Leave Sky and go to Freesat - Any good?

Cycrow

brewerdave wrote: »

..having had personal experience of Now TV , also don't forget that it is all in SD (as far as I'm aware) and even with a good internet connection, occasional buffering/pixellation can be experienced, particularly with popular events eg Grand Prix:(

the sports channels are only in SD. But the movies and entertainment are available in HD depending on which device you use it from.

i use it on an xbox 360, and thats in 1080p. Although the nowtv boxes are only 720p

scaredofdebt

Hi,

I currently have Sky+ HD, 3 multiroom boxes and get the movies plus entertainment and kids packs. I have tried haggling but they won't budge and I am paying £80 a month.

So I was looking at alternatives.

Now TV looks good (Sky isn't it?) as I can get that for £70 for 6 months, Sky Movies and Entertainment, the kids pack is £3 a month extra.

Am I correct in thinking for that I can stream on up to 4 devices at the same time?

But are there any better offers out there?

The problem with Now TV is I need to buy 3 boxes at £50 and they use Wifi, my broadband isn't super fast, around 30 Meg, would that cope with 3-4 devices streaming at once?

We already tested it using the XBox we have and that's fine but only 1 device!

Thanks for any advice.

datlex

Hi OP,
Regarding Now no you cannot stream 4 devices at once. You can have 4 registered (one change per month though if you accidentally delete one or an update makes it look new they are reasonable) you can however only watch on 2 at same time.

Regarding paying I am assuming the £70 is on their website? After the deal you can get vouchers from Argos or Game which save you money.

You don't have to have Now box to watch Now, given the price you have quoted I am assuming you are only looking at the website. Look at Amazon, Argos or Curry's for boxes with passes - keep in mind these passes normally have 12 months from purchase life time. You can apply the passes to your account at the end of the 6 months period. The boxes are usually effectively free with boxes.

You cannot record on Now and it doesn't have all the channels Sky has. The black box does not officially have Freeview though there are ways around that. (Of course you can just use the Freestat if you are keeping your dish).

What channels are you interested in?

DCFC79

Could you do with 2 devices and have a freeview or use the sky box for freesat ?

Datlex yes the £70 is on Now TV website here.
You move the sliders along.

You can buy passes for the odd month so if you don't want to watch any films for 2 months you can cancel, they might even offer a cheaper price to stay.

scaredofdebt

Thanks guys.

OK so if I buy 2 passes can I watch on 4 devices?

2 will be OK most of the time but we may need 3 or 4 every now and then, but with Freeview that would probably be OK - they advertise a Freeview box at £50.

I personally hardly watch the TV but we have children!

I do watch F1 which I got "free" with the Sky HD pack as I signed up a few years ago when they had that deal, but with NowTV I believe you can get a day pass for Sky Sports at £7.

Movies, Sky1 with Catchup TV and kids channels is fine, recording is nice to have but with the downloading option/box-sets etc we can live without it.

Thanks for the comments.

DCFC79

scaredofdebt wrote: »

Thanks guys.

OK so if I buy 2 passes can I watch on 4 devices?

2 will be OK most of the time but we may need 3 or 4 every now and then, but with Freeview that would probably be OK - they advertise a Freeview box at £50.

I personally hardly watch the TV but we have children!

I do watch F1 which I got "free" with the Sky HD pack as I signed up a few years ago when they had that deal, but with NowTV I believe you can get a day pass for Sky Sports at £7.

Movies, Sky1 with Catchup TV and kids channels is fine, recording is nice to have but with the downloading option/box-sets etc we can live without it.

Thanks for the comments.

You can have 1 Now TV account and have 4 boxes linked to it but only 2 can be used at any 1 time, posts on here give some tips how to set up the second box, you just log in using box #2.

Yes you can get a days pass for sport for £7 or a weeks pass for £10. As mentioned look on various websites for the boxes with the passes and the passes themselves. eg Amazon

DCFC79

Scaredofdebt do you have a samsung device eg phone, tablet or TV ? If you do you might be able (it could be account specific) to get 3 months of movies for £5.

curty510

After being a loyal customer of Sky for 17 years i have cancelled my subscription. Got fed up of the TV ads encouraging new customers, offering laptops, cheap deals...etc and not giving offering any loyalty retention to existing customers, so after a very long phone call with SKY trying to talk me out of it-i have cancelled.

My son has showed us the freeview system on our TV, and there are some good channels(200+), BT Hub, iplayer etc. Our TV remote also has a netflix button, but we have yet to subscribe.

Can anyone advise on a good service for just films as we have more than enough channels on the TV, also is net flix worth it? (i dont mind a monthly subscription)

DCFC79

curty510 wrote: »

After being a loyal customer of Sky for 17 years i have cancelled my subscription. Got fed up of the TV ads encouraging new customers, offering laptops, cheap deals...etc and not giving offering any loyalty retention to existing customers, so after a very long phone call with SKY trying to talk me out of it-i have cancelled.

My son has showed us the freeview system on our TV, and there are some good channels(200+), BT Hub, iplayer etc. Our TV remote also has a netflix button, but we have yet to subscribe.

Can anyone advise on a good service for just films as we have more than enough channels on the TV, also is net flix worth it? (i dont mind a monthly subscription)

Netflix tends not to have films that are from this year/latest blockbusters.

Now TV tends to have more blockbuster films, the new Star Wars film is 1 Ive seen, the latest Mission Impossible film (inc 2 and 3) the Martian is another.

Amazon Prime You need to be careful as no all films and TV shows are included with prime but you can easily choose to view the selection that's included with Prime.

Film wise: Legend is available, Child 44.

You can easily Subscribe for Netflix for a month @ £5.99 and then cancel so you only the £5.99. Do the same with Now TV and you get an idea which 1 is best for you.

teddysmum

curty510 wrote: »

After being a loyal customer of Sky for 17 years i have cancelled my subscription. Got fed up of the TV ads encouraging new customers, offering laptops, cheap deals...etc and not giving offering any loyalty retention to existing customers, so after a very long phone call with SKY trying to talk me out of it-i have cancelled.

My son has showed us the freeview system on our TV, and there are some good channels(200+), BT Hub, iplayer etc. Our TV remote also has a netflix button, but we have yet to subscribe.

Can anyone advise on a good service for just films as we have more than enough channels on the TV, also is net flix worth it? (i dont mind a monthly subscription)

I'm just learning to use our Smart tv features having cancelled Sky, too. I-player seems much smoother than on the pc and with catchup and the +1 channels you can watch programmes which are originally broadcast at the same time.


We have a Humax twin tuner box, but I haven't had need to set it up yet.