Best TV Option Post-Sky...

Nemo

I'm just over a week away from my Sky TV going, unless they contact me with an offer not to refuse. So far I've not heard anything from them apart from a 'goodbye letter', but am quite happy for it to go.

I've been looking at options as I won't be able to manage without some sort of recording facilities. What's confusing me is that there seems so little between the various options. As a former Be Unlimited broadband customer I've just been transferred to Sky broadband (no minimum term) but was thinking of going for Talktalk line rental + broadband/Youview (£15.50/m). I figured that after 18 months, drop the TV and just pay the £2.50 broadband, using the now free Youview box. I've just been looking on Ebay though and it seems you can buy a used or reconditioned box for around £60, so this would appear to be a more cost-effective option along with the £2.50 broadband. There's also the more expensive BT Youview option. There are BT boxes on Ebay at around £90. Is the BT one worth the extra cost?

...but a lot of people seem to go for Freeview+ or Freesat+ recorders. What's the advantage of these over Youview. They don't seem to offer anything more, except they look more expensive.

So Youview, Freesat or Freeview?...TalkTalk, BT, buy new or Ebay?

Cheers!

penrhyn

YouView is a terrestrial service, so you'll need a working aerial.
There are Freesat equivalents, but YouView, has an integrated backwards EPG.
Humax make receivers for all the above so have a browse.

TadleyBaggie

I went from Sky to a Humax Freesat box (the Freetime one). Works well and not missing Sky at all. Very similar to the Youview offereing but via satellite.

davemurgatroyd

You need to decide what channels you want/need. Freesat (with Freetime) and Freeview (with Youview) have different channel line-ups besides the main channels from BBC, ITV etc. Freetime and Youview again both have access to different on-demand and catchup services (many of the on-demand require a subscription) and Youview has different options depending whether you subscribe via BT or TalkTalk.

Freesat and Freetime are a simple plug in replacement for your Sky box and the channels you can view you can check by merely removing the viewing card from your Sky box. After cancelling your Sky sub their box will act as a FreesatFromSky box with 6 free channels (on your old viewing card) that are not available on either freesat or Freeview - LFC TV, Motors TV, Sony TV (& +1) and Sony Movies (& +1).

IMHO the best value from free UK TV can be obtained by retaining your old Sky box and adding a Freeview+ or Youview box if you also have a suitable terrestrial aerial and broadband connection. You will not be able to record the satellite only channels (via the Sky box) or some of the on-demand/catch-up services via the Youview box but will be able to record all the terrestrial Freeview channels - some of which (such as Gold and Dave) are subscription only on Sky. Choosing only one solution is a bit of a non-starter to me.

egrescrimp

I went from Sky TV to TalkTalk and haven't regretted it one single bit! the TalkTalk TV service is very good in my opinion and well worth the monthly fee.

I love the fact that I can add and remove TV boosts without having to call them and spend 20 minutes listening to them haggle with me to stop me downgrading. If I want Sky Sports for a month, I login to my account order it and within 10 minutes it's active. When my initial commit is over, I can login if I choose to and remove the boost. The thing with boosts though, when you first add it they charge you for the remainder of that month and the whole of the next month.

If you cancel the boost outside of the minimum commit but during a period you've already paid for, they credit the difference back on your next bill (the premium boosts go off within 10 minutes of cancelling, not at the end of the billing period). I removed Sky Sports and Sky Movies shortly after my bill was generated in December, got a nice credit of £37 on my january bill so put Sky Movies back on with the credit they gave me.

I've also got 4 boxes from ebay to make a multi room setup without having to pay an extra subscription charge for any premium boosts I order, all 4 boxes in the bedrooms display the exact same content as the one downstairs supplied direct from TalkTalk

That would cost me £45 extra per month with Sky! so for the initial outlay of around £200 for the boxes off ebay, I've made my money back in month 5 and saved £360 in the first year and £540 each year afterwards! the kids all have their favourite kids channels from the kids boost and I can send the girlfriend upstairs to watch her stuff on living TV too!

If I choose to have no boosts all the boxes can still use the TalkTalk player and get access to their box office stuff.

So I'm a very happy camper, the broadband is steady and reliable too! the flexibility of their TV platform is brilliant, the box is free and you can add and remove premium content as you desire as I said earlier, sorry if I rattled on, I just wanted to share the benefits of their system over Sky's and other products on the market

almillar

Sounds like you've got a roof aerial, and, since you were recording with Sky, 2 satellite feeds. Assuming you've also got network available at your TV for catch up, you've got big choice.
I'd personally for for a Freesat Freetime box. In the same way that Youview is FreeviewHD with very good catch up stuff, Freetime is FreeSatHD with very good catch up - that is, instead of poking through menus to get at the catch up stuff, you can just go backwards in the programme guide to find the programme and watch it.
The advantage of satellite is that there's far more bandwidth available, meaning loads more channels, some rubbish, some good, some HD. The biggest channel missing, depending on your opinion, is Dave. If you've a Freeview tuner in your TV you could get away with that. Satellite MAY be more affected by bad weather, but that's down to your own equipment and location, your satellite signal may be far better than your terrestrial.

Nemo

Thanks for the replies. I've got a roof aerial which gives a good signal on my FreeviewHD TV, and a twin LNB satellite connection which only gets affected by really bad weather, so there are no issues there.

The £15.50/m for Talktalk TV Plus includes £2.50 for broadband and also gives anytime calls and Talktalk Player. I rarely use the phone so I'd largely be paying £12.50 for 18 months to own the box ie. £225 . What sort of content is on Talktalk Player?

If I got a box from EBay, I presume there are no options to use the player or add boosts without taking out a TV package?

I think I'm leaving towards buying a Youview box, and going for Talktalk broadband separately. There's an unopened BT box on EBay Collection only near me for £95 or offers which feels tempting.

I'm still open to more opinions though.

penrhyn

I'd suggest looking at Humax Direct managers specials.

http://www1.humaxdirect.co.uk/Direct/ProdCat/youview?ck=factory

egrescrimp

Nemo wrote: »

The £15.50/m for Talktalk TV Plus includes £2.50 for broadband and also gives anytime calls and Talktalk Player. I rarely use the phone so I'd largely be paying £12.50 for 18 months to own the box ie. £225 . What sort of content is on Talktalk Player?

The TalkTalk player is mainly box office movie stuff

What you could do as an option is take the TalkTalk TV Essentials package, this gives you the £2.50 broadband and TV along with evening and weekend calls. The box doesn't record but you can still add boosts as and when you want.

If you want the record function, pick up a cheap box off ebay and put the none recordable box in a bedroom for a multi room setup

You do need to be subscribed to one of their TV packages to be able to add boosts.

VisionMan

Retail (humax) and second hand (TT Huawei) boxes on Ebay get no extra TT content. One needs a TT TV account and to do that one has to take their provided box with it. But, once activated, any additional second hand purchased TT box/es will function perfectly well in a multiroom configuration. But the Humax ones on a TT line won't.

Nemo

So Talktalk Player largely just gives the 'opportunity' to pay for extra content? I thought there was box office type stuff but also that it was a kind of 'free' Netflix they provided.

Just seen on a Talktalk help page:-

"If you are not a TalkTalk Plus TV Broadband and Phone customer but have purchased a YouView Box and already have TalkTalk Broadband you will be able to view the TalkTalk Player and purchase rentals but you cannot subscribe to TV Boosts until you upgrade your account."

This seems to indicate that if I bought a box and went for TT broadband, that any free content would be available. To be honest though, just working as a standard Youview box would be all I would need if there isn't any quality free stuff on it. I'm not interested in the boosts.