Satellite Dish Came Down - Advice on Options (Saorview/Freeview/Prices Etc)

Paully D

Morning guys,

Firstly, I hope this is the right forum but if not hopefully a moderator can move to the right place.

Unfortunately, my mother's satellite dish came down in the storm last night and we are currently looking at different options and how best to proceed.

The current situation is that she has an old Sky box up and running that picks up all the English stations (BBC 1/2, ITV, Channel 4 etc) plus the likes of other channels such as More 4, CBS Reality and some music channels and so on. No Irish stations but she doesn't really mind that due to having RTE Player etc.

However, she has had a bit of trouble with this dish coming up and down in recent years, so she is no longer going to use the local installer and is now looking at getting someone a bit more competent out but also using it as an opportunity to look at options.

Unfortunately I do not think her current TV is Saorview approved as it's an older model (it has USB and HD ports etc).

1) If the TV isn't Saorview approved, can it still get Saorview or will she need to purchase a new TV to avail of this service?

2) What sort of price would she be looking at for a Saorview/Freeview installation that picks up both the Irish and English stations? We've seen €250 banded about a bit, is that accurate?

3) What sort of ballpark price would you imagine it should cost for an experienced guy to come out and put the current dish back up and properly secure same?

As I said, she doesn't mind not having the Irish stations, but if it was going to cost her €150+ to get the dish properly repaired she'd probably just invest the extra €100 (if the aforementioned €250 price is accurate) as she's easily spent near enough that over the last few years in getting the local guy out a few times.

And before anyone suggests it, DIY is certainly not an option here! :pac:

Thanks all.

homer911

A lot of questions there - In relation to Saorview there are lots of digital terrestrial receiver options, from set-top boxes to behind TV "adapters", just take a look on ebay

darth_maul

OK firstly it sounds like the house is on an exposed and windy site, you should be looking to get good strong triax TD style dish installed and a good strong welded galvanised bracket, that dish will be good for many, many years one properly installed, Do not put up a sky style dish,

darth_maul

darth_maul wrote: »

OK firstly it sounds like the house is on an exposed and windy site, you should be looking to get good strong triax TD style dish installed and a good strong welded galvanised bracket, that dish will be good for many, many years one properly installed, Do not put up a sky style dish,

So she should be looking for someone to come out and install and aerial for saorview and new dish and bracket, depending on location a loft mounted aerial might be possible.
This all done properly should be between 200 - 300, she might also need to change box to a combo box if the TV is not saorview compatible.

Johnboy1951

Replace dish and add terrestrial aerial as advised by others.

Buy cheap combi box and connect to TV and cable/s from aerial and dish.

As she apparently does not require record function then a single Sat tuner box like this should suffice
http://www.freetv.ie/combi-receiver/
€62.67
or
http://www.freetv.ie/edision-combo-receiver/
€61.44

They can record to external HDD if required.

Her TV will need a HDMI input for this as there is no scart output on the box.

If buying from freetv.ie then there is a 'boards' discount.
You can also have it pre-programmed for the UK FTA channels, so little work to be done to tune in the local Saorview transmitter.

The Cush

Paully D wrote: »

Unfortunately I do not think her current TV is Saorview approved as it's an older model (it has USB and HD ports etc).

1) If the TV isn't Saorview approved, can it still get Saorview or will she need to purchase a new TV to avail of this service?

What is the make and model of the TV, an older TV may not be Saorview approved but may have the necessary DTT tuner to receive the Saorview channels.

If you ever plan to upgrade that TV a recommended replacement would be a Walker or Nordmende combi Saorview/satellite TV, with all channels in a single list, no switching between tuners or boxes. Available in different sizes

Example: https://www.powercity.ie/product/32SM287

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057717391

Sam Russell

Alternatively, the OP could go for the Saorview Connect that has the RTE Player embedded, and has the UK Channels plus the Saorview ones.

Sat dish and Saorview aerial still needed to be installed.

Capt'n Midnight

Sam Russell wrote: »

Alternatively, the OP could go for the Saorview Connect that has the RTE Player embedded, and has the UK Channels plus the Saorview ones.

Sat dish and Saorview aerial still needed to be installed.

Check out the thread first though https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057041188

UK TV is just now/next with no EPG , grand if you watch Irish TV far more than UK TV.