Tuning FTA UK channels & Saorview channels via satellite tuner

[wheeliep]

My parents currently have Sky TV but they are getting older now and they are struggling with switching the TV on, and trying to access the Sky channels as they sometimes press random buttons and inadvertently switch the Sky box off, or the TV and then don't know what to do. Sometimes the Sky box is in standby and the TV comes on but the Sky box doesn't. Sometimes they turn off the power at the wall, or on the TV itself etc. Long story short they can't comprehend the basic operation anymore and they get very frustrated. They are located in an area in Ireland where there is no FTA aerial reception for SAORVIEW, so the only way to get a TV signal reception is via Satellite.

They recently purchased a new LG TV (OLED48C16LA), which has a single satellite F connector input. My goal is to get rid of Sky, simplify things so that they just have the TV remote and can get RTE and the UK channels through the TV with no set-top box involved. The TV allows mapping channels to the remote buttons, so e.g. BBC 1 could be mapped to the number 1 button on the remote, and RTE2 could be mapped to number 2 etc.
The TV itself can only get the FTA UK satellite channels at the moment (no SAORVIEW channels are received). Its probably worth noting that the sat tuner is not a Freesat tuner as far as I can tell, but its picking up all the usual Freesat channels, and the picture quality is very good. SaorSat is broadcast on a different satellite from the Astra one used by Sky, so the one dish can't be used for Freesat/FTA UK channels + SaorSat channels.

The only viable solution I can identify is to install a second dish on the house, pointed to the Eutelsat 9e satellite, and run the cable into a 2in 1out DISEQC switch along with the existing Sky dish cable. The receiver in the TV is DISEQC compatible, so my thinking is that the combined signals can be decoded by the tuner to allow mapping of an Irish SaorSat channel, e.g. RTE on to one remote button, and a UK channel e.g. BBC1 to another button.

So can you advise if this makes sense, and if a new dish is installed, will it be possible to map the 2 different sources to buttons on the remote. If it is going to require extra presses on the remote to navigate through different menus to switch between satellite sources then its no good. The end game with this is to have a super simple setup.

• Turn on the TV and its on a TV channel (whatever channel was displayed when the TV was last switched off.
• Change channels by long pressing the number buttons on the remote (that I have mapped to TV channels.

Anything more complicated and its back to square one.

Ideally I am looking for a response from someone who has this specific set up and can confirm 100% that this makes sense and does indeed work.
If this cannot work I think the TV will have to go back and I'll have to find another TV that can make the dream possible (maybe a Panasonic with dual Sat tuner inputs).
Thank you in advance.

Paul

 

[Clem_Dye]

You’re discussing a pretty unique situation, one that almost certainly won’t be easily solved in the way that you’d like. TVs with dual DSAT tuners are now rare beasts, as we march towards streaming (more of that in a moment); Panasonic dropped DSAT from its TVs some time ago. Sony, LG and Samsung have TVs with both Freeview and Freesat options, but even then, the number seems to be declining.

I had a cursory look and it seems that of the TVs that I saw, all only had one DSAT input.

For the location under discussion, is Freeview available? If so, then you could perhaps use that for UK TV and the dish connection to Saorview. That still leaves the integration of the TV channel numbers, and smart learning remote might be a better bet that trying to use the LG remote.

Another alternative might be to use the TV’s DSAT tuner for Saorview and a simple receiver, such as the Manhattan SX, for Freesat.

The other alternative might be to stream some live channels, if that’s possible, although the button pressing requirement is non-trivial.

Do take a look at Hisense TVs. They might have dual generic DSAT tuners which would permit what you’re trying to achieve, although again, I suspect that a learning remote might be needed to keep things simple.
As I see it, unless you can find a TV with dual DSAT tuners, if you want both Freesat and Soarview, then at least one external box will be required. There are FTA boxes out there that could be setup for two different satellite feeds, with the ability to mix’n’match channels from more than one satellite, but there is a learning curve involved, along with the expense.

 

[wheeliep]

Hi Clem_Dye, thanks for your response.
Yes this is a very particular situation.
Unfortunately the house is located in an area where there is no FTA reception via Aerial, so UK and/or Irish Freeview channels cannot be received.
I installed on the RTE app on the TV but it does not have an option to stream live TV. Frustratingly the app on android device does.
My thought to use a DISEQC switch would I think in theory work, but I have no experience with setting up 2 dishes and combining the output to a single cable to feed in to the TV. Also I don't really know if the TV sat tuner can actually decode both data streams. On the TV, in the tuning menus there is an option to add a satellite, which makes me think the idea is viable.
However I don't want to put my parents (both in their 80's) through the stress of having 'the man' come out and install a new dish and it doesn't work.
I suppose I need to confirm that using a DISEQC switch does what I think it does, and the TV will be able to decode the combined signals through a single cable, and the TV can handle mapping the separate channels to buttons on the remote.

 

[Clem_Dye]

It might we worth dropping LG technical a line, and whilst you're waiting have a poke around and see if any recent TVs (2021 model line) have dual DSAT inputs. That would be the best way to go -- two dishes, one feeding a single tuner. Ugly perhaps, but simple.