Freesat boxes.

shaven-monkey

Wondering if anyone uses freesat.

The bargain basement box is listed at £30 from argoos :- Bush BFSAT02SD Black Freesat SD Digital Box

I've had several freeview boxes over the last couple of years and they seem to die pretty fast. I have a sat dish on the house, I assume it's aligned to the right sat.

So, anyone got advice or thoughts?

david39

I have freesat, but it's built into the TV set.

However, I can confirm that a Sky dish will work. We cancelled Sky about 10 years ago and the dish had been on the chimney, unused, ever since. I just plugged the lead into the set and it worked immediately.

Have you considered Freeview again, now that it is going HD? If you are buying a new box of some sort anyway, if you get one of the new ones that receive Freeview HD then, not only will you get ITV HD and BBC HD, but you will also get Channel4 HD, which is not on Freesat. None of the free-to-air Sky channels are on Freesat either (Sky News, Sky 3, Euro Sport etc). If you do this, make sure the box is capable of Freeview HD and not one of the older variety.

With a Freesat box, though, you will get the Free-to-air channels from the Sky satellite - but these are mainly rubbish anyway, so not really worth considering.

shaven-monkey

Problem is that my freeview reception is terrible, as is mobile phone signal.
I was looking at freesat as a way to get decent signal. No point getting a HD box as I don't have an HD TV.

Pokerlad

david39 wrote: »

None of the free-to-air Sky channels are on Freesat either (Sky News, Sky 3, Euro Sport etc).

Thats because none of these channels are Free to Air. Sky 3 is Free to View and Sky News and Eurosport are part of the News and Events mix that is paid for.

ukcarper

Pokerlad wrote: »

Thats because none of these channels are Free to Air. Sky 3 is Free to View and Sky News and Eurosport are part of the News and Events mix that is paid for.

Are you sure about Sky News I have no subscription to Sky and have an old Sky box with no card in it and can get Sky News.

Pokerlad

ukcarper wrote: »

Are you sure about Sky News I have no subscription to Sky and have an old Sky box with no card in it and can get Sky News.

Very sure. Dont know how you are doing that. You shouldnt be able to get it even with a card in the box if you dont subscribe to News and Events pack.

ukcarper

Sky news is available on freesat from sky see link http://www.freesatfromsky.co.uk/freesat-tv-choice-news.aspx#buttons. see also

http://www.radioandtelly.co.uk/satellitefree.html Scroll down

david39

Sky News, Sky Sports News and Sky 3 are all on FreeView - sorry, I said Eurosport earlier for Sky Sports News - not a sports fan, I'm afraid.

In addition, the Dave Channels are on Freeview but not Freesat.

auchterarder

iv just bought a panasonic freesat tv does anyone no how to add any extra channels to this? Fiver and fiveusa are a couple that iv noticed i no longer have? any freesat advice gratefully appreciated?

david39

Fiver and Five USA are not on Freesat, only on Freeview. The channel selection on these broadcast systems is similar but not exactly the same.

The television will auto-tune in all available Freesat channels when it's first switched on and will also automatically add new ones and delete old ones when the line-up changes - unless you have altered this in "Set Up" from the factory settings. This updating takes place transparently, so you are not aware of it until the new channel appears in the listing.

Similarly, it will tell you when a new Freeview channel becomes available and will ask you if you want to auto-tune it immediately or later. It deletes old channels automatically - again, subject to you not altering the factory settings.

The set will automatically update its internal software via the Freesat signal if you occasionally leave it in standby mode overnight.

Leopard

It will also automatically update its internal software if you always leave it in standby mode overnight. :cool: