Saorview Connect

Capt'n Midnight

Sam Russell wrote: »

Not a bit like Freesat. It has only Now&Next EPG, and it does not self tune. However, the user has the freedom to order channels as they see fit whereas Freesat is a fixed order that is a bit of a PIA.

You can use favourites or hide some channels.

But if you use radio times or other program guides that use the same numbers it's very handy to be able to go straight to the channel.

Or if you use ye olde Foxsat HDR with the custom addons you get a remote control web page and you can setup favourite buttons on it. And define buttons for macros. I've setup a button for Schedule-Red as it's quicker than waiting for the guide to populate.

The high horse brigade

Sam Russell wrote: »

However it is FREE.

It's not free. That's like saying Windows is free....

Tigerandahalf

Sam Russell wrote: »

1. The unnecesary duplication HD and SD BBC channels, and.

As I said you can delete any of the sd bbc and itv channels. Problem solved.
I find if there is any channel much further down that you like you quickly memorise its number and just enter it on the remote.

One thing the freesat remote doesn't have is the ability to recall the previous channel. It is a small inconvenience but nice to have if flicking between 2 channels.

ryan7984

Awful box for reasons already given and also mine froze and rebooted sporadically while changing channels with intermittent loss of sound.

Returned for refund.

JDxtra

ryan7984 wrote: »

Awful box for reasons already given and also mine froze and rebooted sporadically while changing channels with intermittent loss of sound.

Returned for refund.

That's what everyone should do. Shocking there was no recording for the Christmas period. No excuses other than RTE bureaucracy and incompetence.

tonkpills

Anyone having issues with the satellite now and next EPG showing no data. Have to re-tune them all to get it back and it only works until the box goes into standby? Have mother in law harping at me, half tempted to return the box at this stage.

thatwilldopig

Now/Next on the satellite side is terrible. Never populates when switch to channel, most channels a couple of hours behind etc. The box in its current form is a joke.

See that my LG TV has the new RTE player, no sign on the connect box yet and not having recording by now is mental.

Tigerandahalf

I notice the rte player on smart tvs and connected devices doesn't have a 'live tv' option.
I wonder is this being deliberately done as people could avoid paying a tv licence as the current legislation I think excludes reception of live tv through the internet.

thatwilldopig

Live TV on Android app which you can cast.

Tigerandahalf

thatwilldopig wrote: »

Live TV on Android app which you can cast.

Can you cast it? You can watch it on the phone alright.

I find the new rte player is giving major problems as well. No sound playing when you go into live tv. People are reporting casting problems as well.

Sam Russell

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

I notice the rte player on smart tvs and connected devices doesn't have a 'live tv' option.
I wonder is this being deliberately done as people could avoid paying a tv licence as the current legislation I think excludes reception of live tv through the internet.

Smart TVs need a TV licence whether they stream or watch live. If they can receive live TV, they need a licence - whether they do or not.

The clue is in the name - smart TV.

Tigerandahalf

Sam Russell wrote: »

Smart TVs need a TV licence whether they stream or watch live. If they can receive live TV, they need a licence - whether they do or not.

The clue is in the name - smart TV.

Are you sure about that? I thought there was a row back in the legislation under Naughten where they didn't proceed with tv through the internet.

Just did a google - the row back was for pcs, laptops and tablets. So anything on the tv needs a licence.

Johnboy1951

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

Are you sure about that? I thought there was a row back in the legislation under Naughten where they didn't proceed with tv through the internet.

Just did a google - the row back was for pcs, laptops and tablets. So anything on the tv needs a licence.

A TV has a tuner ......... that is the deciding factor ...... else it is not called a TV

PauloConn

Quick question. I got a saorview connect box recently (Akimo), it doesn't pick up the wifi connection in the house, it needs a physical internet connection. is this normal?
Also, any recommendations for external hard-drives to record for?

thanks

The high horse brigade

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

A TV has a tuner ......... that is the deciding factor ...... else it is not called a TV

What if it was an mpeg 2 UK Freeview TV that doesn't work with Saorview? Is it still a TV? Or is it simply a monitor?

Tigerandahalf

PauloConn wrote: »

Quick question. I got a saorview connect box recently (Akimo), it doesn't pick up the wifi connection in the house, it needs a physical internet connection. is this normal?
Also, any recommendations for external hard-drives to record for?

thanks

I presume it is the powerpoint saorview connect box you are talking about?

Tony

sounds more like an amiko which is not saorview connect

Tigerandahalf

Are you in the trial Tony?

I am not sure what the future for this box is?
If the satellite side is as limited as it is, would they not be better off just to allow tvs do series link on their platform and just use the rte player for catchup - not bother with this whole Metaphor project.

Many people already have smart tv apps at their disposal so no point in duplicating them on the connect box, so the question arises of where the box goes from here.

Johnboy1951

The high horse brigade wrote: »

What if it was an mpeg 2 UK Freeview TV that doesn't work with Saorview? Is it still a TV? Or is it simply a monitor?

Yes it has a tuner so is a TV and requires a licence.

The high horse brigade

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

Yes it has a tuner so is a TV and requires a licence.

I'd love to see someone contest that one

Johnboy1951

The high horse brigade wrote: »

I'd love to see someone contest that one

Just read the legislation ..... a TV whether used or not, for the reception of a broadcast signal requires a licence.

On what grounds could you contest it?

The high horse brigade

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

Just read the legislation ..... a TV whether used or not, for the reception of a broadcast signal requires a licence.

On what grounds could you contest it?

It's not capable of recieving a signal as it doesn't have the correct tuner required for Irish Saorview

Johnboy1951

The high horse brigade wrote: »

It's not capable of recieving a signal as it doesn't have the correct tuner required for Irish Saorview

It is capable of receiving a signal.
There is no requirement in the law for receiving Saorview or any other specific broadcast/signal.

People seem hung up on the idea that the licence is to receive Saorview/RTÉ.
It is not.
The licence is to have a TV (TV is clearly defined), whether or not it is used to receive any broadcast signal, or it is even in a signal path.

You have a tv you require a licence ..... no ambiguity.

Tony

I was supposed to be but apparently there was an admin error.

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

Are you in the trial Tony?

.

The high horse brigade

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

It is capable of receiving a signal.

It's not. There is no TV broadcast that it is capable of recieving.
We'll just leave it at that before we're told we're going off topic

Capt'n Midnight

The high horse brigade wrote: »

It's not capable of recieving a signal as it doesn't have the correct tuner required for Irish Saorview

You need a licence for a Satellite Tuner.

AFAIK you still need a licence for an analog TV tuner, even though there is nothing on the airwaves. ( just cable TV etc. )

The high horse brigade

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

AFAIK you still need a licence for an analog TV tuner, even though there is nothing on the airwaves. ( just cable TV etc. )

That's what I'm saying. I'd love to see someone contest it as I don't believe it would stand as it's clearly not capable

Sam Russell

The high horse brigade wrote: »

That's what I'm saying. I'd love to see someone contest it as I don't believe it would stand as it's clearly not capable

Freeview is a TV broadcast than can be received by such a TV and it is available from northern and eastern parts of Ireland.

It needs a licence.

The high horse brigade

Sam Russell wrote: »

Freeview is a TV broadcast than can be received by such a TV and it is available from northern and eastern parts of Ireland.

It needs a licence.

I thought they moved to Freeview HD?

Sam Russell

The high horse brigade wrote: »

I thought they moved to Freeview HD?

Freeview HD is a simulcast. Freeview broadcasting continues.

Johnboy1951

The high horse brigade wrote: »

It's not. There is no TV broadcast that it is capable of recieving.
We'll just leave it at that before we're told we're going off topic

It is capable ...... the fact that there is no such signal present does not reduce its capability, something you do not seem to grasp.

I am not defending the law as it stands ..... in fact I think it is ridiculous ..... but that is the law.

STB.

Tony wrote: »

Afraid not. AFAIK it never went to court or was reported in any media.

Edit: sat4free was the brand name if memory serves

It was an idea between an Irish Guy and the ALBA/Grundig OEM (which was owned by Argos). Grundig were selling Freesat receivers into the UK market. They had the source software already, so it wasnt a major inconvenience to remove all freesat branding, which they thought might be sufficient and release to Irish market.

I think the use of the EPG data was not what cheesed of the Freesat people.

lsjmhar

Just saw a Medion 32' tv in Aldi that has freeview Play available. Also says it is Saorview ready. Wondering if the tv could run Saorview Connect?

The high horse brigade

lsjmhar wrote: »

Just saw a Merion 32' tv in Aldi that has freeview Play available. Also says it is Saorview ready. Wondering if the tv could run Saorview Connect?

The Saorview Connect is a set top box

Tigerandahalf

lsjmhar wrote: »

Just saw a Medion 32' tv in Aldi that has freeview Play available. Also says it is Saorview ready. Wondering if the tv could run Saorview Connect?

No, saorview connect is a licenced software product. It is only on the current stb so far. Freeview Play is the equivalent in the uk. You can't get it here due to geoblocking.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CyszrwCbCU

Tigerandahalf

Here is a look at the humax 1100s freesat box.
Saorview Connect is pretty much identical in layout.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K08reZsoV94

The Cush

lsjmhar wrote: »

Just saw a Medion 32' tv in Aldi that has freeview Play available. Also says it is Saorview ready. Wondering if the tv could run Saorview Connect?

Probably a rebadged Vestel, similar to the Walker, Toshiba and Nordmende brands.
If so, then no.

RederthanRed

Still no option to record with this box? Any word on when it will finally be able to record?

WattsUp

Think I will give up on Saorview connect. The new RTE player looks pretty decent so am in the hunt for a new TV to do Irish channels and I have a Freesat Humux 1100s to look after UK broadcasts.

Can anyone recommend a TV that has
1. Saorview with ability to record one channel while watching another. Also ability to series link recordings
2. New RTE player capable
3. Can take screen casting from a phone.
4. 42-45 inch screen

Thanks

The high horse brigade

20rothmans wrote: »

Think I will give up on Saorview connect. The new RTE player looks pretty decent so am in the hunt for a new TV to do Irish channels and I have a Freesat Humux 1100s to look after UK broadcasts.

Can anyone recommend a TV that has
1. Saorview with ability to record one channel while watching another. Also ability to series link recordings
2. New RTE player capable
3. Can take screen casting from a phone.
4. 42-45 inch screen

Thanks

There is no series link. You can set a weekly timer and hope the schedule doesn't change.

There are boxes like the Tiviar that run Enigma software that can be configured with little effort to do all you need and combine both Saorview and Freesat and plugins are available for the players for Enigma boxes.

lsjmhar

The high horse brigade wrote:

There are boxes like the Tiviar that run Enigma software that can be configured with little effort to do all you need and combine both Saorview and Freesat and plugins are available for the players for Enigma boxes.

The high horse brigade wrote:

There is no series link. You can set a weekly timer and hope the schedule doesn't change.

Do these plugins work? The last time I had an enigma2 set-up none of the plugins worked. It was an Amino Alien 2 so maybe the hardware was powerful enough!

I am considering an E2 set-up again but this time I will buy a future proofed box with high specs as the cheap boxes don't have the hardware specs to cope with multiple recording, particularly if you are recording a HD channel while watching a second HD channel.

Tigerandahalf

I just switched my aerial from Connect over to the LG tv aerial connection. I tuned in the channels and rearranged them. The user interface is not too bad, not as good as Connect or freesat but pretty ok.

With this set up could you record rte2 and watch rte1? I presume not as they are on different muxes and the tv has just one terrestrial tuner?
At least with Connect you can do that.

Having the series link is handy too as some stuff doesn't go on the player or stay there for long.

The enigma boxes have a good set up with the combined epg.

However, combining a freesat box with a smart tv to get the saorview is not too bad, especially with the rte player launched. Series link is the missing piece.

Is series link just controlled by the epg or do you need some specialist software to allow it to happen?

Johnboy1951

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

I just switched my aerial from Connect over to the LG tv aerial connection. I tuned in the channels and rearranged them. The user interface is not too bad, not as good as Connect or freesat but pretty ok.

With this set up could you record rte2 and watch rte1? I presume not as they are on different muxes and the tv has just one terrestrial tuner?
At least with Connect you can do that.

Having the series link is handy too as some stuff doesn't go on the player or stay there for long.

The enigma boxes have a good set up with the combined epg.

However, combining a freesat box with a smart tv to get the saorview is not too bad, especially with the rte player launched. Series link is the missing piece.

Is series link just controlled by the epg or do you need some specialist software to allow it to happen?

It is not too good either.
Besides two sets of channels lists to deal with, you will have two HDDs to record to as well as other 'gotchas'.

The high horse brigade

lsjmhar wrote: »

Do these plugins work? The last time I had an enigma2 set-up none of the plugins worked. It was an Amino Alien 2 so maybe the hardware was powerful enough!

I am considering an E2 set-up again but this time I will buy a future proofed box with high specs as the cheap boxes don't have the hardware specs to cope with multiple recording, particularly if you are recording a HD channel while watching a second HD channel.

The Amiko Alien 2 was a very poor box, I had one. It had a very weak CPU, barely enough ram and as it only supported usb drives it always struggled. It also had a CPU that's not native to Enigma 2, support for it has pretty much dropped. You were pretty much running a hacked version enigma on it with very little support.

The Tiviar on the other hand is very fast, handles multiple simultaneous streams and recordings without breaking a sweat and has hardware that's well supported by the open source community with a few different teams developing for it.

There is currently a working player plugin for Enigma. I don't use it much though and will use the RTE one less now they've an Android TV app and added Chromecast support for Android

Johnboy1951

With this set up could you record rte2 and watch rte1? I presume not as they are on different muxes and the tv has just one terrestrial tuner?
At least with Connect you can do that.

Yes you can, but at the 'expense' of not being able to watch or record anything from satellite [Edit: at the same time], if I understand correctly.

I fail to understand why most modern STBs do not come with dual DVB-T/T2 and dual DVB-S/S2 tuners.

Tigerandahalf

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

Yes you can, but at the 'expense' of not being able to watch or record anything from satellite, if I understand correctly.

I fail to understand why most modern STBs do not come with dual DVB-T/T2 and dual DVB-S/S2 tuners.

But the tv only has 1 terrestrial tuner so it couldn't tune to 2 different muxes at the same time? The satellite tuner can't tune the terrestrial side.

Johnboy1951

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

But the tv only has 1 terrestrial tuner so it couldn't tune to 2 different muxes at the same time? The satellite tuner can't tune the terrestrial side.

... and the hybrid tuner can only tune to either at any time.
So the Connect is short on tuners IMO.

Tigerandahalf

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

... and the hybrid tuner can only tune to either at any time.
So the Connect is short on tuners IMO.

But the Connect allows you to record rte 1 and watch rte 2 at the same time, something a single tuner device like a tv won't allow you to do.

That is a big disadvantage about using just the tv for your saorview needs.

You can see why Sky is such a handy solution for people.
I guess if Connect is added to tvs they still wouldn't have a dual terrestrial tuner.

Johnboy1951

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

But the Connect allows you to record rte 1 and watch rte 2 at the same time, something a single tuner device like a tv won't allow you to do.

That is a big disadvantage about using just the tv for your saorview needs.

You can see why Sky is such a handy solution for people.
I guess if Connect is added to tvs they still wouldn't have a dual terrestrial tuner.

If that was an important feature/requirement then the majority of FTA STBs would have dual DVB-T tuners (which I think they should), instead of dual DVB-S tuners.

It is RTÉ business to promote their DVB-T, so it is hardly any surprise the Connect has two DVB-T tuner capability.

A lot of those FTA STBs can accept a second (USB dongle costing ~€10) DVB-T tuner, thus providing two tuners of each type.
Can the Connect box do this?

As for Sky ...... no thanks. Even besides the cost factor, I refuse to use any device that does not allow me to organise my channel list as I choose, and have that list only contain channels I want to watch.

Capt'n Midnight

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

But the Connect allows you to record rte 1 and watch rte 2 at the same time, something a single tuner device like a tv won't allow you to do.

That is a big disadvantage about using just the tv for your saorview needs.

You can see why Sky is such a handy solution for people.
I guess if Connect is added to tvs they still wouldn't have a dual terrestrial tuner.

And yet I'm able to record multiple channels on SaorSat at the same time via a single tuner on a generic Linux box...

Depending on the kit you can record one or more channels on the same Mux at the same time.


To be blunt if you were in the market for a new TV I'd recommend you spend a bit more on a better TV than buy a Connect.