Phaedrus68
Established Member
NOTE: I was typing this post and my wife just rang to say there's a universal remote in Lidl for 8. How coincidental is that? I told her to get it to tide us over till we get our real AV set-up in the new year. 8 isn't a big loss if it doesn't do the job till then...
So to my query: I'm sure this is possible. I didn't really know what to search for, so this is a "from scratch" question, so I apologise if other threads or posts do cover this.
Ireland will be switching from analog to digital terrestrial TV broadcasts in the next year or so.
So we'll all need STBs that will receive MPEG4, and I'm sure they'll come onto the market soon enough (there are aparrently some available now that will do the job, though they're not officially recognised by the folks responsible for the DTT switchover).
The four Irish channels (and more to be added in the future) will be available free on this DTT. Some of the UK channels will be available for a subscription cost.
I personally will be using a Freesat or free satellite receiver for the UK channels - I don't want to pay for what is available for free.
There are combo STBs that will aparrently receive both Irish DTT broadcasts and free satellite broadcasts, some even with PVR functionality via external HDDs, but AFAIK, these only allow you to record what you're watching.
So my planned set up will include an STB for Irish DTT (PVR, if available) and a Freesat or free satellite receiver with PVR functionality.
My question (at last ) is this:
How would the selecting of channels from the two STBs work if using a Harmony remote?
What I'd like to happen is that I'd use one "Watch TV" activity, within which I'd use numeric buttons 1 - 4 (for example) to select the four Irish channels from the DTT STB, and numeric buttons 5, 6, 7, etc (as well as the CH+ and CH- buttons, obviously) to select the free satellite channels.
I'd like this switching to be transparent to the viewer. I don't want to have to go through some messy procedure of manually (or even via the RC) switching between one STB and the other.
When I press numeric button 1, I want to see RTE1 on DTT. When I press number 5, I want to see BBC1 on Freesat. If I'm on channel number 4 (TG4 on DTT, for example), and I press the CH+ button, I want to go straight to channel number 5 (BBC1 on Freesat, for example).
I accept that I'd still have to use the two separate EPGs, and that there might be a delay between the two.
I live in the (probably vain) hope that a single, all-in-one product will come out before Spring 2009 that will:
1. Be able to receive both Irish DTT and Freesat channels.
AND
2. Have an EPG and favourites menus that can combine channels from both signals.
AND
3. Allow me to record one channel while watching another, whether they're both DTT or Freesat or one of each.
Till that product surfaces, it looks like it'll have to be two separate STBs.
I hope I've made myself clear and that my faff hasn't confused my basic question: will a harmony RC do what I want?
Thanks,
Mark
So to my query: I'm sure this is possible. I didn't really know what to search for, so this is a "from scratch" question, so I apologise if other threads or posts do cover this.
Ireland will be switching from analog to digital terrestrial TV broadcasts in the next year or so.
So we'll all need STBs that will receive MPEG4, and I'm sure they'll come onto the market soon enough (there are aparrently some available now that will do the job, though they're not officially recognised by the folks responsible for the DTT switchover).
The four Irish channels (and more to be added in the future) will be available free on this DTT. Some of the UK channels will be available for a subscription cost.
I personally will be using a Freesat or free satellite receiver for the UK channels - I don't want to pay for what is available for free.
There are combo STBs that will aparrently receive both Irish DTT broadcasts and free satellite broadcasts, some even with PVR functionality via external HDDs, but AFAIK, these only allow you to record what you're watching.
So my planned set up will include an STB for Irish DTT (PVR, if available) and a Freesat or free satellite receiver with PVR functionality.
My question (at last ) is this:
How would the selecting of channels from the two STBs work if using a Harmony remote?
What I'd like to happen is that I'd use one "Watch TV" activity, within which I'd use numeric buttons 1 - 4 (for example) to select the four Irish channels from the DTT STB, and numeric buttons 5, 6, 7, etc (as well as the CH+ and CH- buttons, obviously) to select the free satellite channels.
I'd like this switching to be transparent to the viewer. I don't want to have to go through some messy procedure of manually (or even via the RC) switching between one STB and the other.
When I press numeric button 1, I want to see RTE1 on DTT. When I press number 5, I want to see BBC1 on Freesat. If I'm on channel number 4 (TG4 on DTT, for example), and I press the CH+ button, I want to go straight to channel number 5 (BBC1 on Freesat, for example).
I accept that I'd still have to use the two separate EPGs, and that there might be a delay between the two.
I live in the (probably vain) hope that a single, all-in-one product will come out before Spring 2009 that will:
1. Be able to receive both Irish DTT and Freesat channels.
AND
2. Have an EPG and favourites menus that can combine channels from both signals.
AND
3. Allow me to record one channel while watching another, whether they're both DTT or Freesat or one of each.
Till that product surfaces, it looks like it'll have to be two separate STBs.
I hope I've made myself clear and that my faff hasn't confused my basic question: will a harmony RC do what I want?
Thanks,
Mark