Digibox – or digisender?

scottish_blend

My digibox has died in the bedroom, and now I’m looking to get a replacement. But it got me to thinking – I have sky downstairs, with the sports package, so I have all the channels (ie the ones that sky’s free to air channels don’t but freeview does, like E4 and sky sports news etc). I know you can get a wireless digisender for about the same price now, so can I have opinions please?

Freeview box – or digisender – are there pro’s or cons for either? Or are they both the same and it is down to my own personal choice?

adsk

Will someone else be watching the TV downstairs while you are using the TV upstairs? If so, you'd better agree on the same channel.

Are you fussy about picture/sound quality? Picture quality from a digisender is OK and can be subject to interference?

Personally, I'd go for Freeview - If I really wanted to watch something that was on Sky I'd record it or move rooms.

The only reason to go for a Digisender is if you wanted to watch lots of non-Freeview channels. Otherwise, go for Freeview.

scottish_blend

No - there's just me - so there'd be no problems with channels.

I wondered about the picture quality to be honest - so I'm glad you've commented on that. also I have a wireless network running my laptop and pc (connected to the TV) so wondered if the frequencies may conteract one another too?

M3_Sussex

I have Sky+ in the living room and multi room in my son's bedroom. However I also wanted Sky in the kitchen and bought a sender off ebay. I was amazed at how well it works and the picture quality is as good as the Sky reception. The sound is also fine although admittedly this is only on a Toshiba 15" LCD. The downside of a sender is that you get massive interference with things like microwaves. This is a small negative however.

Zagu

The picture quality is very good, I certainly cant tell the difference in picture quality between a 'direct' picture and a video sender one. Interference with the wireless can be a problem. I had to move my router a bit, and now its about 2 meters from the sender unit and theres no interference. The microwave is a problem, but how often will you be in your bedroom with the microwave on?

I got the Gigavideo, but believe that there are a few about now. You'll also be able to use the Sky+ functions from your bedroom, which is an added bonus, although you might need an additional Sky remote.

Js_Other_Half

Our digisender is really not worth the hassle - we have it linked up to sky in the living room so we can watch tv in the kitchen, and even walking about will cause interference...maybe a newer one would be better?

randan

I have a digisender that I use to send the picture from my freeview box to my telly at the other side of the room. The picture and sound quality is excellent but it does suffer from interference and has been mentioned before the microwave makes it unwatchable.

Wireless does interfere but they usually have several channels so that you can get away from the interference.

I think the freeview box would be the best option (IMHO)

scottish_blend

thanks all.

Digibox it is I think

rusteh

Don't forget that you can already feed another TV from the same Sky box, just means running a length of aerial cable to your bedroom and plugging it into the Sky box. You can buy little widget things that plug into the aerial cable upstairs, then into your TV, they have an IR receiver on them which allows you to use your sky remote upstairs too

Best

Rusty

corman_2

rusteh wrote: »

Don't forget that you can already feed another TV from the same Sky box, just means running a length of aerial cable to your bedroom and plugging it into the Sky box. You can buy little widget things that plug into the aerial cable upstairs, then into your TV, they have an IR receiver on them which allows you to use your sky remote upstairs too

Best

Rusty

thats what we use at present and it works great....... however we're about to get the free sky+ box so does it also work with the sky+ boxes?

therealdessie

I have had many digisenders and they all screw up in one way or another: interference, frequency issues, IR issues... and don't forget it's not just your house: our neighbour's wireless frequently interferes with ours. Go with the aerial cable - run it direct from the LNB and you won't have an issue.

Or, find a CAT5 solution, but that would be far more expensive.