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Just ditched Sky

hick

hey folks

I’ve cancelled my and it’s active today.

So I’ve been looking around this forum a while and I’m trying to get the it. Where I have got so far is my LGTV has a tuner but all I’m getting is and CHD along with all the other crap channels.

I’m on the point of going. Should I get a pre-programmed hard drive? What I want is the Saorview and free view channels. I know the will do a certain amount using my old dish and the Astra satellite. But I would appreciate best guidance on what I would do next.
Honestly, I cancelled Sky and unfortunately, my parents have gotten quite unwell since so I’ve had no time to figure all this out.

my has a Freeview tuner, but obviously I want to get the Irish and all available UK channels where possible. What’s the best guidance? B

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NIMAN

Where are you located? This will affect your ability to receive Freeview from a UK based transmitter.

Does your tv have a built in satellite tuner/input? If so, you can connect the cables coming in from your already installed satellite dish to your tv and receive free to air satellite channels.

cathy427

Wishing the parents a speedy recovery.

When you had sky did you have sky q or sky hd?

If it was sky q it's a different LNB ( the bit that's on the dish itself) so you won't be able to get the free UK channels without changing the LNB.

For the Irish channels you will need an aerial.

If you have to get a local installer to change the LNB then might be as handy to get them to stick up the saorview aerial. (External aerial is better but mine and my father-in-law-in-waitings aerials are just in attic) If you want they will set up a box for you but research what you want because a lot of them sell the very basic boxes.

Questions to ask yourself like do you want features like watch one, record a different one etc. Or do you just want the live channels. If yes you can just connect the saorview and satellite dish cables to the TV and tune in the channels. Very easy. Does your TV have one or two satellite tuner connections? If you want post a picture of the connections or the exact model of the TV.

Once you have the correct LNB and Saorview aerial next question is are you happy with the channels via the TV or do you want a box like your old sky.

Via the tv is grand but maybe not as smooth as sky or even a separate box. We have Samsung and inlaws have Sony tvs and UK and Irish channels via the TV is grand if a bit laggy so I use a separate box.

But first thing (obviously after the folks) is get the correct LNB and Saorview aerial.

It's easier than it sounds, local guys usually grand value.

Between the two houses we were paying a fortune to sky and haven't looked back since we both left.

thereiver

I think you ll need a saorview aerial and a saorview receiver unless your tv has saorview built in. I presume you mean an external drive with a remote control .

If you have broadband you can watch rte player on a laptop or PC

hick

thank you everyone for the replies. answer questions as I see them.

I’m in Rathfarnham with a good view of three rock so that will help from the aerial perspective rock. I don’t think an indoor aerial will cut it, tried one in a spare tv, walls too thick.

TV is LG now 7 years old with inbuilt tuners. Programming etc is a bit basic. Not against going with an external box to get a better GUI and EPG. Also we want storage for recordings for sure. Ideally want to record and watch

I had sky Q up until now. Two feeds coming down from the through the walls. Single satellite and coax at the back of the

I hadn’t considered that LNB have to be changed that certainly explains why I can’t get all the channels be changed that certainly explains why I can’t get channels I was looking for. Guess it look like an installer but I’m handy enough so if I can get pointed in right direction I’ll do it. I can replace the LNB and put up a Saorview arial too.

any recommendations on where to start with kit much appreciated

samcr440!

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123127938#Comment_123127938

Free Tv is very good for all that sort of stuff and based in Laois

Link below

Free TV Satellite, Aerial & CCTV Supplies | Free the TV | Shop Now

cathy427

Am on this bit ......

Two feeds coming down from the through the walls. Single satellite and coax at the back of the

...

You might be getting a bit confused on this - are the two feeds both coming from the dish?

Or do you also have a feed coming from somewhere else. Just finishing 3 x 12 hour shifts but the wording of that worries me a bit and given all you have going on with the folks might be better outsource it.

Please don't take offence but the basics don't seem to be clicking, you may have enough to be doing without starting from absolute scratch on this project.

fritzelly

Just get a Saorview/Freesat combi box (Freeview is a British thing and you definitely will not get it in Rathfarnham) - if you want to record shows you will have to make sure it's an HDD version. As pointed out the LNB may need to be changed but the boxes are cheap, around 100 euro for an aerial install depending installation type, could do the LNB replacement yourself but prob best to get the same guy as the aerial to do it (they generally do the lot)

Prob looking at around 200-300 euro

Only issue is the EPG - you will only get Now/Next on EPG if not an official Freesat receiver (Sky ditched the free for all on the EPG quite some time ago)

hick

thanks for the concern Cathy 👍,… but definitely two lines coming down from the dish.

At any rate, I think I will just outsource it. There’s enough going on right now. The main thing I’ll look into is which is the right combo box.

cathy427

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123129671#Comment_123129671

Great.

It was the use of "single satellite and coax" meant that there was a big learning curve with so much else going on.

reboot

As discussed elsewhere,I would caution folk seeing the many ads now to ditch Sky,as I have done,keep the dish and buy a cheap freesat box.

Not all the channels,in my case are still received,although the lnb has been updated and the dish picks up CNN for example.

In other words,if I simply swap the Sky HD box for a freesat box,I've tried 2 ,no CNN.

I appreciate there may be firmware/ software issues,but something to consider.

dxhound2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123169706#Comment_123169706

CNN is not an example, it is a particular channel. And the broadcaster is not doing anything which would prevent reception, if other transponders with the same paramaters are being received. It is likely caused by the particular receiver not being able to get a picture from a weak signal.

CNN transponder, which has often been reported on the forums as going missing, and it is always down to the quality of the installation at the receiving end. On my system it is 9dB signal reading, anything under 8 for HD channels is marginal.

https://www.lyngsat.com/muxes/Astra-2G_Europe-Ku_11671-H.html

BBC transponder, 17 dB with me. It shares the same DVB-S2/8PSK paramaters with the CNN signal. BBC is on the UK footprint, CNN is Europe. Some Europe transponders are a lot weaker than UK.

https://www.lyngsat.com/muxes/Astra-2E_UK_10847-V.html

Gerry Wicklow

CNN is no longer paying to be part of the Freesat package and therefore does not automatically tune in on FreeSat boxes. However CNN and others are freely available when manually tuned in.

reboot

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123171560#Comment_123171560

UUnderstood , all I was trying to po8ntbout is that in several different locations I have noticed thtt if the existing sky box,HD or Q,is replaced with either of my two freesat boxes,some channels disappear.I don't think it's the dish,lnb or signal.I could be wrong,it could be a problem with the older freesat boxes.

Just saying that's what I'm finding.

greasepalm

Sky Q boxes use a different lnb and no other boxes work , if not going back to Sky Q services a different lnb is needed to be used with other boxes.

dxhound2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123172773#Comment_123172773

What signal readings are you getting?

reboot

SIgnal level at two different locations is over 70% and as pointed out above both dishes at different locations receive channels that my freesat boxes do not.I suspect if other folk are not finding this problem,my freesat boxes have seen better days.

Same may be said,not to cross threads,but similar problems are found with older freeview humix boxes,not receiving rte gold channel,as discussed elsewhere,Thanks.

reboot

Thanks will try manual turning .

Tippbhoy1

For kit I always use satworld, buy online or they have a shop in inchicore. Satworld.ie

You need a freesat lnb, and a saorview aerial.
stick the saorview aerial beside the satellite and use one of the two coax cables you said you have to run the tv signal down. Change the lnb, be very careful not to disturb the position of the satellite or the arm. Options below, there are variations available for more spend but you have everything you need there for €40

https://www.satworld.ie/sky-freesat-single-lnb.html

https://www.satworld.ie/saorview-uhf-aerial-kit.html

Down at the TV, plug the satellite feed into the sat receiver in the tv and likewise the terrestrial saorview feed into its slot, and tune up the TV. Done

You will likely feel the EPG is suboptimal on the TV and want a box. There are many to choose from. I find the best performing for freesat is the genuine freesat receivers that are sold under the Manhattan brand. The only downside is you have to switch input on the tv for saorview. Many people find this annoying, this is the setup I have and I find it the most reliable.

Alternative solution is a combi box. I’ve only ever had average experiences with these losing channels, epg not working right etc but maybe that was the devices I’ve been exposed to. Maybe someone else here can give their recommendation.

greasepalm

Using a Zgemma H7S here for sat and saorview , 7 days epg and a 1tb internal sata drive.

Box is setup to use AutoBouquetsMaker when channels move.