Freeview box and saorview

2012paddy2012

I have a humax box (uk stations) and a TV with a tuner (saorview) ....works perfectly, All free.

My folks want to ditch subscription , and go free TV.

I have two humax boxes and two TVs with their own built in saorview tuners.

However folks have TVs with no tuners , I want to advise on best option for them.

I know Humax are expensive , but they are so easy to use. I would recommend these but being so expensive , I wonder if there an easy to use/navigate box that would suit the more mature Tv viewer for easy to see and understand options /recording with ease etc.

Easy to see navigation menus and recoding is required for both boxes.

My TV is a Samsung and it has a seven day guide and series link for the Irish channels which I know is unusual but its a great feature rather than the now & next that I understand most saorview boxes have.

Lastly! they want two rooms with full stations -all programmes.
and one box in bedroom for all stations (No recording).
So , Its a satellite dish with 5 connections. 2 for each box and one for bedroom.
A saorview aerial which will require 3 connections ..to bedroom tv and 2 rooms.
Can you get a saorview box that will allow record and the option of watching another Irish station , e.g. record ret1 watch TV 3 same time?

They have UPC at mo , with recording facility on both boxes , and bedroom TV , I presume minimal extra cabling ( if any )will be required ..sorry for all the questions , I am trying to do a bit of research for them so that it will be a once off job with no after the job is done issues! Thank you

amikoalien2

Thats a big shopping list :-)

If Recording is a must then you need to go for something with a little more umph than the amiko AA2
Maybe the edission os3 you can fit a hard drive internally also get a 7 day epg when connected to the internet

The drawback is its a triple tuner
2 sat tuners and 1 terrestial
Meaning you can record 1 sat station while watching another
If your recording sourview you cant watch another terrestial ( unless its on the same mux ) as there is only 1 terrestial tuner

You can get quad tuner boxes like the gigablue quad and fit 2 terrestial tuners
Or some vu+ boxes have enough umph to use usb tuners as well as dedicated cards

I have a duo 2 with a twin sat tuner card and a single terrestial card ( I think you can get twin terrestial cards now )
If She wanted to watch saorview and record a different saorview stn I have a cable looped through to the terrestial tuner in the tv and just swap over to that

2012paddy2012

amikoalien2 wrote: »

Thats a big shopping list :-)

If Recording is a must then you need to go for something with a little more umph than the amiko AA2
Maybe the edission os3 you can fit a hard drive internally also get a 7 day epg when connected to the internet

The drawback is its a triple tuner
2 sat tuners and 1 terrestial
Meaning you can record 1 sat station while watching another
If your recording sourview you cant watch another terrestial ( unless its on the same mux ) as there is only 1 terrestial tuner

You can get quad tuner boxes like the gigablue quad and fit 2 terrestial tuners
Or some vu+ boxes have enough umph to use usb tuners as well as dedicated cards

I have a duo 2 with a twin sat tuner card and a single terrestial card ( I think you can get twin terrestial cards now )
If She wanted to watch saorview and record a different saorview stn I have a cable looped through to the terrestial tuner in the tv and just swap over to that

It is a big shopping list OK ! Thanks for helpful reply

Gerry Wicklow

Xtrend 8000 lets you pick and choose any combination up to 4 different tuners.

Capt'n Midnight

First how much are they paying per year for the sub ? Because that's a good start for the budget.

In the future, there may be a freesat/saorview box. But it may not be cheap.

So you don't need new boxes to tide them over till then.
Second hand humax on ebay.co.uk + parcel motel / parcel connect / parcel wizard, try out in your own place for a week or two to make sure it's PMO. Leave the second TV on the skybox with the FTA channels.

At some stage they will upgrade or replace the TV's so don't get too upset over separate saorview box, again you can get a second hand one,

forget combo boxes if you want to use UK epg or series link or any of that other good stuff. And there's retuning.

Yes you can get linux boxes but a second hand freesat is cheaper and there's no faffing about with a freesat box.

Johnboy1951

Have you considered a DVB>IP solution?
It might be too costly, and/or dependent on the TVs' capabilities, but worth considering.

Using home plugs to distribute the data means that location of TV is not fixed because of aerial outlets.

Maybe something like this
http://www.vboxcomm.com/ireland-free-tv.html

https://www.satellitetv.ie/iptv-hd-receivers/xbox-xti-3340

winston_1

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

Using home plugs to distribute the data means that location of TV is not fixed because of aerial outlets.

Don't use homeplugs. They cause interference to the neighbours. Mains wiring is not designed to carry data. You are going to have to wire aerial and satellite dish anyway so put in CAT6 connections at the same time.

Johnboy1951

winston_1 wrote: »

Don't use homeplugs. They cause interference to the neighbours. Mains wiring is not designed to carry data. You are going to have to wire aerial and satellite dish anyway so put in CAT6 connections at the same time.

I am aware of some reports of HF interference in neighbouring properties, so apparently they can cause interference.

I am not aware of any determination regarding what might or might not contribute to these reported interferences, or in what wiring circumstances they occur.

Any further information or links to studies/reports would be appreciated.

In any case, from the information I have accessed, there is no good reason not to use these devices.
If interference does occur with someone's short wave hobby or such, it is easily corrected by disconnecting the devices.

Newer devices also include notch filters I understand which should reduce the likelihood of interference ..... or so I read.

winston_1

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

I am aware of some reports of HF interference in neighbouring properties, so apparently they can cause interference.

I am not aware of any determination regarding what might or might not contribute to these reported interferences, or in what wiring circumstances they occur.

Any further information or links to studies/reports would be appreciated.

In any case, from the information I have accessed, there is no good reason not to use these devices.
If interference does occur with someone's short wave hobby or such, it is easily corrected by disconnecting the devices.

Newer devices also include notch filters I understand which should reduce the likelihood of interference ..... or so I read.

The earliest devices were horrendous especially Comtrend devices given away by BT. Ofcom had hundreds of complaints and told BT to remove them. Newer devices do indeed have notches corresponding to the US amateur bands. This tends to imply the manufacturers know about the problem and they also know that amateurs are knowledgeable enough to complain. Some European amateur bands are not notched anyway, nor are the emergency service frequencies. With the latest high speed devices the interference extends into the VHF bands covering FM DAB and air traffic control frequencies. See the BBC White paper link below.
I don't understand your claim that there is no good reason not to use them. Sure you can disconnect them if there is a complaint. Then what? Bin them and wire it with CAT 6 as you should have done initially? Certainly re connecting them if ordered to not use them by Ofcom (in the UK) would be a serious offence.

Some links below for your interest:

http://www.elmac.co.uk/pdfs/whyPLTisbadforemc.pdf

http://www.frequencycast.co.uk/powerline.html

http://www.ban-plt.org.uk

http://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/publications/whitepaper195

Johnboy1951

winston_1 wrote: »

The earliest devices were horrendous especially Comtrend devices given away by BT. Ofcom had hundreds of complaints and told BT to remove them. Newer devices do indeed have notches corresponding to the US amateur bands. This tends to imply the manufacturers know about the problem and they also know that amateurs are knowledgeable enough to complain. Some European amateur bands are not notched anyway, nor are the emergency service frequencies. With the latest high speed devices the interference extends into the VHF bands covering FM DAB and air traffic control frequencies. See the BBC White paper link below.
I don't understand your claim that there is no good reason not to use them. Sure you can disconnect them if there is a complaint. Then what? Bin them and wire it with CAT 6 as you should have done initially? Certainly re connecting them if ordered to not use them by Ofcom (in the UK) would be a serious offence.

Some links below for your interest:

http://www.elmac.co.uk/pdfs/whyPLTisbadforemc.pdf

http://www.frequencycast.co.uk/powerline.html

http://www.ban-plt.org.uk

http://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/publications/whitepaper195

Thanks for the links .... a couple of which were new to me

Use of in home 'home plugs' interference is pointed up by this quote ...

Operation of the PLAs caused interference to indoor-portable reception of both FM and DAB broadcasts, in varying degrees from no effect to total disruption.

which brings me back to my earlier statement

I am not aware of any determination regarding what might or might not contribute to these reported interferences, or in what wiring circumstances they occur.

Until the cause/s of the differences seen above are determined it seems the situation cannot be addressed.

(I did note also that a large part of the concern with PLT was concentrated on outside home transmission on power line, which of course is not related to the use of home plugs.)

BTW, running ethernet cable to fixed points in a dwelling is not always feasible.
This is particularly true where one is renting accommodation.
Home plugs are at present the only real alternative, particularly for distributing media, IMO.

I have recently introduced home plugs into my home.
If these are causing interference in the radio spectrum, as mentioned in some of those reports, then it is not yet obvious to us here.
I will be aware of that possibility in the future should such interference become apparent.

Thanks again for the links.

Back to normal programming

winston_1

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

BTW, running ethernet cable to fixed points in a dwelling is not always feasible.
This is particularly true where one is renting accommodation.
Home plugs are at present the only real alternative, particularly for distributing media, IMO.

This is often claimed. Of course wi-fi is a feasible alternative. Also what would one do if homeplugs were not available?

In practice ethernet cable is less obtrusive and easier to run than satellite or aerial cables. I would never use homeplugs myself as I am (a fairly inactive) SW listener. I use a mixture of ethernet cables and wi-fi.