Should I get Saorview

omri

Hello,

I have Samsung UE46F7000 TV and am currently on Horizon Max Package from UPC/Virgin. My contract with them expires in 2 weeks and I am thinking of either going for their max bundle (Tv,Net,Phone) for €95/12m or 18m with 4m for €40 and remaining for €95.

From time to time I would use on demand to see some new movies that I didn't see in the cinema which sometimes could bump my current bill (€85 base price) by another €20. I also pay netflix though I watch it occasionally.

I'm not that bothered about the TV part of the bundle - all I really want is Eurosport 1/2 for cycling during the summer months other than that my wife is watching some of her thins on ITV, BBC, C4 etc. and some cartoons channels for the kids such as nickjr and cbbies.

We use the recording feature a lot though. However almost €1200 per year is quite a hefty bill for that package and no doubt the price will go up as they do for as long as we are now customers of cable tv/net providers. So is Saorview a good choice. I was thinking going saorview (if I can record and get eurosport plus my wife's channels) keep the top internet/phone bundle as I'd like international free minutes they offer - which should bring the Virgin bill down to €35 plus whatever saorview costs and supplement the loss of some shows with netflix ?

I checked the saorview.ie website but they don't really tell much about what channels they have comparing to Virgin. Also is eir not going to buy saorview or invest in them - aka make it subscription based service in the future ? I don't mind going with another 12months with Virgin but if I can save 2/3 of my current bill and lose few channels that I don't even watch then its a good saving.

Atlantic Dawn

Saorview is 9 channels with little or no hope of many more ever joining them, I wouldn't see anyone investing in them in the near future.

Channels are RTÉ One HD, RTÉ2 HD, TV3, TG4, 3e, UTV Ireland, RTÉjr, RTÉ One +1 and RTÉ News Now

omri

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Saorview is 9 channels with little or no hope of many more ever joining them, I wouldn't see anyone investing in them in the near future.

Channels are RTÉ One HD, RTÉ2 HD, TV3, TG4, 3e, UTV Ireland, RTÉjr, RTÉ One +1 and RTÉ News Now

What about the Saorview Combi/Combo they say around 200 channels in that ?

Atlantic Dawn

omri wrote: »

What about the Saorview Combi/Combo they say around 200 channels in that ?

That's combining it with a satellite dish to receive channels from that, first post in this thread has the main channels...
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055520627

omri

Can anyone recommend some good installer who could do all that if it makes economic sense to get the dish + saorview rather than going with upc for the full bundle ?

dr.fuzzenstein

omri wrote: »

What about the Saorview Combi/Combo they say around 200 channels in that ?

I guess that would be a Freesat/Saorview combo, I have something like that. You'll get the main free to air UK channels, which I watch 99% of the time. Every now and the I switch over to Saorview and go "yep, still sh*the" and switch back again.
The best its good for is to watch Graham Norton and then a bit of the Late Late. That will cure you of Irish TV for all eternity. The Irish channels are worse than useless.

Cerdito

I went from UPC to Saorview + UK FTA and haven't looked back. One thing however you will need to know is that the Eurosport channels are not available on the UK FTA. I am also a cycling fan so initially this was a disappointment, however with UK FTA you get ITV4 with no sports programmes blocked (as is the case on UPC).

I watched the 2015 Tour de France on ITV4 and was happy with their coverage (although no Sean Kelly!). The also had highlights of La Vuelta but no Giro.

MBSnr

Cerdito wrote: »

I went from UPC to Saorview + UK FTA and haven't looked back. One thing however you will need to know is that the Eurosport channels are not available on the UK FTA. I am also a cycling fan so initially this was a disappointment, however with UK FTA you get ITV4 with no sports programmes blocked (as is the case on UPC).

I watched the 2015 Tour de France on ITV4 and was happy with their coverage (although no Sean Kelly!). The also had highlights of La Vuelta but no Giro.

Don't know what it has on it but do you know about

http://www.a516digital.com/2015/12/new-free-to-air-channel-bike-launches.html

dr.fuzzenstein

MBSnr wrote: »

Don't know what it has on it but do you know about

http://www.a516digital.com/2015/12/new-free-to-air-channel-bike-launches.html

No idea, but check here:
http://www.freesat.co.uk/channels

edit:
nevermind, I wrong that read

Machinehead

Looking at this review of your TV
http://www.trustedreviews.com/samsung-ue46f7000-review - (see specs)
It says that it has a Freesat HD tuner built in. If that's the case you don't need a combi STB. I have a Panasonic TV with DTT & DVB-S tuners built in & really can't explain why I still hold a Sky subscription. Your digital terrestrial tuner will get you the Saorview channels & the satellite tuner will get you all the UK FTA channels - HD ones included. If this is your TV model just get an installer to sort out an aerial & a dish & you're on the pigs back - free TV all the way - no brainer!
P.S. if you have fast enough broadband get yourself a Google Chromecast & a Netflix subscription to expand your viewing even more or use the Netflix built in app with the built in Wi-Fi. Also get yourself a soundbar or a home cinema kit, the downfiring speakers on flat screen TVs are crap.

dr.fuzzenstein

It's not always a full-blown freeview sat tuner, but merely a standard sat tuner, like with my LG 42LN575V-ZE, it's a standard tuner. The drawback with that is that the program guide doesn't work properly. You can see now and next, but nothing else. Also, it doesn't show every channel, but only the one you're on and maybe 2-3 beside it. I downloaded the Freesat app, it shows me the TV guide better, but sadly won't talk to the telly, again because the sat box is not a certified Freesat one.
I don't mind so much, it does everything I want and it plays movies from my fileshare via DLNA.