Leave Sky and go to Freesat - Any good?

Rodders53

sunflowersuffolk wrote: »

Apparently, according to OH, we could have it changed around and pointed at Tacolneston - 25 miles away - which offers much more - suggestion on that link for us is amplified extra hi gain, whatever that means.

A more precise location would help. Ideally a postcode of pub, shop, church etc.,. within 100 metres of your home (we do not want your home address!!). Or at least the village name.

Then we can use Wolfbane and the official prediction website at digitaluk.co.uk/postcodechecker in <detailed view> to see what reception may be like from Tacolneston for you, and interpret the figures.

Wolfbane is actually pretty pessimistic on aerial sizes, it was originally for analogue TV reception. I lived in Carlton Colville for 10 years and people got by with 10 element contracts :eek: although an 18 element would have been better. No amplifier required but Wolfbane says the same as you for my old postcode.

[Deleted User]

sunflowersuffolk wrote: »

Hi
just one more query please. Someone suggested I try Talk Talk.

I put in my postcode and checked and they say I can get up to 37mb. Typical download speed 36Mb - 37Mb. Typical upload 9Mb - 9Mb.

Many thanks.

That's a statement, not a query. What exactly are you asking?

qsk

Cornucopia wrote: »

Or the current Humax HDR-1100S has phono outputs that could be used to connect to an older TV via SCART or Phono.

I have HDR1100S for over a year now but wouldn't recommend it. There are a couple of issues I am yet to find a solution for (I am on latest firmware): 1) it loses sound from time to time and I have to recycle power in order to get it back; 2) When using YouTube, it loses connection from time to time (showing "Loading" for a long time) even though there is no issue with my internet connection (all other devices work fine). I have tried using both wifi and powerline and got the same result.

sunflowersuffolk

Hi My postcode is IP17 2PH very rural, they were going to put a street cabinet in with fibre this Spring, but now say too expensive.

Our latest thoughts are - we have Sky just for OH at £13 per month Entertainment... and we buy a Humax box with record option, possibly a refurb, for me. I would rather pay a one off than pay extra £13 per month for multi room. I mainly watch BBC/ITV but want record and pause option. I rang Humax and they said ok to use dish for both, as long as we have enough cables. Apparently we have 5.

My very old TV does not have HDMI but I can either get a new cheapish one, or possibly a family member may have a spare to give us. This sounds the best option I think, and thanks very much for all your help and suggestions.

Robisere

qsk wrote: »

I have HDR1100S for over a year now but wouldn't recommend it. There are a couple of issues I am yet to find a solution for (I am on latest firmware): 1) it loses sound from time to time and I have to recycle power in order to get it back; 2) When using YouTube, it loses connection from time to time (showing "Loading" for a long time) even though there is no issue with my internet connection (all other devices work fine). I have tried using both wifi and powerline and got the same result.

Strange: almost into our second year with ours, none of those problems. In fact the only carp I have is the slow boot up time. Have you checked the dish alignment? I know a neighbour whose grandson managed to hit his with a football, sent the Freesat into all sorts of problems. Ours is Ethernet connected via FTTC and we have 67Mbps Download, 19 Upload though. It did give problems on WiFi, which is why I ran a Cat 5e cable across the loft. So there is a probable potential for internet connection problems. Powerline and WiFi cannot give as good results as Ethernet.

neilmcl

sunflowersuffolk wrote: »

Hi My postcode is IP17 2PH very rural, they were going to put a street cabinet in with fibre this Spring, but now say too expensive.

Our latest thoughts are - we have Sky just for OH at £13 per month Entertainment... and we buy a Humax box with record option, possibly a refurb, for me. I would rather pay a one off than pay extra £13 per month for multi room. I mainly watch BBC/ITV but want record and pause option. I rang Humax and they said ok to use dish for both, as long as we have enough cables. Apparently we have 5.

My very old TV does not have HDMI but I can either get a new cheapish one, or possibly a family member may have a spare to give us. This sounds the best option I think, and thanks very much for all your help and suggestions.

Bear in mind even used Humax HDR-1100S boxes are going for silly money these days, you'd be looking at £100 for one. So taking that into account plus the expense of getting a new (not so new) suitable TV as well then maybe the £13 per month multiroom subscription isn't so bad.

neilmcl

Robisere wrote: »

Strange: almost into our second year with ours, none of those problems. In fact the only carp I have is the slow boot up time. Have you checked the dish alignment? I know a neighbour whose grandson managed to hit his with a football, sent the Freesat into all sorts of problems. Ours is Ethernet connected via FTTC and we have 67Mbps Download, 19 Upload though. It did give problems on WiFi, which is why I ran a Cat 5e cable across the loft. So there is a probable potential for internet connection problems. Powerline and WiFi cannot give as good results as Ethernet.

I've been using one now for about a month and whilst it does a job there are a few niggles, such as the slow boot up times you mention, the poor EPG, the way it always boots into the home menu screen, very clunky way to watch and then delete recordings as well as being difficult to see the order of some series linked recordings, a date stamp of when the recording was made would help.

Yish77

I've just done this - my daughter had Sky+ and I've now moved my FreeSat box to her room (as she's in her own place), but it doesn't work:
- it has two cables not one. I worked out which one has signal using trial and error
- none of the channels worked, so I tried to retune it for FreeSat channels again. It just says 'not available or encrypted'. But when I tuned it it came up with lots!
Why won't this work?

almillar

What model of FreeSat box is it? Are we talking about FreeSat, or free satellite?


The two cables from the dish, if they worked on the Sky+ box, allowing viewing and recording at the same time, should work on the FreeSat box too. Plug them both in, if it's a recorder.