Freesat or Freeview?

Grampus8

Hi,

Looking to sort our house out for the analogue switch off. We don't have a roof ariel just now but have Sky HD.

We could:

Have 3 new leads from the existing Dish and put in Freesat boxes for the 3 required TV's (this won't help us if the Sky signal goes though as the signal for Freesat will presumably come from the same dish)

or

Install a proper roof ariel and put in freeview boxes (main telly has built in freeview which we can presumabely then switch to if Sky goes out) .

What would you consider the best option for us and in your opinion, which is best Freesat or freeview?

Many thanks as always!

SAHD_Jim

Grampus8 wrote: »

Hi,

Looking to sort our house out for the analogue switch off. We don't have a roof ariel just now but have Sky HD.

We could:

Have 3 new leads from the existing Dish and put in Freesat boxes for the 3 required TV's (this won't help us if the Sky signal goes though as the signal for Freesat will presumably come from the same dish)

or

Install a proper roof ariel and put in freeview boxes (main telly has built in freeview which we can presumabely then switch to if Sky goes out) .

What would you consider the best option for us and in your opinion, which is best Freesat or freeview?

Many thanks as always!

If you already have cabling ready then freesat is clearly the way to go. I'm not sure what you mean by "if Sky goes out", since you can get Freesat from Sky via a Sky box even with no subscription

Grampus8

Thanks SAHD, I mean if the dish were to go out due to interference etc..

david39

Your Freeview signal can also be interrupted so your perceived problem with the Freesat signal is irrelevant.

However, the possibilities of expansion of channels and services from Freesat are far more likely than with Freeview, which is already creaking at the seams with the number of channels it is providing now.

Freesat is the platform that will have the most expansion in the next few years.

Grampus8

Thanks David, Freesat it is.

giraffe69

Your Freeview signal can also be interrupted so your perceived problem with the Freesat signal is irrelevant

I don't think so. In the last two years I have had Sky(& therefore Freesat) go off 6 or more times compared to 0 for the terretrial aerial. It seems more prone to weather interference. none of the outages, however, lasted all that long.

MarkBargain

Depending on your signal, you MAY be able to get Freeview through a set top aerial which could be easier than having all the cabling from your Sky dish.

almillar

Analogue terrestrial is certainly more resilient to the weather than digital satellite, but then, the signal is coming across from a mountain, rather than from space!
Freeview (digital terrestrial) is much less resilient than analogue is, and I've seen the same blockiness, chopping, cutting out and 'No Signal' from both systems. Depends on the weather and your signal strength, but I'd say that Freeview is only SLIGHTLY more weatherproof overall than satellite.

jaydeeuk1

BBC HD looks better on freeview after the last upgrade than on satellite (or at least it does on my TV compared to the sky HD tuner).
Whether other channels will transmit in 1080p instead of 1080i I don't know.

Enterprise_1701C

We have both - then if there is interference on one we have the other as backup.

almillar

There's not really any room for 1080p - especially on Freeview. I think most people can't tell the difference, especially just for broadcast HD.
Your built in tuner should look better than the Sky box, it has fewer connections (yes I know it's all digital!). Just to check - you do have your Sky box set to output 1080i don't you?