Replacing Old Free-to-Air Receiver

Trapapony

Hello,
I'm looking to replace my old Astra satellite receiver which gets free-to-air UK channels as I think it's on its last legs. I am in Bray, Co. Wicklow.
Question 1) Do Freesat receivers work here in the Republic? (I'm not looking for BBC iPlayer or anything web-based like that just the UK TV channels.)
Question 2) Should I go for a Freesat receiver or a free-to-air receiver?
PVR functionality and Saorview nice but not essential.
Any kit recomendations welcome.
Thanks
Trap

johnayo

Freesat work just fine here. I have a humax one and works great. I am not aware of any that will give Saorview. If you have a reasonably new TV, it may be able to pick that up anyway. otherwise you will need another box for that.

com1

You could have a look at one of these... extensive thread on it below

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057827739

Gerry Wicklow

FreeSat branded boxes work perfectly well here. Their big selling points are series linking, 7 day EPG and auto-tuning if a channel moves. They are the ideal plug and play option. However, there are many more channels that are FTA but not on the FreeSat EPG. Most significantly Channel 4 HD. Generic FTA boxes sometimes only have now/next EPG and no series linking. The likes of the linux combo box linked above gives you all FTA channels with 7 day EPG, series linking and the ability to watch/record Saorview as well.

NewClareman

In the UK, Freesat provides a very good alternative to Sky, albeit with less features. The issue in Ireland is that, because of rights issues, it doesn't include the Irish stations on the EPG. I've had a Freesat receiver for years but, because of this issue, couldn't persuade SWMBO to move from Sky.

The Tiviar Alphaplus Receiver that Gerry refers to solves this issue, by allowing all available FTA channels, including the Irish ones, to be included in the same EPG. I bought the receiver, based on that thread. However, I met a lost of resistance from wifey, who found it difficult to use, compared to Sky. (there was even a suggestion that we move back.)

I customised the Tiviar Alphaplus solution, through configuration and a few addons, to improve the usability for general use. The final result, which passed the Wifey test, is in this thread. I've uploaded my latest version so that the result can be replicated out-of-the-box.

Trapapony

Thanks everyone. You guys are fantastic!
Trap

lartsa

Went onto WoS with a view to ordering a Tiviar


and this pops up



https://www.world-of-satellite.co.uk/octagon-sf8008


It is not out long but seems like it might not be a bad option


Any experience or opinions on this receiver?


bg

Gerry Wicklow

seems to be only 1 sat tuner on that

Trapapony

Hello,
I (the OP) bought the Tiviar Alpha+ Plus Triple Tuner Combo which arrived today. Disappointing so far. I did a channel scan of free-to-air channels on 28.2E (Eutelsat/Astra) which returned a faily pathetic group - Challenge, Dave, Pick, Yesterday, Forces, etc. No BBC, ITV, Channel 4/5, news (except Sky News). (I also tried the same scan of all channels (including scrambled) and did not get any good ones that time either just a lot of scrambled Sky, Disney, Sports, etc). I don't know much about satellite technology and did not change any pre-set values before scanning.

A possible explanation is that my dish was put up years ago and could be pointing to 19.2E, the original Astra location. If so, it would need to be turned to 28.2E. Before it expired recently, my old receiver was able to pick up the "good" channels (BBC, etc) with this dish but it was an analogue receiver.

Any thoughts/ideas welcome before I bring in a TV engineer to have a look.

Thanks
Trap

Trevord

First can you clarify whether you flashed the box with Enigma2?

Trapapony

First can you clarify whether you flashed the box with Enigma2?

Trevor,
No I didn't. The device came without a wifi dongle (and user manual).
Trap

decor58

Trapapony wrote:

Any thoughts/ideas welcome before I bring in a TV engineer to have a look.

As far as I know analogue satellite finished a few years ago, so if you were getting BBC via satellite recently your dish should be reasonably OK, did you do a full/blind scan.

Trapapony

As far as I know analogue satellite finished a few years ago, so if you were getting BBC via satellite recently your dish should be reasonably OK, did you do a full/blind scan.

Yes, I tried the full scan ("All Service").

Trapapony

I owe a debt of gratitude to boards member and fellow Bray resident, decor58. He stepped out of cyberspace and into my home for a couple of hours to narrow down the problem and help me understand my new kit. Thank you, Declan!
Then I got an engineer to have a look at my ageing satellite and he found that (a) it was off-centre and (b) the LNB was no longer working properly.
All fixed now with all channels present and correct.

I bought the STB (set-top box) from freetv.ie for €160. Good web site and prompt delivery.

A few disappointments. Hard to believe but the kit came with no user manual. I had to download and print one that some kindly boards member had uploaded to the internet. The only documentation was a connection diagram and an advert for antena-shop.ru. (I can't wait to visit after I learn Russian.) Something fishy about all this. And I wonder why World of Satellite no longer stock this box? I got no wifi dongle either.

That aside I am very happy with my new box. I'm just getting to know it so no connecting to the internet yet. The manual is clear and the functionality straightforward to master. I never had a box like this before so it did take a while for me to get to know it but it's worth the effort. (Luckily no wifey test here but, if there was, I feel she could be trained in the basics!) Having used a VHS video recorder before this (yes, probably the last one in Ireland!) the Tiviar's recording facility is very slick even using only a USB stick.

I still have a few issues left with which I would appreciate any help:

1) EPG: This says "No Information" for all satellite channels except when I switch to a channel (highlight the channel and press OK) in which case it gives me only the now/next programmes for that channel. Any way of getting the table fully populated? It populates fine for my terrestrial (Saorview via aerial) channels.

2) BBC4 programmes appear on the CBeebies channel and I cannot even get a now/next listing for them.

3) How do I switch off audio description/narration for the visually impaired? I could find no setting for this on the STB. It's off on the TV but this has no affect.

4) I tried using the CH Edit app to sort my radio channels alphabetically. It seemed to work but when I exited the app the channels were back to the same unsorted mess? The move channel function works fine.

Thanks for any thoughts.

Trap

galtee boy

These boxes are not plug and play, they take a lot of work and time to get them to resemble a Sky box, EPG/series linking etc . One needs to be fairly clued in, IT wise to get it to look like the one Clareman has. I know I wouldn't have the skill or patience to do it !! I can't understand why someone out there, maybe someone on these boards, doesn't set up a little business, pre programming these boxes with 7 day epg etc , tuning it the satellite channels etc and all the end user would have to do, would be tune in their local Saorview transmitter. Of course, charge box price and a fee for this work, I know I'd gladly pay it and I'm sure many others would too.

STB.

@ Trap

The box is no longer sold by WOS as they had limited numbers of the box to sell. The box is one that was originally manufactured for another purpose. Then someone figured out how to run other software on it.

The Tiviar Alpha+ has a dedicated thread or two on boards. I would re-post there.

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057827739

Pronto63

johnayo wrote: »

Freesat work just fine here. I have a humax one and works great. I am not aware of any that will give Saorview. If you have a reasonably new TV, it may be able to pick that up anyway. otherwise you will need another box for that.

Silly question!

Will a new TV pick up Irish stations i.e. Saorview without getting additional aerials, dishes etc.

Thinking of small bedroom tv just for news and suchlike.

The Cush

Pronto63 wrote: »

Will a new TV pick up Irish stations i.e. Saorview without getting additional aerials, dishes etc.

Thinking of small bedroom tv just for news and suchlike.

An aerial is always required, a small indoor might work if the signal is good enough where you locate it.