The Brief
Please note at the outset of this project PBTech made it clear to the client that we do not facilitate or condone the illegal access to any streaming or subscription TV services.
For this project the client enquired about the possibility of distributing satellite (Freesat) and terrestrial (Saorview) free to air tv services around their new home without the need for installing intrusive cabling and receiver boxes into every room.
They also wanted the ability to access their paid streaming services such as Netflix, Disney+ and Spotify along with the tv service via a single user friendly interface.
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- Satellite & Terrestrial services not reliant on internet connectivity
- Watch multiple channels simultaneously
- Recording & pausing live tv
- Combine all tv and streaming services into a single user friendly interface
- Low or no cabling, use Wi-Fi where possible
- Low profile streaming boxes if required
- Single remote per room
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The end goal was to have free to air tv combined with paid streaming services available throughout the property. The solution needed to accommodate 3 bed rooms, living room and kitchen.
And in a subsequent addition to this project the client added an external games room situated 7 meters from the main house where in they added a projector screen which required access to the same services. This required a creative networking solution that will be referenced in a separate project.
The Solution
A network connected satellite & terrestrial tv gateway.
These devices physically connect to your satellite dish and terrestrial areal feeds and convert the available channels into a service accessible via your Wi-Fi or cable network. The tv gateways do require power and ventilation and also require a receiver device, that receiver can be any android, windows or apple device with a compatible receiver APP installed.
Android Smart boxes. The receiver of choice
Coupled the above system with high quality but discrete android smart tv box and you have a single interface capable of accessing your tv and streaming services from anywhere in your home without the need for intrusive cabling or bulky receiver boxes.
The options
What did PBTech do for our customer?
The best option for this project was a Network Tv Server but the off the shelf units were quiet expensive, circa €1200 at the time of the project.
PBTech built, installed and configured a custom Network Tv Server in the customers attic space. The attic space was converted into a storage area with power and also had easy access to the required satellite and areal feeds there was also connection to the home router available so it was the ideal location for the unit. The system comprised of a SFF (Small Form Factor) computer with quad satellite and dual terrestrial tuners capable of streaming 6 tv stations at once. The system also included 1 terabyte of storage for recordings.
We paired this system with several Xiaomi Mi Tv S boxes as these are very reasonably priced, they are compatible with most of the major streaming platforms and come preinstalled with Netflix and Disney + apps.
How does it perform?
In case you missed it the tv box can be seen to the bottom right of the tv, they are very discrete.