Noob Free Satellite Question

Nalz

Hi

First of all apologies for what might be a noob question that's asked a few times.

I've a new house, kitted out with TV ports, coax cables in attic running out to satellite at side of house. Pic attached of satellite.

What do I need to get Irish TV channels and UK freesat TV? A quick googling mentions combi boxes. Can you guys recommend me one? Do I need to buy an antenna also?

Do I need to add anything to the satellite or change it to receive UK TV?

Thanks!

Johnboy1951

The present dish will provide the satellite channels to a suitable receiver.
You need a particular aerial (depending on location) to receive the terrestrial signals for a terrestrial tuner (Saorview channels).

So a combi box receiver, which has both types of tuners, can take the feeds (coax) from both aerial and sat. dish, and provide the channels to a TV.
These boxes are Free to Air satellite receivers combined with a terrestrial tuner.

Freesat is a particular arrangement of a selection of Free to Air satellite channels, with its own proprietary firmware. There are a few popular channels not available on Freesat, such as Channel 4 HD, but are available on a Free to Air receiver.
There are no Freesat combi boxes.

Ger Roe

You could alternatively get a new TV with a free to air satellite receiver built in (UK stations) and also Saorview compatible for the Irish stations.

Then you connect your satellite dish to the satellite connection on the TV and a suitable aerial for Saorview to the terrestrial TV connection and you have UK (Sat dish) and Irish (Aerial) all available on the TV without an additional box.

Nalz

Ger Roe wrote: »

You could alternatively get a new TV with a free to air satellite receiver built in (UK stations) and also Saorview compatible for the Irish stations.

Then you connect your satellite dish to the satellite connection on the TV and a suitable aerial for Saorview to the terrestrial TV connection and you have UK (Sat dish) and Irish (Aerial) all available on the TV without an additional box.

Thanks

this is my current TV https://www.lg.com/uk/tvs/lg-43UM7600PLB

would this work?

mikeecho

Nalz wrote: »

Thanks

this is my current TV https://www.lg.com/uk/tvs/lg-43UM7600PLB

would this work?

That TV had a built in sat tuner

Nalz

I've coax from my TV port to my tv now, trying to do a dtv satellite tune but looks like it's not picking up anything.

so maybe the TV ports aren't connected up well or the dish is pointing wrong way, or cable to TV from port is goosed.

Ger Roe

It could be any of those problems. You need to start at the source, (Sat Dish) and trace the cable back into the house.

I recently helped out someone who moved to a 10 year old house with a sat dish installed and TV points all over the house - none seemed to work. When we traced the sat dish cable it ended in the attic right beside a bundle of feed cables that then went to the various points. The original owners must have had a distribution unit there to send the incoming sat signal to each of the points, but it was gone.

Simply connecting the dish cable to the specific bundle end that went to the main room TV point, proved that the dish was aligned correctly as the channels then scanned in.

It sounds complicated, but if you think about it, it's straightforward - you need to ensure a cabled connection is present from the dish to the TV point, bearing in mind that you may have to actually connect it there, particularly if there are several TV points - there has to be a distribution option somewhere to select which tv point you want to use.

If the sat dish cable goes directly to the particular TV point and you are still not getting a signal, it is possible that the dish is not aligned correctly - the cable connection is your first point of investigation.

Rick_

This TV is a Freeview/Freesat model, so when tuning in the satellite signals you will have to put in a postcode (an NI one is best) to enable the 7 day TV guide and have the channels in a manageable order. You will also need to switch inputs to go between satellite and terrestrial, you won't be able to have them all on one EPG.

If you have the TV set up to Ireland when you first turned it on, then the Freesat option won't be available and you'll have to set it to tune in for Astra 2 @ 28.2E in order to get the FTA channels. Setting it up for Ireland will also stop some features from working, like the Google Assistant. Setting it up as a UK model will still enable you to use Saorview and the extra features, so up to you which you prefer to use.

amdaley28

If the TV is already set up for Ireland do a factory reset which will set it back to how it came out of the box.
This will enable you to set it up again for N Ireland or UK.

Plascebo

amdaley28 wrote: »

If the TV is already set up for Ireland do a factory reset which will set it back to how it came out of the box.
This will enable you to set it up again for N Ireland or UK.

Can you not change the region in the settings, without having to do a factory reset?

Nalz

Plascebo wrote: »

Can you not change the region in the settings, without having to do a factory reset?

I thought that would be enough but I'm open to correction

dubrov

Plascebo wrote:

Can you not change the region in the settings, without having to do a factory reset?

I've a low end 2018 lg TV and was able to switch (without factory reset) to UK region to access Freesat no problem.

Just be aware switching from Irish to UK channels is painful. The easiest way is to save a channel of each type to as numbered button by holding it down for a couple of seconds