Walker WP6500TTR BBC?

Sysmod

Being on the East coast we get RTE (Forth Mtn so OK except in very bad weather ) and BBC terrestrial.
The two aerials come in on the same coax cable to our TV.

Our local Redmond Electric have the Walker WP 6500 TTR on offer at 149 euro but say it can not record BBC. However I have read threads here referring to some BBC and ITV programmes so I wonder is there a way to do it.
I presume it is set up with the coax going into it and it then connects to our Sony HDTV by HDMI or Scart?

Can it be used as a dumb timer record from whatever the TV is showing (ie input from the HDMI or Scart) even without EPG?

We also have a Sky box with a discontinued subscription so we can receive freesat BBC and some other channels (not RTE on Sky); but the recording is disabled now. Could the Walker record from that?

Or is there a better recorder?

TIA
Patrick

Thurston?

Sysmod wrote: »

Being on the East coast we get RTE (Forth Mtn so OK except in very bad weather ) ...

I can't be any help with your questions re. the Walker receiver, but I'll say you shouldn't be having reception problems with a proper aerial setup, unless you're in a really badly served area.

Do you know is Forth the only transmitter you can receive from or, maybe your aerial was set up when Mt. Leinster was using a frequency also used at Presely in Wales, so Mt. Leinster was avoided for that reason?

Mt. Leinster moved off the problem frequency around the time of digital switchover.

The Cush

Powercity are now selling this recorder for under €100, down from €230 when they were first released back in Jan 2013.

Here are 2 posts from back in 2013 when this Saorview recorder first became available
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=82940458#post82940458
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=82964498#post82964498

I don't live in a Freeview overspill area so can't confirm. It does appear to store the Freeview channels but no DVB-T2 tuner so no Freeview HD channels. Also since these posts Saorview has changed how series link works with non-Saorview approved recorders, this may also affect how series link works with the Freeview channels on this recorder.

There have been many other issues with this box, lots of discussion about it over the last 2 years if you wish to search the forums. Myself and my brother purchased them when they were first released but they proved too unreliable for Saorview recording resulting in us replacing them with Panasonic DMR-PWT635 Freeview recorders after a year. Some time after that Saorview changed how series link worked with non-Saorview recorders (http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=91301578#post91301578), disabling series linking on our boxes. Reliable recording but without Saorview series link.

In your location a recorder like the Panasonic Freeview PVR would be a better option than the Walker box, if you set it up with the UK country setting that'll give you series link recording for the Freeview channels (incl HD channels) and correct channel ordering. The Irish channels will be stored in the 800s but can be easily relocated to any position you want, the downside is you'll have no series link for them.

Sysmod

Yes, Thurston, at the time the problem was Presely. But I checked with our installer and and he thinks that as we're in the shadow of Tara Hill, we can't see Mt Leinster, so Fort Mt is it, unless we want to call him out (I'm not climbing up the chimney!) to try for Arklow.
It works most of the time but once in a month or so, weather depending, we get no signal.

Sysmod

Thanks, TheCush.
There are a few different Panasonics; I saw one in Dominic Smith and the chap there said it could not record Saorview. If you know it can, just not series recording, that would be good enough for me.
Our Sony KDL-32W5500 has a timer to come on at a given programme time, but I can't see any feature to record onto a USB stick - it can only play from USB media as far as I can see.

Gerry Wicklow

Sysmod wrote: »

Thanks, TheCush.
There are a few different Panasonics; I saw one in Dominic Smith and the chap there said it could not record Saorview. If you know it can, just not series recording, that would be good enough for me.
Our Sony KDL-32W5500 has a timer to come on at a given programme time, but I can't see any feature to record onto a USB stick - it can only play from USB media as far as I can see.

Be careful with Freeview boxes. I had one when set to UK (Freeview mode) ignored Saorview as belonging to the wrong UK postcode. When set to Irl it ignored Freeview. It would scan the channels but not store them.

Thurston?

Sysmod wrote: »

... at the time the problem was Presely. But I checked with our installer and and he thinks that as we're in the shadow of Tara Hill, we can't see Mt Leinster, so Fort Mt is it, unless we want to call him out (I'm not climbing up the chimney!) to try for Arklow.
It works most of the time but once in a month or so, weather depending, we get no signal.

That's to the northeast of Gorey? So a long way from a modestly powered transmitter like Forth, though not much you can do about it short of installing your own relay transmitter for Mt. Leinster on top of Tara Hill.

Arklow is obviously a lot closer but, its transmitting aerial is only something like 50 metres ASL, with your direction being well down on full power.

If the 'no signal' problem gets to the point were it's genuinely annoying, & terrestrial reception can't be improved, there's the Saorsat option, though this only carries the RTE services & TG4, & it won't work with your Sky dish, so a new installation would be needed.

Sysmod

Gerry, the Panasonic shop in Limerick says of the Panasonic DMR-HWT230EB9
" It will either tune the UK Channels or the Irish Channels. It will do both but not at the same time. You would have to re-tune each time to switch between both. "
Bit of a bugger but I don't record often so I suppose I could live with it.
No better machine then?

Digifriendly

Sysmod wrote: »

Gerry, the Panasonic shop in Limerick says of the Panasonic DMR-HWT230EB9
" It will either tune the UK Channels or the Irish Channels. It will do both but not at the same time. You would have to re-tune each time to switch between both. "
Bit of a bugger but I don't record often so I suppose I could live with it.
No better machine then?

I have a Panasonic PVR (DMR- PWT530) and it receives both Saorview (Clermont Carn) and Freeview (Divis) tuning in both with no retune needed to switch between both. I can't really understand this retuning each time to switch between both.

khumbu

Option for most reliable recording of UK channels would be to replace your sky+ stb with a freesat+ stb. Same as sky box, it can't be used to view or record any Irish channels (with one exception:- "Irish TV" channel).

St Senan

Sysmod wrote: »

Yes, Thurston, at the time the problem was Presely. But I checked with our installer and and he thinks that as we're in the shadow of Tara Hill, we can't see Mt Leinster, so Fort Mt is it, unless we want to call him out (I'm not climbing up the chimney!) to try for Arklow.
It works most of the time but once in a month or so, weather depending, we get no signal.

You wont get Arklow from Tara Hill, has this installer not tried for Kippure? There are many many houses from Tara hill towards Castletown receiving saorview from Kippure. Have a look at this http://www.ukfree.tv/transmitters/tv/Forth_Mountain and you will see how far a reliable signal from Ft Mountain travels. If its a case that your house is in the grey area on the saorview map http://www.saorview.ie/get-saorview/make-the-switch/coverage-map/ then your only reliable choice for RTE channels is to get Saorsat installed.

bridster007

Digifriendly wrote: »

I have a Panasonic PVR (DMR- PWT530) and it receives both Saorview (Clermont Carn) and Freeview (Divis) tuning in both with no retune needed to switch between both. I can't really understand this retuning each time to switch between both.

Same here, no problem regarding retuning. EPG stays populated on both SV and FV all the time using either the DMR HW220 or BWT 735 versions.
Panasonic shop in Limerick would have no knowledge of FV as they can't receive it down there.

The Cush

Sysmod wrote: »

There are a few different Panasonics; I saw one in Dominic Smith and the chap there said it could not record Saorview. If you know it can, just not series recording, that would be good enough for me.

My Panasonic 635 (purchased in Currys) records 2 Saorview programmes simultaneously, without problem.
I'm not in a Freeview overspill area so can't confirm how it handles combined Saorview/Freeview reception but the 2 lads above confirm it works OK.

Sysmod wrote: »

Our Sony KDL-32W5500 has a timer to come on at a given programme time, but I can't see any feature to record onto a USB stick - it can only play from USB media as far as I can see.

My 2008 Sony V4500 has that feature, it allows the TV to output a timer selected programme via one of the scart connections to a VCR/DVD recorder without switching on the TV. Only ever used it once in that time.

Sysmod

Navarre, that map shows Forth Mt coverage ending around Ballycanew so I'm not surprised we're marginal.
We have no line of sight to Arklow or Kippure or Mt Leinster. Probably the most shadowed part of Tara Hill. Weak mobile coverage too, mobile data is about 0.05Mbps down/up load, ping 400-700ms. What was that govt minister said about dinosaurs? :-}

Sysmod

Thanks all those who confirmed the recording. I got the Panasonic 230, found BBC on ch 1 up, RTE1 at 837, other RTEs in the 800s. Timer record from EPG worked fine last night setting up both BBC & RTE in advance. So it works for me.

The Cush

Sysmod wrote: »

Thanks all those who confirmed the recording. I got the Panasonic 230, found BBC on ch 1 up, RTE1 at 837, other RTEs in the 800s.

You should be able to rearrange to irish channels into lower epg positions for easy access.