Replacement for sky

wolfyboy555

Hi my parents are currently in the process of cancelling their sky subscription. They said they would be happy if they could get the free to air channels. Are they able to do this with the sky box once it has been cancelled? It is the black sky+ hd box.

They would like to be able to record which I believe can't be done on that box once you cancel? This would be a deal breaker for them. They would probably end up keeping sky if they can't record. Is there an alternative box that they could get maybe that gets all the irish and uk freeview but has the ability to record?

Also I know you can get those 'dodgy' boxes that give all the 'premium' channels. Do these boxes record though do anyone know?


* Put this in wrong forum. Could mod put this in satellite forum?

denismc

There are combi boxes that will receive both saorview and freeview(uk) channels but the ones I have seen have only 1 sattelite input which means you can't record and watch 2 freeview(uktv) channels simultaneously.
You will also need an antenna to receive saorview if you don't already have one.
Also not all the combi receivers have a built in hard drive so you would have to buy an external hard drive that plugs into the receiver.
Google "saorview combo receiver" for more information

wolfyboy555

Thanks. I had a read there. So I am looking for a saorview / FTA receiver? Would something like this do the job?

http://www.freetv.ie/saorview-combo.html

I have a spare 2TB usb hard drive. Would I be able to plug into the above and record onto it?

How easy are these to set up if you have a previous sky set-up?

Thanks for the info.

Technofobe

denismc wrote: »

There are combi boxes that will receive both saorview and freeview(uk) channels but the ones I have seen have only 1 sattelite input which means you can't record and watch 2 freeview(uktv) channels simultaneously.
You will also need an antenna to receive saorview if you don't already have one.
Also not all the combi receivers have a built in hard drive so you would have to buy an external hard drive that plugs into the receiver.
Google "saorview combo receiver" for more information

The amiko Alien 2 has 3 tuners 2 for satellite and 1 for sourview
this means if you plug in a good quality external hard drive ( samsung M3 ) you can record 2 sat channels at same time while watching RTE
or a combination of same like record rte and record bbc 1 and watch bbc2 at same time
Been using mine for over a year now as a replacement for sky
only downside as far as im concerned is the remote
the buttons on it are very small and you need to point it at the receiver when using it
As can be expected with any new system there will be some teething problems the thing to remember here is that after the initial purchace its all free :-)

If I had the money I would go for something like the edission os 3 but last time I looked there was still aroung 100 yo yo in the difference

Atlantic Dawn

I would get a Humax Freesat box to record the UK channels, anything else out there will break your heart trying to explain and explain how it works and what it does. Works very much like Sky box and very good user interface.

wolfyboy555

Technofobe wrote: »

The amiko Alien 2 has 3 tuners 2 for satellite and 1 for sourview
this means if you plug in a good quality external hard drive ( samsung M3 ) you can record 2 sat channels at same time while watching RTE
or a combination of same like record rte and record bbc 1 and watch bbc2 at same time
Been using mine for over a year now as a replacement for sky
only downside as far as im concerned is the remote
the buttons on it are very small and you need to point it at the receiver when using it
As can be expected with any new system there will be some teething problems the thing to remember here is that after the initial purchace its all free :-)

If I had the money I would go for something like the edission os 3 but last time I looked there was still aroung 100 yo yo in the difference

This looks good. I have a spare 2TB hard drive that I could plug into it also. What would the main differences be between this and the Edission os3?

Are they hard to set up? I see there are plenty of videos on free.ie explaining some of the process. Do I just plug the cables that go into my sky box into the amiko box and away I go?

I see these can also be connected to the internet. Is there any major benefit to this? Can you buy those 'gift' subscriptions and use it with this box?

One last thing regards recording. Can you record programmes when you are not watching tv i.e the box is in standby when your out of the house or something. Might be a silly question but have no experience with these boxes at all. Thanks.

obezyana

Linux based boxes can be a pain to use. If the box is for your parents who i assume are like mine (or most) and not very savy at anything tech then id just get them a simple setup. As mentioned above the Humax box would be a very good option for the Freesat channels.

obezyana

obezyana wrote: »

Linux based boxes can be a pain to use. If the box is for your parents who i assume are like mine (or most) and not very savy at anything tech then id just get them a simple setup. As mentioned above the Humax box would be a very good option for the Freesat channels.

Agreed. My parents have the Alien 2 and they find it a pain.

obezyana

Karsini wrote: »

Agreed. My parents have the Alien 2 and they find it a pain.

Yeah im not surprised as them boxes can require a steep learning curve to master. My parents can barely operate their FTA box. If the channels go missing they are on the phone to me straight away acting as if the world is about to end.......well thats mostly my mother if it happens round about 7pm when the soaps are due to start.