why are saorview boxes still so expensive ?

Jason_

I thought they would cost about €15 at this stage but in fact they still cost about € 60 everywhere.

same ol sh1te

Jason_ wrote: »

I thought they would cost about €15 at this stage but in fact they still cost about € 60 everywhere.

Because the certification process costs the manufacturer tens of thousands, this gets lumped on to the price of the box.

STB

Jason_ wrote: »

I thought they would cost about €15 at this stage but in fact they still cost about € 60 everywhere.

The UK have not got their price point down that far for their Freeview HD boxes and their population is 13 times ours.

winston_1

Everything tends to be more expensive in Ireland.

same ol sh1te

winston_1 wrote: »

Everything tends to be more expensive in Ireland.

Not really, Freeview Hd boxes start at about £50 sterling over there.

Jason_

same ol sh1te wrote: »

Because the certification process costs the manufacturer tens of thousands, this gets lumped on to the price of the box.

But even the non approved boxes are 50 Euros

same ol sh1te

Jason_ wrote: »

But even the non approved boxes are 50 Euros

Yes, The market for them now is tiny.

STB

Jason_ wrote: »

But even the non approved boxes are 50 Euros

You are telling me that you cannot buy a generic (non MHEG) MPEG4 DVB-T L4 H264 box for less than that.

Course you can.

galtee boy

Tesco had some Saorview approved ones for €39 a few months ago, but I think it was to get rid of stock left over from ASO. Boxes are a pain in the butt anyway, much simpler all round to have Saorview TV.

Sheldons Brain

You would expect some people to have ones they don't need at this stage as they purchase new TVs with built in Saorview. There probably isn't a good way of recirculating these.

lertsnim

galtee boy wrote: »

Boxes are a pain in the butt anyway, much simpler all round to have Saorview TV.

Not that simple if you have multiple tv's to replace

Digifriendly

same ol sh1te wrote: »

Not really, Freeview Hd boxes start at about £50 sterling over there.

There is a Freeview HD box at £39.99 in Tescos here in N. Ireland

winston_1

same ol sh1te wrote: »

Not really, Freeview Hd boxes start at about £50 sterling over there.

£30 actually, as I said things tend to be expensive in Ireland.

same ol sh1te

Digifriendly wrote: »

There is a Freeview HD box at £39.99 in Tescos here in N. Ireland

Well £40 then, still a long way from the €15 the OP is expecting

Thargor

Aldi sold them for €30 recently.

kooga

was in pc world cork today saw the Panasonic dmr 735 1 TB for €729.99 albeit blu ray, hdd and freeview HD .............................nearly choked!

The Cush

kooga wrote: »

was in pc world cork today saw the Panasonic dmr 735 1 TB for €729.99 albeit blu ray, hdd and freeview HD .............................nearly choked!

€519 at the Panasonic shop in Limerick - http://www.panasonicstore.ie/products.html/entertainment/dvd-recorder/dmr-bwt735-smart-blu-ray-recorder

I recently purchased the next model down, DMR-PWT635, for €340 in Currys Limerick down from €420 - http://www.currys.ie/Product/panasonic-dmrpwt635-smart-3d-bluray-player-with-irish-digital-ready-hd-recorder-1-tb-hdd/318278/145.1

kooga

The Cush wrote: »

€519 at the Panasonic shop in Limerick - http://www.panasonicstore.ie/products.html/entertainment/dvd-recorder/dmr-bwt735-smart-blu-ray-recorder

I recently purchased the next model down, DMR-PWT635, for €340 in Currys Limerick down from €420 - http://www.currys.ie/Product/panasonic-dmrpwt635-smart-3d-bluray-player-with-irish-digital-ready-hd-recorder-1-tb-hdd/318278/145.1

you were saying that its still 1tb though quality product...........saw the 635 in cork today as well still big money

watty

£15 or €15 would be junk.
The cheap UK ones are obsolete stock not HD. Probably some non-HD DTT boxes are now being sold below original manufacturing cost.

Saorview approved boxes are now €49

Don't expect other than expensive PVRs in a couple of years (dual tuner, ethernet, built in HDD, maybe full media / home theatre with Bluray) as the market for standalone basic Saorview boxes to convert TVs will soon be exhausted.

A €400 HDTV is in real terms less than someone paid for a Radio in 1950.

This is partly why it's nearly impossible to get good quality products. People's price expectation is far to low on some products, yet people will pay 50% to twice more than what an Apple product is worth. That's why Apple is on a cash mountain. A 45% margin on some products that other makes have 10% or less.

kooga

Following on, had a look at the high end stuff on the market
CURRYS UK CURRYS CORK

Samsung BD 1tb £269.97 €349.99
Panasonic DMR 530 500gb £259.99 €349.99
LG HR 935 500gb £199 €289.99
Pana DMR 635 1Tb £299.99 €339.99
Panasonic dmr 735 1tb £369.99 €729.99

same ol sh1te

kooga wrote: »

Following on, had a look at the high end stuff on the market
CURRYS UK CURRYS CORK

Samsung BD 1tb £299.99 €349.99
Panasonic DMR 530 500gb £299.99 €349.99
LG HR 935 500gb £199 €289.99
Pana DMR 635 1Tb £299.99 €339.99
Panasonic dmr 735 1tb £299.99 €729.99

What has that got to do with the thread? most of those are better value here, €349<£299

kooga

same ol sh1te wrote: »

What has that got to do with the thread? most of those are better value here, €349<£299

profound and deepest apologies.......

petronius

I do think the prices are still over the top
Granted a premium Saorview+/Freeview+ with HD full EPG and Recording Hard Disk

But still say a Saorview/Freeview box (or even a Saorview/Freesat box) should be relatively inexpensive - especially say for an older person with an existing analog TV who now are juggling remote controls and 400euro is a big ask to fork out for a new tv

Stitchy

petronius wrote: »

... a Saorview/Freeview box (or even a Saorview/Freesat box)

Neither of these exist. Combis are all generic free-to-air, no Freesat.

Freeview is the UK terrestrial service.

watty

Sheldons Brain wrote: »

You would expect some people to have ones they don't need at this stage as they purchase new TVs with built in Saorview. There probably isn't a good way of recirculating these.

Adverts.ie and ebay?

formerly scottish paddy

They are still expensive because of economies of scale, or rather lack off.
Ireland is a very small market and even within Ireland fewer and fewer people would be buying them now. I would expect it will become harder to find new ones as stores just will not be stocking them as they don't see a future for them (I said this on here just before ASO). Your best hope apart from second hand is that some places will just discount their last ones to get rid of them.
As more new Saorview tvs are sold they will become obsolete, expect to see more and more of them on eBay. Most stores in the UK now don't stock standard Freeview STBs (must have been the shortest life span of any electronic product!)

Stitchy

formerly scottish paddy wrote: »

As more new Saorview tvs are sold they will become obsolete, expect to see more and more of them on eBay.

To those who already own Saorview boxes, they will still be useful after purchase of a Saorview tv, as a 2nd tuner for watch & record purposes.

watty

Most boxes are not real PVRs and of dubious reliability for recording. A €8 USB DTT stick in a laptop is more reliable for recording.

petronius

I still think prices for set to boxes for saorview are so expensive
for example an OAP who may have a 2nd TV in their bedroom has to fork out another 50+ euro for a STB
I think it was wrong that there isnt a basic saorview(no recording) STB available for circa 20euro

Antenna

watty wrote: »

£15 or €15 would be junk.
The cheap UK ones are obsolete stock not HD. Probably some non-HD DTT boxes are now being sold below original manufacturing cost.

Is it appropriate to describe something that still works as obsolete?

They still work in the UK with their MPEG2 SD freeview transmissions, and I am not aware of any upcoming switchoff date of their MPEG2 SD terrestrial services in the UK also being simulcast in MPEG4 with HD transmision .
Someone who wanted to keep an old TV going - it likely does not do HD anyway, so it is fair comment to say that it has been significantly more expensive to keep an old TV going with a basic STB in this country than in the UK after ASO.

watty wrote: »

Most boxes are not real PVRs and of dubious reliability for recording. A €8 USB DTT stick in a laptop is more reliable for recording.

"ordinary people" are not likely to have a laptop connected up for TV recording purposes, the discussion here should consider the general public, not just what enthusiasts can do. What is the RF quality of the tuner like in these DTT sticks anyway? , are they more easily affected by nearby TETRA or for example nearby 70cms amateur radio transmissions than regular STBs and TVs?

winston_1

Antenna wrote: »

They still work in the UK with their MPEG2 SD freeview transmissions, and I am not aware of any upcoming switchoff date of their MPEG2 SD terrestrial services in the UK also being simulcast in MPEG4 with HD.

Maybe not but a new channel has appeared using DVB-T2 SD only, Al Jazeera Arabic, and maybe more will follow.

Rippy

Antenna wrote: »

Is it appropriate to describe something that still works as obsolete?

They still work in the UK with their MPEG2 SD freeview transmissions, and I am not aware of any upcoming switchoff date of their MPEG2 SD terrestrial services in the UK also being simulcast in MPEG4 with HD transmision .
Someone who wanted to keep an old TV going - it likely does not do HD anyway, so it is fair comment to say that it has been significantly more expensive to keep an old TV going with a basic STB in this country than in the UK after ASO.



"ordinary people" are not likely to have a laptop connected up for TV recording purposes, the discussion here should consider the general public, not just what enthusiasts can do. What is the RF quality of the tuner like in these DTT sticks anyway? , are they more easily affected by nearby TETRA or for example nearby 70cms amateur radio transmissions than regular STBs and TVs?

Many people just want the simplest way possible to view core Irish and UK channels . There is still a market for combi boxes, and I find some people still want them even when they have a new tv with Saorview.
They just want a unified list of channels and not to have to switch between Tv and external sources.
Hardly ever install Saorview boxes now . Had one in the van for last 2 months at least.
Tvs with sat tuners incorporated are selling well, and is the best solution for many people .

petronius

I agree simple combo boxes which cover Saorview and Freeview (where available) and Saorview and Freesat elsewhere should be relatively cheap and promoted as an alternative to subscriber services such as UPC, Magnet, Eircom, or SKY.

winston_1

petronius wrote: »

I agree simple combo boxes which cover Saorview and Freeview (where available) and Saorview and Freesat elsewhere should be relatively cheap and promoted as an alternative to subscriber services such as UPC, Magnet, Eircom, or SKY.

Saorview and Freeview can be got with a Saorview box with certain limitations.

Saorview and Freesat boxes don't exist and never will.