Help me ditch SKY!

Seve OB

Meeoow wrote: »

I have an old sky plus box that I use for free sat now. All I am missing is the record function. Are you saying that I can buy a white card that enables the record? That would save me buying a new box.

yes. but a uk one, this will change the egg to bbq on 101 etc
there was a lad selling the cards on adverts a few years ago for 50quid, but i was lucky enough to get my cousins old card (lives in london) and it works fine for me

LenWoods

Seve OB wrote: »

yes. but a uk one, this will change the egg to bbq on 101 etc
there was a lad selling the cards on adverts a few years ago for 50quid, but i was lucky enough to get my cousins old card (lives in london) and it works fine for me

50 quid seems alot but if the card allows recording then it's worth it,
I bought four white cards & multiroom boxes on Ebay uk for each room from various sellers, the cards were around €11 each hree of the boxes were brand new from €40 - €50 each; shipped via ParcelMotel of AddressPal,
the fourth multiroom box I purchased in ireland and it works with the uk card just the same; thought that was worth mentioning.
I specifically chose multiroom boxes as there completely silent and dont have the "pause/Record" facilities as I assumed it's not possible to pause/record without subscription even with a white card; the multiroom box is smaller than the main box, completely silent, has the same menu and remote as the main sky box very user friendly but doesn't/can't record.
Heres my install: https://www.fordownersclub.com/forums/topic/80864-living-room-project/?do=findComment&comment=715076

greasepalm

One of the reasons i dumped sky was their bad picture quality on the sky+hd box and was excellent at the beginning but got worse over time.Used better enigma2 boxes and added a zgemma h7s 4K with new 4K tv wow some picture quality.Saorview and foreign sats and 28.2.

LenWoods

Many contributing factors there
Cable Quality both the Hdmi and the coaxial cable, connector type, aswell as the condition of the sattelite dish and LNB can all contribute to a good or bad signal Quality aswell as blanking or not blanking any unused cables/ports with F-type blanking caps which help increase signal Quality to the device in use.
I would like to experiment with hybrid systems and explore the market to discover what more I could obtain for free

However I cant fault the quality of Sky+HD box given its maximum output resolution is 1080i which is one generation below 1080P and two generations below 4k which as said requires a few factors to be in play such as the television capability and cable shielding aswell as the LNB.
Overall the quality depends on the level of funds invested; from my own experience anyway.

Zardoz

greasepalm wrote: »

One of the reasons i dumped sky was their bad picture quality on the sky+hd box and was excellent at the beginning but got worse over time.Used better enigma2 boxes and added a zgemma h7s 4K with new 4K tv wow some picture quality.Saorview and foreign sats and 28.2.

What image do you use on the Zgemma out of curiosity ?
I have a Mutant HD51 ,same processor as the H7S ,so I'd expect the same picture quality.
OpenAtv images give the best picture quality for me ,well older ones pre Nov 2019 ,when they changed the video drivers .
The newer ones are bad ,they adopted the same ones as Vix and other images .
Never liked Vix picture settings ,everything looks too bright.

greasepalm

Zardoz wrote: »

What image do you use on the Zgemma out of curiosity ?
I have a Mutant HD51 ,same processor as the H7S ,so I'd expect the same picture quality.
OpenAtv images give the best picture quality for me ,well older ones pre Nov 2019 ,when they changed the video drivers .
The newer ones are bad ,they adopted the same ones as Vix and other images .
Never liked Vix picture settings ,everything looks too bright.

Every box i have uses openvix and have not moved or tempted to stray,dont bother me not having picons and other stuff as i like looking at tv.
4K sat on a 4K tv is blowing my mind as its crisp and clear.

Johnboy1951

greasepalm wrote: »

Every box i have uses openvix and have not moved or tempted to stray,dont bother me not having picons and other stuff as i like looking at tv.
4K sat on a 4K tv is blowing my mind as its crisp and clear.

Is there much content of interest in 4K on foreign satellites?

Gerry Wicklow

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

Is there much content of interest in 4K on foreign satellites?

Apart from demos, the only thing of note that's FTA is NASA Tv. Otherwise it's 'Fashion' and shopping channels.

greasepalm

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

Is there much content of interest in 4K on foreign satellites?

Not really gone through my list of 4K channels,would need to check on my zgemma as thats the only 4K box and tv connected.

Nasa was stunning.

Zardoz

greasepalm wrote: »

Every box i have uses openvix and have not moved or tempted to stray,dont bother me not having picons and other stuff as i like looking at tv.
4K sat on a 4K tv is blowing my mind as its crisp and clear.

4K sat is as rare as hens teeth though .
Far more important and relevant is how standard definition and high definition content is upscaled and rendered.

IrishHomer

Seve OB wrote: »

yes. but a uk one, this will change the egg to bbq on 101 etc
there was a lad selling the cards on adverts a few years ago for 50quid, but i was lucky enough to get my cousins old card (lives in london) and it works fine for me

There were firmware updates by sky that stopped that except for a few rare ancient sky boxes that weren't receiving the updates. Those old boxes are impossible to find anymore they were some of the first ever Sky HD boxes

LenWoods

IrishHomer wrote: »

There were firmware updates by sky that stopped that except for a few rare ancient sky boxes that weren't receiving the updates. Those old boxes are impossible to find anymore they were some of the first ever Sky HD boxes

I was thinking something must have changed as I couldn't record on my sky+HD box using a uk card, so I bought four sky DRX595 multiroom boxes on Ebay uk and the cards,

Seve OB

IrishHomer wrote: »

There were firmware updates by sky that stopped that except for a few rare ancient sky boxes that weren't receiving the updates. Those old boxes are impossible to find anymore they were some of the first ever Sky HD boxes

mine certainly wasn't one of the first ever Sky HD boxes, far from it actually. Reckon 2015, possibly 2014, certainly no earlier.

and my box has updated regularly. it is connected to Wi-fi. I forgot to say earlier on, that it also gives me access to all the players, iplayer, itv hub, 4od (or whatever its called now) and channel 5 player

roadmaster

I have reread this thread a few times. If I where to buy a Zgemma H7S and got a person who knew what they where doing to set it up and replace my sky box I would get irish and uk channels setup essentially the way my current sky is set up. Would this be correct?

greasepalm

roadmaster wrote: »

I have reread this thread a few times. If I where to buy a Zgemma H7S and got a person who knew what they where doing to set it up and replace my sky box I would get irish and uk channels setup essentially the way my current sky is set up. Would this be correct?

You could do that yourself,Saorview and Freesat.

dulpit

roadmaster wrote: »

I have reread this thread a few times. If I where to buy a Zgemma H7S and got a person who knew what they where doing to set it up and replace my sky box I would get irish and uk channels setup essentially the way my current sky is set up. Would this be correct?

Essentially yes. You won't have exact same channel list (obviously won't have paid channels like sky 1,etc) and you'll beer an aerial as well as satellite dish. If you already have aerial, you could really do it all on own.

henke

This zGemma h7s looks like an interesting option? Question though it wouldn't be a straight swap out for a Sky Q box? Would I need something on the satellite changed and is that expensive?

Irishder

henke wrote: »

This zGemma h7s looks like an interesting option? Question though it wouldn't be a straight swap out for a Sky Q box? Would I need something on the satellite changed and is that expensive?

In the middle of this process myself. You need to change the LNB if its a wideband Sky Q one. I found one on adverts for 20 Euro

Have a read of this thread:

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2058095042

_Kaiser_

So I've had an FTA setup for a few years now - originally a Freesat HDR-1100S box with a hybrid LNB, but I ditched the box when I upgraded the TV for a 4K LG with integrated satellite tuner and added a Saorview aerial.
Something I'm regretting as it's supposed Freesat support is extremely basic and clunky and there's a known bug in the EPG where the mini-preview doesn't work and you can't select anything, which affects multiple models and yet LG have done nothing about it.

So, it's time for a new box. I was going to get one of the new Freesat 4K boxes but the downside to that is it doesn't include some of the 28.2 FTA channels that I would watch. Will this zGemma H7S do the trick for all + Saorview?
Is the spec decent (an ARM CPU and 1GB RAM doesn't sound like much), or is there a better version? I do want it to be as simple to setup, use and maintain as possible - but I don't mind a LITTLE work to get there!

Cheers!

Hedgecutter

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

So I've had an FTA setup for a few years now - originally a Freesat HDR-1100S box with a hybrid LNB, but I ditched the box when I upgraded the TV for a 4K LG with integrated satellite tuner and added a Saorview aerial.
Something I'm regretting as it's supposed Freesat support is extremely basic and clunky and there's a known bug in the EPG where the mini-preview doesn't work and you can't select anything, which affects multiple models and yet LG have done nothing about it.

So, it's time for a new box. I was going to get one of the new Freesat 4K boxes but the downside to that is it doesn't include some of the 28.2 FTA channels that I would watch. Will this zGemma H7S do the trick for all + Saorview?
Is the spec decent (an ARM CPU and 1GB RAM doesn't sound like much), or is there a better version? I do want it to be as simple to setup, use and maintain as possible - but I don't mind a LITTLE work to get there!

Cheers!

Check out this thread might help you

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057971250

I got a Zgemma during the week. Do plenty of research and a read through that thread, loads of tips on how to setup.

Nice box so far, but early days for me.