Buying Advice

egal

I live in Omagh and receive UK channels from Brougher Mountain and Saorview channels from Carlingford and have a Freesat recorder as well. The Freesat recorder has stopped working. SO I was wondering is there such a thing as a box with the ability to record the satellite channels and the UK channels and the Saorview channels? It would need to be able to cope with subtitles as well since I'm a bit hard of hearing and rely on subtitles. Thanks.

Gerry Wicklow

I take it you mean Freeview terrestrial channels as well as Saorview terrestrial channels and FreeSat satellite channels. The Zgemma H7S should do all you need. It can record satellite and terrestrial and has subtitles. You can arrange the channels into any combination and order you wish. The biggest caveat is that there is only one terrestrial tuner which limits you to watching or recording only one terrestrial channel at a time, be that Saorview or Freeview. In practice, the vast majority of Freeview content is also on satellite. You could also record a Freeview channel while watching Saorview (or vice versa) through your TVs own tuner if a clash was unavoidable.

The Zgemma box is a bit of a learning curve compared to Freesat but it is well worth the effort when you discover how versatile it is.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2057971250/zgemma-h7s-guide

egal

Many thanks for the prompt reply. I'll look into that over the next few days. Thanks again. I suppose I would buy from an online source?

Gerry Wicklow

I can recommend this company. They will do a basic setup for you in advance. You will need to include a HDD for recording. OpenVix is my preferred image (operating system)

https://www.world-of-satellite.co.uk/zgemma-h7s?filter_name=Zgemma%20H7S

egal

I have a question again. I see an RF in socket but no RF out socket. So how do I watch the TV direct? Thanks again.

Gerry Wicklow

you would need a splitter for the terrestrial coax feed. In practice I doubt you would need to watch/ record 2 terrestrial channels at the same time since most stuff is also on satellite

egal

One last question. So I need the Open ViX and the HDD. Do I also need USB stick storage or USB WiFi or Powerline plugs? What do these things do?

Gerry Wicklow

no USB stick or Wifi.

If you connect the box to your home network it will allow you to access the box from a PC or phone but it is not essential for the box to work. WiFi doesn't work well for this. A wired connection would be preferred. If it is not convenient to wire a box direct to your router then powerline plugs are the next best option. Once again, you do not need to connect to a network if you have no use for it.

newmember2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058292418/buying-advice

I've been using this or the previous incarnation the last ten years for freesat off the dish and saorview off an aerial. You need to hook up your own storage via USB.

Gerry Wicklow

As I understand it, the Ferguson box only has 1 satellite tuner so you cant watch one channel while recording another. They also don't have a 7 day EPG on satellite or series linking.

egal

Thank you newmember2 and especially you, Gerry, for all you help and patience in answering my questions. I think I'll go with the HS7 plus HDD plus OpenViX and see how I get on. Oh! I suppose there's not a version that allows loop through of the aerial signal to the TV. It would be my intention to use the HS7 just for recording and use the TV for or ordinary live viewing. Thank you both again.

Gerry Wicklow

I cant think of a box with loop thru off the top of my head, others might know one. To be honest I cant remember the last time I used my TVs tuner, it's so much easier to just use the box. It can be set to turn the TV on and off so one remote does all the work.

egal

One last question, Gerry, please. Can you confirm that the box definitely supports UK and Saorview subtitles? As an older person with hearing issues subtitles are absolutely essential for me. I contacted World of Satellite but they weren't able to confirm this for me. Thanks.

Gerry Wicklow

As far as I can tell, RTÉ are still using the old 888 subs

Whereas the satellite channels offer the choice of 888 or the more colourful DVB subs

egal

Thanks, Gerry.

egal

How do I fit the HDD to the box? I thought it would come pre-installed! I pushed it into the SATA slot but it doesn't seem to fit!

swoofer

if its a normal HDD then it wont fit, you need an An SSD. But if you remove the top of the box you can fit the hdd and then try to put on cover. Its not easy and not advisable. From what I remember the ssd is thinner than normal HDD. Where did you buy box?

By the way if its an SSD it needs a stiff push to engage the slots.

egal

I bought the box in World of Satellite. The HDD or SSD, if that's what it is, is quite thin but I was afraid to push too hard because the contacts that I can see in the slot do not appear to line up with what I can see on the HDD or SSD.

swoofer

OK I have a ZGEMMA 7S so had a look. Take the cover off and then you will see the connectors but look very closely for a silver marker, its near the black 4k symbol on mine and don't disturb it. Screws are tiny, 5 of, when undone slide cover back a little bit then lift off.

And it needs a firm push to get ssd set.

egal

Gosh, I wouldn't be confident enough to open it up. I thought the point of the slot was that you didn't have to take the cover off - just push the SSD into place? But, as I say, the contacts don't seem to line up.

swoofer

Yes but it needs a hard push and make sure ssd is right way up, the bottom of the ssd will have 4 screw holes that’s the bottom. The slots line up push firmly

egal

Thanks for all your help. I think I'll leave it for tonight. Thanks again.

Count Dracula

I would stick to BBC Alba and TG4.

The rest is fairly pointless, except live sport. Alba is great for folk music and proper documentaries, very similar profile to TG4. very little trash advertising also, that is what telly should be.

Friday night and Monday night movies ( scannán ) on TG4 are go h'íontaigh air fad agus go brea , tá suíl agam.

Anyone watching morning weekday television should be entitled to read out their victim impact statement. Dion Dublin in that ridiculous miners cap doing up stale unloved tenements flats is not advised. Get out for a run maybe?

More Bullseye repeats please.

Gerry Wicklow

The drive goes into the slot with the label facing up. A firm push is all thats needed. It does not go in completely. There's about 1.5 inches sticking out so you can remove it later if needed. Depending on the drive brand it may not be a firm clunk, there may be a bit of wiggle but it is firm enough to stay in place by itself.

egal

Thanks. I finally pushed it in until I heard a click. Still 2 0r 3 inches sticking out the back. I imagine that's normal. I won't be able to continue connecting up until late tonight. Thanks so far, lads.

icdg

I’ve reviewed the thread. No feeding the trolls, I shouldn’t have to say that at this point. If it becomes a problem I’ll intervene further but don’t plan on doing so at this stage.

egal

What does he mean?!

swoofer

ignore look at username!!🙄

egal

Thanks for help so far. Can you tell me now the sequence of buttons to press to download Freesat channels. Do I have to do this for both satellite tuners? And I presume the process will be similar for Saorview. Thanks again for help.

swoofer

You are in the buying advice thread so no support. Go to the zgemma h7s guide thread and I'll help you there be quick.

Its this one

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2057971250/zgemma-h7s-guide/p43

Gerry Wicklow

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120533198#Comment_120533198

Here's how I would do it. To navigate around the menus use the up/down left/right arrows on the circular bit of the remote. Press

MENU>SETUP>TUNERS & SCANNING> click down to select Tuner B then hit OK

Using the left/right arrows change it to match the picture above. This means that Tuner B will be equal to Tuner A so any changes you do to Tuner A are copied to Tuner B.

Next using the EXIT button go back a few steps in the menu until you see an option to AUTOMATICALLY SCAN. Pick that option and then use the settings above. When you have this done press the GREEN button to start the scan. Get yourself a cuppa as this will take 10-15 minutes to run.

This will scan the satellite and terrestrial channels in one go.

Gerry Wicklow

Now that you are suitably bamboozled you can use the steps Swoofer suggest for AutoBouquetMaker in the other thread. I don't use it myself so I'll rely on Swoofers advice there. Bouquets are just the fancy name for ordered lists of channels.

Don't be too put out if this all seems very complex and full of jargon. Most of this stuff only needs to be done once.