Recommend Saorview Set-top box?

Stinicker

A neighbor of mine recently purchased a house which came with an old nice big Panasonic Plasma TV which isn't Saorview compatible. (It has an Mpeg2 tuner) its from 2007 - 2008 we think.

My recommendation was to buy the Argos Alba Saorview STB which was the cheapest Saorview branded receiver out there but Argos seem to have discontinued it. At €50.00 it was also quite acceptable pricewise.

The same person was about to get a Ferguson Ariva-Combo box for Saorview and FTA Satellite until I put them off the idea due to the total disaster these are because of the almost near weekly to monthly retuning required on the satellite side of things. Instead they bought the Manhattan Freesat HD box from Amazon which will always keep itself retuned and the channels in proper sequence and weed out the rubbish channels plus a 7 day EPG.

This person isn't the most tech savvy so a branded Saorview set-top box would be ideal so that when the channels need to be retuned they'd be tuned in properly to sequence 1,2,3 etc, instead of all jumbled up by muxes which is what happens with a generic mp4 receiver.

The big problem is we can't seem to find any Saorview approved Set-top boxes out there anymore, or else they are too expensive >€80 which is a joke.

Basically I'm looking for reccomendations for where if possible I can still buy a saorview branded box or else they very best Generic MPEG4 box out there ideally with the MHEG5 digital teletext?

Would an English "Freeview HD" receiver like this do the job or would it be impossible to resequence the channels from their default 801, 802, 803, positions into a more Irish standard 1,2,3 etc?

coylemj

The market for that type of equipment is rapidly dwindling because most new TVs for sale in Ireland can handle Saorview so there's nobody buying the external STB boxes any more with the exception of combi terrestrial/satellite boxes which by the sound of it is outside your neighbour's budget.

Best look in the secondhand market - adverts.ie ?

Sheldons Brain

At this stage if you ask around the family somebody probably has one who has bought a new TV recently.

The Cush

Stinicker wrote: »

my recommendation was to buy the Argos Alba Saorview STB which was the cheapest Saorview branded receiver out there but Argos seem to have discontinued it. At €50.00 it was also quite acceptable pricewise.

IIRC Argos haven't stocked that receiver since sometime in 2013.

Difficult to recommend a UK box that'll work someway decently with Saorview unless people have a personal experience of one.

I use a Panasonic PVR/BluRay combi that works well with Saorview (without series link though). There is no Ireland option so the channels are initially stored in the 800s but can reordered as required. 7 day guide and MHEG-5 text work without problem. The price is well in excess of €80 and they don't appear to have a non PVR model in the range. The Humax Freeview boxes don't allow channel reordering outside of the 800s I believe.

Tony

What near weekly re tuning ?

Stinicker wrote: »

The same person was about to get a Ferguson Ariva-Combo box for Saorview and FTA Satellite until I put them off the idea due to the total disaster these are because of the almost near weekly to monthly retuning required on the

Gerry Wicklow

Tony wrote: »

What near weekly re tuning ?

+1 on that.
I think it is a greatly exaggerated issue. According to KingofSat, Sky are the worst culprits for almost constantly changing frequencies. Of course this does not affect FTA viewers. Major FTAs very rarely move.

Tony

Indeed yes , greatly exaggerated. Describing it as a "total disaster" is way over the top. The facts do not support this at all.

Gerry Wicklow wrote: »

I think it is a greatly exaggerated issue.

winston_1

Gerry Wicklow wrote: »

+1 on that.
I think it is a greatly exaggerated issue. According to KingofSat, Sky are the worst culprits for almost constantly changing frequencies. Of course this does not affect FTA viewers. Major FTAs very rarely move.

Not greatly exaggerated bit it is an ongoing issue even for FTA channels. Only last week I had to add TV5 which suddenly became FTA.

Gerry Wicklow

How often do channels come out from behind a pay wall?

Tony

On Astra 2 ?

winston_1 wrote: »

Only last week I had to add TV5 which suddenly became FTA.

Gerry Wicklow

TV5 Monde and NDTV24/7 both became FTA on 28E

Tony

Excellent thanks . To be fair though this is adding rather than re tuning.Must update my channel lists:)

Gerry Wicklow wrote: »

TV5 Monde and NDTV24/7 both became FTA on 28E

Gerry Wicklow

TV5 is in French with occasional English subs 11426 V 27500 2/3
NDTV lousy quality 12545 H 22000 5/6

EDIT: in case you missed it Showcase+1 moved 11.222 H, 27.500, 2/3, DVB-S, QPSK.

Tony

Thanks Gerry