have had to turn off Champions league games on Saorsat because of farcical complaints from rights holders. Can you imagine how much content would be blocked if TV3 and UTV were on it! Freesat of course seems to have immune to that from this side of the water.

The Cush

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

I am now regretting that they did not designate Saorsat as the primary delivery method in this country, and specify all channels at HD pricing whether fully utilised or not.

Yes it would have meant a huge change from terrestrial aerials to sat dishes, but if it was done from the beginning it would have worked IMO.

This was raised at an Oireachtas discussion with RTÉ & BAI prior to ASO and the answer was the state doesn't own the satellite infrastructure

Throughout the debate on this issue during the past eight or ten years, a key underlying point of public policy has been that the State should have an Irish-owned transmission system to carry the four national channels, one that would not be dependent on external economic circumstances or an external force. Hence the necessity of a domestic transmission system. The satellite option does everything mentioned by Mr. Hayes, namely, extending coverage and providing a back-up, but one could not dispense with DTT by virtue of the availability of satellite because, in the last analysis, the satellite option is not within the control of the State.

No country relies on satellite to provide its national broadcasting requirements, just for terrestrial infill and backup.

FRIENDO

STB. wrote:

Unlike Freesat, Saorsat would have been blank the majority of the time! You do know that RTE have had to turn off Champions league games on Saorsat because of farcical complaints from rights holders.

Possible if RTE or some Minister grew a pair, this wouldn't be the case

Johnboy1951

The Cush wrote: »

This was raised at an Oireachtas discussion with RTÉ & BAI prior to ASO and the answer was the state doesn't own the satellite infrastructure



No country relies on satellite to provide its national broadcasting requirements, just for terrestrial infill and backup.

Just because it has not been done, does not mean it could not have been done.
I appreciate the desire to 'own' the infrastructure, and would agree it to be the most desirable option.
Related to that, will be the ownership of the broadband infrastructure ...... will that have the same outcome? .... we will soon know how seriously they take that desire!

Sam Russell

STB. wrote: »

I would say that RTE are so sick of it all between the Oireachtas not wanting to pay for carriage (in line with the laws they actually passed!) TV3 not wanting to pay and taking it through the courts, the inability for TG4 to go HD and no one really wanting anything more than the basics to fulfill their PSB licences that they hold, including negotiating HD carriage with anyone else but the platform they are primarily licensed to.

Comreg might as well be handing out content licences to broadcast on anything but the Saorview platform for the disregard that it has been given by those outside of RTE. Yes I agree, they'd love a situation where we become an IPTV delivered country. They could just switch off the muxes then.

The fault lies with Comreg and BAI.

If RTE were allowed to run 2RN as a commercial company, then they could specify SD as 720 by 576i. That would get rid of fuzzy vision on TV3. They could give lead-in pricing for the likes of UTVi and TV3 to go HD. TG4 should have been forced by the BAI to go HD as they get substantial state aid.

The situation with OTV is just beyond disgraceful - the Oreachtas being prepared to pay Sky €250 k pa to have OTV behind a pay wall but not FTA on the national terrestrial service. Who do they think they are?

The Cush

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

Just because it has not been done, does not mean it could not have been done.
I appreciate the desire to 'own' the infrastructure, and would agree it to be the most desirable option.

The Ka band option wasn't available when the analogue replacement was developed and any Ku band option would've been a more expensive one for the consumer and providers, encryption/equipment etc.

Tigerandahalf

It is difficult for saorview to provide a good solution at the right price I guess.

Many people will have no interest in catch up or demand tv or may not have the proper internet coverage to meet its demands.

Despite saorview saying this is a free offering it comes with the caveat of having and paying for decent broadband.

So they are probably competing with virgin and sky for their offerings and people not willing to pay for the all in packages.

former total

Jaysus. None of this relates to Saorview Connect.

Same people banging the same drum on every single thread.

STB.

former total wrote: »

Jaysus. None of this relates to Saorview Connect.

Same people banging the same drum on every single thread.

If the drum is the platform that is Saorview, and the stick is the latest hair brained scheme that people want a box that receives less channels than the digits on your hands with a playback sevice, then it is doomed, hence the banging on.

Doomed because of what Saorview will become if its not properly packaged with the British FTA Channels. With the zero possibility of these stations ever being on the dvb-t platform, the only alternative is a combo box, done properly. Nothing else will be worth buying. Its not rocket science.

If you cant join the dots, don't start the conversation saying "No matter what that box can do it will be torn to pieces on this forum, but if it has all the features named in that ad, then it's a great addition to the market".

bk

+1 on everything STB said in the post above. A lot of the features this box is talking about were normal on Pay TV platforms 5 years ago.

For instance, wow, ability to set recordings remotely. Nothing wrong with that, but the pay TV platforms have all moved onto the ability to actually stream live and recorded TV from their boxes to tablets and smartphones. I see no sign of that from Saorview Connect.

But most importantly it misses the very basic functionality that almost every ordinary person wants in Ireland. The ability to watch and record the UK FTA channels. Now this doesn't need to be the FReesat EPG, but the UK channels absolutely need to be there and they need to be mixed with the Irish channels in a sensible single EPG and preferable with 7 days EPG for the UK channels and series link recording. If not people won't bother paying the €200+ for this box and continue to use Freesat instead and increasingly ignore the Irish channels.

The other major issue I see is that the Irish channels seem to be falling way behind on Over The Top internet services. In the UK, BBC, ITV, C4, C5 and UKTV all have very good "player" services and they are all available on a very wide variety of devices (various smart TV platforms, game consoles PS3/PS4/Xbox, Roku, Now TV, Fire TV, Android TV, iphone, ipad, Android smart phones, etc.).

Meanwhile here in Ireland RTE's player has really fallen behind, using old silverlight technology and very limited availability on various devices. While TV3, UTV Ireland and TG4's players are non existent.

The whole free TV platforms in Ireland is seriously underdeveloped and uncompetitive compared to what is available in the UK. Really they offer little or no competition to the pay TV platforms. We are just very lucky to have Freesat and UK FTA sat available in Ireland.

Johnboy1951

RTE's player has really fallen behind, using old silverlight technology

I can use RTÉ Player here so it cannot be using Silverlight

FRIENDO

bk wrote:

Meanwhile here in Ireland RTE's player has really fallen behind, using old silverlight technology and very limited availability on various devices. While TV3, UTV Ireland and TG4's players are non existent.

UTVi is used regularly in our house on an android box, for watching Corrie, no problems

bk

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

I can use RTÉ Player here so it cannot be using Silverlight

Apologies, it is Adobe Flash Player. Which is almost as bad!

Google Chrome is dropping Flash this year and Firefox is making moves in the same direction. Meanwhile Netflix and all the UK players are quickly moving to HTML5 as standard.

FRIENDO wrote: »

UTVi is used regularly in our house on an android box, for watching Corrie, no problems

Adobe Flash again, not on any smart TV platforms, Roku, Now TV, Fire TV, game consoles, etc.

Johnboy1951

Yes RTE Player is using Flash ....... about time they changed to HTML5