Help with streaming FTA TV channels

[JTR 2,846]

I'm after some advice/suggestions from any TV gurus that might frequent this place.

My house is within a deep gully, that is a bit of a reception black hole. To get FTA TV via an antenna I would need to fork out a lot of $ to get a 40+ foot pole on my roof and "maybe" get a signal.

So until now I've been relying on my Foxtel cable service to get the FTA channels - 7, 9, 10, SBS, ABC, and their various offshoots. It's one of the main reasons I have kept the Foxtel connected.

As Foxtel will be moving off the off the cable next year, I've been told I'll be migrated to a streaming only IQ5, which wont allow me to get any of the live FTA channels without an antenna.

So, what are my 'no antena' options for FTA TV?

'Freeview' looks to be the sort of thing I am after but my TV (Samsung Q7) doesn't seem to have it.

Is there a set top box or other device that I can plug into the TV, hook up to my wifi and stream all the live FTA channels? 

Any recommendations would be much appreciated.

[Ethan Tremblay 30,844]

Pretty much all of the FTA TV stations how their own app which has the option to watch live tv from. Have you downloaded the apps for each channel you want to access to? 

[Lord Nev 13,512]

On 3/5/2022 at 1:05 PM, JTR said:

'Freeview' looks to be the sort of thing I am after but my TV (Samsung Q7) doesn't seem to have it.

If your model is 2016 or earlier you'll have to search for "Freeview App" through the Samsung Hub/Store and download/install it.

 

[JTR 2,846]

11 hours ago, Ethan Tremblay said:

Pretty much all of the FTA TV stations how their own app which has the option to watch live tv from. Have you downloaded the apps for each channel you want to access to? 

I have yep, but in the Samsung app store thing on my TV, all of the FTA apps are older versions and there doesn't seem to be (?) any way to update them. 7plus for example has live TV, but 9Now and 10play don't - they just have catch up stuff.

I know when looking at current versions of the same apps on my mobile that they all have live TV. 

 

1 hour ago, Lord Nev said:

If your model is 2016 or earlier you'll have to search for "Freeview App" through the Samsung Hub/Store and download/install it.

 

2017  ☹️

 

I've had a couple of recommendations over the weekend for one of these things so I'm gonna try it out and see how it goes.

https://store.google.com/au/product/chromecast_google_tv?hl=en-GB

It basically puts and Android TV/Google TV interface over the top of what I have.

That'll give me access to all apps on the Google Play store, which should mean I can get the most recent versions of all apps I need for FTA and they'll stay updated.

If not, then as worst case scenario I could run the apps or Freeview from my mobile, and then cast to this dongle thing to get on on my TV.

As usual I'm a few years behind the curve with technology so don't mind me if I'm explaining something that is common knowledge!

Edited March 6, 2022 by JTR