Hi Folks

I'm after a bit of advice. A few years ago I bought a Humax Foxsat HDR freesat box and hooked it up my my old sky dish. The box has worked well over the past few years however with the DSO I am loosing a few channels that I dont think this Humax box can pick up. The channels I am missing are RTE etc.

I'm based in NI, but RTE is transmitted to us over the new digital signal. However I have read that in order to receive those channels you need a Freeview HD (DVB-T2) box. I wanted to confirm firstly if my current box is DVB-T1 and so is why I cant get these channels?

I can see Humax have a new freeview box out (Humax HD+ Fox T2). I also wanted to check if this box would be the DVB-T2 that I need to get these channels and also if anyone has this box and is successfully picking RTE up?

I need to upgrade as in additional to my box, my Panasonic plasma that has freeview built in is old and again is a T1 device.

Any assistance would be appreciated

thanks for any input

You could never have picked up RTE using the Humax Freesat Foxsat box, unless you were getting it from the Analogue Terrestrial TV source,
as the signals are encrypted on Astra Satellite, there is now however since the DSO this week been a way to get it from 9˚E,
which would require another LNB or an offset LNB and by positioning the LNB in that direction and then Manually Tuning in the Frequency details

Another way to get it is by buying the Humax Fox T2 or the Humax HDR Fox T2 Freeview box and tuning all the channels in using the Auto Tune Option
or do the same with an approved Saorview box, if you do buy a Saorview box then you will get more channels then any other platform,
with the Saorview box you will get the following extra channels

TV3
3e
RTE News
RTE jnr
and about 10 Radio Stations

See here for details www.saorview.ie/ or here www.goingdigital.ie/

Hi and thanks for the reply

Yes I was getting RTE via a standard analogue signal that went into the TV.

I don't want to buy a sole Saorview box as I am based in NI and prefer to have the UK based channels. Though I was thinking about buying a separate box for the digital RTE but then I would have to keep switching between that and the humax box

Thats why I was thinking about the Humax HDR Fox T2 but was unsure if this was DVB-T2 and so could actually pick up the RTE signal as mentioned here http://www.ukfree.tv/fullstory.php?storyid=1107052031

The T2 in the name kind of gives it away .

Freeview-HD in the UK uses DVB-T2 so all Freeview-HD tuners must work with T2.

Yes the Humax HDR Fox T2 will pick up the 8 Irish digital tv channels and put them on Numbers 800-807 on your TV guide.

super many thanks guys!

Now I just have to sell my old humax box and buy the new one!

Your Foxsat HDR is a satellite receiver and actually has a DVB-S2 tuner. Keep it so you can receive all the extra channels that are not on Freeview.

If you just want to receive Saorview, rather than recording, get a cheap generic Freeview HD box. This will enable you to get the UK HD channels, Saorview from the Republic with a suitable aerial which I gather you have or "Saorview lite" from the NImux transmitters in Ulster.

The Tesco Technika STBHDIS2010 is a good option and, in my opinion, gives a superior picture to the Humax HD Fox T2. The newer "Youview" DTR T1000 from Humax has a considerably better picture than their earlier boxes - I have all three mentioned. In store the Technikas are about £40 though they have recently been pushing the version with a software update to receive BBC iPlayer (updating the software is simple and the file readily available here if you ask nicely)

Until recently, Tesco were selling the first batch, that required a software upgrade to work properly and which they installed to "refurbish" the boxes, for around £20-25 delivered from their eBay outlet. They seem to have run out but a few are released each week as individual auctions rather than "buy now"s.

Also worth looking at are the TVonics PVRs which are as little as £90 on eBay. The original company went bankrupt but has been purchased and the new owners have plans to further develop the brand.

The Foxsat-hdr is capable of getting the saorsat Ka band satellite Saorview transmissions using it as a fta box. You need a different Ka band lnb aligned on 9E and a diseqc switch.

But no TV3 or 3e on Saorsat at 9e (no great loss really)
Saorsat gets you 3 full time tv channels, RTE 1, RTE 2, TG4 plus a rolling news feed, RTE News Now

Saorview = Freeview
Saorsat = Freesat

I thought the RTE channels were encrypted, something to do with broadcasting rights?

No free to air but very tight beam shape.

http://www.saorview.ie/about-saorview/saorsat/

Thanks Graham. Is it possible to receive Saorstat in West London and if so is it possible to use just one dish for Freesat and Saorstat?

No chance I would say.

http://www.astra2.org/saorsat.html

http://www.saortv.info/satellite-sao...sat-reception/

That's a shame but never mind, I probably watch too much tv anyway. It's just because I'm Irish by birth that I fancied some RTE TV. Thanks Graham for your advice!

Thanks repassac, it looks like I'm out of luck unless I move to Wales!

I can get the full range of the Saorview RTE TV output here in Carrickfergus, 10 miles North of Belfast, on my Technika HD Feeview STB. They appear in the 800's on the program guide. My question is if I take up the "Youview" offer from Talktalk, will I still get the full range of channels after tuning it in? Anybody had success with this option? Thanks. Cant get access to RTE on Freesat. Need to outlay a small fortune for Saorsat.

I always thought it was Irish government policy to cover the whole of the island of Ireland with RTE.

Plus, of course, if you have the custom firmware installed you can add them to your Freesat channel list and watch them without having to change mode. You can also record them by setting a manual timer, you won't get any EPG information from them unfortunately.

I did the method below, it was surprisingly easy and works exceptionally well!

I can access the digital aertel service as well in freesat mode and I get now and next listings.

The only problem is 3e and tv3 are not on saorsat service, but small loss, I have my utv!

I can even organise them into my own favourites list so its exactly like my old analogue tv,
1. bbc1,
2. bbc2,
3. itv,
4. ch4,
5. rte1
6. rte2

just like the good ol days...

Plus, of course, if you have the custom firmware installed you can add them to your Freesat channel list and watch them without having to change mode. You can also record them by setting a manual timer, you won't get any EPG information from them unfortunately.

rte.ie/player has some content that can be watched outside of Ireland.