Freesat/saorview separates vs combo box

mirrormatrix

Looking for some expert opinions. I'm getting a satellite and antenna supplied and fitted and need to choose best box for my needs. Basic install comes with a revez 870hd.

I have a couple of questions on this. Firstly, is the revez 870hd any good or is it a bit slow on menu speed etc. Also, would it have 7day epg? Would zgemma h7s be much of a step up? I have only one tv and have no need to record and watch at the same time. I barely watch the tv, and the wife just wants to be able to watch rte news and the bake off.

I was also wondering, as a follow on, is there any need for a combo box at all? A saorview box and freesat separate box together would probably only cost the same as the zgemma. Is there any reason why getting the separates would be a bad idea? Obviously you've two separate hdmi inputs and two remotes but is there actually any other disadvantage of separates? Rang one of the satellite places and guy said that shops won't sell a recordable freesat box to RoI and I'd have to drive up north to get one. Is this really true?

mirrormatrix

I should clarify, my concerns on the combo box, especially a Linux one, is that it would be too techy for me. I don't want to be faffing about with setup and stuff (i have neither the time nor patience for it), so plug and play is really the only option for ne

Gerry Wicklow

Im open to correction but the Revez seems to be a basic 2 tuner combo box. It probably only has now/next EPG not full 7 day

Because it only has one satellite tuner it would not be possible to record one satellite channel while watching another. Also unlikely to have series linking.

Over time it will need as much retuning / maintenance as any Enigma based combo box.

IMO a proper Enigma combo box would be far more versatile with far more functionality.

mirrormatrix

OK thanks. Just really frustrating that my only options for non streaming tv seem to be upc (gougers) and freesat.

Is one of those enigma boxes easy to set up (I.e. as easy as tuning in a tv)? Cause I reckon that's about all I could handle.

andy1249

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122488074#Comment_122488074

Ive been down the separate route , that was a humax 1000s and a triax 212 , and the wife hated it , with venom , even though I had it set up on the harmony remote , she hated the fact that she had to press an activity button and wait for the switch between boxes , and I mean boy , did she hate it.

Enigma 2 is not all that hard to do , Set up your tuners , set up ABM , run ABM , now log in to the box via Webif and use bouquet manager to set up your favourites.

ABM is key here , set it to run at 4:00am every day ( I think that is default ) and you never have to worry about losing any channels , they are always there , and its simply a case of using bouquet editor to copy into favourites should one move transponder etc.

Recordings are not encrypted with enigma 2 ( they are on the reves ) meaning you can copy and paste and stream to any other device you have in the house.

If you get stuck with a Zgemma or any of the other enigma 2 boxes , then ask here or on WOS forums. You'll get sorted in no time.

If you get stuck with the Reves you will most likely be on your own , as its not a very popular box at all.

BTW , if you go enigma 2 , the version you want is openvix.

It is by far the most user friendly and there is a full manual available.

https://www.openvix.co.uk/openvix-builds/Guides%20and%20Tutorials/VIX%20Manual%20Vs%201.1.pdf

Most only get into trouble with Enigma when they start messing about with skins trying to make the thing look like something it is not ( a sky box ).

Get it set up , which is fairly simple , then use blue button to make a back up to USB , then once you have that , you can go back to that point should anything go wrong in future.

I knew nothing about Enigma 2 when I switched back in 2013 , now I wouldnt run anything else , its a piece of cake.

2 rules , dont mess with skins , dont mess with plugins , and life is a breeze with these boxes.

mirrormatrix

OK thanks very much. I might go with the zgemma h7s so. What I'm being offered is the zgemma box with a full aerial and satellite install where they programme all freesat channels for eur550. Have to fork out a bit more if I want a hard disk. I'm hoping that this means they will install the bouquet maker and openvix or something similar.

It needs to be something a 5 year old could set up or there's really no hope of me managing it!

mirrormatrix

Interestingly, the price is 50 wuro more expensive if I also want the free Spanish and feench channels (which I'm considering). Any reason this should be the case? Do things have to be set up totally differently to tune in these channels?

goldiefresh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122488234#Comment_122488234

Not really. They will just put an extra lnb with adaptor and diseqc switch on the same dish for astra 1. No second dish be needed and it will give you the free channels from France, Spain and mainly lots of German channels Inc Eurosport but with German Commentary. They will assign the relevant lnb to to current satellite on the box for you.

dxhound2005

It's a bit of a jump from saying that the only requirement is something for the wife to watch the News and Bake Off on, to looking for French and Spanish stations. If the TV has both terrestrial and satellite tuners, I would see how it performs with the aerial and satellite dish cables attached. Get familiar with all the menus. What make and model of TV is it?

If that is not satisfactory, then look at spending more money later on.

andy1249

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122490249#Comment_122490249

Ive been there ,

Get a TV for the kitchen she said , doesnt have to be anything special she said , I want RTE and the BBCs all on the one menu she said ……. So I got a Walker TV , set it up , all the favourites on the one menu just like the box in the main sitting room ……

No no no she said , wheres the EPG ? ( just now and next on the walker for satellite channels , )

But you said you didnt want anything special ?

I did she said , but a basic 7 day EPG is not special is it ? Oh yeah , I want to be able to pause it as well , thats basic too right ?

So now the walker in the kitchen has its own Enigma 2 box , just like the one in the main sitting room , now shes happy.

mirrormatrix

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122490249#Comment_122490249

Fair point. I already have all the French and Spanish channels on streaming apps, which I use for language learning, so I don't actually need this. I watch almost all of my TV on the phone. Was just thinking of firing them on there if it didn't cost much extra.

It's an LG. Doesn't support Saorview so I'll for sure need some sort of box or another TV.

zg3409

A proper 2 tuner recording Freesat box is great for UK channels, series link, no messing with tuning ever.

For Irish channels no real good recording option out there. Even saorview approved recording boxes do not work great.

Either way make sure you have at least 2 satellite cables to main TV so you can have dual tuner recording. By the time you but a dysl tuner Freesat box with a big hard drive inside you are looking at lots of money. However no monthly fee.

dxhound2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122491500#Comment_122491500

There are 640 LG's on the Saorview approved list. Might be worth checking again. I have a OLED 55B7V which is on the list. But I never plugged the aerial into it to see what Saorview is like. I have a combo box, which works well for Free to Air terrestrial and satellite. I don't need EPG's. I have looped the satellite tuner on the LG through from the box. But I do find the menus on the LG a bit of a pain.

https://saorview.ie/en/find-a-product/

Even if the terrestrial tuner is not Saorview supported, it could still be worthwile seeing how suitable it is in Free to Air mode. Before you go spending more money.

mirrormatrix

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122491560#Comment_122491560

God you're dead right, it's 55UM7450PLA and is saorview approved. O just remembered when buying it that they said it wasnt saorview compatible and i never checked! So if I don't need recording I guess I could just run the satellite and aerial direct into the tv? Very interesting.

andy1249

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122491655#Comment_122491655

Ive got an LG CX

Its absolute crap when fed directly to the TV.

Either you set it up as UK so you can get the freesat EPG , in which case the Saorview Channels are shotgun scattered all over the place amongst about 800 blank channels , or you set up as Irish and you get sensible Saorview listings and only now/next on FTA Satellite.

You can set up favourites , but they will not stick , and disappear after every update , and there seems to be an update at least once a month.

You can switch between Saorview and Satellite by adding say RTE1 and BBC1 to single button shortcuts , but its a faff and the above problems still stand.

The fact is we are in a geographical oddity when it comes to TV. We have Saorview and a footprint overspill for FTA satellite to work with.

No TV is designed to capture English FTA and Saorview natively on a single menu with 7 day EPG, the only real option for hassle free TV is a good versatile linux combo box.

beachhead

I had it on a Philips TV of 2021 single menu and EPG

mrtom

Though I have a Amiko combo, I use the RF on my Sharp 55-4k (etc) for Saorview. Downside, I can't record but I find the Saorview picture & sound much better this way. To do with less compression I understand.

andy1249

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122493413#Comment_122493413

Not all boxes are created equal.

I have a few now , and the picture quality varies depending on the chipset used.

VU+ is the best ( broadcom chipset )

Octagon S8008 is the same as the VU+ ( Broadcom chipset again )

Zgemma H82h is about the same price as the Amikos , about 50 , and is brutal ( Huawei Chipset ) , a severe drop in picture quality and cant handle BBC1 HD or BBC News HD for some reason , it freezes on both.

This box works fine as a client though , must be bypassing the chipset when its just streaming from another box.

dxhound2005

Maybe assigning 8 channels to shortcuts would be enough for someone not watching much TV. There are lots of YouTube videos showing other menus including so called Hidden ones on LG's. Like I said before have a good play around with the TV for a while, and no harm done if it turns out it is not suitable. The Shortcuts menu is usually got by a long press of 0 on LG remotes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXj2E4Eo8Qo

dermo2014

The simplest setup would be tune saorview on the tv tuner and get a freesat box for satellite like the Manhatton below.

https://www.freetv.ie/freesat-box/

You set it up one and your done.

You have 2 remotes and have to switch to hdmi1 for satellite but that's easy to manage.

dxhound2005

In terms of simplicity, the TV on its own would win out. If the OP is sticking to what they said they need originally.

"I barely watch the tv, and the wife just wants to be able to watch rte news and the bake off."

Assigning the most used channels to the Shortcuts might be enough. I would say definitely do not spend any extra money without giving this solution a good try first. In my case over the years I have found that things which seem difficult or strange at the start soon become second nature. This applies to TV's and remotes.

mirrormatrix

So as an update on this, I ended up just purchasing an indoor aerial and sticking it on the windowsill. The reception for the Irish channels is perfect, and will do for the next while until I can figure out a more permanent solution. To be honest, after all of this faff, i'm thinking that the solution might be to just stick an aerial in the attic and cable down from there to the TV point.

dxhound2005

If you can, look at the signal readings. There should be a menu. To do a Before and After comparison if you change anything. A perfect picture can be from a signal just about strong enough. It looks the same on the screen as a 100% signal.