Best TV for Saorview?

kooks87

Hi, I'm looking to get a new TV for my parents. Their main concern is to have a decent Saorview set up with an easy to use interface and EPG if possible. Would anyone have any recommendations?

Cheers!

Maewyn Succat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058324120/best-tv-for-saorview

When are people going to stop calling them Saorview Tv's? Its a digital TV you need...that's any tv that are sold in any shop in Ireland these days. They all have EPG. It all comes down to how much you want to spend. The cheapest TV will have all of these features.

Atlantic Dawn

What I would do first is look at the remote controls, cheaper ones tend to be poorly thought out and confusing. Sony, Samsung and LG that I have used have been best I have seen, EPG's are pretty similar across the board.

kooks87

Ok thank you. I was just wondering if anyone knew the difference between the interfaces on these TVs.. I saw a thread where people are giving out about the LG TVs, and how you can't reorganise the order of the Saorview channels. So this would sway me towards Samsung or Sony, but I'm interested to hear if anyone has one of these TVs and if they have any insight. Cheers

kooks87

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121409406#Comment_121409406

I think you'll find that I didn't call it a Saorview TV...

sinnie8

😂😂

kooks87

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058324120/best-tv-for-saorview

Sorry I should have stated in the original question that I'd need a TV that has a good interface for using both Saorview and Freesat simultaneously. It would need to have the dual tuners.

mackersdublin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058324120/best-tv-for-saorview

Personally I would go for a well known brand, like Samsung, Sony or LG as those TVs will automatically update any EPG changes Saorview will do in the future, once the TV's country is set to Ireland

And also the picture quality and sound with be better

The main issue for cheaper brands like Walker, NordMende etc. is that they do not update and a retune will be required if anything changes

decor58

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121424880#Comment_121424880

The Vestel brands, Walker, Nordmende, Toshiba, Telefunken, do update on Saorview, no issues there, being using g a mix of these brands for about 5 years without issue. They also have Saorview and satellite on one list, the satellite channels need to be updated manually.

marclt

Any screen shots of the vestel epg with the single list of channels?

decor58

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121431435#Comment_121431435

Single list of channels, separate epgs for Saorview, 7 day and satellite,now and next.

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Grey123

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121411573#Comment_121411573

You can rule out Sony then.

Alternatively you can get a Freesat box for €70. You can then jump between Saorview and Freesat by just going to HDMI1.

My Sony TV remote controls both so it doesn't feel like there is a separate box. Just two lists.

Probably opens up a lot more tv options to do it this way.

Antenna

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121431934#Comment_121431934

From the first picture it seems to suffer from the Walker bug of thinking some UK channels are encrypted when they are not (the Key symbol above 'HD'). Whilst the channels are viewable, you are probably blocked from recording them?

decor58

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121482084#Comment_121482084

No, we dont have problems recording any of the channels, we record to a HDD, manual timers, doing that for years.

bungeecork

Can I second the OP but add a requirement?

I don't live in Ireland, so I don't really know what Saorview is outside of what their website tells me, but I want to buy a new TV for my elderly Mum who does live in Ireland.

She still uses a 20 year old "black box" from the local cable TV company in Cork on a plain old Sony dumb TV. She does have broadband in the house from Eir so my goal is to get her a smart TV. She needs to be able to watch catch-up TV (do people still call it that?) for the Irish RTE and Virgin channels. I assume all smart TVs sold in Ireland come with apps like Netflix? But do they come with an app for watching catch-up TV from all of the Irish channels.

Here's the big caveat. She doesn't have a roof antenna. All her TV is from that ancient black box (originaly from an old cable TV company called "Cork Multichannel").

So, with no antenna and just wifi, would a smart TV have an app that would allow you to watch catch-up TV from all Irish channels via wi-fi only?

MenloPete

The problem with smart TVs (in my opinion) is that there is no guarantee that the apps (if they are there) will continue to work. I have older Panasonic and LG Smart TVs in my house, none of which run any Irish TV apps now. I use a Now TV stick for catch-up.

decor58

I had a similar experience, Sony tv with VMplayer lasted about 18months, player that is. Currently Walker tv with RTEplayer and all the big ones, LG with RTE and TG4, no VM, Now stick with RTE and VM, unfortunate that player acess is not a Saorview requirement,surely its in the broadcasters interest, how much does it cost to develop variants on a player. All tv's in the UK appear to have the four public broadcasters.

As regards catchup tv for the lady in Cork, as said no tv brand here has all 3 players and live TV over a player is limited, so best option is aerial and dish, most of the big players are on smart tv's.

egal

I had a Samsung that, according to the Saorview website, was Saorview compatible. However, it couldn't do Saorview subtitles. If your parents are elderly and hard of hearing, like me, that would be something to consider.

reboot

Still have a Samsung curved TV some years now,and pointed out at the time that it can get 90 free channels,not great, but from the Internet, this is a built in feature with the Samsung.

Good points made re firstick and STB,route,and open to discussion now on terrestrial thread,the imminent release of Freely,although not perhaps in the ROI?

TAFKAlawhec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121579270#Comment_121579270

I'd say forget about being able to use Freely in the ROI, at least by any 100% legit route. Will almost certainly be tied to a UK ISP address.

reboot

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121580159#Comment_121580159

Agreed, it's AFAIK, already on Sky Glass,in that bbc, n.i and utv live are there, but maybe just another way to get more money out of us for the same initial content. .Only one manufacturer seems to include it in the TV,cant see folk buying a new TV just to include freely. Pity it's not on firesticks either. Thanks.

mackersdublin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121504500#Comment_121504500

Was the TV's country set to Ireland or UK?

AFAIK subtitles will work when the country is set to Ireland. My Samsung TV (2016 model) is set to UK and Subtitles don't work and I think that's the reason

mackersdublin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121425505#Comment_121425505

That's certainly not my experience. I have a 22" NordMende (NM22906FHDM4) and there's 19" Techwood (TEC19LED) in work and neither of them update the Saorview EPG when changes occur, a retune is always needed. The NordMende was Saorview Approved when I bought it and the Techwood TV is too according to the Saorview website https://saorview.ie/en/find-a-product/

I was also in a B&B in Dingle over Christmas and the TV in the room was a newer Walker Smart TV (WPS3221FHDBK) with Netflix/Prime etc shortcuts on the remote and LCN 8 was showing Challenge but the name of the channel was blank, Cula4 was not on LCN 18 and some of the RTE radio channels were on 215, 216 etc. So I did a manual retune of 21 (Mux 1) and 24 (Mux 2) to get the correct EPG

egal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121625383#Comment_121625383

That would explain it. I'm in the North so it was set to UK.

reboot

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058324120/best-tv-for-saorview

Depending on where one lives and the future direction of Freely,anyone buying a new TV, and looking to future proof it ,might have to take this into consideration?

The Cush

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121877990#Comment_121877990

I believe only 2 manufacturers have signed up to the freely standard to date.

Reading about this recently Freeview is using a HbbTV standard for its IPTV product while RTE is testing DVB-I.

I assume both standards will be included in all TVs in due course.

reboot

Perhaps a firestick type external solution may appear.

Seems we are heading for a lot of eggs in the one internet basket.

Having lost Kilroot power station last year,if one of the other remaining 2 goes off, I loose phone,mobile,TV and radio.

No terrestrial signals available in the Notspot.

The Cush

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121878938#Comment_121878938

Europe appears to be going the DVB-I route for IPTV so we could be seeing it in TVs in next year's models or possibly add-on devices.

How would loosing a power station affect your TV, radio etc?

reboot

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121879060#Comment_121879060

No power,no Internet, therefore no BT Digital Voice,ie landline, no Sky box, ie no terrestrial TV, really poor FM and useless Dab.Notspot,one of many in these parts. I suppose the Cats whisker may have to be rebooted,with new firmware!