Igloo Box Discontinued Service (Freeview portion only) ?

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SBQ

104 posts

Master Geek

#319726 26-May-2025 14:41

My aunt says her Igloo box doesn't work anymore. Did not know all these years she's just been using it only for the Freeview channels.

Alternatives? Anyone else with the same problem? Pickup a cheap Freeview box off FB Marketplace or go with as USB / Amazon Fire stick? They mainly only watch Freeview channels so would not be interested in any subscription services etc.

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
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Geekzone

Lifetime subscriber

#3376923 26-May-2025 15:16

For most Android-based devices (Fire TV stick, Google TV streamer) you need to sideload the Freeview app.

The app is currently available on some smart TVs, the Panasonic Fire TV and smartVU devices.

wellygary

8312 posts

Uber Geek

#3376925 26-May-2025 15:19

Interesting, Igloo was a UHF service ( DVB-T) and as as far as I'm aware it should not have been affected by the recent sat changes to Freeview,

Wondering if there was a local restack of the channels and it keeled over.??..

A hard reset might bring it back to life, or did it die a physical death?

mattwnz

20141 posts

Uber Geek

#3376926 26-May-2025 15:30

It is about time Freeview provided it as an app in the app stores for all tv brands and sticks TBH. I think Sony tvs can also download the Freeview app as we have it installed from the Google play store and didn’t side load it.

Eva888

2427 posts

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Lifetime subscriber

#3377002 26-May-2025 15:50

My Dish android dongle with a Freeview button stopped streaming a few days ago. Tried power cycling and clearing cache and nothing worked, just kept spinning. All the other apps worked fine. Called a few friends that have them and their Freeview also not working. I went to the Google Play Store and uninstalled the App then reinstalled. Works perfectly now and didn’t need to re programme the assigned button either.

@SBQ Highly recommend the Dish android dongles and boxes for anyone older. They are pretty foolproof and the dedicated buttons for YouTube, Netflix and Freeview make it simple and one step.

Eva888

2427 posts

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Lifetime subscriber

#3377009 26-May-2025 15:53

@gamet might also be helped by the above.

SBQ

104 posts

Master Geek

#3377041 26-May-2025 16:31

Thanks for the quick replies. I won't be able to troubleshoot until Wednesday but they also have a spare Freeview box that can be put into service.

If i'm not mistaken, when you go streaming with these USB dongles, you are also depending on an internet connection? The TV they use is very old flat LCD screen with no internet capabilities, no Freeview, so basically just a monitor. If I recall it had the old analog tuner style TV Coax. It does have HDMI I think.

With a Freeview box, it's coax connected to an outside antenna - separate to say the internet or a Dish TV. This is the appealing aspect i'm thinking of.

mattwnz

20141 posts

Uber Geek

#3377048 26-May-2025 16:46

SBQ:

Thanks for the quick replies. I won't be able to troubleshoot until Wednesday but they also have a spare Freeview box that can be put into service.

If i'm not mistaken, when you go streaming with these USB dongles, you are also depending on an internet connection? The TV they use is very old flat LCD screen with no internet capabilities, no Freeview, so basically just a monitor. If I recall it had the old analog tuner style TV Coax. It does have HDMI I think.

With a Freeview box, it's coax connected to an outside antenna - separate to say the internet or a Dish TV. This is the appealing aspect i'm thinking of.

Yes needs internet , and it connects via wifi. So you can use it with most tvs with a HDMI input. Using terrestrial freeview is ok as long as you have a good strong signal, but we needed a signal amplifier box and even then it could be patchy..