LG Freesat EPG 'Channel Preview' Issue

Yes. The key problem with Freesat on the LG (I have one) is that there's only one tuner. A dual tuner external box is far preferable.

For recording primarily, I assume? I’ve just switched one of the Sky Q satellite cables into my LG (it’s a 2019 E9 OLED) to test it out. Found 150 Freesat channels quick enough, the EPG is a little clunkier than Sky but I can get used to it. It also has a record option, I pressed it for fun and it said I needed to connect a drive to a USB port on the TV. So I presume that would work if I do this.

With the plethora of on demand content and streaming catch up services I’m not convinced I need a recording capability these days. I’ll trial that theory for a while and if wrong I’ll buy a Freesat box.

Interestingly, while Freesat has no 4K UHD content, the HD channels on Freesat seem to be better picture quality than HD via the Sky Q box. Which surprised me. Even Mrs interBEAR noticed this when she first had a look, unprompted by me.
 
Yes. The key problem with Freesat on the LG (I have one) is that there's only one tuner. A dual tuner external box is far preferable.
Unless I’m missing your context, my 77C8 has dual Freesat tuners
 
For recording primarily, I assume? I’ve just switched one of the Sky Q satellite cables into my LG (it’s a 2019 E9 OLED) to test it out. Found 150 Freesat channels quick enough, the EPG is a little clunkier than Sky but I can get used to it. It also has a record option, I pressed it for fun and it said I needed to connect a drive to a USB port on the TV. So I presume that would work if I do this.

With the plethora of on demand content and streaming catch up services I’m not convinced I need a recording capability these days. I’ll trial that theory for a while and if wrong I’ll buy a Freesat box.

Interestingly, while Freesat has no 4K UHD content, the HD channels on Freesat seem to be better picture quality than HD via the Sky Q box. Which surprised me. Even Mrs interBEAR noticed this when she first had a look, unprompted by me.
Yes I was thinking of recording in particular, especially when you want to record one channel and watch another. If that doesn't bother you then using the TV will be fine. Interesting about having better quality through the TV than Sky Q.

If the channel preview issue (as discussed in this thread) is a concern you could try watching the satellite channels in generic satellite mode rather than Freesat mode, as the preview window works then. It also gives you flexibility to reorder and delete the hundreds of channels you'll never watch, or you can set up favourites. The downside is that you lose the Freesat EPG.
 
With the plethora of on demand content and streaming catch up services I’m not convinced I need a recording capability these days. I’ll trial that theory for a while and if wrong I’ll buy a Freesat box.

I had the same thought and trialled the theory… turns out recording is pretty useful for skipping ads. Plus you get live pause and rewind, which I missed.

I bought a 17 quid 160gb usb3 drive from Amazon, works a treat.

One thing though - always set recordings by time, don’t rely on the auto start/end record-from-EPG function. Really unreliable otherwise.
 
UK streaming is not really a substitute for live viewing/recording, IMO.

Last week, relying on accurate recording, good ol' ITV chopped the last couple of minutes off of Trigger Point. (No don't ask why I'm watching it!) Anyway, I had to resort to using the ITV Hub. Ye gods! What awful picture and sound quality. ITV has the brass next to charge £3.99/month to go ad. free for this low rent service. Picture quality might be alright on a small TV or device, but on large screen TVs? No. That's the reason why I continue to use PVRs to record everything -- the quality is so much better.
 

This seems to be a general recommendation and I must admit that the pausing / rewinding of live TV is often used in this household as is recording to avoid adverts.

So I probably do need to invest in a PVR when the Sky Q box service expires on 3rd March.

Options seem limited though - a used / older Humax 1100 or a new Freesat recordable box that seems to have issues. Although as I dont need the PVR box to use streaming apps for 4K and don’t have a 5-1 sound system, perhaps those issues are not a problem for me.
 
No, the Arris box will be fine if you don't have an audio system to worry about. As you have a SkyQ installation you'll be able to record up to 4 programmes at once, which is a nice bonus. The other thing to bear in mind is that the Arris box forces HDR so you'll need to adjust your TV's HDMI port settings if the overly bright picture bugs you.
 

Thanks, useful info.

My TV is connected to a Naim MuSo 2 for audio, not a 5-1 set-up, so should there for be fine.

On the HDR issue, is it possible to set the Arris box to 1080 / HD output only to avoid it? Freesat channels are only HD anyway, not 4K, and for any 4K/HDR content I’ll be using the Apple TV (Netflix, Prime, Disney etc).
 
For the HDR issue head over to the Freesat forum and take a look at the Arris PVR thread. I get the impression that it can’t be bypassed by setting a lower res., as it’s an HDMI issue. It would just take a tweak on the LG’s settings for the port that you’re using to fix that.
 
Finally managed to get rid of the "download programme information" error in the mini tv of the EPG, by switching off the mini tv.

I thought the setting to switch it off was permanently greyed out, but I noticed that when the tv is recording to USB, the setting becomes available and I could switch it off.

It changes how you select a channel from the EPG, but still 2 clicks of the magic remote, so all good - and most importantly, an error free EPG.
 
Finally managed to get rid of the "download programme information" error in the mini tv of the EPG, by switching off the mini tv.

I thought the setting to switch it off was permanently greyed out, but I noticed that when the tv is recording to USB, the setting becomes available and I could switch it off.

It changes how you select a channel from the EPG, but still 2 clicks of the magic remote, so all good - and most importantly, an error free EPG.
Hi - I have an LG OLED with the problem of no preview showing in Freesat mode. Where is the setting to turn it off. I have inserted a USB stick and started recording a program but I don't see how you disable the preview?
 
Hi - I have an LG OLED with the problem of no preview showing in Freesat mode. Where is the setting to turn it off. I have inserted a USB stick and started recording a program but I don't see how you disable the preview?
Open the EPG and it should be the button in the top right corner.
 
Did LG ever fix the lack of freesat EPG preview on the C8?
 
On my 2019 LG TV, preview works if I select the guide, then select the channel that I'm currently on, so that I can see watching it as I scroll through the EPG, which is cripplingly slow to load, but I don't automatically get previews if I select a different channel whilst still in the guide.
 

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