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Dai W
19-11-16, 18:26
Hello.

My parents are now retired and would like to save money by cancelling their contract with Virgin Media (mainly because the price keeps going up). I would like to buy them a combo box for Christmas that would utilise their unused Sky satellite dish and a terrestrial aerial. I've been looking around at different options but I don't know which will suit their requirements out of the box (I'd prefer to avoid having to add extra tuners myself):

1. Must combine FreeSat and FreeView to get the maximum number of channels
2. Must be able to utilise their existing Sky dish (which has two cables/connectors)
3. Must support an internal hard drive (500GB or 1TB would suffice although I am happy to buy and fit this separately)
4. Must be able to record 2 channels while watching a 3rd (or more if possible)
5. Must be easy to use (they are both in their 70s)
6. Must have an EPG (which I assume all would anyway?)
7. Optional catch up TV (such as iPlayer, etc) but not essential

I would be very grateful if anybody would be kind enough to recommend something that fits the bill (or advises if I can't get this all in one box). Hopefully I have provided enough information but can expand if required.

Thanks in advance!
ccs
19-11-16, 20:00
Probably a daft question, but does (FreeSat and FreeView) give you more different channels than (FreeSat or FreeView)?
abu baniaz
19-11-16, 20:02
Will main viewing be freeview or freesat? you will need two tuners of the type that you want to avoid conflicts. not many quad tuner receivers available.
abu baniaz
19-11-16, 20:04
Some channels are on freeview, but not freesat. London live, Dave, BT showcase (contracted to offer some champions league games for free), movie mix come to mind
Huevos
19-11-16, 20:58
There's no catch-up tv on enigma2 receivers.
imish
19-11-16, 21:35
If you are not on a tight budget then I'd recommend the high end mutant or VU boxes.



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Stanman
19-11-16, 21:54
Technomate TM3T will cover the tuners. 2 sat and 1 cab be used as cable or terrestrial. With vix on you will get 7 days EPG and channel list like sky.

If you don't want all the frills of E2 then your better of getting a free set box thst will be maintaince free for sky.

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Dai W
19-11-16, 22:24
If you are not on a tight budget then I'd recommend the high end mutant or VU boxes.



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Thanks for taking the time to reply. Are you able to elaborate on what a mutant or VU box is? Can you provide a link to a product web page?
Dai W
19-11-16, 22:25
Will main viewing be freeview or freesat? you will need two tuners of the type that you want to avoid conflicts. not many quad tuner receivers available.

I imagine it will be FreeView but I guess they won't really know, they'll just use the EPG to find the channel they would like to watch/record.

I have been looking at the GiGaBlue HD 800 Quad Plus Linux Receiver (4 x DVB-S2 Tuners) but it isn't really clear if it ticks all the boxes.

I'm not really sure what the DVB-S2 tuner is - is that for a Sky dish? And how many cables do I need from the Sky dish, will one suffice or do I need one per tuner?
Dai W
19-11-16, 22:28
Technomate TM3T will cover the tuners. 2 sat and 1 cab be used as cable or terrestrial. With vix on you will get 7 days EPG and channel list like sky.

If you don't want all the frills of E2 then your better of getting a free set box thst will be maintaince free for sky.

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Thanks for the reply. I've tried to Google the Technomate TM3T box but not been successful. I can't even see it on their web site.
imish
19-11-16, 23:31
Have a look at the world of satellites website for starters


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daz450
19-11-16, 23:41
Better off calling VM and say you cant afford the price, that's what I did and they knocked it down £10 a month.
Andy_Hazza
19-11-16, 23:43
Take a look at these; Xtrend ET8500 >> http://www.world-of-satellite.co.uk/satellite-and-terrestrial/digital-receivers/xtrend/Xtrend-ET8500-COMBO-2x-DVB-S2-2x-DVB-C-T-T2 Vu+ Duo2 >> http://www.world-of-satellite.co.uk/satellite-and-terrestrial/digital-receivers/vu-plus/VU-Plus-Duo2-Duo-2-1x-Twin-Tuner-DVB-S2-HD-Enigma-2-Linux-Satellite-Receiver TM Nano SE M2 Plus >> http://www.world-of-satellite.co.uk/satellite-and-terrestrial/digital-receivers/technomate/technomate-tm-nano-se-m2-plus-triple-combo-twin-dvb-c-1x-dvb-s2
What combination of tuners are you after?


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abu baniaz
19-11-16, 23:51
BBC One on Satellite is not the same service as the one on Terrestrial. The most versatile setup would be a four tuner receiver, two sat and two terrestrial.

The Technomate Nano 3T combo is discontinued. You will struggle to get a new one.

Freeview Plus recorder may be easier. It will have online services
adm
20-11-16, 09:38
(4 x DVB-S2 Tuners)


That's 4 off satellite tuners (SD and HD) so you will not get Freeview with that combination
Many/most higher end boxes have plug in tuners so you need 2 off DVB-S/S2 and 2 off DVB-C/T/T2 (Cable and SD/HD terrestrial via an aerial) . If World of Satellite are not offering that combination phone them up and ask for a price.

If Freeview is only being used to get the occasional extra channel then maybe you can get away with two satellite and one terrestrial tuner.
Sicilian
20-11-16, 10:22
I'd look at the Xtrend ET8500 with 2x Satellite tuners and 2x Terrestrial tuners http://www.world-of-satellite.co.uk/Xtrend-ET8500-COMBO-2x-DVB-S2-2x-DVB-C-T-T2?filter_name=et8500&filter_category_id=63&filter_sub_category=true

Run with OpenViX, see www.openvix.co.uk :)