Leave Sky and go to Freesat - Any good?

Inner_Zone

tir21 wrote: »

trying to get a way of getting freeview channel swith box connected to a satellite dish. All the freesat boxes on ebay are going for too much. Will I get the same channels with a sky box? thanks

You can't get Freeview via satellite you get FTA and maybe FTV. Freesat and Sky FTA are very similar, Freesat From Sky i.e. with card adds about six FTV channels.

Plenty of channel lists around if you search.

almillar

Short answer - no, you won't. Whilst a Sky box can be had cheaply, that's because it's not very useful on its own. It's slightly more useful if it's got a card in it, because it allows you to view encrypted channels, but you won't be recording anything, unless you're paying Sky £10+ per month.
A Freesat recording box will be much more useful, and will let you view these channels:
http://www.freesat.co.uk/channels
I've got a Humax Foxsat HDR which has given me excellent service over the years. It does miss out on the on-demand stuff these days, but your TV, PS3 or streaming box might have you covered there.
Here's one on eBay for £85 posted.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HUMAX-FOXSAT-HDR-320GB-Freesat-PVR-Digital-Box-TV-Recorder-With-Remote-T20-/262972021847?hash=item3d3a5a9c57:g:FdsAAOSwnONZDxK6

[Deleted User]

tir21 wrote: »

trying to get a way of getting freeview channel swith box connected to a satellite dish. All the freesat boxes on ebay are going for too much. Will I get the same channels with a sky box? thanks

These are the channels you can get on a Sky box with or without a subscription or with or without a card:

https://www.tvchannellists.com/List_of_channels_on_Sky_(UK_and_Ireland)

teddysmum

If you have an aerial you can watch Freeview channels without a box, using more modern tvs, but for recording you would need a Freeview PVR . Freeview has some channels that are charged by Sky eg Dave.

Fitzsip

I left Sky just over a year ago and have not looked back.

I have BT TV (basic package) and use Sky's Now TV for the extra channels. For about £6 a month I get the vast majority of channels and shows I watched previously.
I also have the movie channels for £10 a month and along side Netflix and Amazon Prime, I have all the TV I need or could want and it cost less than half of what I was paying with Sky.

If you can live without the mass of shopping channels and "extra" channels that hardly anybody watches, I'd recommend ditching the satellite asap and save yourself some proper money every month.

d123

Fitzsip wrote: »

If you can live without the mass of shopping channels and "extra" channels that hardly anybody watches, I'd recommend ditching the satellite asap and save yourself some proper money every month.

By "extra" channels that you think hardly anyone watches do you mean Sky 1, Sky Living, Sky Atlantic, Fox, W, SyFy, Discovery and History?

kellylight

What is the cheapest way to get the free to view channels? We are currently with Sky for tv, broadband and phone (but out of contract). We are moving home by the end of the month, so looking to save some money. We're thinking of getting Amazon fire stick as we already have prime.
So looking for best options for tv, broadband and phone.

hareng

Purely Freesat need a dish at new property that will cost. Additionally Sky shows most of the main Freeview and Freesat channels existing may work. Certainly some years back they did and would just cost price of dish install.
Other than that new set top box required, shop around can be had from £15 delivered to £400 with PVR.


Or new tv with Freesat built in.
Do have Freesat and Freeview tuners on ours with PVR all inbuilt in. Swings and roundabouts between the two but much prefer Freeview which only requires an aerial probably already in property, ours is from 1984 don't get sucked in to digital or analogue.


Amazon you will want a proper 'Unlimited' broadband with line rental and decent speed like FTTC or cable, check the small print. Line rental say cheap at £17, FTTC from £25 and Prime £7 all per month. BT paying for same £61 p/m and jumping ship. Some may have a cap at 25Gb a month when one film could use 6Gb or more, that's 4 films before maxing out then charged from £0.5 per Gb on top of that.





Some of the engrossing series you could easily go through 6 episodes in a night at 50 mins each.

kellylight

Thanks for that. There is a dish and I think an aerial too at the new house.

almillar

Thanks for that. There is a dish and I think an aerial too at the new house.

Good. 'Cheapest' means making assumptions about what equipment you already have. Assuming your TV has Freeview built in, you just plug that into your aerial. That's cheapest. Want to record? Want more channels? That'll cost.
If you want phone, TV, broadband all together, TalkTalk and BT would be worth looking at - you can get a Freeview recording box which plugs into that aerial, and on demand stuff too. Have a look around MSE for offers.