cant get a good tv reception.. should i go for virgin or sky

want2bmortgage3

i've finally checked out the one tv socket i have in my flat which i think is an old ntl cable tv lead and can only pick up channels 1 - 5 plus qvc and a couple of restricted virgin channels.

i'm tied to o2 broadband for another 6 months so wondering what i can do to get a tv sorted. i'm thinking my only options are sky (i have a dish already but not connected to anything), virgin, or get a freeview aerial fitted on the roof which might be expensive.

what do you think would be my best option?

Phantom_Flan_Flinger

You can connect either a Sky digibox or a Freesat box to the dish cable and you'll get the Free to Air channels. Your only cost would be buying the box.

Is there only the one cable from the dish?

want2bmortgage3

hi dave i didnt realise that. yes there is just one cable from the dish which i have coiled around the dish for now. i could easily route it indoors. how much could i pick up a box for? what is the difference ina sky box and freesat box? thanks

Phantom_Flan_Flinger

Ebay is probably your best bet for a Sky digibox.
Don't you know anyone who's recently upgraded as they'll have an old box.

Freesat gives you a few options with boxes. You can have an SD (standard definition) box, which will of course be cheaper. I think they're around £50.
You could get an HD (high definition) box which gives BBC and ITV HD. The boxes start around £100.

There are more channels on SKY, but more doesn't mean better.

JPSC

After years of poor TV reception, I bought a SD Freesat box for about £50 a few months ago and am very happy with the result. For details of the channels see the Freesat website, sorry system won't allow me to include a link

want2bmortgage3

ok thanks guys. so is it better to buy a box and a tv, instead of a tv with freesat built in? reason being is i need to buy a tv as well, thanks

Phantom_Flan_Flinger

There aren't many TV's with buit in Freesat at the moment. Panasonic do a few, starting from around £600 for a 32". LG show them on their website, but I don't know if they're available yet.

Personally, I'd buy a box and TV seperately as there's much better choice. If there are two outputs on the dish, that'd be even better as you could run another cable alongside the existing one. This would give you the option of buying a PVR now or in the future.

burro_2

i wouldn't recommend virgin at the moment!

gjchester

Phantom_Flan_Flinger wrote: »

There aren't many TV's with buit in Freesat at the moment. Panasonic do a few, starting from around £600 for a 32". LG show them on their website, but I don't know if they're available yet.

Personally, I'd buy a box and TV seperately as there's much better choice. If there are two outputs on the dish, that'd be even better as you could run another cable alongside the existing one. This would give you the option of buying a PVR now or in the future.

We have the Panasonic Freesat inbuilt TV and the quality is stunning on HD. Yes you pay more but it's worth it. We have a Quad LNB and a Humax Freesat PVR, and it is so much better than the NTL box.

Yes it's more cash than the non freeview version but it's a superb bit of kit.

smcaul

burro wrote: »

i wouldn't recommend virgin at the moment!

Why?

I am a Virgin customer with V+ since last December. OK, it is slower then Sky+ but the content is much better, Iplayer and View on Demand services etc.

Admittedly Sky has the edge on HD content.

I don't think there is much to choose on their customer services either, both are as bad as each other from my experience.

My vote goes to Virgin having been a customer of both in the last year.

aliballi

I picked up a used but modern Sky receiver & an extra Sky dish using a postcode search with local pick up from Ebay for £30, so worth checking out.

I've also managed to pick up freeview channels with an amplimfied indoor aerial from Argos, which cost £9.79 in my son's bedroom & I live in a weak area, although at times it does need a twiddle. Would not work in my other son;s bedroom but when I attached to another amplifier, was able to receive freeview in his room also. As Argos have a 30 day money back guarantee maybe worth a try.