New Setup

Payton

Hi, With all the increases in the cost of living, ESB, Gas, property tax's etc, I'm looking to economise and get rid of UPC and install a FTA system through out the house. I have the cables run to all the points where there are TV's in the house already (3 bedrooms and living room), I have an old SKY dish mounted on the back of the house, I know I need an aerial to get the 4 terrestrial channels.
My question is that Im looking for a FTA box in the living room that would record a programme while my wife can watch another channel be it by USB external hard drive or a built in hard drive and I have been looking at this one or this one or is there another FTA box that would meet my needs? Id be looking for 3 standard High Def boxes for the bedrooms, can anyone point me in the right direction pls. Thanks

MrFrisp

Hiya....

Maybe something like this? http://www.satboxes.com/shop/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=2

If not,,Tony from that site will defo look after you...And he does a fantastic after sales service too...

Hope it helps.

The Cush

on the verge wrote: »

My question is that Im looking for a FTA box in the living room that would record a programme while my wife can watch another channel be it by USB external hard drive or a built in hard drive and I have been looking at this one or this one or is there another FTA box that would meet my needs?

The second one, the Humax is a very good Freesat satellite receiver similar to a Sky+ receiver with built in hard drive. Two cables required back to the LNB on the dish to record one watch one or record 2.

on the verge wrote: »

Id be looking for 3 standard High Def boxes for the bedrooms, can anyone point me in the right direction pls. Thanks

http://www.satellite.ie/acatalog/Freesat_and_Free_to_Air_receivers.html
http://www.tvtrade.ie/satellite-receivers/freesat.html
http://www.freesat.ie/index.php?cat=Freesat_receivers
http://astraltv.ie/

To feed a satellite pvr in the living room 3 standard satellite receivers in the bedrooms you will require an Octo LNB (8 outputs) on the dish.

on the verge wrote: »

I know I need an aerial to get the 4 terrestrial channels.

The new Saorview DTT service which is replacing the 4 channel analogue service in Oct 2012, will give you the 4 plus a few others.

http://www.rtenl.ie/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/RTÉNL-SAORVIEW-FAQs-May-2011-Rev-3-0.pdf

For this you will require a Saorview approved TV or set-top box. Some non-Saorview approved TVs or STBs can also receive the Saorview channels if they have on onboard MPEG-4 video decoder.

Payton

The Cush wrote: »

The second one, the Humax is a very good Freesat satellite receiver similar to a Sky+ receiver with built in hard drive. Two cables required back to the LNB on the dish to record one watch one or record 2.

Thanks guys. So the Humax box will need 2 dedicated feeds from the LNB, 1 to watch a channel and one to record a channel?

The Cush

on the verge wrote: »

So the Humax box will need 2 dedicated feeds from the LNB, 1 to watch a channel and one to record a channel?

Yes, 2 tuners.

steveon

The Humax box however will not give you the Saorview RTE Digital channels so I wouldnt suggest that box unless you dont want RTE.

The Cush

steveon wrote: »

The Humax box however will not give you the Saorview RTE Digital channels so I wouldnt suggest that box unless you dont want RTE.

It wIll be OK of course it he has a Saorview approved or MPEG-4 compliant TV or a separate Saorview STB. The 4 analogue channels will be available thru the TV in any case with an aerial as he says in his first post.

Payton

OK I have 3 tv's that are about 3-4 yrs old, How would I know if they are Saorview compatiable? I taught the new digital aerial for for RTE and TV3 would be ok?

The Cush

on the verge wrote: »

OK I have 3 tv's that are about 3-4 yrs old, How would I know if they are Saorview compatiable? I taught the new digital aerial for for RTE and TV3 would be ok?

The aerial has to be connected to a TV or STB with a digital DVB-T tuner and MPEG-4 video decoder.

All TVs have analogue tuners which will receive the 4 existing channels but to receive the Saorview digital channels a digital tuner is required.

TVs with the correct tuner started to appear on the Irish market around 2008 but there are products still on sale today that will not receive the digital channels.

Check the specs in the TVs manuals for DVB-T and MPEG-4 video decoding. Many TVs sold here over the years only had an MPEG-2 video decoder which won't work here and is for the UK market.

If you post the TVs model nos. someone should be able to advise if they are suitable.

http://www.saorview.ie/what-is-saorview/
http://www.rtenl.ie/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/RTÉNL-SAORVIEW-FAQs-May-2011-Rev-3-0.pdf
http://www.rtenl.ie/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Saorview-DTT-October2010.pdf

Payton

But if the 2 boxes that I was intrested in, in my first post has the input ports at the back for both aerial and satellite and it decodes in MPEG-4 is it not the case that the receiver does the job for you. Sorry about the questions but Im a novice to this.

The Cush

on the verge wrote: »

But if the 2 boxes that I was intrested in, in my first post has the input ports at the back for both aerial and satellite and it decodes in MPEG-4 is it not the case that the receiver does the job for you. Sorry about the questions but Im a novice to this.

The Humax receiver is Freesat satellite receiver only, no terrestrial tuner, 2 satellite tuners only.

The first one is your original post is a combined free-to-air satellite and terrestrial digital receiver which may receive the Saorview channels but can't confirm this 100%, someone may be able to confirm.