Hi,

Currently on Sky+ HD, and thinking of moving across to Freesat+ HD.

The most essential item that I need on a new box is the ability to have a second coax output, the same as ny Sky box, so I can still control the box and watch the content upstairs, via said coax and an infra red "Sky Eye".

Do any freesat+ HD boxes offer this? I've looked at a few and cant see any specifics!.

Cheers

Tim

No, they don't, but you can buy a couple of add-ons to give you the same functionality.

Hope you make the move and enjoy your savings.

None of them offer either RF outputs or 'magic eye' capability, it's a huge mistake on the part of Freesat. However, they have eventually realised that, and the new Freesat specification due this year adds both - so eventually Freesat boxes should be available that do what you want.

You can currently do a clumsy workround though, with an external modulator and remote system.

Any details on the new kit coming out that will support it. Sounds like a more attractive solution, rather than cobbling a few parts together!!

Cheers

Well, you're looking at a long wait.

Quite a few people have done this work-around and are perfectly happy with it.

As it'll probably be at least a year before any new hardware appears you have to ask yourself if it's worth @~£240 just to avoid couple of extra wires.

Something that sky box can't do - a good work around to the "Sky Eye"

Buy the Humax Foxsat HDR - Jailbreak it with a very safe update (Not 1 reported problem so far)

That now opens the box up fully, you can now stream up to 7 other devices all at the same time. (all can be watching a different recording)

Your also able to transfer all your DVD Collection over onto the humax too Something a sky box could only dream !

more details go to

The Dummies Guide (With pictures)

http://www.avforums.com/forums/frees...ies-guide.html

The Official Thread (report problems)

http://www.avforums.com/forums/frees...lease-3-a.html

I can see the advantage of a second room output but surely the old RF method is a bit dated and I guess it will not be long before TV's are on sale which don't support 625 lines UHF tuning.

Automan.

That's a very interesting point.

After DSO is complete there will be very little use for analogue tuning so presumably it will disappear in short order.

Well I guess that we will need to distribute the HDMI signal
Here is some interesting stuff http://www.hdmi.org/installers/longcablelengths.aspx

There is money to be made if someone comes up with a neat and inexpensive solution with remote return.

That's very interesting. I had no idea you could go as far as 30m with a repeater!

Cheers

£240 is a bit steep, even taking into account the saving from a Sky sub!!

Any details on the alternative solution?

I think Jepsons estimate includes the Foxsat-hdr. To a single TV you could just add an external modulator and a remote control extender.

Modulator example

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/RF-MODULATOR-C...item53e71cf867

Remote Control Extender

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PowerMid-XL-Re...item20b897191a

As others have said you are perputating a convenient but low quality system.

Full HD remote operation can be done using a pair of network cables and a pair of baluns over very long distances.

I moved from Sky HD and used this guide to achieve the RF control etc.

http://www.bermudaviper.co.uk/News/H...at_hd_pvr.html

There's never been any such suggestion from the set manufacturers, and it makes MUCH better sense to still keep the analogue tuners - for just such uses as Sky boxes, VCR's and DVD recorders. Particularly as modern sets are dropping SCART sockets down to only one, and perhaps none in the near future.

As sets tend to be pan-European, you would also need all of Europe to have gone digital only before you could even contemplate dropping analogue support.

I can buy the idea that sets might continue to be made until all of Europe goes digital - it would depend on the modularity of the design and the cost of the tuner.

But, really, LOL at the idea that the manufacturers are going to include superfluous tuners just for a sky kludge.

Plus VCR's, plus DVD recorders, plus all and sundry that include modulators. The point is that DTT modulators are excessively complicated and expensive, and analogue tuners still make a LOT of sense for that reason.

Plus the fact that there's probably approaching 15 million Sky boxes in use, which makes it a major point. People here don't have any idea how many people are using RF modulators and magic eyes, it's a HUGE percentage of viewers using Sky boxes (with many just FTA or FTV).

You believe just exactly what you want to believe, Nigel.

All the things that you describe are basically legacy - old and outdated techniques using old and outdated technology.

My guess is that UHF tuners will go the way of floppy drives. Millions of people still had floppies but when their time was up the manufacturers unceremoniously dumped them.

You'll probably find that some enterprising company will make an add-on UHF tuner for the Luddites - in the same way that you can still buy add-on floppies and analogue turntables.

I'm aware they are legacy, but that doesn't mean there aren't tens of millions of them in the UK alone - and I suspect analogue tuners will be with us a LOT longer than you seem to imagine.

I imagine that they will start to phase them out a year or so after DSO - possible some sets a little sooner.

I'd imagine it will take around three-four years before they are no more.

How long do you think they'll be around?

I would imagine they won't even start phasing out until 3 or 4 years after DSO - and probably at least that long again before it's difficult to find a set without analogue.

We'll have to wait and see!

So, you are saying that we will not see any sets that do not have an analogue tuner until the end of 2015 at the earliest.

Interesting.

We will, indeed, have to wait and see.

'ANY' is a rather restrictive word - 'no decent makes' would be more like it.

I can see Supermarkets having special cheap crap sets made without analogue tuners, just as they had special cheap crap ones made without digital tuners long after all other sets had digital tuners.

Ah-ha. Backtracking already.

'nuff said.

I wrote a FAQ over on avforums http://www.avforums.com/forums/frees...cond-room.html

Go for a streaming solution, i.e. HDR + network modification, the quality is just brilliant and it doesn't restrict whats being watched in the living room. Having a media player in your second room means you can add a network disk later and keep recorded movies on it too, or rent movies over the web if you went for an Apple TV player.