New FTA/Saorview install - advice needed

MAJJ

Hi All,

Will be cancelling Virgin Media TV and B/band shortly so need an alternative. I would appreciate input on my short term plan for 12 months with sky and then medium/longer term plan with FTA sattelite/saorview.

Am thinking Sky for 12 months to get their dish and use if future, however I believe Sky Q not resuable and I think different LNB for FTA?

After 12 months I would plan on keeping a broadband provider and then using FTA Satelite/Saorview for TV.
House has 2 feeds of sat cable to each room where a tvs can be. Also, have CAT 6 and HDMI back to router and potentially a server (have older HP54 with lot's of storage)/
All sat cables feed to corner of attic to be fed out to where a dish may go. We are close to 3 rock for saorview (D16) so can have that ariel in the attic too.

I suspect I only need one sat cable to each location and a sat combiner for each and splitter at other end, and these don't need power?

Less sure on dish suitability for future FTA, new LNB, new box maybe Triviar Alpha Plus (has to be easy to use for young and old once setup)
Could do with guidance on recommended installer if the SKY option is not a goer.
In reflection open to all and any advice.

Thanks,
MAJJ

The Cush

SkyQ requires two cables from the dish which cant be shared with Saorview.

If moving away from SkyQ in future the standard install 2 output wideband LNB will have to be changed unless they install a 6 output smart Hybrid LNB which works with both types of satellite receiver. They will only install a hybrid if you currently have other non-Sky receivers in the house. If you keep SkyQ you could install the hybrid yourself in future if decide to install a Freesat/FTA satellite receiver in the other room. Otherwise a standard universal LNB will be required for FTA/Freesat.

Dish will be OK for SkyQ and other legacy receivers.

Johnboy1951

Will be cancelling Virgin Media TV and B/band shortly so need an alternative. I would appreciate input on my short term plan for 12 months with sky and then medium/longer term plan with FTA sattelite/saorview.

Am thinking Sky for 12 months to get their dish and use if future, however I believe Sky Q not resuable and I think different LNB for FTA?

After 12 months I would plan on keeping a broadband provider and then using FTA Satelite/Saorview for TV.

This reads that you are getting Sky for 12 months just to get their dish.
Getting a dish supplied and fitted for FTA would cost a heck of a lot less than a basic Sky sub for 12 months.

You will still need an LNB and receiver/s regardless which way you go (deferred for 12 months if getting Sky).

MAJJ

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

This reads that you are getting Sky for 12 months just to get their dish.
Getting a dish supplied and fitted for FTA would cost a heck of a lot less than a basic Sky sub for 12 months.

You will still need an LNB and receiver/s regardless which way you go (deferred for 12 months if getting Sky).

Hi Johnboy, thanks for the response, I need a new broad band provider as well as new TV provider as moving away from virgin. That's my rational to get in sky fiber and get some of the work on the TV from sky but am open to suggestions, sky are 49pm TV and broadband . Post 12 months and parking the broadband piece I get your point,Thanks

Gerry Wicklow

MAJJ wrote: »

Hi Johnboy, thanks for the response, I need a new broad band provider as well as new TV provider as moving away from virgin. That's my rational to get in sky fiber and get some of the work on the TV from sky but am open to suggestions, sky are 49pm TV and broadband . Post 12 months and parking the broadband piece I get your point,Thanks

I got caught by that same Sky offer when I needed BB. The basic Sky Q pack is pure cr@p. I tried it for a week and packed it away until the contract expires. My FTA setup is vastly superior. Sky Q basic does not have ITV HD, Ch4 HD or Ch5 HD* even though they are FTA. The channel order is all over the place. You are constantly nagged by promos for stuff you cant have without upping the sub. Things like remote access and streaming to other rooms, which I just take for granted on my FTA setup, cost extra on Sky. Apart from Sky Atlantic (in sd) just about everything else is available elsewhere in HD FTA.


* I know they can be added as extra channels but I shouldn't need to .

Kristopherus

MAJJ wrote: »

Hi Johnboy, thanks for the response, I need a new broad band provider as well as new TV provider as moving away from virgin. That's my rational to get in sky fiber and get some of the work on the TV from sky but am open to suggestions, sky are 49pm TV and broadband . Post 12 months and parking the broadband piece I get your point,Thanks

Why are you dropping Virgin BB? It's far & away the best option. Genuine no usage limits.

Are there better providers in your area?

Johnboy1951

MAJJ wrote: »

Hi Johnboy, thanks for the response, I need a new broad band provider as well as new TV provider as moving away from virgin. That's my rational to get in sky fiber and get some of the work on the TV from sky but am open to suggestions, sky are 49pm TV and broadband . Post 12 months and parking the broadband piece I get your point,Thanks

Which Fibre is Sky providing?
Is it FTTC .... which means over copper into the home from a cabinet somewhere reasonably close, or FTTH which is fibre into the home and is vastly superior to FTTC?
Virgin broadband should be comparable to FTTH.

MAJJ

Thanks to all for the response, have learned a lot.
The broadband piece yes Virgin has been solid, I would prefer not to change and may not change - but price is driving this , their TV is pants.

Gerry Wicklow - could you share how you do this, assume servers involved ? "remote access and streaming to other rooms, which I just take for granted on my FTA setup"

Johnboy1951

MAJJ wrote: »

Thanks to all for the response, have learned a lot.
The broadband piece yes Virgin has been solid, I would prefer not to change and may not change - but price is driving this , their TV is pants.

Gerry Wicklow - could you share how you do this, assume servers involved ? "remote access and streaming to other rooms, which I just take for granted on my FTA setup"

Lots of reading here on various set ups
https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=643

I cannot imagine how I would manage being tied to a Sky system.
It would cost me an exorbitant amount to get the facilities I take for granted on my set up ........ multiroom; multi-device; central repository for media and recordings with all available to every device at all times all for the cost of the cheap hardware and free and open source software.

Gerry Wicklow

MAJJ wrote: »

Thanks to all for the response, have learned a lot.
The broadband piece yes Virgin has been solid, I would prefer not to change and may not change - but price is driving this , their TV is pants.

Gerry Wicklow - could you share how you do this, assume servers involved ? "remote access and streaming to other rooms, which I just take for granted on my FTA setup"

Once you have the box setup and running on your home network, simply enter the box's network address 192.168.xxx.xxx into any web browser on your network, be it phone, laptop or whatever. That will launch a plugin called Webif which gives you just about the same access as the remote control. You also have access to your recordings and can stream any channel(s) from the box.
If you want access from outside the home you set up something like a noip account and configure your router to open certain ports. I forget the exact details. I'm sure others here are more up to speed on this. Be careful with security settings though, as you can leave yourself more vulnerable to unwanted guests on your network by doing that.

EDIT: I should clarify, I am referring to enigma powered boxes. Generic FTA boxes probably wont offer this.

MAJJ

Gerry Wicklow and JohnBoy.

Thank you both for the helpful input - could you please outline the highlevel set up you have hardware,s/w, cables - signal to screen - that way I and others get example of good working components. I get the feeling you have differing setups so interested to learn more if you wouldn't mind.
EG. 80 cm dish (make), LNB quad? (make), box (make) - is all sat cable to that box and then IP or HDMI out?
Are you combining saorview along the way?

Cheers
MAJJ

Johnboy1951

MAJJ wrote: »

Gerry Wicklow and JohnBoy.

Thank you both for the helpful input - could you please outline the highlevel set up you have hardware,s/w, cables - signal to screen - that way I and others get example of good working components. I get the feeling you have differing setups so interested to learn more if you wouldn't mind.
EG. 80 cm dish (make), LNB quad? (make), box (make) - is all sat cable to that box and then IP or HDMI out?
Are you combining saorview along the way?

Cheers
MAJJ

This is my latest set up
https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=107012448&postcount=72

I have posted a number of times in the HTPC section about my set up which changes over time.

Part of my aim is to get the best reliable functions at the least cost, hence I intitially used an old Dell machine that was rescued from being dumped as the backend server, and now am running a test set up using a cheap ARM device (~€40) to run CoreELEC and Tvheadend etc.

The same Tanix ARM devices can be used as client machines.

Presently I use a real old former Sky dish for Satellite channels and wideband aerial for Saorview. There is a quad LNB feeding the Digibox, which is to be replaced (when I get around to getting a new dish) with a Unicable II LNB, which the Digibox can use. So the Sat feed will be reduced to one coax cable.

All the channels from both Saorview and Digibox tuners are made available on the LAN (controlled by tvheadend) to be used by any device that connects.
I use a mix of client devices at fixed TV points ....... NUC; R-Pi; Tanix ...... and other devices (phones, tablets, laptops, PCs etc) preferably using Kodi which plays very well with tvheadend through an add-on.
Backend server and Client devices use LibreELEC or CoreELEC, so admin is simplified as all OSs are essentially the same.

Gerry Wicklow

Like Johnboy1951, my personal setup is more complex than the average user would need as I have multiple (foreign) satellites fed to several rooms.
A basic setup using an existing Sky dish, or new 80cm, and a quad LNB will give you all the basic UK channels including the 5 BBCs in HD, ITV1, CH4 and CH5 in HD plus several news channels in HD. For Saorview (Irish channels) you need a separate aerial as they are not free on the UK satellite. Depending on location, you might get away with an aerial in the attic or even a set top one in a very strong signal area but they are not recommended. For recording you need 2 feeds from the dish to the box, one to watch while the other records. The 2 spare feeds from the quad could run to another room(s) if needed. If convenient, it is also possible to "piggyback" the Saorview aerial signal onto one of the satellite coaxes. This might be useful if the aerial is near the dish to minimize cabling.
The Tiviar triple tuner seems to be the best value enigma combo at the moment. Like all things with a bigger budget, the sky's the limit.