Upc aerial TV vs upc digital TV

FrStone

I've recently moved into an apartment that is 'wired for upc' I rang up enquiring today and was told it was upc aerial TV that was available to me as opposed to digital TV. Is there any real difference between the two?

Also I'm half thinking about just getting saorview, the telly we are using is not saorview approved, so we would have to get one of the boxes for saorview. Can anyone tell me if I plug the TV into the connection in the photo attached would I be able to get saorview? It's the only TV point in the house so I'm wondering is it only for upc?

Also is upc, my only option for getting bbc and itv etc? We aren't allowed install satellites (apartment living is very restrictive).

L1011

Its likely that that is a UPC point, or connected to nothing at all instead. If there is a communal aerial, or you live VERY close to a mast it might work for Saorview.

If you're not allowed have a satellite dish and there isn't a communal one yes, you're stuck with UPC for normal reception of non-Irish channels.

As goes "UPC aerial TV" - they may mean that its MMDS. This isn't good - the MMDS system has less channels, the STBs have no recording, no HD and most critically - MMDS is closing entirely in May 2016. However, they may mean that its just the analogue channels - so with the analogue tuner in your current TV I'd plug it in and do a channel scan and see what you get.

FrStone

L1011 wrote: »

Its likely that that is a UPC point, or connected to nothing at all instead. If there is a communal aerial, or you live VERY close to a mast it might work for Saorview.

If you're not allowed have a satellite dish and there isn't a communal one yes, you're stuck with UPC for normal reception of non-Irish channels.

As goes "UPC aerial TV" - they may mean that its MMDS. This isn't good - the MMDS system has less channels, the STBs have no recording, no HD and most critically - MMDS is closing entirely in May 2016. However, they may mean that its just the analogue channels - so with the analogue tuner in your current TV I'd plug it in and do a channel scan and see what you get.

Do I need to go and buy the saorview box first before I can do that channel scan? Sorry if this is a basic question but I'm not overly familiar with this stuff. In the past, Ive just had sky or Free to air.

L1011

FrStone wrote: »

Do I need to go and buy the saorview box first before I can do that channel scan? Sorry if this is a basic question but I'm not overly familiar with this stuff. In the past, Ive just had sky or Free to air.

No, give it a go now - there is a chance there are UPC analogue channels available already. After that I'd suggest borrowing a Saorview box or TV from someone rather than spending money on what might be useless.

bugfreebob

FrStone wrote: »

Also is upc, my only option for getting bbc and itv etc? We aren't allowed install satellites (apartment living is very restrictive).

It sounds like you are stuck with either MMDS or UPC analogue. Some parts of the UPC network only support the old analogue channels. Either way the service is likely to be rubbish and should avoid signing up for it. Saorview is worth a try for the Irish channels. However, if you can get eircom eFibre, then you can likely also get their TV service eVision - which is multichannel, digital and HD.

Alternatively just get Broadband on your phone line and and stream the multi-channel services over Broadband using a service such as www.filmon.com Not quite as good quality as eVision - but probably still way better than UPC analogue.

FrStone

L1011 wrote: »

No, give it a go now - there is a chance there are UPC analogue channels available already. After that I'd suggest borrowing a Saorview box or TV from someone rather than spending money on what might be useless.

I'm after plugging it in and tried tuning, unfortunately nothing came up. I'll have to borrow a saorview box now to see if it will work.

Kensington

Probably disconnected.
Whereabouts are you? Most of the UPC MMDS system uses DVB-T, same modulation scheme as SaorView.

Dublin, Galway and Waterford areas only exception.

FrStone

I'm in an apartment complex, just North of the River Lee in Cork city.

I was meant to get a phone call from UPC today, but they never rang. I'll ring back tomorrow and find out properly what the tv service is, I want to be able to record programmes if at all possible.

FrStone

bugfreebob wrote: »

However, if you can get eircom eFibre, then you can likely also get their TV service eVision - which is multichannel, digital and HD.

I have fixed line broadband, but eFibre hasn't reached us just yet.

bugfreebob

FrStone wrote: »

I have fixed line broadband, but eFibre hasn't reached us just yet.

ok - in that case you should try as [MOD EDIT: URL Deleted]. You might find it good enough for your requirements, for the time being at least.

icdg

I'd rather that site not be linked to please. A snazzy interface and not carrying premium channels doesn't make it right to break copyright.

FrStone

Right I'm after having it confirmed by UPC that the service available is MMDS without any recording facility. I certainly won't be paying €30 a month for that.

From looking at the outside of the building it appears that there is also a regular aerial as well as the MMDS one, so I am going to buy a saorview box and see if it connects to it via the wall. If not I'll have to get some sort of internal aerial.

The apartment is relatively newly built I thought they would have planeed for a proper TV service by getting a satellite installed. I suppose that's what happened during the boom though...

L1011

FrStone wrote: »

The apartment is relatively newly built I thought they would have planeed for a proper TV service by getting a satellite installed. I suppose that's what happened during the boom though...

May have been given hello money by UPC's predecessor, although why they'd do that on a building they couldn't provide full services to I've no idea. There are areas where they provide the MMDS channels re-encoded as DVB-C and offer broadband due to having an isolated network but this isn't even that coherent.

bugfreebob

icdg wrote: »

I'd rather that site not be linked to please. A snazzy interface and not carrying premium channels doesn't make it right to break copyright.

Apologies - Because they were free-to-air channels, it never occurred to me there was anything dodgy about the site. I don't use it myself because I have good Free-to-air satellite & terrestrial. Thanks for the clarification.