Recommend a Saorview Installer

Fishy1

Hi,
We're ditching Sky as it's gone too expensive. From what I can gather we'll still be able to receive BBC & other free to air English channels via the Sky satellite dish , but not RTE etc.

Has anyone any recent experience of having someone coming to fit whatever it is you need to receive Saorview? We have one Saorview enabled tv, but I think the other one will need a set-top box or something? Ideally we'd also like to be able to record / pause / rewind on both tvs. Apologies, but am clueless when it comes to this kind of stuff, so looking for a reliable person to sort everything out for us

Harry Palmr

You might need nothing than an indoor antenna depending where you are (high up/low down)

Obviously for UK channels you'll need to plug a Freesat PVR in but if you want to watch and record both saorview and UK channels then you'll need a combi box https://www.saorview.ie/en/get/products/search/eyJyZXN1bHRfcGFnZSI6ImVuXC9nZXRcL3Byb2R1Y3RzXC9zZWFyY2giLCJzZWFyY2g6YXBfdHlwZSI6IlNhb3J2aWV3IENvbWJpIn0 example model http://www.freetv.ie/walker-wp645ts-hd-combo-video-user-manual.html

I have to say these look like a dogs-dinner to me and there is currently talk of a proper Freesat/Saorview approved combi with proper EPG and disk recording (as opposed to a memory stick solution) and that is discussed here http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057041188

Wanderer78

your sky receiver will certainly pick up the free to air british channels and theres plenty of them on that system. enough to keep a household happy. there are actually err emm 'alternative' methods to use your satellite equipment, but we cant speak of that here best of luck with it

Fishy1

Thanks Harry & Wanderer, really appreciate your input.

Would still love to just get some installer to come in & sort everything out (even if it's just to install indoor aerial & new boxes). I'm afraid we're complete technophobes so would be hopeless at trying to do this ourselves!

If anyone has recent experience of a reliable & trustworthy installer, please let me know, by PM if you prefer.

Thanks again Boardsies

obezyana

For the UK channels the best thing to get imo and my experience is a Freesat box as it saves the potential hassle of re tuning if channels move transponder etc. Humax do a fantastic range of Freesat boxes but they can be expensive. They have the record, rewind, pause, series link etc. They are pretty much the next best thing to a Sky box.

Other boxes which are non Freesat will of course work but can be either somewhat complicated (Linux boxes) or you can get a cheap free to air box which will basically receive the channels and that's about it.

As for Saorview all it would seem you need is an aerial that is of course if you are in a good reception area otherwise mast head amplifiers etc might be needed. Personally I would not worry about recording on Saorview but if you want to do such a thing then your TV will more than likely do so with the aid of a USB stick or an external hard drive.

As for an installer check the isaa website and whatever you do don't go to a certain shop near the hyper......cheap gear at crazy prices.

Trick of the Tail

If you've still got the Sky dish and receiver plugged in, here's a handy tip.

Unplug the Sky receiver from the mains, then remove the viewing card.

Re-power the receiver.

When it finally boots up, it will think it's in London, and will have all the fee-to-air UK channels, including some you didn't have before. All the BBCs, the ITVs etc.

All you then need to get RTE and TV3 is an outside aerial. No need to buy a new satellite box.

obezyana

All sound advice above but just to note if you do choose to do this you still have the issue of recording/series link/pause&rewind. Once the sub is cancelled with Sky the box itself becomes nothing but a free to air receiver with zero functionality.

Trick of the Tail

Yes, but the op was asking for a Saoirview installer, and obviously thought they could get uk channels with that.

That can't, they need a satellite receiver to do that. I was merely suggesting they don't need to buy anything else if they want to continue receiving uk channels.

Sure, if they want to record the channels they'll need a Freesat receiver with recording facilities. They're OK, and work fine, but the epg isn't as good as Sky.

YMMV.

obezyana

Trick of the Tail wrote: »

Yes, but the op was asking for a Saoirview installer, and obviously thought they could get uk channels with that.

That can't, they need a satellite receiver to do that. I was merely suggesting they don't need to buy anything else if they want to continue receiving uk channels.

Sure, if they want to record the channels they'll need a Freesat receiver with recording facilities. They're OK, and work fine, but the epg isn't as good as Sky.

YMMV.

You mentioned the card thing but failed to mention the pitfalls of doing such a thing. A non sub Sky box is not ideal for fta if the said box is wanted for recording etc.

Saorview is straightforward so I'm not referring to that as the OP did mention the UK channels and also mentioned a dish so I'll presume rightly or wrongly the OP knew the dish is for UK channels only

As someone who spent time installing these systems I know exactly what is needed. I also don't see how you can say Freesat boxes are only OK. There are Freesat boxes out there which do just as much of a good job as a Sky box does and their epg layout is pretty good. For the Freesat market the Humax range of boxes are the next best thing thing to a Sky box and they are more than just OK.

Trick of the Tail

Jeez there's no point in arguing. We don't know if the OP has Sky+.

I was merely mentioning that if all they want is freesat, they don't need to replace the Sky receiver.

Obviously if they want recording facilities they'll need a Freesat receiver with recording facilities.

In which case I would also endorse the Humax receivers.

Fishy1

Thanks again to all of you for your input. I probably didn't explain myself very well, so hope I haven't been the cause of any falling out among you great Boardsies!

To clarify, I'm aware that we'll still be able to view the British free to air channels via our Sky box, but will need to get someone to install box, aerial etc in order to access the Irish free to air channels on both our tvs. We'd also like to be able to record, pause programmes etc. Essentially we're happy to pay the initial outlay for a hassle- free alternative to Sky / Virgin media.

Once again, thank you all for your tips, I really appreciate it. If you have any recent experience of local installers who won't rip us off & who'll do a good job, feel free to suggest who we should contact.

obezyana

Trick of the Tail wrote: »

Jeez there's no point in arguing. We don't know if the OP has Sky+.

I was merely mentioning that if all they want is freesat, they don't need to replace the Sky receiver.

Obviously if they want recording facilities they'll need a Freesat receiver with recording facilities.

In which case I would also endorse the Humax receivers.

If they want Freesat they cannot use the Sky box. I'm sure you are being confused with free to air and Freesat with the latter being a branded service from a BBC ITV joint venture. All free of course

By the way I'm not arguing I'm merely pointing out what's what.

obezyana

Fishy1 wrote: »

Thanks again to all of you for your input. I probably didn't explain myself very well, so hope I haven't been the cause of any falling out among you great Boardsies!

To clarify, I'm aware that we'll still be able to view the British free to air channels via our Sky box, but will need to get someone to install box, aerial etc in order to access the Irish free to air channels on both our tvs. We'd also like to be able to record, pause programmes etc. Essentially we're happy to pay the initial outlay for a hassle- free alternative to Sky / Virgin media.

Once again, thank you all for your tips, I really appreciate it. If you have any recent experience of local installers who won't rip us off & who'll do a good job, feel free to suggest who we should contact.

Have a look on the isaa website and you will find a recommended installer.

Is it just the Irish channels you want the pause rewind record etc?

Fishy1

obezyana wrote: »

Is it just the Irish channels you want the pause rewind record etc?

Ideally, I suppose we'd like to be able to do this on all channels

obezyana

Fishy1 wrote: »

Ideally, I suppose we'd like to be able to do this on all channels

Ok so regarding the Irish channels the only pvr is Walker branded. Not great but it does the job.

With the UK channels you will need a Freesat box with the features for what you want. Generic free to air boxes imo and experience of are not great so I'd stay away from them.

There is also Linux boxes which have triple tuners so you can have all the channels Irish and UK on the one box. These are good boxes but they can be a steep learning curve and if you are not tech savvy personally I'd suggest not getting one of these.

Below are links to boxes which might give you an idea of what you may want.

Linux
http://www.freetv.ie/satellite/receivers/linux.html

Freesat
http://www.freetv.ie/satellite/receivers/freesat.html

Generic Free to air
http://www.freetv.ie/satellite/receivers.html

Combi boxes (Saorview@& Free to air)
http://www.freetv.ie/satellite/receivers/combo.html

Saorview
http://www.freetv.ie/saorview.html

I'm posting this from my phone so I don't know if the links will work but hopefully they will

Wanderer78

obezyana wrote: »

Combi boxes (Saorview@& Free to air)
http://www.freetv.ie/satellite/receivers/combo.html

worked spot on thanks.

know somebody running the Amiko™ Mini Combo. lovely little box but fairly basic.

obezyana

Wanderer78 wrote: »

worked spot on thanks.

know somebody running the Amiko™ Mini Combo. lovely little box but fairly basic.

Some of the boxes like that are good alright but like you say they can be fairly basic. For the average user id always recommend to go Freesat when selecting a box as they are very user friendly, easy to set up, no need for manual retuning etc.