Plex and Saorview/Freeview

ubermick

Hiya lads

So moving back in the Summer there, and will be bringing my 30tb Plex server with me. Have the lifetime pass on Plex, and have seen a few guides on getting IPTV/DVR integrated with it using Xteve but in fairness have little to no desire to wrestle with dodginess and thousands of channels we have no desire to access or would ever use.

What I was wondering is if there was a way in integrate the free channels available via Saorview/Freeview into Plex without having to lob a satellite dish on the roof?

bk

Well Saorview works via aerial, not satellite dish and depending on where you live, it can often be picked up using a small indoor aerial. I've a small flat one stuck on the wall behind my TV, works fine where I live.

You will need a tuner card for your PC to pick up the signal.

If you can stick a satellite dish up, it would be well worth it as you could then also get all the UK channels.

ubermick

Yeah, I was trying to avoid throwing one of those up, the wife can't stand them and thinks they're a massive eyesore (the place we were staying at while home in the summer had houses around them with the old rusty ones up) but seems like it's either that or just pay the few bucks for Eir every month. Really hoping to find an IPTV source for the free to air stuff (I did see one on Github, but doesn't seem like it works)

pizzahead77

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120364596#Comment_120364596

Where will you be living? If you are near the border with NI you can pick up some Freeview channels via aerial (Freeview is the UK equivalent of Sairview).

I use a Silicon Dust Home Run Tuner (its an external box rather than a PC tuner card) with Plex and pick up the Saorview channels.

ubermick

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120463140#Comment_120463140

Other end, down in Cork.

I did find an M3U listing for free channels on Github (emphasis on free, no paid or adult stuff was allowed) but seemingly 'twas banjaxed. I've a feeling I'll end up being stuck with Eir for live telly.

batistuta9

You could just use the apps from the channels you want to watch.

icdg

Virtually all the Saorview channels have live and legal free streams in the player apps, the only ones missing are the RTE+1s, VM Four and Challenge. Not sure if that’s the setup you want and you will have to endure the dreaded pre-roll adverts on some channels (sorry I keep banging that drum, but it is a total disgrace imho particularly since most the “adverts” in RTE’s case are in fact promos).

ubermick

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120467962#Comment_120467962

Yeah, none of that will go over well with herself, who's frankly spoiled rotten haha. If I can't suss out in IPTV option, we'll just break down and do Eir or Sky packaged with broadband. Seems to be cheap enough at least for the first 12 months, and if its annoying we'll do the bonkers.ie dance afterwards.

swoofer

look at ibox.ie

Fatal Except1on

I'm in Kildare and I have both Freesat and Saorview channels on my Plex server.

I have a Digibit R1 for Freesat and a HD Homerun for the Saorview (terrestrial) channels with a small indoor antenna thats nice and neat.

Both of the tuners are network tuners so I have a VM running TVHeadend and then TVHeadend dishes the channels to Plex.

Everything works nice and neatly but I've found that Kodi is a better frontend than Plex for the LiveTV, and I use PlexKodiConnect for the rest of my media within Kodi. It's all seamless and has worked flawlessly for years.

donspeekinglesh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120518546#Comment_120518546

Where in Kildare? I'm in Maynooth and looking do to this sort of setup for Saorview. Was hoping an internal antenna would do. what one do you have? (I'll be mounting it upstairs as that's where my servers are.)

Fatal Except1on

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120519218#Comment_120519218

I'm just outside Athy. I use a little small one similar to this:

TV Aerial, Indoor TV Aerial 200+ Miles Freeview Aerial with Amplifier Signal Booster, 4K 1080P Ultra HD Stronger Reception TV Signals, VHF/UHF/FM & 13.2FT Coax Cable: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics & Photo

Mine is mounted with my servers too, its just sitting on top of the server rack.

Akula

Which device are you getting the RTE channels streaming on. I’ve only seen it on Apple TV?

rogue-entity

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120518546#Comment_120518546

Was about to give a mention to the HDHomerun, I believe Plex can use that directly but I'm not sure about the Digibit R1. I have a similar setup taking advantage of the Wideband LNB left behind from a SkyQ install, works a treat.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120364596#Comment_120364596

Free to air IpTV simply doesn't exist for Irish and British terrestrial content. The players that are available tend to be geolocation checked and do not offer real time transmissions - there just a pain to use. RTE earns a substantial income from selling its service to expats via sky so they give nothing away.

Best to bite the bullet and put in dish or aerial. Other than that most of the broadband services offer TV packages at moderate cost if you don't need anything premium.

I use a Digibit twin for sat which is SATIP meaning you plug it into your router and point your server at its IP. I also use an aerial for Irish TV which feeds via a card into my server. Both are managed by TVheadend on the server and any of my Kodi boxes can access them anywhere in the house via LAN or WiFi. WiFi can be marginal for HDTV.

ubermick

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121343716#Comment_121343716

Yeah, we're back now and just ended up going with Eir TV. Not great (it's far from it to be honest) but does the job, and we're getting it for a tenner a month. Just have the server pick up any series we want elsewhere.

Lack of sports (football and F1) is a miss in hindsight, those were free to air back over in the states, but massive premium here.