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Freesat box installed, bye bye Rupert Murdoch!

We've recently fitted a Freesat box in place of our sky Plus box which has been costing us £24.50 a month.

Fitting was simplicity itself. It took just minutes to install - all I had to do was plug it in, disconnect the Sky box and plug in the 2 leads coming from the satellite which were originally going into the sky box.

The result is, I'm now saving £24.50 a month, and since the Freesat box (a Humax Foxsat HDR) has HD capability, I get 3 HD channels too! This box also does all the recording and pausing/rewind of live TV, and it even allows me to record radio programmes!

For anybody thinking of getting a Freesat recorder, it is important that you have 2 leads coming down from your satellite dish, but anybody with Sky plus will have a dual feed coming from their dish anyway so can simply buy a box and plug it in.

Admittedly the Foxsat is not so user-friendly as the sky offering and the remote control is fiddly, however, I am 'pleased as punch' with the result, and although I can't claim a saving until the outlay of £230 is recouped in subscription savings, I cannot reccomend switching from Sky highly enough.

Today I phoned Sky and it felt great cancelling my subscription. They want a months notice so unfortunately I've got another month to pay, but after that, Sky get no more of my hard-earned money!

If anybody else on here has just the basic Sky Plus service and standard channels, get a Freesat box and you'll save a lot of money!
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Comments

  • david29dpo
    david29dpo Posts: 3,975 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    True but the channels i pay for (and like) are not on Freesat.
  • brewerdave
    brewerdave Posts: 8,825 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    david29dpo wrote: »
    True but the channels i pay for (and like) are not on Freesat.

    And if you are a sports nut like me,the choice of programmes on Freesat is non existent unfortunately!!:(
  • Fortunately, I'd rather watch paint dry than watch ANY sport so its win win for me :D
  • macman
    macman Posts: 53,129 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    The OP was not comparing Sky premium subscription channels to Freesat, he was comparing for anyone on the basic package who is still paying around £300pa for what they could get free on Freesat.

    If anybody else on here has just the basic Sky Plus service and standard channels, get a Freesat box and you'll save a lot of money!
    No free lunch, and no free laptop ;)
  • davemurgatroyd
    davemurgatroyd Posts: 683 Forumite
    edited 28 January 2011 at 1:28PM
    macman wrote: »
    The OP was not comparing Sky premium subscription channels to Freesat, he was comparing for anyone on the basic package who is still paying around £300pa for what they could get free on Freesat.

    I
    f anybody else on here has just the basic Sky Plus service and standard channels, get a Freesat box and you'll save a lot of money!

    and lose a lot of channels some of which are free on Freeview - it all depends on what channels you actually want to watch even excluding the premium content - Dave, Fiver, Five USA, Sky 3, and some others are not on freesat but are free on Freeview. Also since when are channels that are in Sky's variety pack (the basic minimum sub) such as Sky 1, Living, FX, SciFi, Gold, Comedy Central (to mention just a few) available on Freeview or freesat.

    So for a more channel favourable line up providing you are in an area that has more than Freeview Lite you also need a Freeview PVR (around £100) plus possibly an upgrade or realignment of your TV aerial. So if you are happy to lose channels (take the card out of your Sky box and see what you lose) then cancel and buy a freesat box. There are many posters on all the various forums who have been very disappointed that freesat does not have the same channel line up that Freeview has and never will.
  • macman
    macman Posts: 53,129 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Any new TV has a Freeview timer, so a PVR is not required unless PVR functions are needed on Freeview as well. So assuming an aerial is already installed, as it will be in many properties, Freesat users can also access Freeview as well.
    Fiver, Five USA are surely 'niche' markets?
    No free lunch, and no free laptop ;)
  • ukcarper
    ukcarper Posts: 17,337 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    As you say it all depends on what you want to watch I have freesat and would prefer the freeview channel line up but it’s not available where I am. Also according to freeview coverage checker after change over I will only get 16 channels.
  • spugzbunny
    spugzbunny Posts: 1,235 Forumite
    but ... but ... i love my sky plus. I'd rather get rid of the BF than the sky! It's always so nice to me and keeps me hapy all day long.

    Oh I love you sky:love:
    House saving Targets:
    £17,700 / £20,000
  • macman
    macman Posts: 53,129 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    spugzbunny wrote: »
    but ... but ... i love my sky plus. I'd rather get rid of the BF than the sky! It's always so nice to me and keeps me hapy all day long.

    Oh I love you sky:love:

    But any PVR does exactly what Sky+does. It's not a Sky exclusive.
    No free lunch, and no free laptop ;)
  • daveyjp
    daveyjp Posts: 13,734 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    We scrapped Virgin cable TV a few months ago after realising whilst there was lots of choice we weren't actually watching much of it! Freesat installation has now paid for itself and we aren't missing any of the channels we used to pay for.

    Saturday night is the worst for TV, so that's catch up night for programmes we have recorded.
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