Freesat & Saorview TV ??

Dec4

Anyone have the Panasonic 40fs503b?
If so, can it be set up in full Freesat mode with 7 day EPG and then (easily?) switched to Saorview for RTE etc..?
Looking for a simple all-in-1 tv, no boxes etc..for a neighbour.
TIA

St Senan

Dec4 wrote: »

Anyone have the Panasonic 40fs503b?
If so, can it be set up in full Freesat mode with 7 day EPG and then (easily?) switched to Saorview for RTE etc..?
Looking for a simple all-in-1 tv, no boxes etc..for a neighbour.
TIA

I have set up a few of these Panasonic TVs.
set the country for UK at initial start up tuning. Then once your into the tuning menu enter a UK postcode. i use SW1A1AA. now when you tune in Irish channels on terrestrial they come in starting in the 800's you can reorder them to start at 1234......., to move between the Irish and freesat channels you need to press the TV button at the top of the remote.

Dec4

Navarre wrote: »

I have set up a few of these Panasonic TVs.
set the country for UK at initial start up tuning. Then once your into the tuning menu enter a UK postcode. i use SW11AA. now when you tune in Irish channels on terrestrial they come in starting in the 800's you can reorder them to start at 1234......., to move between the Irish and freesat channels you need to press the TV button at the top of the remote.

That sounds like it will do the trick so!
Navarre, you are a gentleman!:)

ITV2

i've the 49" version and the set-up the same, only thing missing is the 7 day epg on Irish channels.

Dec4

Any info on this Sony ?
On offer in most places and has Android

mackersdublin

Dec4 wrote: »

Any info on this Sony ?
On offer in most places and has Android

Sony TVs don't have Freesat. Only some LG, Panasonic and Samsung TVs have it built in

MBSnr

^^^
I got myself one of these the other day. Very happy and a decent price. Does USB recording and can pause live TV (need spinning HDD for pause and not USB drive).

As others have said use UK for all location/language settings and the inbuilt program manager to renumber and skip all the found Irish DTT channels (it finds and adds all the placeholder/data ones as well). The only issue is there's a few key presses to change between SAT/DTT and it took me a while to find out how to do that!

Also it didn't auto find the latest firmware so I had to get it and put it on a USB key.

https://www.currys.ie/ieen/tv-and-home-entertainment/televisions/televisions/lg-43uk6950plb-43-smart-4k-ultra-hd-hdr-led-tv-10178160-pdt.html#srcid=11026

7upfree

mackersdublin wrote: »

Sony TVs don't have Freesat. Only some LG, Panasonic and Samsung TVs have it built in

Yep. They do. The parents have one.

The high horse brigade

7upfree wrote: »

Yep. They do. The parents have one.

Do they have full 7 day EPG like a Freesat branded TV or box does? Or just now and next?

byte

MBSnr wrote: »

^^^
I got myself one of these the other day. Very happy and a decent price. Does USB recording and can pause live TV (need spinning HDD for pause and not USB drive).

As others have said use UK for all location/language settings and the inbuilt program manager to renumber and skip all the found Irish DTT channels (it finds and adds all the placeholder/data ones as well). The only issue is there's a few key presses to change between SAT/DTT and it took me a while to find out how to do that!

Also it didn't auto find the latest firmware so I had to get it and put it on a USB key.

https://www.currys.ie/ieen/tv-and-home-entertainment/televisions/televisions/lg-43uk6950plb-43-smart-4k-ultra-hd-hdr-led-tv-10178160-pdt.html#srcid=11026

I wonder does this post help with making life handier?

MBSnr

byte wrote: »

I wonder does this post help with making life handier?

Thanks for the tip. Still learning the features of the TV by messing about with the functions - some by trial and error. The online manual isn't great to be honest - just pointers really. But saying that as my first smart TV, I'm impressed with it so far. Shame it doesn't have the same freesat EPG as my Humax box. (I know some Panasonic TV's do have the same Freesat EPG as the set top boxes).

Dec4

7upfree wrote: »

Yep. They do. The parents have one.

I have an old Sony (about 7 yrs old? KDL32W5810) with full Freesat and easy to switch to Saorview but no recording ability, not sure newer Sony's have full Freesat EPG

Seve OB

mackersdublin wrote: »

Sony TVs don't have Freesat. Only some LG, Panasonic and Samsung TVs have it built in

I've just been told on the Richer sounds Forum that Sony has satellite tuner

please explain what you mean saying they don't have freesat

The high horse brigade

Seve OB wrote: »

I've just been told on the Richer sounds Forum that Sony has satellite tuner

please explain what you mean saying they don't have freesat

Freesat is a branded product, a joint venture between the BBC and ITV. Their products are well supported though updates, get immediate updates of frequency changes and they have a 7 day EPG for all channels.

This is opposed to generic Free to Air, where there is no automatic updates of channel frequency changes and you just get a now and next EPG

Charlie-Bravo

There's lots of free to air (FTA) satellite channels which are unencrypted. Freesat is the branded service which takes some, definitely not all, of these channels and arranges them nicely so you don't have to, and gives you a 7 day EPG as previously said.

Lots of TVs now have satellite tuners but it's not to say that they are Freesat models. I'd always give preference to getting a Freesat model before an FTA-capable satellite receiving TV.

Go to Freesat.co.uk to see which models are available!!

If you want a specific channel which is not on Freesat, most TVs will allow satellite channels be added to 'other channels' list.

Seve OB

The high horse brigade wrote: »

Freesat is a branded product, a joint venture between the BBC and ITV. Their products are well supported though updates, get immediate updates of frequency changes and they have a 7 day EPG for all channels.

This is opposed to generic Free to Air, where there is no automatic updates of channel frequency changes and you just get a now and next EPG

ok, makes a bit of sense, but there should be no difference in the channels received?

also, I have an aul walker satellite tv and it give me more than a no or next EPG and I'm pretty sure there is no mention of freesat on it.

will a generic FTA tv be able to series link etc for recording?

Seve OB

astrofluff wrote: »

If you want a specific channel which is not on Freesat, most TVs will allow satellite channels be added to 'other channels' list.

like the old Sky box other channels?.... that's a terrible option

I would rather have all the channels in one EPG

Tigerandahalf

Be mindful that most tvs will only have 1 satellite tuner. This means you won't be able to watch and record. Tvs that have 2 satellite inputs tend to be very expensive.

A freesat box will have 2 satellite inputs.

Seve OB

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

Be mindful that most tvs will only have 1 satellite tuner. This means you won't be able to watch and record. Tvs that have 2 satellite inputs tend to be very expensive.

A freesat box will have 2 satellite inputs.

might be better off sticking with the old sky box

The high horse brigade

Seve OB wrote: »

will a generic FTA tv be able to series link etc for recording?

No because they only have now and next EPG

Tigerandahalf

It depends on what you want and what satellite cables (1 or 2) are available to you.

7upfree

No. And you have to rearrange the channels yourself. EPG itself is quite reasonable though.

user1842

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

Be mindful that most tvs will only have 1 satellite tuner. This means you won't be able to watch and record. Tvs that have 2 satellite inputs tend to be very expensive.

A freesat box will have 2 satellite inputs.

Can anyone recommend a TV that has 2 freesat tuners? (around 40in for around €500).
They seem to be impossible to find.

Tigerandahalf

user1842 wrote: »

Can anyone recommend a TV that has 2 freesat tuners? (around 40in for around €500).
They seem to be impossible to find.

Add another 500. They tend to only be in the high end price range and size.

user1842

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

user1842 wrote: »

Can anyone recommend a TV that has 2 freesat tuners? (around 40in for around €500).
They seem to be impossible to find.

Add another 500. They tend to only be in the high end price range and size.

Ok for a €1000 then? I cannot seem to find any the state that you can record one freesat station while watching another.

Tigerandahalf

user1842 wrote: »

Ok for a €1000 then? I cannot seem to find any the state that you can record one freesat station while watching another.

They are very rare. Even doing a google revealed done.

mackersdublin

user1842 wrote: »

Ok for a €1000 then? I cannot seem to find any the state that you can record one freesat station while watching another.

Samsung's 2018 models NU8000 and NU8070 has twin Freesat, according to the specs on the Samsung website

Also last year's MU7000 has it, but it starts in the Series 8 for this year's models

Unfortunately all the models above start at 49"

Tigerandahalf

Would you think of getting a humax freesat box (2 tuners) and pair it with a saorview connect box. That will give you 4 tuners. Get a 4k 43" tv for €400.

€750 would buy all 3. Cheaper than those bigger tvs.

user1842

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

Would you think of getting a humax freesat box (2 tuners) and pair it with a saorview connect box. That will give you 4 tuners. Get a 4k 43" tv for €400.

€750 would buy all 3. Cheaper than those bigger tvs.

It's for my parents, looking to replace a 6 year old Samsung that had the functionality. So need a TV only solution.

Tigerandahalf

user1842 wrote: »

It's for my parents, looking to replace a 6 year old Samsung that had the functionality. So need a TV only solution.

Tv only solutions aren't the best. Tv manufacturers stop updating the software after a few years and your tv then can have issues.

Do your parents need to record sat channels?

Do they need the apps?

My tv is a 43" LG. It is a freesat tv. I haven't used the freesat as have a freesat box. I don't know if the freesat on the tv is the same offering as the box.

But if it is maybe a smart tv would do them. I think hotkeys can be set up to quickly switch between saorview and sat.

user1842

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

user1842 wrote: »

It's for my parents, looking to replace a 6 year old Samsung that had the functionality. So need a TV only solution.

Tv only solutions aren't the best. Tv manufacturers stop updating the software after a few years and your tv then can have issues.

Do your parents need to record sat channels?

Do they need the apps?

My tv is a 43" LG. It is a freesat tv. I haven't used the freesat as have a freesat box. I don't know if the freesat on the tv is the same offering as the box.

But if it is maybe a smart tv would do them. I think hotkeys can be set up to quickly switch between saorview and sat.

They need everything. Apps (Plex and Netflix) and being able to record one freesat station while watching another. 
They had a multi box solution before and hated it. They really like the one TV solution that the Samsung provides however the due to the TV's age the apps are super slow and Plex has a very poor app that only works 1/2 of the time. I also, in my hast, updated the firmware of the TV the last time I was home and this seems to have disabled the second tuner on the TV. When recording now you are locked to that channel. Unfortunately I cannot find a way to roll role back the update.
So my parents are not happy.
We have an LG upstairs that is great but it lacks dual tuners.