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BT set top box

Earthling — Sun, 10 Dec 2023 11:37:23 GMT

Currently deciding on a new TV setup and favouring a Samsung OLED. However Samsung don't include Freeview Play in their TVs so I might need a set top box, which I was hoping to avoid. Seems the BT STB is highly thought of but to get it you have to subscribe to BT TV, which I don't want to do. Can the STB box simply be purchased outright?

Re: BT set top box

Brucemeister5 — Sun, 10 Dec 2023 11:52:06 GMT

It is not available for purchase outright, at least not from BT/EE anyway. You may find some for sale on some well known online retailers. I have even seen some of the new EE branded Pro tv boxes on one such website. However, I’m not sure where these have been sourced from, as they remain the property of BT/EE, and even if you do buy one you are not entitled to claim ownership.

Re: BT set top box

Weerab1983 — Sun, 10 Dec 2023 11:53:23 GMT

You can't buy a BT/EE set up box through official sources without a subscription.

Manhattan boxes could be an alternative

Re: BT set top box

Earthling — Sun, 10 Dec 2023 11:59:04 GMT

As I thought then, but thanks for the info. I did have the Manhattan, great initially but, as with many others, it became completely unusable after a month or so. I understand there is an unexpired delay introducing the TVR4. Not an option currently.

Re: BT set top box

NigelB72 — Sun, 10 Dec 2023 11:54:41 GMT

Samsung have their own system called Samsung TV Plus. So if you plug a standard aerial in, it'll pull through the Freeview channels and integrate them into their own EPG which also includes hundreds of FAST channels. Or if you have a Sky satellite dish, you can connect that and it'll pull through the Freesat channels and integrate them.

The satellite option isn't available on all models though.

We've got a Samsung QLED and it's an excellent TV...

Re: BT set top box

Earthling — Sun, 10 Dec 2023 12:07:08 GMT

Thank you Nigel! Didn't know about that at all but if it's as easy to select a catchup programme as it is a live TV programme it would completely solve my quandary.

Re: BT set top box

Midnight_Voice — Sun, 10 Dec 2023 12:34:10 GMT

@Earthling

You can find YouView boxes on eBay, or, if you would like a guarantee, on CeX.

YouView boxes since December 2019 have remained the property of BT, so the latest box, the Pro box isn’t available to own, even for BT subscribers. However, you can become the unregistered keeper of one 😛

The previous flagship box was the DTR-T4000, which can do 4K on suitable apps. Below that, the DTR-T2xxx boxes are all much of a HD muchness, though the DTR-T2000 box was YouView retail, and has a different form factor.

But YouView boxes aren’t Freeview Play either, and in fact don’t support some of the Freeview IP channels, so the Samsung may be closer to Freeview Play than a YouView box.

If you want an OLED with Freeview Play, then LG should be your choice, IMHO. The sweet spot is the 2023 C3, at whatever screen size you prefer, though there are some cracking deals on the outgoing 2022 C2s, which also have Freeview Play. But they don’t support DTS-X like the C3s now do, if that matters to you.

The G3 is gorgeous, but quite a price hike from the C3, and is meant to be wall hung.

We’ve just hung a 48” C2 in our bedroom, to complement the 65” GX in the lounge; when we want DTS-X, the GX soundbar will supply it 😛

Re: BT set top box

Anonymous — Sun, 10 Dec 2023 12:17:09 GMT

@Earthlingwrote:
Currently deciding on a new TV setup and favouring a Samsung OLED. However Samsung don't include Freeview Play in their TVs so I might need a set top box, which I was hoping to avoid.

Only one company makes OLED panels and that's LG, even if it is in a Samsung, Panasonic or Sony TV. The brand manufacturer then adds their own processing etc. on top. Is there a particular reason you prefer Samsung? Bad experience with LG?

If you buy an LG they include Freeview Play, support Freesat and Dolby Vision (which is better supported across streaming platforms than HDR10+), have LG Channels etc.

To be fair, the point may be mute all round with Freely launching next year on TVs, as the next evolution of Freeview Play.

I assume you are "Solver" who asked the same question on AV Forums?

Re: BT set top box

Midnight_Voice — Sun, 10 Dec 2023 12:31:26 GMT

@Anonymous

I suspect Freely is going to be a lot like IP Mode on the Pro boxes, with just the main Freeview channels, and lots of more obscure ones you can’t get.

And though it might not be able to pull the ‘gotcha’ that itvX has to stop you skipping ads on recordings, I bet it will come with a few new gotchas of its own.

I was holding my breath for full Freeview over IP, but from the careful wording around Freely, I don’t think I’ll be holding my breath, or holding off buying a new TV, for that 😢

Re: BT set top box

Weerab1983 — Sun, 10 Dec 2023 12:39:28 GMT

I read that freely was going to be an app, not a direct replacement for Freeview play straight away

Re: BT set top box

Anonymous — Sun, 10 Dec 2023 12:42:05 GMT

Whatever it ends up like @Midnight_Voice, there is so little of any interest on terrestrial TV for us as a family now (apart from the odd live event), it's shutting the door after the horse has bolted.

Re: BT set top box

Anonymous — Sun, 10 Dec 2023 12:46:44 GMT

@Weerab1983wrote:
I read that freely was going to be an app, not a direct replacement for Freeview play straight away

As per the link I provided earlier from Everyone TV that run Freeview:

Set for launch in 2024, the new service, called Freely, will be built-in to the next generation of smart TVs and feature a line-up of public service broadcaster content and other free-to-air channels. It will replicate the terrestrial TV experience, building on the heritage and popularity of the Freeview TV platform, currently used in 16m homes.

It will replace Freeview Play (and the need for an aerial), in new TVs. I think many are hoping that it is also made available as an app that can be used on devices such as a Fire TV stick or Apple TV, but that hasn't been confirmed or denied yet.

Re: BT set top box

Weerab1983 — Sun, 10 Dec 2023 13:10:33 GMT

@Anonymous fair point

Re: BT set top box

NigelB72 — Sun, 10 Dec 2023 13:22:13 GMT

@Earthling The Smart element has all the main catch-up players so providing you're looking for BBC, ITV etc ,you should be covered... Plus they have a huge app store

Re: BT set top box

Earthling — Sun, 10 Dec 2023 13:43:48 GMT

@NigelB72 yes, we mostly watch the main terrestrial channels so TV Plus should do it for us. Just want one more chat with the dealer first - assuming he really knows all this stuff!

Re: BT set top box

Midnight_Voice — Sun, 10 Dec 2023 13:49:38 GMT

@Anonymous

Reading between the lines, always more rewarding, if less certain, than reading along them, that announcement says ‘replicate’, not ‘replace’.

So while this is a step towards the replacement of Freeview Play, I think these 2024 TVs will still come with terrestrial Freeview Play, as will TVs for some years to come, while they figure out how to get the rest of the Freeview channels, and anyone for whom going IP lowers the barriers to entry, in there.

Re: BT set top box

NigelB72 — Sun, 10 Dec 2023 15:35:18 GMT

@Earthling if you want a multichannel Freeview recorder, you can buy them from most retailers. They'll be Freeview certified and won't be BT Pro-Boxes but you'll be able to record one channel while watching another. So you can plug TV aerial in to that for Freeview and a satellite dish in to the TV for Freesat 👌

Re: BT set top box

Earthling — Sun, 10 Dec 2023 16:26:58 GMT

@NigelB72 That's like our present setup - aerial plugged into a YouView box, HDMI connection to the TV. The old YouView box doesn't do HD though so if we find we still need a box because TV Plus isn't right we'll have to get one. Extra £400+ though, which we were hoping to avoid.

I guess B72 puts you near here, we're B91

Re: BT set top box

NigelB72 — Sun, 10 Dec 2023 17:32:24 GMT

@Earthling Humax 1TB UHD recorder with Freeview play for around £250... B = my surname inital and 72 is when I was born 🤣

I'm in Leicester 👍

Re: BT set top box

Brucemeister5 — Sun, 10 Dec 2023 17:59:01 GMT

Oh, I always thought B72 was your location too. I grew up in B75, so I thought it was familiar to me. I’m on the south coast now, 100 yards from the English Channel.