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This is something that was mentioned to us in an informal chat with a mid-level Pace employee, so don’t take it as confirm, but its beleived that Pace are in-line to manufacturer Freesat boxes, after a recent requested downturn in Sky Digibox manufacture. We have no official confirmation (yet!), nor do we know if an agreement has been signed, but it certainly looks promising.
When quizing our contact further, hints at a PVR digital box being the priority were mentioned, as well as a HD none PVR and even suggestions of a Freesat enabled Pace Multiroom server, similar to this one, PACE Multiroom.
With Humax’ PVR still some months away (confirmed as being late 2008 / early 2009), and Alba Group giving no indication on availability of their PVR model, just maybe we will see Pace capitalising on these delays and launching a model earlier. We’ll keep you posted.
June 15th, 2008 at 10:35 am
Please please Pace bring out one of theses for Freesat.
June 15th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
It’s good to see they’ve got a DECENT manufacturer on the job.
June 15th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
Considering that HD is the major reason why most people are considering Freesat over Freeview, its seems that Pace would be silly not produce a HD PVR.
June 15th, 2008 at 8:24 pm
I Think The First one Out There with a HD Pvr Wins.
June 15th, 2008 at 9:21 pm
Definately would be a missed opportunity to release an SD PVR
June 16th, 2008 at 8:04 am
With 70% of people just waiting for a Freesat PVR, then the 1st out of the door with a good machine will clean up !
June 16th, 2008 at 8:24 am
Just read an interesting point on another forum about the current service.
How can you record a HD program in your absence using a PVR when it is a red button service and there’s no one there to press the red button?
It seems Freesat really need to get their act together and get the HD channels in their own slots as this sounds like it might pose a major rpoblem to PVR owners.
June 16th, 2008 at 8:47 am
The ITV1 HD service is implemented as a Red Button service although behind the scenes it does actulally have its own virtual channel as users of other HD receivers (such as those made by Fortec) and PCs with DVB-S2 Tuner Cards are able to watch the ITV1 HD service already with no need to press any Red Buttons.
For the PVRs I’m sure software in the PVR will be smart enough to decide what data to record (the SD stream or the HD stream that pressing a red button would display)
June 16th, 2008 at 9:00 am
I would have thought it would have had to appear in the EPG to allow recording selection
June 16th, 2008 at 9:58 am
I am more than sure the recording of HD from ITV will be fine on the PVR, you might just need to select an option in the menu telling the PVR you want the HD versions of programs though.
June 16th, 2008 at 11:55 am
Don’t forget that with a PVR box you’ll need two feeds.
While this isn’t a problem for ‘new’ users, those who are using an existing dish and don’t have Sky+ or Sky HD (which to be fair could well be most users - if you’ve already got Sky HD and therefore the two feeds you are unlikely to want FreeSat) will only have one feed, therefore a PVR box could be wasted with one feed.
June 16th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
The freesat PVR will still work with one LNB feed, just not the recording two programs at once bit. If you already have a dish it would be easy to buy a quad or dual LNB off ebay for £10 though.
June 16th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
Lee B: Can you modify an existing dish to add a new LNB then?
I live in an apartment which uses a shared dish. There has been much discussion with the residents association about upgrading the dish to allow for Sky+/HD etc etc because the current dish has only one feed. I can’t believe that no one in the area has Sky+ or HD already (you aren’t really allowed to put up your own dish) but that is another point entirely.
The Sky people have quoted a price on upgrading the area’s dish setup and have said that if they get 4 new subscribers they will do the work for free, otherwise everyone will have to pay £150 for the work to be carried out.
Could it be that it is possible to add another LNB for a very minimal cost then? Are Sky talking rubbish? There must be 8-10 houses/flats that would have to pay £150 each. That adds up to a lot more than £10!
PS. Sorry for the long post
June 16th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
For one dish per dwelling changing the LNB on the dish is very straight forward and
would cost around £10 for the LNB (ebay) plus cable, your requirements are rather more complex than just upgrading the LNB on a dish I think. Might be worth getting an independent installer to quote as well, or getting some extra subscribers so Sky do it for free.
June 16th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
The normal way to provide installation to several flats is to have multiswitch connected by 4 cables to a quatro LNB. A quatro LNB has 4 LNBs each dedicated to a particular band and polarity. The mutiswitch can have up to about 16 outputs which are connected to flats. Multiswitches may also be daisy chained in larger installations. So you should not have to change the LNB but you may have to either get a bigger multiswitch, or daisy chain in another switch and lay the cables. This should be done by a compedent installer as the system needs to be properly earthed. You need to find an intaller who has experiance of flat installations. Members of the CAI should be ok but beware there are alot of cowboys out there (www.cai.org.uk).
June 16th, 2008 at 9:39 pm
Why is the HD PVR Digital Box taking so long to become available?. I wish to switch to Freesat as soon as possible, because I’m having to pay sky £10 per month, every month, just to be able to record freesat with my sky box. As far as I can make out, it seems that the HD PVR Digital Box will not become available until the end of 2008 / early 2009. Is this true?
June 16th, 2008 at 10:10 pm
This might sound like an odd or even old fashion thing to ask for but can they do a HD PVR box with an RF output.
Reason behind this request.
I have my Humax HD (FOXSAT-HD) box (with no aerial RF output) plugged into my plasma with a HDMI cable for the old HD
But
Everything ells (sky, video ect) is plugged into an Aerial amplifier in the roof that then sends it all around the house so I can put sky 1 on downstairs and go up to bed to watch it.
I don’t know (or care) if the non-HD freesat boxes have a RF output but I am gutted that my Humax HD (FOXSAT-HD) box dose not.
My gripe is that, because of this I can’t watch freesat around my house after I spent good money installing an aerial system to so.
June 17th, 2008 at 6:49 am
The FOXSAT-HD has two SCART sockets. One of these can be linked into a box called an RF Modulator which produces the RF output you have with your other equipment.
Maplin sell RF Modulators. Their current product is £29.99.
I’ve not tried it but the spec looks good (dip switch selectable RF channel over the whole C21 to C69 range).
The product code is VH89W
The link below should take you to the page.
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Search.aspx?criteria=vh89w&source=15&SD=Y
June 17th, 2008 at 8:52 am
Chris, where did you get your info on the delay to the Humax PVR?
I understood release was to have been July 2008.
June 17th, 2008 at 10:00 am
A quick search showed the following - look at the 1st post on the page - assuming it’s a valid Humax reply.
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?p=24619560
June 17th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
For Pete in Weymouth.
Just plug a wireless sender unit into the Foxsat scart socket,and a receiver into your telly in the room,thats what i’ve done.
Maplin do a range of wireless senders,and you can buy as many receivers as you need,with some models.
http://www.maplin.co.uk/family.aspx?menu=1605&MenuName=Video+Senders&worldid=-9&doy=17m6
June 17th, 2008 at 8:59 pm
Wow, thanks for all the info RogerH & Tommy !!!!!!!!!!
I am going to order a “RF Modulator” over the “wireless sender unit” as I alredy have an amp in the roof that feeds all the TVs in the house. Using the RF Modulator I can go from my FOXSAT-HD into the amp and onto ALL the TVs in my house (Except for my plasma that gets the full HDMI)
Once again, thanks you two
June 17th, 2008 at 10:12 pm
You’ll get a better(digital) picture and stereo sound using wireless,and your bound to have slight picture loss running the cable from the Foxsat to the loft.
June 17th, 2008 at 11:37 pm
Tommy is right that you get Stereo sound with a wireless unit. You will not get Stereo on the RF Modulator as it does not have a nicam encoder chip inside.
But the benefit of the RF modulator is that you can feed your existing amp in the roof so it will work with all your existing wiring without the need to buy multiple receivers.
Remember that the other TVs will only be able to watch what the channel selected on the FOXSAT box.
Just a correction on Tommy’s post.
The maplin wireless senders are analogue transmitters and receivers. They modulate the composite video onto a 2.4 GHz microwave carrier frequency. The one called DigiSender does not send the video digitally. It is marketing hype as it works with “digital set top boxes like Sky and Virgin”
If you have a WiFi router beware of interference as both run on the 2.4 GHz channel range. I see maplin has 5.8 GHz which would be better as less systems use 5.8 Ghz.
June 18th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
Thanks Roger, I should have remembered that anything coming from a scart socket is analogue. Marketing hype got to me, AGAIN.
The problem as i see it, is that the SD picture on some of the freesat channels is already pretty poor,so running a cable from the freesat box to the loft, is only going to make it worse. Thats why i chose wireless, besides its a bit less hassle,and it doesn’t interfere with my router.
If Pete uses the rf modulator and amp, won’t it prevent the voltage that controls the lnb from getting through?
June 18th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
Ignore the last bit of that post,of course it won’t prevent it getting through,coz theirs no voltage coming out the scart.Stupid me.Got my in’s and out’s mixed up.
June 19th, 2008 at 11:12 pm
Can’t be waiting forever. Bought a Foxsat HD for the Euro’s and will trade up for an HD PVR once they have proved themselves reliable. As with most technology, you can wait forever if you’re not prepared to compromise a little.
Come on Pace, give the Freesat marketplace a much needed kick up the bum!