New TV for grandchildren!

[Bazzeruk]

Sorry for all the questions, but we only have Currys in the town who have very limited tech knowledge.

We currently have sky using our own dish with two cables.

We want a small TV in the playroom for the grandchildren that we can play Netflix on as well.

If I buy a smart TV with Free-sat built in, can I just split the cable before the Sky box and connect in to new TV. Does it matter which cable I split? (know I will not get Sky without additional box) I don't want to put up another aerial.

Will i get BBC1 with free-sat?

If not, can I access this via player as I do on the laptops?

Is it worth getting the Amazon fire stick (we use that for netflix and amazon on our other [old, not smartTV]?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Iamchamps]

You can’t split SKY cable you need to run a new feed from the dish.

For a playroom Netflix would be suffice I would get a cheap tv with a hdmi port and run a amazon stick or similar.

 

[Tigercubrider]

Smart tv's can be pretty cheap nowadays
If you run an internet cable or wifi that might be all you need?

 

[winston1]

As said you cannot split a satellite cable. You said you did not want to put up another aerial so I assume you have one. You can split the aerial cable.

 

[ericmark]

Some satellite boxes do have an output and well as input, but the LNB is told by the receiver what to do, so there are groups of programs which all use the same, so you can watch another program within that group, but not any program within a different group. And the Sky satellite box does not have as far as I am aware an output socket. So you could feed new box then sky but not other way around.

In the main the LNB's have 4 outputs, so likely all you need is a new cable to the LNB.

As to what you can watch, yes BBC 1, 2, seem to remember there is one think called Abba or something like that which you can't get, ITV 1,2,3,4 and the plus one all on satellite for free. And unlike freeview not turned off in middle of program around midnight as happens with ITV3+1. There are so many free programs hard to know what to watch, with most receivers you can scan for free programs only.

The big difference between boxes is the electronic program guide (EPG) some have non, some only now and next, some you have to select program to access guide, and some have great guide just like the sky one. I think the good one is called FreeSat where the others are called Free to Air. Both satellite and both get same programs, it is just the EPG which is different.

Some boxes have other features, mine shows freeview and free to air seamlessly you have to look to see if terrestrial or satellite and you can if you wish move programs around so you can have ITV, ITV+1, ITV2 etc all together, it will also record to a hard drive and play back from hard drive.

Again some will also connect to internet, mine should but it has has never been much good, at one point I could get weather reports on it, but now that's stopped working, same with Bluray player, when we first got it could watch BBC iplayer, now it won't work. Seems same with some TV's.

I got a very cheap Asda Polaroid tv which again can record and play back. When I first came to use it, programs 1 to 99 were reserved for analogue and 101 up were terrestrial, as with satellite box I could move the programs, we moved house so I did a clean install, this time programs have normal freeview numbers, not a clue why it has changed. Maybe it could fine no terrestrial signal? It also this time allowed me to select region English or Welsh, that option never came up first time. So unlike the more expensive TV's it does not ask to be returned all the time.

 

[Lucid]

As everyone else has said, splitting the satellite cable feed doesn't really work. Running an additional cable is definitely the way to go.

Nearly all TVs are now SmartTVs. However, history has shown us very very clearly that TV manufacturers are poor at maintaining the apps on their TVs beyond 3-5 years.

The problem is that they build custom versions from the basic developer's kit, but then don't spend any money to keep them updated to cope with changes or developments from the service provider. The result is that sooner or later these custom apps encounter problems and eventually become too outdated to run properly.

Going for services based on the vanilla apps as hosted by smart-phones, tablets, USB sticks or Android boxes gives you a better chance of the functionality working for several years. With something such as the Amazon Fire series of devices, you have a very big company sitting behind the promise that their product will continue work, and more than that, they're financially motivated to make this happen because they want you to purchase some of their premium content.

iPlayer in a TV app will give you the same selection of streamable programmes as you get from iPlayer on the laptop. It won't provide a live TV feed.

To be honest, unless the grandchildren are young enough to be satisfied with CBBC playing hours of Pepper Pig, then I wouldn't worry so much about a live TV feed for them. Children aren't so interested in just watching what happens to be on. They'd much rather go off to the apps and go find their own content.

 

[Tigercubrider]

My Sony (2 year old) plays live iplayer

 

[Sureitsoff?]

New TV for grandchildren!

Seems like a good swap to me!!!!!

 

[Bazzeruk]

Sounds like smart TV with amazon firestick is the best option. Sorry I misled you Winston1 - i meant i didn't want to put up an aerial as well as the dish that i already have (which is a Sky one, by the way - they just used my old cables)

Alternatively, are indoor aerials any good these days?

 

[winston1]

Indoor aerials are no better than they have ever been. The laws of physics have not changed. Best are ones that look like an aerial, not fancy plastic blocks. Also don't be fooled by amplified ones. Amplifiers on indoor aerials just amplify the local noise.

 

[turanafon]

Smart TV with wifi will connect to your internet , and you can play netflix, youtube etc.

 

[ericmark]

I got it wrong, daughter and son had both given me films I could play to the grand kids, hard drive seems full of the things, we watched one or two seemed great, however watching on the computer is one thing, half or may be more simply don't work the the Smart TV. Also I can record and delete what I have recorded, but all the other rubbish my kids have given me, for their kids to watch needs the hard drive removing and taken to PC to delete anything. So the hard drive is full of either stuff they have already watched 100 times, or stuff that will not play.

So be it Pop or Tiny Pop, there will be some thing my kids don't what their kids to watch, mainly the adds, so limited to BBC, daughter comes along and puts on Netflixs and at long last grand kids settle down. So all in all Smart TV did not really work, as we don't have NetFlixs, best option is what we use to have which was an old computer under the TV which could play things either from DVD or hard drive and once watched we could delete.

So for grand kids I don't need an aerial or LNB and sky dish, just an old computer and some thing to view it on be a monitor or old TV. I or my kids can select exactly what they watch, I am 100% sure the grand kids have not found the adult content access code there is simply nothing on the PC I don't want them to watch.

I find DVD's are best, if the kids want to go home, then I just give grand kids the DVD to watch latter, I no longer bother with TV for grand kids. In the main it's one of what seems to be 100's of DVD's collected over the years.

 

[Bazzeruk]

Really disappointed. Bought the Toshiba model which, on the advert photo shows apps along the bottom, including ITV hub and More 4. However these are not available via wireless connections as they require Adobe which is not supported. Does anyone know of a manufacturer who produces a TV that will support these Apps?

Thanks

 

[Diyisfun]

Samsung