Toppy.org.uk ~ View topic - Freesat Alternative

Author

Message

< Satellite receivers, cable boxes and PVRs ~ Freesat Alternative

Page 1 of 1

rbeilby

Posted: Sat Dec 20, 2014 11:37 am

Regular contributor Joined: 30 Nov 2005 Posts: 82 Location: South Bedfordshire

A wind turbine has just been commissioned near us. It is direct line of sight between our aerial and the transmitter. Freeview reception is now appalling, so our options are now to turn the aerial to another transmitter or to go to Freesat.

My question is: is there a Freesat equivalent of the Toppy TF-5800 and TF-5810 DVRs? I record quite a lot of programmes and burn them to DVD, so I will want to continue to do this.

I have had to take my TF-5810 out of service because it keeps crashes with all the noise. I do not want it damaging.

Any help gratefully accepted.

_________________
--

Regards,

Richard Beilby.

ryclark

Posted: Sat Dec 20, 2014 12:50 pm

Frequent contributor Joined: 10 Jul 2005 Posts: 1604 Location: Shropshire

This thread might give you some alternatives:

http://forum.toppy.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=20627

_________________
TF5800t, TS On, F/W: MS6 Recommended F/W 12/9/2009 -Fm
TAPs: PcControl B1.4; MyInfo B5.6; EPG2MEI v0.96; MyStuff 6.6; MHEG On/Off A3; Extend v1.7; SecCache (UK) v0.4; EIT Sub (Game) v0.6; TSSaver v0.5;
Sig generated by MyInfo on 13/10/14?

billmars

Posted: Sat Dec 20, 2014 1:16 pm

Frequent contributor Joined: 17 Sep 2005 Posts: 761

I suspect you may have a case for the turbine company to supply you with an alternative method of receiving TV. I know of one case where a tall building was built, effectively cutting out terrestrial TV reception to those on 'the wrong side', and alternative TV reception facilities were supplied.
It may be worth investigating!

_________________
BM
Firmware
5800 Samsung 1Tb Autostart TAPs: Extend 1.7;TSRCommander 1.5;TF5000 Display 1.53;EPG2MEI 0.95;MyStuff 6.6;QuickJump 1.72;Power Down 0.75;SecCache 0.4;TSSaver 0.4;MHEG Control B2;eit_sub_sng 0.6 Transmitter: Belmont Extras: as2mei (via NSLU2)

TF5800

Geoff Bacon

Posted: Sat Dec 20, 2014 1:21 pm

Frequent contributor Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Posts: 4492

What is your post code?

Suggest you stick it into the ukfree web site and see what transmitters you can receive (I suspect you are using Emley Moor; ukfree indicates that large areas of this overlap with the Bilsdale tranmitter).

Is your normal TV affected (when using a direct aerial) or just the toppy?

Geoff

_________________
TopManager program
TF5800, TS On, F/W: MS6 Recommended F/W 12/9/2009 -Sy+EvEzPfUUuZ
TAPs: PcControl B1.4; StopExit v1.01; PruneEPG 1.0; fsSave 1.1; QuickJump 1.72; SecCache (UK) v0.4; EIT Sub (Game) v0.6; EPG2MEI v0.96; MyStuff 6.6; Bookmark 3.0; Extend v1.7; Font Manager 1.0d; MyInfo B5.6; MHEG On/Off A3;
Sig generated by EMJB's MyInfo.tap on 29/12/18™

rbeilby

Posted: Sat Dec 20, 2014 4:42 pm

Regular contributor Joined: 30 Nov 2005 Posts: 82 Location: South Bedfordshire

Thank you for yuor replies.

ryclark: I took a look at the link. Looks promising, although that product seems no longer available.

billmars: yes, I an sure there is case for compensation. Many households are affected. It is the largest turbine in Britain; probably Europe.

Geoff: the postal code is LU7 0AU. We were getting Sandy Heath, but, ukfree indicates Oxford, but, this is very weak. All Freeview televisions and digital radios are affected in nearly all the houses in the village.

_________________
--

Regards,

Richard Beilby.

Geoff Bacon

Posted: Sat Dec 20, 2014 5:11 pm

Frequent contributor Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Posts: 4492

For Oxford, you probably have to re-orientate the aerial and/or get a different type; even then it may be weak.

http://www.stevelarkins.freeuk.com/oxford_tv_transmitter.htm wrote:

We recommend high gain Group CD aerial for Freeview reception from the Oxford TV transmitter although a wideband aerial will suffice. Some homes served by this south Midlands transmitter may need an aerial upgrade to get good Freeview reception if their aerial is in poor condition or single screened coaxial cable has been used.

http://www.stevelarkins.freeuk.com/sandy_heath_tv_transmitter.htm wrote:

We recommend a high gain wideband TV aerial (horizontally polarised) for Freeview DVB-T reception from the Sandy Heath TV transmitter. ...

Geoff

rbeilby

Posted: Sat Dec 20, 2014 5:59 pm

Regular contributor Joined: 30 Nov 2005 Posts: 82 Location: South Bedfordshire

Thanks for your reply, Geoff.

I am not sure what type the aerial is. It was installed whilst analogue was still going over ten years ago. It was set to Sandy Heath, also in Bedfordshire. According to the maps we are in the Oxford transmitter area, but, Sandy Heath is (or was) the stronger signal.

Next door has had a satellite dish installed because the aerial man said the Oxford signal is rubbish. The trouble is we are in a dip with line of sight to the transmitter.

_________________
--

Regards,

Richard Beilby.

alan_m

Posted: Sat Dec 20, 2014 9:06 pm

Frequent contributor Joined: 18 Oct 2006 Posts: 3523

rbeilby wrote:

Next door has had a satellite dish installed because the aerial man said the Oxford signal is rubbish. The trouble is we are in a dip with line of sight to the transmitter.

Wolfbane
Enter your postcode into
http://www.wolfbane.net/cgi-bin/tvd.exe?

The Wolfbane site gives a compass bearing and distance to the
transmitter. You can quickly check in which direction your aerial is pointing

If you click on the link in the Wolfbane results table (table heading OS
grid ref) you will get a diagram of the terrain between you and the
transmitter.

You need a Postscript viewer to see the picture. A small utility can be
downloaded from
http://www.rops.org/

The older version 5.3 is 350kbytes and is free - see link in the opening
page. This older version is OK for viewing the Wolfbane picture.

If the file from Wolfbane downloads as txpath.exe just rename it to
txpath.ps before opening it in RoPS.

_________________
Ex Toppy 5800 user - now migrated to Extrend ET10000 Enigma 2 box with 2 terrestrial and 2 satellite tuners

tichtich

Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2015 12:59 pm

Frequent contributor Joined: 08 May 2005 Posts: 1389 Location: Eastbourne, UK

rbeilby wrote:

My question is: is there a Freesat equivalent of the Toppy TF-5800 and TF-5810 DVRs? I record quite a lot of programmes and burn them to DVD, so I will want to continue to do this.

The Freesat PVR that seems to be the most recommended is the Humax HDR-1000S. I bought the older model, the Foxsat HDR, about 3 years ago, when I moved to an area that didn't have Freeview. It got the job done, but I found the user interface a bit irritating, and inferior to a well-tapped Toppy. I was quite glad to go back to my Toppy when we finally got Freeview. (Here in Eastbourne we didn't get Freeview until the time of the final analogue switch-off.)

I've just passed the Foxsat on to my mother, who has occasional Freeview reception problems, and she seems to like it. But then she hasn't been spoiled by a Toppy. The nearest thing she's had to a PVR is a DVD recorder with hard disk, which has an awful user interface, and doesn't even record program descriptions. The Foxsat is definitely an improvement on that (apart from not recording to DVD!).

_________________
Richard Wein
Firmware: 5.13.65 (patched). Auto Start TAPs: TapCommander 1.0.2, Power Down 0.6, DescriptionExtender 2.2, mei2archive 3.8I3, Automove 1.8, QuickJump 1.54, Improbox 2.1RC8, Jag's EPG 3.0b3 (TV & radio), Media Manager 1.5, MHEG Control A2g, Extend 1.7. PC apps: DGtoTop 1.1. Profile last updated 13/05/2009

alan_m

Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2015 5:33 pm

Frequent contributor Joined: 18 Oct 2006 Posts: 3523

rbeilby wrote:

ryclark: I took a look at the link. Looks promising, although that product seems no longer available.

There is now a Miraclebox Ultra but if you go to the World of Satellite site you will find many more boxes with similar functionality that can run the same images (software). There is also more than one software image you can run.

I went for the Miraclebox Twin and found it unsuitable for my needs for terrestrial TV and converted it to twin tuner satellite use where it works well. If I was buying again I would go for a box that supports 4 tuners (3 satellite and 1 UK terrestrial tuner). Many the boxes come with tuner slots where the tuner type is an option.

Usual warning - these boxes are not for those who don't expect to play with the hundreds of menu options or get them working with a network/computer.

_________________
Ex Toppy 5800 user - now migrated to Extrend ET10000 Enigma 2 box with 2 terrestrial and 2 satellite tuners

rbeilby

Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2015 6:32 pm

Regular contributor Joined: 30 Nov 2005 Posts: 82 Location: South Bedfordshire

I have bought the MiracleBox Premium Ultra with 2xDVB-S2 and 1xDVB-T/T2/C tuners and a 1 Tb disc from World of Satellite. See the post http://forum.toppy.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?p=265295#265295 for more details.

_________________
--

Regards,

Richard Beilby.

rbeilby

Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2015 7:05 pm

Regular contributor Joined: 30 Nov 2005 Posts: 82 Location: South Bedfordshire

billmars wrote:

Bill,

I am still having problems getting compensation from the company that installed the turbine. Do you have any details on the high building case you quoted please?

_________________
--

Regards,

Richard Beilby.

billmars

Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2015 7:54 pm

Frequent contributor Joined: 17 Sep 2005 Posts: 761

I've sent a PM to you with details.

TF5800

rbeilby

Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2015 10:17 pm

Regular contributor Joined: 30 Nov 2005 Posts: 82 Location: South Bedfordshire

Thanks, Bill.

_________________
--

Regards,

Richard Beilby.

All times are GMT + 1 Hour

View next topic View previous topic Page 1 of 1 Toppy.org.uk Forum Index ~ Satellite receivers, cable boxes and PVRs

You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum