Cheapest basic FTA Receiver

LarryMac

Hi All,

I got a new HD TV for the room which has Saorview built in so I get the Irish Channels. I have an old Sky box connected via Scart to get the BBC, UTV, CH4 etc...
The old Sky box is big and bulky so I want to replace it with a smaller sized neat FTA box. I do not need a combi box. Any suggestions for Cheap and Cheerful box as it is only for the bedroom?
I would need this to connect via HDMI as the Scart lead is big and bulky and because of this I can't tilt the TV.

Cheers

LarryMac

This seems pretty reasonable? It says it has HDMI and scart?
http://www.ebay.ie/itm/Full-HD-Satellite-Receiver-PVR-with-USB-Media-player-Receive-UK-Freesat-FTA-Box-/171137524097?pt=UK_Sound_Vision_Satellite_TV_Receivers&hash=item27d8976181

jjf1974

you can get cheap boxs on both of these sites http://www.freetv.ie or http://www.satworld.ie

Hackery

Or Satellite.ie

steveon

I would recommend a Manhattan Freesat box
http://www.manhattan-receivers.com/products/plaza-hd-s2-freesat-hd

Very small tidy box with a full guide for the freesat channels.

Tony

There was a thread on here recently with a great price on a manhattan freesat box.

kooga

steveon wrote: »

I would recommend a Manhattan Freesat box
http://www.manhattan-receivers.com/products/plaza-hd-s2-freesat-hd

Very small tidy box with a full guide for the freesat channels.

manhattan +1 great box

An Cigire

Tony wrote: »

There was a thread on here recently with a great price on a manhattan freesat box.

£89 + £16 postage from UK absolutely delighted Got it on sale from Tesco direct. Which is about €140.

Some retailers here are selling it for €220.

I believe there's a way to get it sent here through parcel motel.

kooga

An Cigire wrote: »

£89 + £16 postage from UK absolutely delighted Got it on sale from Tesco direct. Which is about €140.

Some retailers here are selling it for €220.

I believe there's a way to get it sent here through parcel motel.

you got the hdr box but there is a chaeper non pvr box as well.

enjoy

An Cigire

kooga wrote: »

you got the hdr box but there is a chaeper non pvr box as well.

enjoy

True I wanted to advantage of the in built hard drive. Their other is meant to be very good too with a great EPG.

steveon

An Cigire wrote: »

True I wanted to advantage of the in built hard drive. Their other is meant to be very good too with a great EPG.

The cheaper box has exactly the same epg as the recording version and sells for around70-80 euro here approx 50sterling in the uk...there is a second version just after been released with a slightly better layout of a remote control..

LarryMac

steveon wrote: »

The cheaper box has exactly the same epg as the recording version and sells for around70-80 euro here approx 50sterling in the uk...there is a second version just after been released with a slightly better layout of a remote control..

Thanks Guys

What website can I get the Manhattan box from? Cheers

Tony

Probably the tesco site and available widely on amazon etc

LarryMac wrote: »

Thanks Guys

What website can I get the Manhattan box from? Cheers

LarryMac

LarryMac wrote: »

Thanks Guys

What website can I get the Manhattan box from? Cheers

It's here for €77 plus postage

http://www.freetv.ie/freesat-hd.html

Tony

Think its free delivery from there

Edit: showing about the same on amazon with free shipping and more expensive on Tesco if you take shipping into account . These will probably get more expensive when current sock in Ireland runs out as the value of the euro is dropping sharply.

LarryMac wrote: »

It's here for €77 plus postage

http://www.freetv.ie/freesat-hd.html

An Cigire

LarryMac wrote: »

Thanks Guys

What website can I get the Manhattan box from? Cheers

Shop around is my advice there Irish & UK sites selling them too.. Adverts have then as do amazon

TLS2015

LarryMac wrote: »

Thanks Guys

What website can I get the Manhattan box from? Cheers

If it's only FTA you want. I have been using the HD100 box from freetv.ie. Has it for over a year and it is deadly. The PVR works well with a USB stick and it's not expensive either.

LarryMac

TLS2015 wrote: »

If it's only FTA you want. I have been using the HD100 box from freetv.ie. Has it for over a year and it is deadly. The PVR works well with a USB stick and it's not expensive either.

I went with the HD100 for €37. Ordered it the Sunday night, got it the Tuesday morning. Good quality picture. It'll do for me!

TLS2015

LarryMac wrote: »

I went with the HD100 for €37. Ordered it the Sunday night, got it the Tuesday morning. Good quality picture. It'll do for me!

Good for you. At that price you can't go wrong. I was watching football in HD the other day it's a great little box.

LarryMac

TLS2015 wrote: »

Good for you. At that price you can't go wrong. I was watching football in HD the other day it's a great little box.

Yeah I watched MOTD on BBC HD last night. Very good picture

Tony

Is it not €50 ? http://www.freetv.ie/hd-satellite-receiver.html

LarryMac wrote: »

I went with the HD100 for €37. Ordered it the Sunday night, got it the Tuesday morning. Good quality picture. It'll do for me!

An Cigire

LarryMac wrote: »

This seems pretty reasonable? It says it has HDMI and scart?
http://www.ebay.ie/itm/Full-HD-Satellite-Receiver-PVR-with-USB-Media-player-Receive-UK-Freesat-FTA-Box-/171137524097?pt=UK_Sound_Vision_Satellite_TV_Receivers&hash=item27d8976181

I presume he bought this one off eBay as opposed to similar looking HD 100..

Just guessing now...

Tony

Similar logos alright , even better deal though.

An Cigire wrote: »

I presume he bought this one off eBay as opposed to similar looking HD 100..

Just guessing now...

batman2000

I have a Saorview aeriel and Sky disk. I'm looking for a box that can
Take a feed from Saorview and Sat dish.
Have HD and SD
7 Day EPG guide
Front display for channels
Built in storage HDD to record, rewind live tv.

Looking at this Manhattan http://www.satellite.ie/acatalog/Ferguson_ariva_120_installed.html but prices seem to include installation.?

http://www.satworld.ie/manhattan-hdr-s-freesat-recorder-box-320gb.html

With the Manhattan, I'd have two SKY LNB but only one Saorview LNB. So am I correct, I can record one and watch another from the Sky LNB but not Saorview as I only have one Saorview input.?

If I am recording on the Saorview input, can I watch another programme from the HDD.?



Any advice?

steveon

batman2000 wrote: »

I have a Saorview aeriel and Sky disk. I'm looking for a box that can
Take a feed from Saorview and Sat dish.
Have HD and SD
7 Day EPG guide
Front display for channels
Built in storage HDD to record, rewind live tv.

Looking at this Manhattan http://www.satellite.ie/acatalog/Ferguson_ariva_120_installed.html but prices seem to include installation.?

http://www.satworld.ie/manhattan-hdr-s-freesat-recorder-box-320gb.html

With the Manhattan, I'd have two SKY LNB but only one Saorview LNB. So am I correct, I can record one and watch another from the Sky LNB but not Saorview as I only have one Saorview input.?

If I am recording on the Saorview input, can I watch another programme from the HDD.?



Any advice?

The Manhattan box you are referring to is a freesat only box it does not have any saorview on it, it will need two cables from a dish and will provide a seven day guide. It will also enable you to use ITV player if connected via a lan cable to your network.

batman2000

Thanks, by the looks of things, I will need to buy a Saorview box for the Irish channels, something like the Walker WP6500TTR if I want to pause, record and series link Saorview channels.

OR Could I use the Walker WP645TS-HD, this would allow me to add an External HDD and I can record UK Sat and Saorview along with pause/rewind

LarryMac

An Cigire wrote: »

I presume he bought this one off eBay as opposed to similar looking HD 100..

Just guessing now...

Yes this is the one I ordered. Works great

batman2000

Different to mentioned above.
What if I was use a Vu+Duo2, with twin DVB-S2 and DBV C/T tuner for Saorview
Link here

steveon

batman2000 wrote: »

Different to mentioned above.
What if I was use a Vu+Duo2, with twin DVB-S2 and DBV C/T tuner for Saorview
Link here

Vu Duo amazing piece of kit....expensive but worth it...

batman2000

steveon wrote: »

Vu Duo amazing piece of kit....expensive but worth it...

Yeah, it looks it, but doesn't look like I can record Saorview with this box

Apogee

batman2000 wrote: »

Yeah, it looks it, but doesn't look like I can record Saorview with this box

You can once you have a DVB-T tuner installed - either a plug-in tuner or a USB stick.

Thread for Duo2 users is here:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056984899

decor58

I have a manhatten plaza, non pvr, for sale, live in bray, work in city centre, if that's of interest, pm me.

batman2000

batman2000 wrote: »

Yeah, it looks it, but doesn't look like I can record Saorview with this box

For any PVR box. If there is only 1 DVB-T cable coming from the antenna, can I use a splitter and connect into a twin DVB-T tuner card, therefore be able to record Saorview and watch another Saorview channel.?

Another post mentioned

Apogee wrote: »

You can once you have a DVB-T tuner installed - either a plug-in tuner or a USB stick.

But I'm unsure how this will allow me to watch and record Saorview?

Apogee

For any PVR for Saorview/DTT, a single aerial cable can feed both tuners - this can be done with a splitter, or some PVR may have an internal loopthrough.

If you have 1 DVB-T tuner, this allows you to record one Saorview channel, while watching any other Saorview channel on the same mux - option 1

If you have 2 DVB-T tuners, this allows you to record any Saorview channel and watch any Saorview channel, even if they are on different muxes - option 2.

It looks from your posts that you want option 2.

There are 2 different ways you can do this with a Vu+ Duo2 box.

A. Get a Vu+Duo2 with a 1x dual DVB-S2 tuner, a DVB-T tuner and an additional USB single DVB-T tuner.



plus



B. Get a Vu+Duo2 with 2x single DVB-S2 tuners, and a USB dual DVB-T tuner.

batman2000

Thanks Apogee. This might also suit my requirements (Mutant-HD2400-HD Quad)

Or else I'll get the VuDUo2 with a setup for Option 2 as in an attachment.
The splitter used, could it be any DVB-T type like this.

Apogee

Yes, any bog standard splitter will do. Speaking as someone with a fair amount of experience with different Linux receivers (Vu+ Solo/Duo, Amiko Alien 2, Azbox, and previously Dreamboxes and others), I would caution against going for a box based on its hardware alone. These Linux boxes are very dependent on how robust/mature the firmware is. It's all well and good having a box with wonderful hardware, until it falls on its arse because of poor firmware. While the Vu boxes are expensive, and there is no quad tuner setup as such, they do have very good firmware support. I honestly have no idea what the firmware support for that Mutant box is like - I would recommend doing a lot of searching before you consider buying. If you are determined to go for a quad tuner setup, then I would suggest looking at the Gigablue Quad boxes instead. There are quite a few users on boards: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057184877

batman2000

Apogee wrote: »

I would caution against going for a box based on its hardware alone. These Linux boxes are very dependent on how robust/mature the firmware is. It's all well and good having a box with wonderful hardware, until it falls on its arse because of poor firmware.

Thanks, totally agree with your point, thanks for the feedback

Question, how does the STB differentiate between the DVB-T signals if it's split. It must be different to Sky. Is it the encryption?
Question: Gigablue is also Linux based and I plan to use the Vix image, along with VuDuo2 Linux. The Mutant is not Linux based. This the stability you mentioned.
If I am going to spend the money, no point in doing it half arsed

I would like the dual DVB-T as one slot.
VuDo2-If I am able, as you mention, to plug one DVB-T source into the tuner card and one source into the USB, that works for me. Assuming the box will recognise the USB tuner as a source

Apogee

batman2000 wrote: »

Question, how does the STB differentiate between the DVB-T signals if it's split. It must be different to Sky. Is it the encryption?

Saorview is not encrypted. If you're asking why you can split a terrestrial signal but not a satellite signal, it's because in order to maximise frequency usage on satellite spectrum, different polarisations are used across the same frequency range. This switching of polarisations is carried out at the LNBF (and band switching as well) giving you 4x possible combinations of H/V and Hi/Lo. Accordingly, if you 'split' a satellite signal, you are limiting your receivers to 1 of 4 polarisation/bands.

batman2000 wrote: »

Question: Gigablue is also Linux based and I plan to use the Vix image, along with VuDuo2 Linux. The Mutant is not Linux based. This the stability you mentioned.
If I am going to spend the money, no point in doing it half arsed

Ask on the Gigablue thread above on how well Vix runs on the Gigablue. I'm a fan of Vix as well (apart from a few niggles).

batman2000 wrote: »

I would like the dual DVB-T as one slot.
VuDo2-If I am able, as you mention, to plug one DVB-T source into the tuner card and one source into the USB, that works for me. Assuming the box will recognise the USB tuner as a source

A box running vix will detect the USB tuner no problem as long as the USB stick is uses one of the common chipsets. I'd imagine the vast majority of people in Ireland with Vu+ boxes are using USB DVB-T tuners to receive Saorview - myself included.

batman2000

Thanks Apogee..legend