Sanity check on a new Saorview + Freesat setup

youcancallmeal · 26-03-2026 03:24PM #1

Getting the house rewired at the moment and asked the electrician route 2 shotgun coaxial cables from location on the back wall of the house(clear view of three rock) back to 2 TV locations downstairs. Using chatgpt I've come up with this list of stuff I need to get to complete my setup

Ferguson Ariva 175 combo box x 2
60cm Zone 2 Dish (No LNB)
UHF Aerial (Group K)
Galvanised Mast (1.5m)
TK 12" Wall Bracket Set
2-way f-type splitter for UHF aerial output

Several other bits and pieces like u-bolts, f-type connectors, fly leads, wall plates for the TV locations etc

I also have this new unused quad lnb which looks like it's meant for Sky dish but I'm assuming it should work fine for freesat?

Not interested in recording TV so the Ferguson Ariva 175 combo box seems like it'll do the basic job of having all the UK and Ireland channels in one list.

Anything I'm missing or should consider?

The Cush · 26-03-2026 05:26PM

Looks good, LNB will be ok for FTA satellite reception.

Personally I would've run an extra co-ax cable to each TV point, in case Freesat recording or SkyQ was installed in future.

youcancallmeal · 26-03-2026 05:56PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124342745#Comment_124342745

Good point, I only did my research after asking for the shotgun cabling. Internal plastering happening this week so left it too late now. I had the Virgin streaming box for the last year which wouldn't let you record from RTE or BBC, I realised after using it that long I didn't really miss it and anything I did want to watch back on on RTE I could just use the player.

swoofer · 26-03-2026 06:02PM

just to be clear you are not going to get freesat with those boxes, freesat is the name for proprietary software that was set up years ago to rival sky and is free. With freesat you get a 7 day epg for those channels that are part of the package. With your boxes you get 7 day epg with saorview and now and next for sat channels but you do get extra channels that are not on freesat like sky news.

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You should check your TV's for saorview and get better box or boxes for sat. With a firestick you can access an engima2 box in other room.

Are you doing all the work yoruself?

mockboard12 · 26-03-2026 06:02PM

Sounds like you’ve got it pretty much covered. Two cables should be fine if you’re happy with just live TV, and it’s true you can usually catch up on RTE/other channels via their apps anyway.

youcancallmeal · 27-03-2026 10:20AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124342849#Comment_124342849

Yeah I get what you mean. I had been considering something like a linux receiver instead of basic boxes like the Ferguson Ariva. I will have the house wired for Cat6 everywhere and will be running a fairly comprehensive home assistant setup so I'd be comfortable trying to set up an engima2 box. I also have a Synology NAS so in theory could record TV to it.

The thing is I'm just not sure it's worth the effort when I can can count on one hand how many times I've even watched one of the UK channels in the last year and I only really watch live sport on the Irish channels. Everyone else in the house is happy with Netflix and the likes. I'll have a think about it a bit more. Is there any particular engima2 box you'd recommend?

swoofer · 28-03-2026 05:01PM

You are quite right when you consider what we watch these days via satellite. Enigam2 does a lot more than just channels and record, IPTV, playback downloads, access a lot of other sats with a motorised dish. For a static dish there used to be quite a few boxes that were reasonable but now gone. And prices have gone up a lot.

Zgemma H8.2H FULL HD 1080p 1x DVB-S2X + 1x DVB-C/T2 is 99 euro

but you need to set it up with openatv7.6 then do a swap file and ram expander using a usb stick. the bigger the better as then you can pause record etc. You can then add sky look alike skins. Its only got 1 sat tuner.

Other boxes are octagon, abcom pulse but prizes gone mad.

Sanity check on a new Saorview + Freesat setup

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