Sky dish - Freesat or other options

muzzle_2

Hi,

I have Sky+ and Multiroom. I also have a TV in the bedroom with a feed from the dish already set up. However, there is no receiver in that room and my house has no TV aerial.

My question is, what is the cheapest way to get a good range of digital channels on this bedroom TV? Freeview is out, due to the absence of an aerial. With the feed from the dish already available in this room, I assume Freesat is the option, but I was wondering if there were others. Presumably with Freesat I need to buy a receiver. Is that it, or do I need a viewing card from Sky too? If so, will they charge me even as an existing customer with two subscriptions?

I also see that Maplin sell satellite receivers with no need for a card. Do they work on a Sky dish? if so, does anyone know the difference between these and Freesat? Are there less channels available on the card-free boxes?

Thanks in advance for any help!

spike7451

Car boot sale! I picked up a fairly new Pace Sky box for £7 complete!Then call sky for a viewing card.Outlay of around £27...(The cards are £20)
The'll be plenty of non Sky+/HD boxes going at the moment.

Robert2009

Sky have channels that you have to pay for so if you don't pay Sky and have a Sky card you get less channels than if you pay Sky and so on.

Rob

ged1980

or you could get freesat

http://www.freesat.co.uk/

boxes from around £50 will work with your sky dish

will-in-estoril

1. A Sky Digibox. Pros: Dirt cheap secondhand. Cons: Require a viewing card to receive correct regional EPG and FIVE on the EPG.
2. A Freesat box. Pros: EPG, just set your postcode. Cons: price
3. Any other digital satellite receiver. Pros: High quality receivers available for little outlay. Cons: No 7 day EPG; need to be manually tuned each time frequencies change.

(EPG = electronic programme guide.)

If you wish to watch any of the following ITV1 sub-regions you will need option 1 plus a viewing card: Meridian SE, Meridian Thames Valley, Anglia West, Yorkshire East, Tyne Tees South, Central SW

bigblackdog

seems quite conclusive so far , if i were you i would take the sky box from another room and take the card out , see what channels you get , if your happy with that look for a second hand one £7.00 min would guess going rate on ebay about 10 -20 , i am going to do it myself as soon as i can buy the cable and route it round to the bedroom as i already have a spare sky box since buying a sky+ plus box second hand out of the paper

will-in-estoril

Ones to avoid:

Amstrad DRX100 and 200 (prone to tuner failure.)

Grundig/Thomson (unreliable PSUs)