Trying to move to subscription free tv

Hi all,

I recently decided I want to move away from my current one room Sky+ system to a multi room subscription free system.
Unfortunately I came at this rather uneducated. So I have done a good but of reading trying to figure it all out
The following post basically summarises what I think I have found out and leaves a few outstanding questions at the end.
If any person who understands these things might care to confirm or deny these notes, it would really appreciate it


1) Free Irish TV channels are available via aerial (Saorview) and via satelite (Saorsat) whereas UK TV is available only via satelite, Freeview (now and next EPG data attached) or Freesat (UK packaged channels with 7-day EPG data attached)
2) To view any of the above whether the signal is accessed through aerial or satelite requires a decoder. DVB-S or DVB-S2 for satelite signals and DVB-T for aerial signals.
3) If I would like to gain access to both Irish and UK channels using a single decoder box (so as to not have to change sources on my television and use multiple remotes/separate EPGs etc) then I have 4 choices:
3a) Freesat and Saorsat - This is taking signals from 2 different satellites and while in theory this could be done with a single largish dish aimed between the 2, that would lower the signal quality. It would probably be better having 2 dishes. Either way the only real advantage to accessing a Freesat signal is to gain access to the Freesat EPG data and that requires a Freesat box which necessarily seems to mean that Saorsat channels are accessed separately via a different EPG. Hence probably not the best option.
3b) Freesat and Saorview - This would mean using a dish for Freesat and an aerial for Saorview but again...the only real advantage to accessing a Freesat signal is to gain access to the Freesat EPG data and that requires a Freesat box which will necessarily seems to mean that Saorsat channels are accesses seaprately via a different EPG. Hence probably not the best option.
3c) Freeview and Saorsat - This again would probably require 2 dishes as they are on 2 diff satelites at 9E and 28E and offers no advantage over the last option below
3d) Freeview and Saorview - This is the most natural option and will require a dish (can use existing Sky dish aimed as is) and a new aerial for the Saorview signal.
So picking option 3d...
4) Combining Freeview channels and Saorview channels in a single box requires whats know as a Combobox for each tv. It must include a DVB-S and a DVB-T connection/decoder. In fact if I want to record one satelite channel while watching another satelite channel I would need a box with 2 DVB-S connections/decoders. There are many on the market, and generally they do present a single EPG for Irish and Uk channels, however:
* The Freeview signal does not include 7 day EPG data and hence the EPG will generally only includes now and next data for Uk channels and 7 days Irish channels only
* The EPG and related screens are generally much poorer than the Sky equivalent, where in many models the EPG is presented on a channel by channel basis unlike Sky's nice planner view with one row per channel and time on the X-axis.
5) To include a 7 day EPG for both UK and Irish channels in a single EPG on a single machine, requires someone to code some firmware which accesses the data from 2 different sources in 2 different formats and merge them and this is just not cost effective for anyone to do for the small Irish market.
6) However, there are also boxes which are much more programmable with OS and software rather than fixed firmware. These use a Linux OS and can generally achieve more than is offered in an out of the box product. To achieve what I want I would require a Linux based box with 2 DVB-S connection/decoders and 1 DVB-T connection/decoder. The following 4 boxes seem to all offer this:
* Amiko Alien 2 Triple Tuner
* Golden Media Spark Triplex
* Fulan ST 7162 HD Satellite Receiver
* Vu+ Duo2
7) At this point I am getting a little more uncertain of my understanding so the following is more guesswork/uncertainties:
* I believe all these boxes can/do run the Enigma 2 install of Linux which seems to be the thing to have, but some of them have a dual boot into something called Spark (not sure if that is an alternate OS or what it is)
* I guess that from a user experience point of view it may not be that important which box I get cos the screens functionality is determined by the OS and software which presumably could be installed on any of them?
* I have no idea what software I would actually need and if it generally comes preinstalled on these boxes.
* I see mention of MGCam, OSCam and CCCam but have no idea what these are
* What I'd really like to do is see one of these boxes preinstalled with everything in a demo showroom and buy one like that OR get the box with a nice book that explains everything I don't know and allows me to do it - but this is unlikly to occur.
* The best I can hope for is to take a gamble, buy one of these boxes, see what it does and go trawling the message boards for a way to fix whatever I don't like.