Sat4Free/Freesat in Ireland

Barr

Martin_F wrote: »

i think he meant 160 for the basic box, 320 for the recorder.

Thats twice the price of the bush in Argos that does the same job, bit of a rip off to fair

The_Conductor

Barr wrote: »

Thats twice the price of the bush in Argos that does the same job, bit of a rip off to fair

If you know your receivers at all- you'll know that the Bush and the Humax are leagues apart. They may perform the same function- but they are incomparable otherwise.

Barr

smccarrick wrote: »

If you know your receivers at all- you'll know that the Bush and the Humax are leagues apart. They may perform the same function- but they are incomparable otherwise.

I cant say I know that much about them , but if they both offer the same channels , what exactly is the price premium for ?

Martin_F

The Humax boxes are much more polished on the User Interface. Also the Humax box has better connectivity @ the rear panel.

I've 2 Bush SD boxes, 1 Humax HD and a Humax PVR.

I'd say the Humax is worth a few extra quid vs the Bush HD. However, @ £67 the Bush HD box does look very good value, the Humax is at least £120 and in some cases £150 again now.

If it was for my main TV I'd still lean towards the Humax - but for a 2nd TV - or instead of an SD box - @ that price the Bush HD has to be worth a punt.

The_Conductor

I bought two of the Humax HD boxes as a primary and a secondary box (one on adverts here, the other from ebay from the UK). I had originally had a Bush HD (that I picked up in Argos in Belfast).

I flashed the Humax's back to factory settings- and then ran the software updates on them.

While the Bush may provide the same function- as alluded to above- the software/interface and indeed hardware of the Humax is a league apart. Its sort of like comparing a Swatch watch to a Breitling.

Picture quality from the Humax is better- and you get a signal lock with a lower signal strength/higher noise ratio- than the Bush can handle. Changing channels is faster- and the software interface is very polished.

The Bush (part of the Grundig/Goodmans family) is functional, rather than elegant- it will do the job- but once you see a Humax working- you'll want to replace the Bush as soon as possible........

Barr

OK ye have me tempted by the Humax I have a pace box at the moment which Im using for free to air -would the interface be better than what I have at present ?

mjsmyth

Martin_F wrote: »

The Humax boxes are much more polished on the User Interface. Also the Humax box has better connectivity @ the rear panel

I have the Bush HD and whilst it is true that the Humax does have a few extra ports on the back of the box when compared to the Bush HD, for the normal user, they are of little value.

If one purchases a HD box, it is highly unlikely that they will need the Composite Video output. Also, the USB port is of little value and for the standard user, so is the second LNB input (is it even active, something in the back of my mind tells me it is not).

Don't get me wrong, the humax is a fine bit of kit, but for £69, the Bush HD box is very hard value to beat and the picture quality is quite good too. As for the menu, emm.. well I can't see what the problem could be. You hit the guid button and take it from there!!!

Anyway, just my thoughts.

mj

mjsmyth

smccarrick wrote: »

Picture quality from the Humax is better- and you get a signal lock with a lower signal strength/higher noise ratio- than the Bush can handle.

Is that in your experience? The reason I ask is that I have read posts that suggest the Alba boxes seem to be the best for weak signals.

Just curious, that's all.

mj

The_Conductor

mjsmyth wrote: »

Is that in your experience? The reason I ask is that I have read posts that suggest the Alba boxes seem to be the best for weak signals.

Just curious, that's all.

mj

I've used both. I got a signal lock with lower signal strength on Astra 2D (in Portugal) with the Humax (but difficulty getting the EPG down from Eurobird). The Bush wouldn't lock at all- until we got a larger dish.

Picture quality- was sharper and more defined on the Humax- and it was far faster at changing channels- there was a definite lag with the Bush.

Also- I was one of the original ones with an active LSB feedthrough port on the Bush- I spent weeks onto their technicians trying to sort the problems associated with it- before giving up.

I do use the digital outputs on the Humax- but the HDMI sound implementation on the Humax is superior to that on the Bush (its a different chipset).

The Bush will work- but if its not a substantially larger sum- the Humax is a far nicer product.

golfdiva

I was reading the spec on the Humax box and it says it only does up to 1080i - does this mean it does now show the channels in full HD ?

They also appear to have MPEG-4 , does this mean that you would be able to watch the Irish digital channels even if the TV doesen't have the mpeg-4 tuner(hope that makes since)

emaherx

1080i is full HD, so it will show programs broadcast in HD at 1080i

No use for Irish Digital Terestrial Television as it is a Satellite system and can't tune Terestrial Frequency's. However TV's with built in Freesat and Terestrial tuners can decode Irish DTT as the MPEG 4 chip is the same.

aghaidh

hi, finally ditched Chorus/NTL- whew what a relief! Can anyone recommend freesat system/supplier? I am interested in French language channels as well.
go raibh maith agat in advance

St Senan

What town/county do you live in

Pal

RandomName2 wrote: »

Can't seem to get ITV HD on FTA (BBC HD is working fine). Any help?

go to regular ITV London.

If the program is being broadcast in HD, a message will come for you to press the red button.

if its in SD, then nothing will happen. View as normal.

doesn't work on UTV

Pal

new channel Luxe HD is FTA now as well

evilivor

Pal wrote: »

new channel Luxe HD is FTA now as well

New channel? Hasn't Luxe HD been around and FTA for ages and only available in non-Freesat mode.

byte

evilivor wrote: »

New channel? Hasn't Luxe HD been around and FTA for ages and only available in non-Freesat mode.

Yeah, it has.

evilivor

Sony Launch Freesat Televisions

Sony will launch two televisions with Freesat built-in, Bravia KDL-32W5810 32″ LCD TV and Bravia KDL-40Z5800 40″ LCD TV.

http://www.joinfreesat.co.uk/index.php/sony-launch-freesat-televisions

Tech spec:

http://www.sony.co.uk/product/t32-z-series/kdl-40z5800#pageType=TechnicalSpecs

Tony

Shame only mpeg 2 terrestrial tuner

evilivor wrote: »

Sony Launch Freesat Televisions

Sony will launch two televisions with Freesat built-in, Bravia KDL-32W5810 32″ LCD TV and Bravia KDL-40Z5800 40″ LCD TV.

http://www.joinfreesat.co.uk/index.php/sony-launch-freesat-televisions

Tech spec:

http://www.sony.co.uk/product/t32-z-series/kdl-40z5800#pageType=TechnicalSpecs

slegs

Tony wrote: »

Shame only mpeg 2 terrestrial tuner

I would be very sure that this is incorrect. Practically all new Sony LCDs since the 4000 range have been DVB-T/MPEG4. Also MPEG4 is needed for the Freesat HD. Why would the revert to MPEG2 for DVB-T and have MPEG4 for satellite, makes no sense.

I would guess that this confusion derives from the fact that the tuner wont be DVB-T2 HD compatible in the UK and they are getting all this confused with MPEG2/MPEG4 and HD.

evilivor

Tony wrote: »

Shame only mpeg 2 terrestrial tuner

Totally.

slegs

Sony also list the 40W5500 as being MPEG2/DVB-T in their tech specs for UK and this is a known MPEG4/DVB-T TV.

http://www.sony.co.uk/product/t32-w-series/kdl-40w5500#pageType=TechnicalSpecs

This seems to be a marketing thing, even though the TV is MPEG4 compatible they say its MPEG2 as there are no DVB-T/MPEG4 services in the UK.

The_Conductor

Tony wrote: »

Shame only mpeg 2 terrestrial tuner

The CAM slot is fully compatible with any of the cards doing the rounds though.

Tony

Perhaps whoever wrote the spec got this wrong but I would not think of buying one unless I saw an mpeg 4 DTT picture on it.

mjsmyth

I wonder is it simply listed as Mpeg2 as Mpeg4 is synonymous with HD and people might wrongly get the impression that the TV is compatible with the forthcoming Freeview HD service...

slegs

I have a Sony 40W4000. Its also listed as MPEG2. Its MPEG4.

I am sure someone has a 40W5500 and can confirm the same.

This Freesat TV will be MPEG4/DVB-T. I have 100% no doubts.

slegs

mjsmyth wrote: »

I wonder is it simply listed as Mpeg2 as Mpeg4 is synonymous with HD and people might wrongly get the impression that the TV is compatible with the forthcoming Freeview HD service...

Exactly, that is the point I was trying to make

evilivor

Tony wrote: »

Perhaps whoever wrote the spec got this wrong but I would not think of buying one unless I saw an mpeg 4 DTT picture on it.

Likewise. I am holding out on upgrading until this whole Irish DTT subject gets settled. I have enough boxes in my front room as it is.

Anyway, to bring it back to Freesat, I bought a Humax Freesat+ box a week ago and I must say I am moderately pleased with it but have few gripes.

The remote control design is shocking - the layout for the most used buttons is really terrible;

The last of editing facilities is a bit of a pain - even a divide title option would have been enough, but nada;

Hard drive is on the small side - 20% take up after only a week of, not-particularly intensive, use;

The File Manager is a bit clunky and user-unfriendly;

The other bugs have been well documented but haven't bitten me yet.

On the plus side, no failed recordings and series link is working well so far.

So overall I'd score it high-ish but I still have a slight niggle - maybe I should have worked/saved a bit harder and bought the Panasonic…

byte

For the record, not all current Sony LCD's are MPEG4 for DTT - the S-series for example is MPEG2 only (stupid, yes).

However, all W-series and Z-series (and some/all of the V-series) have had MPEG4 DTT tuners.

I'd be pretty sure these TV's will be MPEG4 DTT also, since as mentioned, MPEG4 chipset needed for the Freesat HD. But since it'll be a UK-exclusive set (I'd doubt it'l be available here due to being a Freesat set, though ya never know), they've probably decided to just call it MPEG2, to avoid confusion across the pond.

Anyway, back on topic, interesting to see another TV with integrated Freesat, though personally I'd still prefer the convenience of a seperate settop box, especially the Humax HDR

XDivaX

Hey!

Was wondering if there are any subtitles with freesat/freeview??

Thanks in advance

Tony

Yes and also audio description. Freeview is not satellite service

XDivaX wrote: »

Was wondering if there are any subtitles with freesat

evilivor

I had my first "'Failed recording reason unknown" in the early hours of this morning, no reason for it that I can see, nothing else recording at the time, so no apparent conflicts. Going away for a bit so have lots of stuff set, hope it's not indicative of a larger issue.

Martin_F

Evilor - ALL of my series links failed while I was on vacation for 2 weeks. I'm not sure if it was due to an EPG update - or that the schedule wasn't updating while the unit was in standby or recording - all recordings ceased about 4 days into the vacation. Just an FYI.

Tony

I've also noticed series link not working on BBC on a sky HD box notably "The Wire"

evilivor

Martin_F wrote: »

Evilor - ALL of my series links failed while I was on vacation for 2 weeks. I'm not sure if it was due to an EPG update - or that the schedule wasn't updating while the unit was in standby or recording - all recordings ceased about 4 days into the vacation. Just an FYI.

So I got back last night to mixed results. I had left the box on rather than on standby and the picture had frozen though the sound was still working. In fact the box itself was frozen - had to unplug to get it to reboot.

Recordings up to and including those set up to early Saturday night worked except MOTD and none of Sunday's programmes recorded - Grand Prix; MOTD2.

Bit of a pain if you can't leave the box alone, in standby or not, for a few days and be confident it will record what was scheduled.

chelseaaremagic

i had my first series link failure last pm ' marple' on itv1 hd i'm p*ssed off as i could have watched it live

Denisoftus

Guys, I live in appartment and we not allowed to mount a dish on the wall. But I was wandering is there a way of checking if dish will pick up the satellite from balcony floor. I saw some installations like that, but in one case, guy was constantly moving the dish to get better picture - no use to me.
I would be interesting in HD version of the box.

Cheers,

The_Conductor

You need a clear line of sight with the horizon?

Martin_F

Horizon??? Clear line of sight to sat - approx 22 degrees up from horizon.

John mac

if you can see the sun at 11:00 in the am (clouds permitting ) you are getting there .

Denisoftus

Thanks guys, I'm going to check this now.

evilivor

I spotted my first Grundig Sat4Free box in the wild last week in Woodies in Blackpool, Cork - I think it was around €307 - they had two of them on the specials shelf - they looked a little forlorn - then I saw a Humax Freesat+ in Maplin for an eyewatering €506.

John mac

evilivor wrote: »

then I saw a Humax Freesat+ in Maplin for an eyewatering €506.

:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

its only about 290 europs delivered here
Johnmc in richer can quote

The Cush

evilivor wrote: »

then I saw a Humax Freesat+ in Maplin for an eyewatering €506.

I posted same last March, so the price remains unchanged. Sitting beside them at the time (Maplins Limerick) were freeview MPEG-2 DTT receivers :rolleyes:

evilivor

The Cush wrote: »

I posted same last March, so the price remains unchanged.

I remember that - it's still shocking to see with one's own eyes though.

slave1

just got the Humax from Richer Sounds delivered for £251

slave1

For those of you with a Sky system distributing throughout the house, you can easily replicate this with your Humax as I just have this weekend.

Purchase a HDMI splitter (1 in and 3 out for me, which I already had)
I have a short run, 5M run and 10M run of HDMI running to various rooms, all cheap purchases from ebay (a HMDI lead is a HDMI lead, period)

As a Humax does not have a RF out/magic eye function you'll need to purchase a remote extender setup - I don't like AV senders and I don't think there's a HDTV version knocking about anyhow
If took me a good while to find the most compatible product and after a good bit of looking around and some reviews the cheapest I could get were the Marmitek PowerMids XL setup from really clever homes in the UK, I gave them a tinkle and whomever I was talking to was sound, I ended up buying a receiver, two transmitters and an extender cable for £56.02 delivered (took 4 days)

.....end result, Humax working across 3 HDTV's in 3 separate rooms and remote functionality in each room

brayman

Tony wrote: »

There are an increasing number of people (from my experience anyway) who are ditching cable and mmds but not replacing their RTE service with an aerial. Even the perception that RTE are losing viewers will alarm advertisers bearing in mind they can switch their business to Ch4 or UTV.

Hi, looking for a price for installation of top quality dish for Freesat and good quality aerials for RTE. Any ideas as to what I might expect to pay. I live in the Bray area.
I will buy my own Humex HD box fron Amazon,
Brayman

Tony

I or any other supplier cannot answer that as commercial interaction is not allowed here.

channelsurfer2

on the point of the mpeg2 receivers on sale an even funnier one was in tesco this week and they are sell GB car stickers for your car in tesco tullamore!!! I couldnt wait to rush to the till and buy one for my car....not a sign of the IRL stickers at all...