Sky+ and Freesat?

earthmother

Not sure if this is the right place, so apologies if it isn't.

We're thinking of dumping our £20/month Sky+ package for Sky Freesat, but whilst we won't miss the channels, we do use the Sky+ facility a lot, so don't like the idea of loosing it.

I'm sure I've read somewhere on the MSE boards that you can still use the two together, but can't find it right now - does anyone know if it's possible, and would we have to pay the £10 monthly fee or not?

I know if I ask Sky, they'll say whatever earns them most money, so thought I'd ask here first.

mikeandrach_2

if you cancel your sky+ you stand to lose the recording function, you can't programme any future reordings but if you press record you can record 'live'. honestly freesat is a pile of rubbish. its freeview through a satelite dish, which is what you'll get with your sky+ box anyway even ifyou cancel subscribing. the only difference is with freesat you have a hd option, but its only 2 very limited channels. i sell freesat, and make decent money from freesat, but its a pile of poo, don't touch it its a waste of time

horse76

Yes, it does cost £10 p/m to keep your Sky+ subscription going to record etc, then you would need to pay a one-off payment for a freesat card.

almillar

I'm waiting for the freesat recorder to come out, but until then, I'm using a freeview recorder which is the next best thing to Sky+ at the mo. As long as you have decent Freeview reception, you can pick up one for as little at £50, or 2.5 months of a Sky sub.
There are subtle differences between all these packages.
Freesat from Sky is what you'll have if you cancel your sub and leave your card in. Same as a card you can buy from them for £20.
Freesat is the BBC/ITV thing launched this year, comes thru the same dish. It's not exactly Freeview thru satellite, there are difference between channels, and as above Freesat has HD now, whereas Freeview will have to wait a while...

earthmother

Thank you all

Didn't realise there were two Freesats - it is Sky's one that we'd be going for as it means no new equipment etc. Also didn't realise we'd still get any kind of signal once we'd cancelled our current package, so that's good to know (potential £20 saved :beer: ).


Will have to have a think about the + side of things - the plan was to divert some of the money saved from the Sky sub to a DVD rental package (keep the kids happy), but to pay the £10 recording fee on top just takes us back to the same monthly cost, so seems a bit daft to do that :rolleyes:


My mum has just offered us a Freeview recording box, only problem is we're in an awful area for reception (can't get digital radio at all) and the aerial here is dodgy anyway (it's why we had the Sky originally - we rent so can't get the aerial changed), so I don't know what if anything we'd get through it - will perhaps have to borrow it, plug it in and see what happens.

Edit - just checked the Freeview site, and we definitely can't get it through an aerial until 2011, so it has to be through a dish (ie Sky)

almillar

Looks like you're up to speed and know your stuff earthmother. Just one wee thing I think I should point out - you mention needing new equipment for 'Freesat' - just to clarify that if you already have sky+ you'll have 2 feeds coming into it from the satellite dish - all you need is to buy a freesat box which can plug straight in to these (for a recorder, or just 1 for a normal box) and you're up and running. Same dish pointing in same direction, no engineer visits.
HTH

deanos

horse76 wrote: »

Yes, it does cost £10 p/m to keep your Sky+ subscription going to record etc, then you would need to pay a one-off payment for a freesat card.

You do not need to buy a freesat card, if you end your Sky subscription your viewing card automatically enabes you to view the free channels

mollysbb

oh dear now im really confused.... :huh:

I have a sky plus box and im cancelling my humungously expensive package (£56 per month... but now son and heir has left so dont need it). If I keep the box, am I right in understanding that I can still receive free channels, but I cant record? And if I want to record (which I very much do) do I have to buy a new box? And will I then need an engineer to set all this up?

Thanks in advance for all help

Cheers

Molly

deanos

mollysbb wrote: »

If I keep the box, am I right in understanding that I can still receive free channels, but I cant record?

Yes thats correct

mollysbb wrote: »

And if I want to record (which I very much do) do I have to buy a new box?

No you dont need a new box, You will have to pay Sky £10 a month to use the Sky+ features if you dont subscribe to any channels

mollysbb wrote: »

And will I then need an engineer to set all this up?

No Sky can activate it for you.


It may be cheaper for you to get a Freeview PVR so then there is no £10 a month charge

mollysbb

Thanks Deanos. I take it a pvr is a recording box. Would I be able to set that up on my own? Im not too stupid, but im certainly no engineer....

Cheers

Molly

deanos

You just need to make sure your ariel can receive the freeview channels and just plug in into the box