Sky freesat question

cav-dev

I'm trying to cut down on monthly expenditure and could do with some advice on Sky Freesat.

At the moment I'm a Sky subscriber, with Sky + box, which I use a lot.

Is it possible to cancel my subscription so that I only use the Sky freesat channels, but buy a box that will fulfill all the same recording capabilities that the Sky + box does?

If so, does anyone have any recommendations as to which box to buy, and will I be able to use all the present Sky cables?

Many thanks in advance!

djohn2002uk

I don't think you can get the same performance from anything other than a Sky+ box. Your problem being you will need a Sky tuner in whatever you use, and to record as you have been it has to be a Sky+ box but that will cost you £10/month or Sky will disable the recording making it work like a standard Sky box.
The other Freesat from BBC/ITV now have Freesat+ boxes (I think) and your existing dish will work for that, or you can get Freeview+ boxes which work from your aerial.

savemoney

I have both freesat+ box and freeview+ box both have twin tuners the freesat box can get non freesat channels too but there is only sky news I think at least for us is what we can pick up

The freesat box can record HD from BBC HD channel and also you can export recording to a usb hd/pendrive (not HD)

From what I hear on over forums the Humax freesat box although its very new and has some small bugs is superior to sky+ boxes

cav-dev

Many thanks, that seems to make things a bit clearer for me.

I might look into a freesat + box, using my existing dish.

perfumelady

if you go to argos , john lewis commet or currys you can get a freesat box they do a standard or one that does the same as sky plus also now they do the Hd box. you have a one off payment (for box) plus you have to pay for installation. freesat is run through a satellite dish un like freeview which is run through your aerial but if you haven't got a digital aerial chances are you would need to get one in order for freeview to work through the aerial

savemoney

There is actually free types of freesat box (not the sky one)

Freesat SD will only show channels in Standard Definition (so you wont get BBC HD, ITV HD only available on ITV on certain programs pressing the red button

Freesat HD does above but will show BBC HD, ITV HD

Freesat+ does all the the two above but can record 2 channels at once and playback a recording (these boxes are very hard to source as its only been out a few weeks)

To get maximum out of freesat+ you need a dual LNB or Quad LNB and twin cable you use the current sky dish/cable no need to realign the dish uses same area. You can also get non freesat channels on the fox HDR freesat+ box

OH a quad lnb and twin cable isnt much around £20-£30 tops, mine costs £18 + postage on ebay. £40 to have it set up by a sat guy (30 mins work)

Inactive

cav-dev wrote: »

Many thanks, that seems to make things a bit clearer for me.

I might look into a freesat + box, using my existing dish.

There are none anywhere in the country for sale, all sold out.