Best Saorview/Freesat HD PVR solution

Turbulent Bill

This question has been asked multiple times here, but I'm still struggling to find a good answer for me. Have used a Sky+ HD box in another house for a few years as a reference, now in a new-build house and don't want to use pay TV.

What I'm (ideally) looking for:
A combo Saorview/Freesat HD PVR system with combined 7-day EPG, series link functionality etc. Player/catchup services would be a plus.
Wife- and kiddie-friendly interface. I really don't want to have to troubleshoot, retune etc. the TV on a weekly basis, which looks standard for some combo boxes.

What I have currently:
Saorview-approved TV.
Good Virgin Media broadband connection in house.
Two coax cables running to attic from TV point, with one used for broadband. Don't want to run any more cables, multiplex all TV signals down spare coax?

I've read that there may be an official Saorview/Freesat combo box on the horizon at some stage, but what else is available now? Buy now or wait, how do you futureproof? Thanks.

Atlantic Dawn

There is no Freesat combo box.

NIMAN

There will never be an official saorview Freesat box, as it's illegal to market Freesat outside of the UK.

The Cush

Turbulent Bill wrote: »

What I have currently:
Saorview-approved TV.
Good Virgin Media broadband connection in house.
Two coax cables running to attic from TV point, with one used for broadband. Don't want to run any more cables, multiplex all TV signals down spare coax?

I've read that there may be an official Saorview/Freesat combo box on the horizon at some stage, but what else is available now? Buy now or wait, how do you futureproof? Thanks.

The best option right now for user-friendliness is separate Freesat and Saorview PVRs, there appears be something happening in relation to a Saorview/Freesat combi but we don't know the details yet but according to the press report we won't see these boxes until sometime next year.

If you're going for full functionality with Freesat (twin-tuner for recording/viewing) you'll require 2 separate cables from the dish with the Saorview feed combined on 1 of them. One cable will restrict what you watch/record as satellite feeds cannot be split to separate tuners unlike terrestrial aerial signals.

The Cush

NIMAN wrote: »

There will never be an official saorview Freesat box, as it's illegal to market Freesat outside of the UK.

That may be about to change - http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057041188&page=6

NIMAN

Ill not hold my breath.

muffler

In all fairness lads the OP probably means FTA as opposed to Freesat. But we can wait for confirmation of that.

The Cush

muffler wrote: »

In all fairness lads the OP probably means FTA as opposed to Freesat. But we can wait for confirmation of that.

He already confirmed it in the first post

Turbulent Bill wrote: »

What I'm (ideally) looking for:
A combo Saorview/Freesat HD PVR system with combined 7-day EPG, series link functionality etc. Player/catchup services would be a plus.
Wife- and kiddie-friendly interface. I really don't want to have to troubleshoot, retune etc. the TV on a weekly basis, which looks standard for some combo boxes.

former total

If anyone can actually suggest a good box that will do what the OP asks, I'd be interested too.

All these nit picking replies parsing the differences between FTA and Freesat are of no value to the OP.

The Cush

former total wrote: »

If anyone can actually suggest a good box that will do what the OP asks, I'd be interested too.

All these nit picking replies parsing the differences between FTA and Freesat are of no value to the OP.

There isn't a user-friendly combi box that meets his requirements but there might be next year, until then separate Saorview and Freesat PVRs would be a good option. There are lots of combi terrestrial/FTA sat boxes out there but none would be close to the user friendly Sky setup.

Turbulent Bill

The Cush wrote: »

There isn't a user-friendly combi box that meets his requirements but there might be next year, until then separate Saorview and Freesat PVRs would be a good option. There are lots of combi terrestrial/FTA sat boxes out there but none would be close to the user friendly Sky setup.

Thanks for the responses. I'm looking for Freesat rather than generic FTA, as I understand it handles channel and EPG changes automatically, as well as having robust series link.

The separate Saorview / Freesat PVR sounds like the best option, though it's expensive.

I remember asking a similar question about 4 year's ago, when we just had basic analogue TV. We eventually got Sky because the overall package (and price at the time) was better than the free options, but intended to go free as the options improved. Looks like this hasn't really happened yet...

The Cush

Turbulent Bill wrote: »

Looks like this hasn't really happened yet...

Hopefully not too far away if the article is to be believed


http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=97656653#post97656653