Leave Sky and go to Freesat - Any good?

[Deleted User]

Robisere wrote: »

I never said that I hate it, it would be ridiculous to hate such a monolithic, faceless, moneygrabbing, institutionally incompetent organisation.

Sounds pretty hateful to me!

dancing_star

Apologies if I'm being really thick here. I've never had any TV other than Freeview before.

My new house has a satellite dish, and the end of the internal aerial has two connector things on it - splits in two. Sorry I don't know technical terms!

I am not paying for Sky, but I want to get a freesat box. Humax HDR 1100S will do me fine. I don't watch a lot of tv but the catch up, iplayer, on demand etc will be useful.

Now, the main telly will be in my living room (where the satellite aerial lives). But I'd like a second telly upstairs in my spare room / gym.

I've googled, and found that unless I want to pay £££ for hard wiring (I don't, although the satellite dish is on the wall just outside the gym room) I will have to use a video sender/receiver.

My questions are twofold:

1) The range of video senders/receivers is baffling and I don't understand half the terms. I'm not tech savvy! Can anyone suggest a brand or model that will work with the Humax box?

2) I also understand I can only watch on the second telly, what is on the first one. Potentially a really stupid question, but does that mean the main telly has to be switched on and playing, to watch same on the second?

I'll go and sit in Dunce's Corner. Thanks in advance

I will have the main telly in my living room

Cornucopia

Yes, a separate satellite feed normally needs to go to each room where you want to watch TV. So, without hard wiring (which is not that difficult to do), you will need some other solution.

This could be a video sender (either one that operates with a wireless connection, or one that uses the mains electrical wiring of the property). Hopefully someone will come along with a recommendation, as I've never used them.

The other option is to forego satellite TV in the second location altogether, and go with a solution capable of delivering TV via your existing Wifi. Depending on the solution, this could be providing mostly Catch-up TV or a mix of Live and Catch-up. The cheapest option to get started with this would be a Now TV box, which is £15, and provides BBC iPlayer, ITV Live and Catchup, All 4, Demand 5, Sky News (Live and Catchup) and Youtube.


(The two-core cable is apparently called shotgun cable, and the metal connectors on the end are called F-Plugs. The two cores are required to support concurrent watching of one channel whilst recording another).

dancing_star

Thanks for the terminology!

Now TV, I understand you need to make a subscription as well as the £15 box? ie don't you have to subscribe to at least one of the services?

Inner_Zone

dancing_star wrote: »

Thanks for the terminology!

Now TV, I understand you need to make a subscription as well as the £15 box? ie don't you have to subscribe to at least one of the services?

No you need to register and supply CC details but no need to buy anything and most boxes come with a short term subscription anyway so just enable it and cancel right away you can then use it until it expires, if you don't want any future charges. Free service will remain free.

chriz1

I've recently cancelled sky tv and not really.missing it to be honest, so at the moment I'm watching free channels through sky box. But I want something to be able to record pause etc..
I read about Freesat from sky but wondering is this exactly the same.as what i have from sky now the free channels ?

Are all the channels together as at the moment I have to look for the free channels amongst the unavailable ones.

I understand I have to buy a £25 viewing card or is this exactly the same as what i have (my old.viewing card)

Thanks.

missile

I would suggest you compare the Freesat with Freeview and Youview. I found the selection and picture quality better on Youview. https://www.broadbandchoices.co.uk/guides/internet/freeview-freesat-youview

I use a BT Youview box which allows me to record two programmes whilst watching a third.

[Deleted User]

missile wrote: »

I would suggest you compare the Freesat with Free to air. I found the selection and picture quality better on Free to Air.

I access Free to Air via a BT Youview box which allows me to record two programmes whilst watching a third.

It's called Freeview, not 'Free to air' as both systems (and Sky Freesat) are 'free to air'.

As regards the channel selection Freeview doesn't even come close to Freesat. From my experience I would also say you're wrong about the quality of the picture. Just for clarity I have a Sky subscription.

Edit: https://ukfree.tv/channels/all

missile

OOps ……. I have edited my post.

Youview has more HD channels, has more on demand channels and includes the option to stream from Netflix, Now TV, Amazon and other providers. Sky Freesat has a lot of crap that I don't want to watch, but each to their own. Here is a comparison of Freesat, Freeview and Youview

https://www.broadbandchoices.co.uk/guides/internet/freeview-freesat-youview

In my opinion the signal quality is superior, based on my own experience when I changed from a Sky box to a BT Youview box. Perhaps my Sky installation was not perfect?

almillar

I read about Freesat from sky but wondering is this exactly the same.as what i have from sky now the free channels ?

Yes - if you've cancelled your subscription, and left your card in, you've basically got Freesat from Sky. You CAN pay £10+ per month to Sky to get back the recording facility, but by the time you do that for a year or so, you could buy a Freesat recorder instead.

Are all the channels together as at the moment I have to look for the free channels amongst the unavailable ones.

They'll be in exactly the same place on your Sky box, no matter what you pay. Freesat has different channel numbers.

I understand I have to buy a £25 viewing card or is this exactly the same as what i have (my old.viewing card)

You continue to use your old card, as long as it's not too old a card. Sky reserve the right to charge for another one though, any time in the future.