Advice Needed Before Purchasing Equipment - Freesat, Freeview & Plex

[IrishEric]

Hey guys,

I am located in Ireland and will be getting rid of Sky TV soon. I want to move over to a combination of both Freesat for the UK satellite channels & Freeview for the national free TV channels (Saorview in Ireland). I have a Sky dish that I believe I can use, and I will also be looking to install an aerial such as this one with RG6 cable on my roof soon enough. This way I can utilise both DVB-T/T2 Freeview and DVB-S/S2 Freesat sources on whatever device I get right?

Ideally I want to purchase a receiver/tuner device that can use both of these sources, and can also be added to Plex so that all devices in my home can get TV using the Plex app. I know there might be some complication with using TVHeadend or TVHproxy but I can definitely go that route if needs be. Realistically only 1/2 TVs will be watching channels at a time, and there might be 1 recording going on the odd time, so I think that means I need a device with at least 2 x tuners on both the DBS-S and DVB-T sources?

I was wondering what device you might recommend for this purpose, and how many cables I will need from the satellite/aerial? I know there are some tuners that connect to the network only, and then some that connect to a TV via HDMI and also the network. I thought I just needed to switch out the Sky dish LNB for a basic LNB and run a single cable to some sort of basic tuner or receiver, but I came across things like Unicable, FBC tuners and extra tuner cards which confused matters a bit more. I just want to make sure I get something decent and somewhat future proof.

My current equipment/setup is as follows:

• Sky Satellite Dish (currently being used for Sky Q) - I believe this has either a Wideband or Hybrid LNB but I am not 100% sure. There's 4 connectors on it, and 2 are being used currently by Sky Q.
• Double cable which runs from the dish (2 connections) into the back of the Sky Q box (uses both cables). I would love to be able to use a single cable from the satellite, and use the other cable for the aerial if possible (which would mean no extra drilling holes and running new cable).
• UnRaid server running Plex Media Server in a Docker container (I have a lifetime Plex pass)
• Nvidia Shield TV boxes that access media from the Unraid server.

From looking online it seems these devices might be the best fit for me, as they offer direct HDMI to a 'main' TV, have inputs for satellite & aerial and can also pass on the channels via the network so maybe Plex can use them that way?

• Zgemma H7S
• VU+ Duo 4K SE
• Gigablue UHD Quad 4K

But I also saw things like Hauppauge, HDHomerun, Vbox, Amiko, Edison etc. so I am a bit confused as to which way to go. I just want to make sure that whatever I get can work with both Freesat & Freeview within the same TV guide screen, and also connect to Plex running on my Unraid machine so that other machines besides the TV hooked up to the receiver can get TV channels. It doesn't need any bells n whistles or advanced features, just a box for Freesat/Freeview with enough tuners and that has network capabilities. The Zgemma line of products seem significantly cheaper, so not sure if I need anything more!
As you can see I am a bit confused, so any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks

[abu baniaz]

Will you be receiving both Saorview and Freeview using your aerial?

[IrishEric]

Will you be receiving both Saorview and Freeview using your aerial?

Yes exactly, Freeview/Saorview will be via the same aerial and I think are essentially the same thing where I live.

[abu baniaz]

They are the same in that they are Terrestrial, but they are different providers with different frequencies. The UK ones have both DVB-T and DVB-T2 and as far as I know, Rep of Ireland only has DVB-T and has advantage of only being on two frequencies. If you are confident you can receive both on one aerial, then that is a bonus. Otherwise, you will have to add different aerials and combine them. But this will be before cable goes into house.

If you use a unicable LNB, you can use the one wire for the satellite services, this is why it is called uni(i.e one) cable. The other wire can be for your terrestrial services. You can make your bouquets (folder/group of channels) with whichever services you want, these can be a mixture. All enigma2 receivers will be able to share to the network.

The receivers with FBC tuners will give you more versatility. The GB Quad 4K with a PnP Terrestrial tuner is the better priced one.

[IrishEric]

They are the same in that they are Terrestrial, but they are different providers with different frequencies. The UK ones have both DVB-T and DVB-T2 and as far as I know, Rep of Ireland only has DVB-T and has advantage of only being on two frequencies. If you are confident you can receive both on one aerial, then that is a bonus. Otherwise, you will have to add different aerials and combine them. But this will be before cable goes into house.

Ah OK I see, thanks a lot for clarifying! I have a feeling the only DVB-T/T2 signal I can get in my area is Saorview, so that will most likely be my only option for aerial signals. I am pretty confident that aerial I linked should do the trick as it was recommended by an Irish TV equipment website.

If you use a unicable LNB, you can use the one wire for the satellite services, this is why it is called uni(i.e one) cable. The other wire can be for your terrestrial services. You can make your bouquets (folder/group of channels) with whichever services you want, these can be a mixture. All enigma2 receivers will be able to share to the network.

Awesome, I was hoping for this answer. In that case, it sounds like I should probably switch the LNB on the Sky dish over to one of those unicable ones. It would make the whole wiring process so much simpler, as I can use the pre-existing cabling to cover everything (both satellite & aerial feeds).

Out of interest, I noticed many of the receiver/tuners such as the The GB Quad 4K have dual DVB-S/S2 inputs. If I am using a single cable coming from a unicable LNB, do I need to split it and connect the same signal to both inputs, or can I simply use just one of them and still avail of the multiple tuners etc? Just wondering if there's any pros & cons to the dual cable vs single unicable setups.

The receivers with FBC tuners will give you more versatility. The GB Quad 4K with a PnP Terrestrial tuner is the better priced one.

Thanks for the recommendation. I will do some more research on FBC tuners and check out that GB Quad 4K model a bit more.

Do you know if the Zgemma H7S would essentially do a similar job as the GB Quad 4K, and still handle a unicable LNB feed - except without FBC tuners?

Thanks a lot for the help, I really appreciate it.

[abu baniaz]

All Enigma2 receivers will work with a unicable LNB. The H7S will do a similar job apart from the number of tuners.

With regards to the splitter question, the decision is yours. Some receivers have internally connected tuners in one direction, others don't have this. I don't know for definite whether the H7S has the "internal splitter". If you do use the "internal splitter" you will have to add preferred tuners in your settings so that the main tuner is not occupied for ABM. The internal splitter is neater and has no additional wires. I prefer the splitter for versatility.

[abu baniaz]

I forgot to add, you will need an adapter for your dish. The sky LNB is 38mm wide, industry standard is 40mm. If you have not done so already, have a look at the unicable guide.

[Huevos]

Saorview is broadcast from the republic. Freeview is from UK.

[Joe_90]

OP is unlikely to be able to receive both Saorview and Freeview unless located at altitude on the east coast (where Freeview from Wales may be available) or at some locations along the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland. Saorview is broadcast on only two multiplexes, so max of two DVB-T tuners required. No DVB-T2 required for Saorview, but T2 tuners are backward compatible to DVB-T. I use a rather old GB Quad Plus with two DVB-T and two DVB-S2 tuners for combined Saorview/Sky FTA and Freesat reception.

[IrishEric]

Many thanks for the replies guys.

Yes I had called Saorview 'Freeview' in error. I am not on the east coast or along the border, so I will only be using Irish Saorview.

Having looked a bit more into those devices, I believe the Zgemma H7S 4K receiver should fit most of my needs. However, I am slightly confused about the amount of tuners, and what that means in a practical scenario.

It has 2x Satellite DVB-S2X tuners, and 1x DVB-T2 tuner. I am planning on feeding a single unicable feed from the Satellite dish, and a single antenna feed from the aerial. Does this mean my Saorview DVB-T2 feed can only support watching a single channel on one device, and you cannot record while watching - or am I missing something, and perhaps the box can use a single aerial feed for multiple streams or even a simultaneous watch & record? Apologies if these questions are extremely basic, I just want to make sure before I purchase anything. If it would help, I could also split the unicable feed across both DVB-S2X tuner inputs if it would give me extra flexibility for the amount of available tuners?

Perhaps I would be better off going for the more expensive VU+ or Gigablue devices as they appear to have more tuners?

As it stands, it looks like I will need to order the following:

• Unicable LNB for my existing Sky dish. I believe the GT-Sat GT-S1DCSS24 on the WOS store should suffice? If there are better options I would be grateful if you could let me know.
• LNB Holder/adapter for Sky dishes, suitable for mounting the unicable LNB with 40mm neck.
• Suitable receiver box - leaning towards the Zgemma H7S which has 2x Satellite DVB-S2X tuners and 1x DVB-T2 tuner.

[abu baniaz]

The how many channels can I record question comes up very frequently. There is a misconception that one tuner can record one channel/service, that is not the case. It is actually transponders/multiplex that are accessible (view/record/stream). The number of services on transponders/multiplexes is a variable, so you can't really answer with exact number of channels.

Number of tuners with access to signal wire (correctly configured) = number of transponders/multiplexes you can access (view/record/stream).

As an example: On this screenshot from a Solo SE , the multiplex I am currently on has 12 services/channels. One tuner will allow all those 12 channels to be recorded, streamed or viewed by multiple users/devices. The tuner on this box is a twin tuner, so I can access another multiplex. I can't just say another 12 services, in the second screenshot it is 11. Whether it struggles with bottlenecks on the data bus, device or network is a different thing altogether, but still relevant. I could happily record 10 channels with a Technomate Twin which has a 400MHz processor. That was more than 8 years ago, so modern boxes should fair better.

current trasnponder 2.jpgcurrent trasnponder.jpg


If you get a the H7S, you will have access one Terrestrial multiplex and two satellite transponders. As said earlier, if there is no internal linkage, the two satellite tuners will need to have a splitter.

[IrishEric]

Thank you very much for that detailed explanation. That makes a lot more sense to me now! I was wondering how people were managing with a single DVB-T tuner on many of these devices....

Based off this logic, if we take Saorview as an example which uses only two DVB-T PSB multiplexes for transmission: Using a single aerial input, anything highlighted in yellow in my screenshot below should technically be viewable/recordable at the same time using the single tuner, provided the actual hardware of the receiver device can keep up? And likewise, the same goes for the circled in red channels. However, you would just not be able to say, record a red channel, and view a yellow channel simultaneously because they are on different multiplexes right?

So I could, for example, record RTE One (LCN 1) while also viewing it because it is on the same 2RN 2 multiplex? Or maybe record RTE2 (LCN 2) while watching TG4 (LCN 4) at the same time, as they are both on the same 2RN 1 multiplex?

I hope that makes sense, again - I really appreciate the help here. I am sure you see these kind of novice questions a lot.

Saorview Multiplexes.jpg

[Huevos]

Thank you very much for that detailed explanation. That makes a lot more sense to me now! I was wondering how people were managing with a single DVB-T tuner on many of these devices....

Based off this logic, if we take Saorview as an example which uses only two DVB-T PSB multiplexes for transmission: Using a single aerial input, anything highlighted in yellow in my screenshot below should technically be viewable/recordable at the same time using the single tuner, provided the actual hardware of the receiver device can keep up? And likewise, the same goes for the circled in red channels. However, you would just not be able to say, record a red channel, and view a yellow channel simultaneously because they are on different multiplexes right?

So I could, for example, record RTE One (LCN 1) while also viewing it because it is on the same 2RN 2 multiplex? Or maybe record RTE2 (LCN 2) while watching TG4 (LCN 4) at the same time, as they are both on the same 2RN 1 multiplex?

I hope that makes sense, again - I really appreciate the help here. I am sure you see these kind of novice questions a lot.

Saorview Multiplexes.jpg

For Saorview it is advisable to have 2 tuners. That way you can view any channel and record from all channels without limitations. If you only have one tuner viewing/recording certain combinations of channels will be impossible.

For satellite an FBC tuner is a big plus.

If it is in your budget the Vu Duo 4k SE is a good option, and the hard drive is internal so it is a self contained unit rather than having the drive in a separate caddy.

[judge]

Yes exactly, Freeview/Saorview will be via the same aerial and I think are essentially the same thing where I live.

If you want Saorview, any box with a twin DVB-T/T2 terrestrial tuner is the best if you want to watch/stream/record any/all Irish channels at the same time. That TV aerial will easily do.
An FBC tuner also the best if you want to do the same on all UK SAT channels.

[JonMMM]

If it was me, I would not use Plex to distribute live TV around the home, instead I would use Kodi.

Enigma2 with Plex for live TV is a bit of a mash up with a middleware plugin fooling plex into thinking Enigma2 is HDhomerun, then you have to configure the EPG, then you have the issue that all recordings are done locally.

The Kodi addon is made for enigma2, install it tell it the IP of your box and you are done, recordings are all done on the enigma machine so are available on all machines.

Having used both Kodi is the cleaner option.

BTW for movies and TV show I have moved away from Plex and use Jellyfin - completely free with no paywall