Freesat questions

docmatt

I've just built a house for us, we move in about 2 weeks time once it's all certified and i'm looking to get some HD TV. If its bricks and mortar, ask me, if its digital TV stuff I gotta ask you guys.:o

I'm thinking about freesat and just wanted to ask some questions..

Its a brand new house so no existing dish, no aerial anywhere not even a phone line (3 months wait):mad:

So, I think i've got it right. We have a HD telly and want to record, play and rewind live TV like Sky at our old house. Is this possible with freesat?

If so then is this what i need?...

1. Satellite dish
2. receiver box
3. HD Recorder box thing
4. erm, I think that's all I need?

Is Freesat really all free once you've bought all your stuff? Why isn't everybody on freesat is it because there are just a limited amount of channels? All we are really interested in is BBC1hd and C Beebies for the toddler.

Sorry for the daft questions. Oh one last question, do I contact freesat to set the dish up or can i use a local aerial chappie?

macman

Yes, a Freesat PVR does the same job as a Sky+ box-but with no ongoing cost. You need a dish, cabling LNB, Freesat PVR (not a separate box and recorder) and that's it. The best Freesat PVR is the Humax Foxsat HDR, bar none. There are 3 models, with different hard drive capacities-genrally cheapest art Richer Sounds.
Use a local installer to put in the dish, LNB and cabling-or DIY it if you prefer (if you have built a house, it shouldn't be a problem for you).
NB: In order to use the full PVR functions (i.e. to view one channel while recording another) you will need a twin feed from the LNB to the PVR, so make sure you make that clear to the installer when getting quotes. Get them to fit a quad LNB in case you later want to run a feed to another room.
Yes, Freesat is entirely free, but it doesn't give you the Sky/VM subscription channels which some people want (or think they want). However you do get the 4 HD channels.
See the Freesat site for full channel listings.

Lakeuk

Another thing to bare in mind is that Youview will be launching within the next 6mths with boxes for Freeview & Freesat, in the medium term these boxes will replace the current crop of Freeview / Freesat boxes. Humax are one of the manufacturers involved with Youview

neil201

Freesat do an installation service too, think it's £120 for a dual feed including a dish. Have a look at the Freesat website: https://www.freesat.co.uk

As for youview, over half of what's going to be available is already up and running on Freesat with a Humax Foxsat PVR (BBC iPlayer, ITV Player + a trial on-demand film service). Freesat will be the only platform to offer more HD services over Freeview as it's bandwidth limited, NHK HD is already available on the platform and it's rumoured C4 will add HD versions of their existing services within time too. I expect potentially Netflix and Lovefilm may also appear on the platform if the Box Office 365 trial proves a success, there's also talk of 4OD and Demand 5 but must stress nothing confirmed on this front apart from a comment Freesat made last year.

almillar

Agree with everything above, apart from waiting for YouView, the current Freesat platform isn't going anywhere. Assuming you can still install plenty of wiring, think about any room you could possibly dream of having TV in, and get some satellite coax into it and fed up into the loft for future connection. For recorders you'll want 2 feeds for the 2 tuners (watch/record), and install the dish with a quad or octo LNB depending on how many feeds you will need.

renegade

docmatt wrote: »

I've just built a house for us, we move in about 2 weeks time once it's all certified and i'm looking to get some HD TV. If its bricks and mortar, ask me, if its digital TV stuff I gotta ask you guys.:o

I'm thinking about freesat and just wanted to ask some questions..

Its a brand new house so no existing dish, no aerial anywhere not even a phone line (3 months wait):mad:

So, I think i've got it right. We have a HD telly and want to record, play and rewind live TV like Sky at our old house. Is this possible with freesat?

If so then is this what i need?...

1. Satellite dish
2. receiver box
3. HD Recorder box thing
4. erm, I think that's all I need?

Is Freesat really all free once you've bought all your stuff? Why isn't everybody on freesat is it because there are just a limited amount of channels? All we are really interested in is BBC1hd and C Beebies for the toddler.

Sorry for the daft questions. Oh one last question, do I contact freesat to set the dish up or can i use a local aerial chappie?

The only reason I have not got Freesat is that I watch FX and Atlantic channels a lot and they are not available on Freesat, otherwise I would most certainly have a Humax or Samsung box.