TV and/or box with saorview and satellite for elderly grandmother

Pete123456

Hi all, I have been trying to figure this out, but I’m not sure I have been using the correct search terms so if this has been asked before, please redirect me.

My grandmother likes to watch 2 or 3 satellite channels (challenge etc) and also two or three saorview channels (RTE etc). She has very poor eyesight and is “curious” and so no matter what, she seems to delete satellite channels or “break” the box and is unable to switch between inputs.

Basically, what I’m hoping for is a tv or tv/box combo that we can set up the 5 or 6 channels (satellite/saorview mix) in one list and then delete anything else. Then give her a remote with 5 buttons to only turn on and +/- volume and channel. The on button needs to turn on the tv and/or box to the correct input.

Does anybody know if this can be done? Or if there is any other option available? No matter what, she gets upset when she “hasn’t done anything” and the tv isn’t working...

We are willing to buy a tv and or box as necessary so long as it can be as simple as possible for her

Thanks a million - would save us a lot of stress!!

corcaigh07

Would an LG telly suit? Most models are Saorview/Freesat enabled. What you could do is set the telly to UK, turn both the Satellite and Saorview channels and then assign her favourite channels to the 1-9 buttons.

End result would be a long press of each button would take you to each assigned channel.

A Walker Saorview/FTA telly might work too but I don't have as much experience with them. I suspect this might be the better option if you're getting a new basic remote as well.

Pete123456

corcaigh07 wrote: »

Would an LG telly suit? Most models are Saorview/Freesat enabled. What you could do is set the telly to UK, turn both the Satellite and Saorview channels and then assign her favourite channels to the 1-9 buttons.

End result would be a long press of each button would take you to each assigned channel.

A Walker Saorview/FTA telly might work too but I don't have as much experience with them. I suspect this might be the better option if you're getting a new basic remote as well.

Thanks for that... yeah I saw them in my Googling but I wasn’t sure if the channels could be put on one list... can the LG tellys tune all of the saorview and satellite channels? While the 1-9 sounds simple, from experience we cannot underestimate her ability to retune it or whatever so realistically if we could get to the point that the tv has only 6 or 7 channels and the remote can only turn on and flick between them that would be ideal

corcaigh07

Pete123456 wrote: »

Thanks for that... yeah I saw them in my Googling but I wasn’t sure if the channels could be put on one list... can the LG tellys tune all of the saorview and satellite channels? While the 1-9 sounds simple, from experience we cannot underestimate her ability to retune it or whatever so realistically if we could get to the point that the tv has only 6 or 7 channels and the remote can only turn on and flick between them that would be ideal

Maybe someone with a Walker telly can advise further on that. I think you can have the one menu on those that includes Saorview and FTA channels, I've seen them in most hotels I've stayed in recent years. If so, you should be good to go to get a more basic remote for it.

With the LG, the Saorview and Freesat are essentially separate from each other and it takes a lot of button presses to go from one to the other. The workaround is to assign each button to the channel or app you'd like.

For example, for Saorview, I long press 1 to get to RTE1 and long press 2 for BBC1. For Youtube, I have it set to 4.

decor58

corcaigh07 wrote: »

Maybe someone with a Walker telly can advise further on that. I think you can have the one menu on those that includes Saorview and FTA channels, I've seen them in most hotels I've stayed in recent years. If so, you should be good to go to get a more basic remote for it.

With the LG, the Saorview and Freesat are essentially separate from each other and it takes a lot of button presses to go from one to the other. The workaround is to assign each button to the channel or app you'd like.

For example, for Saorview, I long press 1 to get to RTE1 and long press 2 for BBC1. For Youtube, I have it set to 4.

You can have Saorview and Satellite on one list on Walker tv, different epg's, you can edit the channel list and rearrange the channels as you wish.

decor58

corcaigh07 wrote: »

Maybe someone with a Walker telly can advise further on that. I think you can have the one menu on those that includes Saorview and FTA channels, I've seen them in most hotels I've stayed in recent years. If so, you should be good to go to get a more basic remote for it.

With the LG, the Saorview and Freesat are essentially separate from each other and it takes a lot of button presses to go from one to the other. The workaround is to assign each button to the channel or app you'd like.

For example, for Saorview, I long press 1 to get to RTE1 and long press 2 for BBC1. For Youtube, I have it set to 4.

It can take a bit of time, using the Walker app, but it can be done

The Cush

decor58 wrote: »

It can take a bit of time, using the Walker app, but it can be done

That pic shows the UK channels directly after the Saorview channels, I own both a Walker and Toshiba TV with all channels in a single list but cannot move the sat channels lower than 300, are you by any chance getting both Saorview and Freeview via the aerial?

Apogee

Pete123456 wrote: »

Hi all, I have been trying to figure this out, but I’m not sure I have been using the correct search terms so if this has been asked before, please redirect me.

My grandmother likes to watch 2 or 3 satellite channels (challenge etc) and also two or three saorview channels (RTE etc). She has very poor eyesight and is “curious” and so no matter what, she seems to delete satellite channels or “break” the box and is unable to switch between inputs.

Basically, what I’m hoping for is a tv or tv/box combo that we can set up the 5 or 6 channels (satellite/saorview mix) in one list and then delete anything else. Then give her a remote with 5 buttons to only turn on and +/- volume and channel. The on button needs to turn on the tv and/or box to the correct input.

Does anybody know if this can be done? Or if there is any other option available? No matter what, she gets upset when she “hasn’t done anything” and the tv isn’t working...

We are willing to buy a tv and or box as necessary so long as it can be as simple as possible for her

Thanks a million - would save us a lot of stress!!

While you can buy TVs with both Saorview/Satellite, their interfaces tend to be clunky.

Does she own an existing TV? Get a separate Saorview/Satellite combo box (STB), and combine with a remote that switches on/off the tv but controls the channels/volume on the STB. The STB would be permanently on, but it wouldn't draw much power in any case.

In fact, the learning remote below claims it will power on/off the TV and STB simultaneously:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33016601654.html

Pete123456

Apogee wrote: »

While you can buy TVs with both Saorview/Satellite, their interfaces tend to be clunky.

Does she own an existing TV? Get a separate Saorview/Satellite combo box (STB), and combine with a remote that switches on/off the tv but controls the channels/volume on the STB. The STB would be permanently on, but it wouldn't draw much power in any case.

In fact, the learning remote below claims it will power on/off the TV and STB simultaneously:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33016601654.html

Thanks for that, I had considered that, but my issue is that it would need to be changed to av... and if there is an av button, you can guarantee the tv will be stuck on scart 2 or hdmi until one of us goes over to check/fix it. I started to look into it and I think she would need to change the tv to one with the protocol where the box flicks the channel to the input like the sky box... maybe I’m overthinking it

Gerry Wicklow

If the TV can handle HDMI CEC it will switch on/off the box or vice versa and select the correct HDMI input.

Apogee

Pete123456 wrote: »

Thanks for that, I had considered that, but my issue is that it would need to be changed to av... and if there is an av button, you can guarantee the tv will be stuck on scart 2 or hdmi until one of us goes over to check/fix it. I started to look into it and I think she would need to change the tv to one with the protocol where the box flicks the channel to the input like the sky box... maybe I’m overthinking it

Does the existing TV have AV only or AV and HDMI? If HDMI, then HDMI CEC will autoswitch/power off.

If AV only, then if you connect the TV to the STB with a fully wired SCART lead, it should automatically switch to the correct AV input on power on.

DublinDilbert

If your using a separate box and TV, all for one do a great remote which allows simple control of each.

https://www.did.ie/one-for-all-tv-zapper-universal-remote-control-urc6810-black-urc6810-prd?param1=wglowmarfb&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI6rf6sPvN7AIVze7tCh08PQGSEAkYAiABEgJMTfD_BwE#fo_c=1898&fo_k=6870a1c3eb432297ce9f11723fb4a939&fo_s=gplaie

decor58

The Cush wrote: »

That pic shows the UK channels directly after the Saorview channels, I own both a Walker and Toshiba TV with all channels in a single list but cannot move the sat channels lower than 300, are you by any chance getting both Saorview and Freeview via the aerial?

No, Saorview by aerial, the rest by dish. I use the Walker tv app from the App Store, connects to your TV over your WiFi, allows you reorder channels. Mind if you put the HD channels between 1-50 you cannot access directly, access them through the OK / list button, so I numbered the sd channels below 50.

The Cush

decor58 wrote: »

No, Saorview by aerial, the rest by dish. I use the Walker tv app from the App Store, connects to your TV over your WiFi, allows you reorder channels. Mind if you put the HD channels between 1-50 you cannot access directly, access them through the OK / list button, so I numbered the sd channels below 50.

Ok, that's an option.

My sat channels start at 301, but I've hidden the radio channels and Saorview info channel on 27 so skipping thru the channels is easy, Oireachtas channel on 22 next channel is BBC1 on 301.

akasudonim

Op I had exactly the same challenge with an elderly relative. I used a combo box (Ferguson Ariva) with the Saorview and FTA channels configured in one list and the following remote https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B002GR1YZ0/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Very occasionally required support, but compared to the previous weekly resetting and trying to talk a reset over the phone, no comparison.

intro

My father had the same problem caused by very poor eyesight.. Same solution as akasudonim, Ferguson Ariva which is set up with about 12 channels and left switched on. The remote is one of these :

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0046H5RV0/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Only £7.40

Only channel up and down, volume up and down and power for TV. Combo box left switched on. He did not want the mute button programmed.

He had various other remotes but they all had too many buttons etc.