Freely Streaming Boxes

Lazarus

Lazarus

Retired Moderator
My Satellite Setup
80cm Motorised.
Several small Dishes.
Much else.
My Location
North York Moors
Can't find an entirely suitable sub-Forum for this, so please forgive me bunging it here .....

Manhattan have recently launched a Freely Streaming device intended as a way of accessing Freely without needing to buy a new telly.

manhattan-tv.com

Manhattan Aero 4K TV Streamer with Freely

Manhattan Aero brings Freely to any TV over Wi-Fi, along with all your favourite apps including Netflix, Disney+, Prime, YouTube and more.
manhattan-tv.com

It sold out at Currys and Amazon in no time flat, although more stock is coming. Generally favourable reviews.

Has anyone here been lucky enough (or unlucky enough?) to lay their hands on one? I am quite tempted as our DTT reception is utter carp, but we do (nearly!) have FTTP Broadband
 
Since Freely is - supposedly - including live content, surely the next step will be a TV licence requirement without having an aerial.
 
Its quite obvious the TVL is unsustainable in its present form in the medium to long term. My prediction is a suitable ring fenced fee (£15/month?) will be bunged onto everyone's internet connection cost and the TVL scrapped
 
I vaguely recall Currys asking me for my address detail when I collected a replacement TV on behalf of a customer (ordered online).
 
A TV licence is required currently if you live stream TV and or watch anything from the BBC, regardless of having an aerial, dish, cable, or internet connection. I now watch nothing from the BBC and watch the many catchup services, plus Amazon and Netflix, so I recently discontinued my TV licence payments. I decided to give up live TV when my 90 plus year old mother, suffering from multiple health issues and cognitive decline was required to pay a full licence fee, so 18 months after she passed I declined the invitation to pay it. If they go the route of loading the broadband payments, that'll be even worse, as many people who don't watch any live TV will be brought into the trap.

My new property (if it ever completes) in Derbyshire, has a dish and no aerial, the dish will come down, so it will be only fibre broadband.

Regarding Freely, one of my customers had one of the early boxes and it had no channel numbers, just an EPG, so for every channel change, you needed to go through the EPG, also the number of channels was limited, a little like Freeview Light. I'm sure that in not too many years this is the way it'll go, but hopefully the licence will become obsolete and the BBC will have to survive via advertising and selling content, with perhaps the exception of BBC World, which could be financed by general taxation.
 
Last edited:
rolfw said:
A TV licence is required currently if you live stream TV and or watch anything from the BBC, regardless of having an aerial, dish, cable, or internet connection. I now watch nothing from the BBC and watch the many catchup services, plus Amazon and Netflix, so I recently discontinued my TV licence payments. I decided to give up live TV when my 90 plus year old mother, suffering from multiple health issues and cognitive decline was required to pay a full licence fee, so 18 months after she passed I declined the invitation to pay it. If they go the route of loading the broadband payments, that'll be even worse, as many people who don't watch any live TV will be brought into the trap.

My new property (if it ever completes) in Derbyshire, has a dish and no aerial, the dish will come down, so it will be only fibre broadband.

Regarding Freely, one of my customers had one of the early boxes and it had no channel numbers, just an EPG, so for every channel change, you needed to go through the EPG, also the number of channels was limited, a little like Freeview Light. I'm sure that in not too many years this is the way it'll go, but hopefully the licence will become obsolete and the BBC will have to survive via advertising and selling content, with perhaps the exception of BBC World, which could be financed by general taxation.
Click to expand...
so,just to save 200£ a YEAR,you ll get 15 ITVs instead of 10? With ads every 12 minutes?Great victory?
Here they scrapped the licence fee ,and any Gov't change will bring down what remains of public tv. A cheap way for an expensive disaster. Imagine Nigel Farage's "view of television".A disaster in progress. Think again! and 200£ a year to buy dvds or seats at the movie theatre...will you invite friends.? Look at the USA!!!
 
rodscha said:
so,just to save 200£ a YEAR,you ll get 15 ITVs instead of 10? With ads every 12 minutes?Great victory?
Here they scrapped the licence fee ,and any Gov't change will bring down what remains of public tv. A cheap way for an expensive disaster. Imagine Nigel Farage's "view of television".A disaster in progress. Think again! and 200£ a year to buy dvds or seats at the movie theatre...will you invite friends.? Look at the USA!!!
Click to expand...
I don't get your comment, I don't watch live TV now and didn't before I stopped paying the licence fee, I haven't watched BBC content for several years, most of it is, in my opinion, crap, any good programmes they had, they have since ruined. Like the majority of the population, I don't buy cinema tickets and don't buy DVDs.
 
I managed to get hold of a Manhattan Aero from Currys online before it sold out. It's a nice little box and so far I'm happy with it. I also have a Netgem Pleio which I bought before I knew about the Aero. I basically got the boxes to play around with Freely and because it's nice to get some extra HD channels.

The Aero runs on TivoOS and the Pleio runs on Android. The Aero's menus seem more responsive but with just some pre-approved TivoOS apps. However, the Pleio benefits from having the Google Play store (I downloaded the Dream Player from there to connect to my Vu+, for example).
 
timo_w2s said:
I managed to get hold of a Manhattan Aero from Currys online before it sold out. It's a nice little box and so far I'm happy with it. I also have a Netgem Pleio which I bought before I knew about the Aero. I basically got the boxes to play around with Freely and because it's nice to get some extra HD channels.

The Aero runs on TivoOS and the Pleio runs on Android. The Aero's menus seem more responsive but with just some pre-approved TivoOS apps. However, the Pleio benefits from having the Google Play store (I downloaded the Dream Player from there to connect to my Vu+, for example).
Click to expand...


Thanks!

That seems to chime with Reviews I found elsewhere.

Interesting side discussion about TV Licences, though ^_^
 
Lazarus said:
Interesting side discussion about TV Licences, though ^_^
Click to expand...
The reason for bringing the licence in is that with a television and outside kit, it is quite easy for the detector van address database goons to catch one out.

With broadband only and a Freely box (incorporating both live and catch up), how would a case lead to conviction if there is no information on the channel(s) viewed feeding back to the broadcaster ?
 
Channel Hopper said:
With broadband only and a Freely box (incorporating both live and catch up), ... if there is no information on the channel(s) viewed feeding back to the broadcaster ?
Click to expand...
Who says that this information isn't being fed back?
 
PaulR said:
Who says that this information isn't being fed back?
Click to expand...

Well (of course) both channel selection and search, by remote buttons and voice will require an outgoing data stream to wherever, but surely not to Capita at PO Box 578, Darlington, DL98 1AN.

So, onto Tivo Fuinctionality

Outbound Ports That Must Be Open​

TiVo set top boxes and TiVo Desktop software must be able to access the TiVo service to enable features, access content, and perform updates. The TiVo service must be reachable over the internet from your home network via the following ports (OUTBOUND):
Access your router from your computer and ensure the outbound ports listed below are open. See the user guide for your router if you need assistance. ​

TCP Ports
TCP port 80TCP port 7287TCP port 8079
TCP port 443TCP port 7288TCP port 8081
TCP port 5223TCP port 8078TCP port 8181

tivoidp.tivo.com

TiVo Support Center

Get instant answers to common questions and learn to experience the most from TiVo products.
tivoidp.tivo.com tivoidp.tivo.com


Additionally, from the Manhattan Freely Q+A

What You'll Need​

Three things, all of which you probably already have:
  1. A television with a spare HDMI port (any TV, Smart TV or not)
  2. A broadband connection – the Aero connects via Wi-Fi or Ethernet
  3. A power socket nearby
That is it.

Nothing about requiring a TV licence.....
 
Purely for educational purposes, I'm going to try taking a box to Finland and see if it works over a VPN connection.

Apart from requiring quite a fast connection, I can see two other reasons it might not work. In theory, they could use wifi to geolocate the device or even look at the connection to see if it's coming via a VPN tunnel. Amazon stick's don't do that but maybe Freely is going to be a bit more fussy.

I did test how the boxes behave with the less than 10Mbps connection that they recommend by throttling the bandwidth to the device in my router. I found that if I dropped the speed down below 5Mbps the HD channels reverted to SD quality and by about 4 - 3.5Mbps there was frequent random pauses to the audio and video.
 
I ll be interested to know whether this may be used abroad,including by paying some kind of subscription.
The bundles proposed here are all similar,only 3 or 4 channels in English(bbcworld,cnn,bloomberg,cnbc)
Competition is nowhere,same bundle same price,give or take 5-10 euros a month
 
Copyright for the intended use means subscription abroad is highly unlikely.
 
rodscha said:
I ll be interested to know whether this may be used abroad,including by paying some kind of subscription.
Click to expand...
Unfortunately, I very much doubt it will ever be officially available outside the UK. It is just a free service designed to complement (and eventually replace) British FTA terrestrial and satellite TV.

Personally, I think we should also be looking at 5G Broadcast as a replacement for DVB-T/T2 transmissions in the UK but that's probably a discussion for a whole other thread...
 
It is rumoured that the BBC is contemplating sponsoring a bells-and-whistles-free Freely Streamer, which actually appeals to me quite a lot. Sadly, however, there is little hard info about if and when it might come to fruition. And at what price.

Even 40/43" Freely TVs are available at around the £200 mark, too, nowadays. Which perhaps suggests buying a Streamer for £70 or so is only worthwhile if one has an existing telly with lots of potential life in it.
 
I have a Pleio here in Spain.
All set up and works fine with NORDVPN on a second router.
I have issues with BBC when using it with the NORDVPN app on the Pleio itself.
Yet to try a Smartdns

And strange, but most LIVE TV on it jumps straight in, no need for additional accounts. But ITV requires you to set up an ITVX account to watch their live channels.

Worst part is delivery. Amazon will not deliver the Pleio and Manhattan to outside the UK, so ad to get sent to UK address and sent over privately, and the now usual post brexit need to pay 30euros import duties.
 
Lazarus said:
It is rumoured that the BBC is contemplating sponsoring a bells-and-whistles-free Freely Streamer, which actually appeals to me quite a lot. Sadly, however, there is little hard info about if and when it might come to fruition. And at what price.

Even 40/43" Freely TVs are available at around the £200 mark, too, nowadays. Which perhaps suggests buying a Streamer for £70 or so is only worthwhile if one has an existing telly with lots of potential life in it.
Click to expand...
There has to be a reason why an addon box is far better than bolting a dish to a smart tv with satellite tuner.
 
Back
Top