Saorview Connect

Harry Palmr

I have no interest in Connect box for the reasons you just outlined. It was just a thought for recording some RTE imports late night, freesat is my main platform with saorview built in to the telly.

mackersdublin

Harry Palmr wrote: »

I have no interest in Connect box for the reasons you just outlined. It was just a thought for recording some RTE imports late night, freesat is my main platform with saorview built in to the telly.

Can your TV not record Saorview via External Hardrive?

Sam Russell

mackersdublin wrote: »

Can your TV not record Saorview via External Hardrive?

My TV can, but then it occupies the TV so you cannot watch anything else. Bit pointless.

mackersdublin

Sam Russell wrote: »

My TV can, but then it occupies the TV so you cannot watch anything else. Bit pointless.

But most modern TVs have the ability to record Saorview while watching something else on HDMI1 or Netflix, YouTube etc.

Ten Pin

It was just a thought for recording some RTE imports late night, freesat is my main platform with saorview built in to the telly.

If your TV doesn't have USB PVR, then something like this...
https://www.freetv.ie/digital-tv/
40 euro delivered.

Harry Palmr

Interesting. Could I use a HDMI splitter (TV only has one socket, does have a SCART as well for SD) or would I need to swap out the freesat for the Edision unit?

meelick

After catching up on this thread after a year or two, I'm so glad I returned my connect box. I built an alternative based on a tvheadend server, feeding to a Raspberry Pi running Kodi on all the TV's in the house. I now have an EPG with both Saorview and Freeview channels, I can pause live tv, set up recording rules (like series link), etc. I got Microsoft media server remotes for each tv, and it works great. Not for the faint of heart though, it took me a lot of time to get it all working properly. Here's a link to an overview. http://www.davidhunt.ie/new-home-tv-distribution-system-no-more-sky/ I hope someone finds the link useful.
Rgds,
Dave.

lowbatt07

meelick wrote: »

After catching up on this thread after a year or two, I'm so glad I returned my connect box. I built an alternative based on a tvheadend server, feeding to a Raspberry Pi running Kodi on all the TV's in the house. I now have an EPG with both Saorview and Freeview channels, I can pause live tv, set up recording rules (like series link), etc. I got Microsoft media server remotes for each tv, and it works great. Not for the faint of heart though, it took me a lot of time to get it all working properly. Here's a link to an overview. http://www.davidhunt.ie/new-home-tv-distribution-system-no-more-sky/ I hope someone finds the link useful.
Rgds,
Dave.

Thanks for the post -I’ve been thinking of an FTA OTA DVR system also. Was hoping fire tv recast but won’t work here then debated hdhomrun with plex pass for dvr

I’ve heard tvheadend before , just look into it. When you say freeview , just want to confirm you mean freeview as opposed to freesat ? Freeview pretty difficult to receive , would be handy to have Irish & Uk channels on a terrestrial signal

Johnboy1951

lowbatt07 wrote: »

Thanks for the post -I’ve been thinking of an FTA OTA DVR system also. Was hoping fire tv recast but won’t work here then debated hdhomrun with plex pass for dvr

I’ve heard tvheadend before , just look into it. When you say freeview , just want to confirm you mean freeview as opposed to freesat ? Freeview pretty difficult to receive , would be handy to have Irish & Uk channels on a terrestrial signal

FTA Satellite is what is meant I believe, as the blog mentions a Satellite Tuner box.

There are several threads in the HTPC section of Boards regarding this type of set up.
https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=643

meelick

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

FTA Satellite is what is meant I believe, as the blog mentions a Satellite Tuner box.

Yes, that's the one. 4-input Telestar Digibit R1 box used.

Thanks,
Dave.

Danno

Using the on-demand RTE Player on Saorview Connect and the twats have Audio Description on by default with no way of turning it off - even though the accessibility settings on the box says it's off.
Overpaid and underqualified muppets.

Sam Russell

Danno wrote: »

Using the on-demand RTE Player on Saorview Connect and the twats have Audio Description on by default with no way of turning it off - even though the accessibility settings on the box says it's off.
Overpaid and underqualified muppets.

Try pressing 'Exit' twice, or the equivalent. That is what works on the Humax Foxsat to turn off the AD.

It is worth trying anyway.

MACHEAD

Danno wrote: »

Using the on-demand RTE Player on Saorview Connect and the twats have Audio Description on by default with no way of turning it off - even though the accessibility settings on the box says it's off.
Overpaid and underqualified muppets.

It's the same (intermittently) on Apple TV version of the RTÉ Player as well.

n1st

Is Saorview Connect a dud?

I just got one today to replace my Ferguson Ariva.

Set it up this evening and it froze after getting the Firmware update.

Is it stable?

The need to switch between terrestrial and satellite is not good, Ferguson Ariva did not have this, all channels were on same list.

n1st

n1st wrote: »

Is Saorview Connect a dud?

I just got one today to replace my Ferguson Ariva.

Set it up this evening and it froze after getting the Firmware update.

Is it stable?

The need to switch between terrestrial and satellite is not good, Ferguson Ariva did not have this, all channels were on same list.

After Firmware update it will no longer find all the satellite channels, only 10.

dedaw

Folks, looking for some help.
We've just moved into a house with Saorview. We've tuned 2 LG TV's to Saorview, one of them is perfect, the other is unwatchable. Both sound and picture are terrible.
I've tried a few times to tune it again but it's always the same.
Any advice?

decor58

dedaw wrote: »

Folks, looking for some help.
We've just moved into a house with Saorview. We've tuned 2 LG TV's to Saorview, one of them is perfect, the other is unwatchable. Both sound and picture are terrible.
I've tried a few times to tune it again but it's always the same.
Any advice?

Have you tried tuning both in the perfect location, that way you will know of its the TV or the cable.

greasepalm

Many might have said Saorview Disconnect and get a better box,eg,Zgemma h7s twin sat and saorview.

n1st

greasepalm wrote: »

Many might have said Saorview Disconnect and get a better box,eg,Zgemma h7s twin sat and saorview.

I returned the Saorview Connect box and bought a Ferguson Ariva online.

I should have known when your man in Expert Electric said it was made for Irish Saorview, anything with Irish government involved is bound to be over complicated and cost too much.

I found it difficult to find a proper forum on the device.

greasepalm

Lack of support and many things fail and people wonder why.

dedaw

decor58 wrote: »

Have you tried tuning both in the perfect location, that way you will know of its the TV or the cable.

Thanks for that. Sorted. Yep, it was the cable.

Qrt

Anyone experienced odd power issues with the box? It’s started doing this thing where sometimes if it goes into standby, it won’t come back on. Similar thing happens when turning it on, it’s like it won’t boot up.

slinky2000

Such a shame to see this where it is.

This box had such potential and could have been a mega success.

Sam Russell

Qrt wrote: »

Anyone experienced odd power issues with the box? It’s started doing this thing where sometimes if it goes into standby, it won’t come back on. Similar thing happens when turning it on, it’s like it won’t boot up.

That is like a power supply fault that is protecting the unit by shutting down. Very hard to identify where it is coming from - it could be anywhere and could be heat related.

Pat6519

Sam Russell wrote: »

That is like a power supply fault that is protecting the unit by shutting down. Very hard to identify where it is coming from - it could be anywhere and could be heat related.

I've had the same issues with the Saorview Connect box shutting down by itself for no apparent reason. Also it sometimes does not boot up. I have found that when I disconnect the portable hard drive, then the box behaves a lot better. But that's not a long term solution obviously. It seems to be just badly designed and badly built, in my opinion.

Sam Russell

Pat6519 wrote: »

I've had the same issues with the Saorview Connect box shutting down by itself for no apparent reason. Also it sometimes does not boot up. I have found that when I disconnect the portable hard drive, then the box behaves a lot better. But that's not a long term solution obviously. It seems to be just badly designed and badly built, in my opinion.

Is your HD separately powered? The box may not be able reliably to power a hard disk.

Pat6519

Sam Russell wrote: »

Is your HD separately powered? The box may not be able reliably to power a hard disk.

No, the HD does not have it's own power supply. The Saorview manual just says use any HD with a 3.0 usb connection. It doesn't specify that the HD be powered separately.
But I understand your point, and that will probably be the next step. Buy a new HD with it's own power supply.

Sam Russell

Pat6519 wrote: »

No, the HD does not have it's own power supply. The Saorview manual just says use any HD with a 3.0 usb connection. It doesn't specify that the HD be powered separately.
But I understand your point, and that will probably be the next step. Buy a new HD with it's own power supply.

They should have offered a version with an internal HD or at least provision for one. They missed the boat on this - too little, too late. It is not even priced well - plenty of better products at substantially lower prices.

It is the software that lets it down. The RTE player tries to put advertising revenue front and centre rather than performance and reliability.

Qrt

Sam Russell wrote: »

That is like a power supply fault that is protecting the unit by shutting down. Very hard to identify where it is coming from - it could be anywhere and could be heat related.

True, but it's been running rather okay for over two years now. Maybe it needs a dusting?

Pat6519

Sam Russell wrote: »

They should have offered a version with an internal HD or at least provision for one. They missed the boat on this - too little, too late. It is not even priced well - plenty of better products at substantially lower prices.

It is the software that lets it down. The RTE player tries to put advertising revenue front and centre rather than performance and reliability.

And speaking of software, the Saorview Connect box could not even manage the clocks going back last weekend.
Recordings that I had set manually for Satellite channels are this week all recording 1 hour earlier than I had originally created.
So if I had it set to record BBC2 every Thursday at 9pm, now it is recording at 8pm since the clocks changed.
But it's managing series record on the Saorview channels fine.