Questions regarding Freesat, FTA and Saorview

Stone

Hi fellow Boardsies,

I am getting fed up paying through the nose for TV that is essentially free - so I am looking into getting a sat dish and possibly a Saorview aerial.
So I have some questions (dumb newb ones - I know, but this is a brand new area for me) which I hope ye can answer:

I have a Samsung 49" Q80T tv with 2 satellite and one terrestrial aerial inputs and it is listed as both Freesat and Saorview compatible ..

So I understand that Freesat and FTA satellite are basically the same -albeit Freesat is maintained re. channels and EPG ....

To my questions then

- Can I get a [60cm] dish put up (and potentially a Saorview aerial) and just plug these into the tv and get Freesat (and Saorview) ?
- Can I add any FTA channels to the TV (e.g. Euronews) which are on FTA bit not Freesat ?
- If I add a USB drive to the tv, am I correct that I can use live pause as well as schedule recordings etc. ?

These questions may seem "dumb", but it would be grand if someone could answer these

Last, but not least, are there any caveats I should be aware of ?

Cheers and Happy Friday,
Stone

Atlantic Dawn

- Can I get a [60cm] dish put up (and potentially a Saorview aerial) and just plug these into the tv and get Freesat (and Saorview)?
Yes all you need to do. You may get away with an indoor aeriel for Saorview, while not necessarily recommended it can work perfectly fine. This may do the job https://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/9338924/Trail/searchtext%3EAERIEL.htm

- Can I add any FTA channels to the TV (e.g. Euronews) which are on FTA bit not Freesat ?
You should check your TV manual, on a normal offical Freesat box there's an option to tune in non Freesat channels, I am not 100% is this same option exists on the TV version.

- If I add a USB drive to the tv, am I correct that I can use live pause as well as schedule recordings etc. ?
Generally yes but I am unsure if copy protection would exist on some Freesat channels. For TV's using the USB stick you may be limited to 32GB/64GB/128GB they generally won't support very large capacity.


Last, but not least, are there any caveats I should be aware of ?
If it was me I would proceed with what you have with the TV. If the rest of your home has other TV's or receiver boxes you may want to consider getting a dish with quad (4) connections to allow you to connect multiple cables to it down the line. To record 2 shows at once on an official Freesat box you generally need 2 inputs to the box so the setup for one receiver would need 2 inputs if you decide to go that route in the future.

Now if you are looking far far in to the future the better dish setup again would be a hybrid lnb, this has 6 connections on it, 4 of which are the same as the quad I was talking about and 2 are a newer technology called Wideband, for Sky Q this uses Wideband and so does the newest range of Freesat receivers (they also support standard quad type), basically it allows more channels to be displayed from these inputs so more possibilities to record at the same time. Cost might be €30/€40 more than going the quad satellite route, worth bearing in mind if you want to future proof your setup for minimal outlay.

Johnboy1951

Depending on your location it might be worth considering a larger dish to reduce/eliminate 'rain fade'.

Bring two sat cables to the TV location as well as the aerial signal (which can be added to one of the sat cables).
This will mean you can change your mind in future if you wish and add a set top box with HDD so you can watch one sat channel and record another, without having to make any changes to the sat cabling.

athlone573

Yes (60cm may be a bit small in the west/bad weather look into 80cm)

Yes (on a separate list - when TV is set to UK you have independent lists for freesat and FTA)

Don't know

Stone

Thanks a mill guys .... I am moving forward with this
If it interests anyone I have ordered an indoor Saorview aerial which was named "best buy" and only cost me less that £6 on Amazon incl. shipping (as I am a Prime member). That will let me experience the look/feel (provided I can pick up the Saorview channels of course )
Then I can move on to get a dish ... 80cm at least plus a nice multi connection LNB (thanks for the feedback again guys)

If anyone can recommend a good installer in Galway please let me know (via PM I reckon)

athlone573

Actually I may have been confused (sorry) I knew some places needed a bigger dish but 60cm may be enough (and 45cm in Dublin?) before you go splashing a lot of cash.

spaceHopper

Free to air is the UK digital tv service and I don't think you will pick it up in Athlone. You will get free sat to get the UK channels. If you are getting cables run in I'd get 3 put in or even 4, two for Sat and one for TV, you could get away with two buy sharing one of the sat cables with the TV but some Sat LNB's steal some the TV bandwidth for extra functions and you don't know what will happen if 4k sat ever comes out. The cost of installing the cables now is lower than the cost of the cable itself.

Will you want TV in other rooms?

Talk to an installer.

Not sure how you will get TV guide as in ireland you only get now and next

refusetolose

spaceHopper wrote: »

Free to air is the UK digital tv service and I don't think you will pick it up in Athlone. You will get free sat to get the UK channels. If you are getting cables run in I'd get 3 put in or even 4, two for Sat and one for TV, you could get away with two buy sharing one of the sat cables with the TV but some Sat LNB's steal some the TV bandwidth for extra functions and you don't know what will happen if 4k sat ever comes out. The cost of installing the cables now is lower than the cost of the cable itself.

Will you want TV in other rooms?

Talk to an installer.

Not sure how you will get TV guide as in ireland you only get now and next

think your mixed up a bit

Johnboy1951

spaceHopper wrote: »

Free to air is the UK digital tv service and I don't think you will pick it up in Athlone. You will get free sat to get the UK channels. If you are getting cables run in I'd get 3 put in or even 4, two for Sat and one for TV, you could get away with two buy sharing one of the sat cables with the TV but some Sat LNB's steal some the TV bandwidth for extra functions and you don't know what will happen if 4k sat ever comes out. The cost of installing the cables now is lower than the cost of the cable itself.

Will you want TV in other rooms?

Talk to an installer.

Not sure how you will get TV guide as in ireland you only get now and next

Free to Air refers to the unencrypted satellite channels, mainly from Astra satellites, serving the UK & NI.

Freeview is the UK & NI terrestrial broadcast system, comparative to
Saorview the Irish terrestrial broadcast system.

Freesat is a proprietary firmware system which deals only with FTA satellite channels. It does not provide ALL the FTA channels, most notably Ch4 HD.
It does have the advantage of automatically tracking channel frequency changes without manual input, and provides a full 7 day EPG.

There are some boxes available which deal with both FTA satellite channels and terrestrial channels - combi boxes.
With some effort, those running a Linux OS, can also provide 7 day EPG amongst other functions.

.