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Freesat/Freetime/Scotland/ITV or STV player workarounds?


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Old 09-09-2015, 10:38
Uncle Tupelo
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I want to ditch Sky and a Humax Freesat with Freetime rcorder looks almost ideal, were it not for the lack of any ITV catch-up capability for Scottish postcodes. I was sure I'd read somewhere that Border TV postcodes in Scotland could now access ITV Player (as the issue is with STV which doesn't serve the Borders region), but Humax have told me that this is not the case and that no Scottish postcodes can access ITV catch-up on Freesat. STV of course, don't care.

I can, I suppose, enter a Cumbrian postcode during set-up which I believe will give me ITV Player (albeit with Cumbrian programming), but that will also leave me with Cumbrian BBC and ITV listings in catch-up and the programme guide. We can live with that as long as there is a relatively pain free way of accessing Scottish programming for occassional viewing and recording.

Can anyone advise if the programme guide and channel guide on Humax Freesat boxes works in a similar way to the Sky box? That is, to view a non-local version of a BBC or ITV channel, one just types in the channel number (ie 973 on Sky for BBC London) and to record, one similarly just types the channel number of the required programme into the programme guide and hits record?

Can anyone suggest an alternative?
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Old 09-09-2015, 12:41
grahamlthompson
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I want to ditch Sky and a Humax Freesat with Freetime rcorder looks almost ideal, were it not for the lack of any ITV catch-up capability for Scottish postcodes. I was sure I'd read somewhere that Border TV postcodes in Scotland could now access ITV Player (as the issue is with STV which doesn't serve the Borders region), but Humax have told me that this is not the case and that no Scottish postcodes can access ITV catch-up on Freesat. STV of course, don't care.

I can, I suppose, enter a Cumbrian postcode during set-up which I believe will give me ITV Player (albeit with Cumbrian programming), but that will also leave me with Cumbrian BBC and ITV listings in catch-up and the programme guide. We can live with that as long as there is a relatively pain free way of accessing Scottish programming for occassional viewing and recording.

Can anyone advise if the programme guide and channel guide on Humax Freesat boxes works in a similar way to the Sky box? That is, to view a non-local version of a BBC or ITV channel, one just types in the channel number (ie 973 on Sky for BBC London) and to record, one similarly just types the channel number of the required programme into the programme guide and hits record?

Can anyone suggest an alternative?
All the BBC regions appear in the freesat epg at the following lcn's , whatever postcode you use. If you use a Cumbria postcode you can use customise channels to move the Scottish BBC1 HD and SD variants to 108 and 101 and the Scottish version of BBC-2 SD to 109

950 BBC 1 London
951 BBC 1 CI
952 BBC 1 E Mids
953 BBC 1 East (E)
954 BBC 1 East (W)
955 BBC 1 N West
956 BBC 1 NE & C
957 BBC 1 NI
958 BBC 1 Oxford
959 BBC 1 S East
960 BBC 1 Scotland
961 BBC 1 South
962 BBC 1 S West
963 BBC 1 W Mids
964 BBC 1 Wales
965 BBC 1 West
966 BBC 1 Yorks
967 BBC 1 EYrks&L
968 BBC 2 England
969 BBC 2 NI
970 BBC 2 Scotland
971 BBC 2 Wales
972 BBC ONE HD (England)
973 BBC 1 Scot HD


You can watch and record the English versions after using customised channels by using the above channel numbers.

To record any or use catch up epg simply tap in the appropriate channel number while in the epg.

Incidentally itv player is by far the worst quality option of all the catch up services. Much better to record anything you want on ITV and use the iplayer-HD service to catch up with BBC content.

eg entering 970 will jump to BBC2 Scotland at the current epg time near instantly.

Incidentally STV player is available on the Amazon Fire TV stick.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00KAKUN3E/ref=fs_m

I have the Amazon Fire TV unit, it's excellent quality.
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Old 09-09-2015, 13:33
Uncle Tupelo
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What Graham said above ....
Graham - thanks for your comprehensive and very helpful response. It tells me exact;y what I want to know. A Fire TV stick is a great suggestion for the very few occassions on which we'd need ITV catch-up. Our Samsung TV has ITV catch-up but it's painful to use.

Thanks again!
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Old 09-09-2015, 13:40
a516
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Why not enter a DG postcode?

This area is covered by ITV Border, and contrary to what you've been told it works!

Doing a Google search for a random postcode in Langholm gave me DG13 0BH. I've just tried it on a Manhattan Freesat box, which uses the same Freesat postcode database for set-up as other Freesat devices. Basically, if its a postcode that's been assigned an ITV region on 103, ITV Player will be available.

Unlike a Cumbrian postcode, you'll have BBC One Scotland on 101 and BBC Two Scotland on 102. The downside is you won't have STV, but everything else remains the same.

Last edited by a516 : 09-09-2015 at 13:56. Reason: added more info
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Old 09-09-2015, 15:44
grahamlthompson
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Why not enter a DG postcode?

This area is covered by ITV Border, and contrary to what you've been told it works!

Doing a Google search for a random postcode in Langholm gave me DG13 0BH. I've just tried it on a Manhattan Freesat box, which uses the same Freesat postcode database for set-up as other Freesat devices. Basically, if its a postcode that's been assigned an ITV region on 103, ITV Player will be available.

Unlike a Cumbrian postcode, you'll have BBC One Scotland on 101 and BBC Two Scotland on 102. The downside is you won't have STV, but everything else remains the same.
For some strange reason this apparently doesn't work with second generation (G2) freetime boxes. From other posts I have seen I think the OP is correct. The postcode database and epg for freetime is different to first generation Freesat+ boxes.

https://myhumax.org/forum/topic/full...and-wales-only
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Old 09-09-2015, 15:54
Uncle Tupelo
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For some strange reason this apparently doesn't work with second generation (G2) freetime boxes. From other posts I have seen I think the OP is correct. The postcode database and epg for freetime is different to first generation Freesat+ boxes.

https://myhumax.org/forum/topic/full...and-wales-only
That was my understanding and Humax appear to have confirmed it. What I don't understand, is why the postcode database would be different and why Border TV aren't upset that what appears to be an STV issue, is affecting their viewers?
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Old 09-09-2015, 16:39
grahamlthompson
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That was my understanding and Humax appear to have confirmed it. What I don't understand, is why the postcode database would be different and why Border TV aren't upset that what appears to be an STV issue, is affecting their viewers?
The issue is primarily down to freesat and the differing postcode data to the original freesat. Whether this is down to ITV/STV influence I don't have a clue. You could try contacting freesat but I wouldn't hold out much hope that it will make any difference.
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Old 09-09-2015, 18:53
Uncle Tupelo
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I contacted Freesat - several times. They spoke nonsense then passed the buck to STV. I contacted STV who said that the provision of STV Player on Freesat is "under constant review" but no decision has been made. I might contact Border, but don't hold out much hope.
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Old 21-10-2015, 09:53
youddiph
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The issue is primarily down to freesat and the differing postcode data to the original freesat. Whether this is down to ITV/STV influence I don't have a clue. You could try contacting freesat but I wouldn't hold out much hope that it will make any difference.
Graham, I think you misunderstood the issue. STV only covers 2/3 of Scotland, not the border area in scotland. ITV cover this area. This Border TV area in Scotland should have ITV player as it is receiving ITV, not STV. But Freesat have blocked this out to ITV Border. Must be an oversight.
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