New aerials or freesat - new house

jonnyb1978

Just moved house having subscribed to talk talk in the old house. Never had any problems but the aerial in new house needs upgrading as channel 3,4 and 5 are all dodgy or missing due to signal quality. Couple of rooms requiring TV so guessing that's a few aerials needed and wiring into rooms as previous occupants had sky.

However it does have the satellite dish with existing wiring already coming into the rooms so will freesat be the better choice.

Never really given this a thought. I have already contacted talktalk to transfer phone number and upgrade broadband to fibre optic so possibly stuck within contract. Would the aerials be worthwhile or is freesat the better option??

Kurtis_Blue

Extra cost and hassle of the freesat stb's in bedrooms, 2nd viewing locations would put me off.

You can install or fix the current aerial, cable to Sky dish, install powered or passive distribution point and then use the pre-installed Sky cables to the rooms so no need to recable.

In the main viewing room a freesat PVR (humax freetime) may well be a good addition though.

[Deleted User]

As Kurtis_Blue points out buying extra set top boxes for Freesat is a cost that would need to be weighed against the cost of a new aerial on the roof although you should only need a single aerial and that can feed several rooms from a splitter, your local TV aerial man can advise on this.
Some channels on Freeview are not available on Freesat and vice versa so also check this first before making your decision.

teddysmum

If your other tvs are already Freeview and you don't require recording/pause/rewind, you could get away with portable aerials in bedrooms. We use one upstairs, but do have a cheap refurb Freeview PVR (paid £50 years ago),as the portable is an analogue set.


Also, if you are going to rely on the Sky dish, is it a modern one with twin feed ?

Moneymaker

jonnyb1978 wrote: »

the aerial in new house needs upgrading as channel 3,4 and 5 are all dodgy or missing due to signal quality.

Unless the aerial is visibly damaged, you probably just need to replace the coaxial cable and check all connections.

jonnyb1978 wrote: »

Couple of rooms requiring TV so guessing that's a few aerials needed and wiring into rooms

No, you need a "masthead amplifier" to split the aerial signal. It can be mounted in the loft if preferred and is powered via the coaxial cable.

jonnyb1978 wrote: »

However it does have the satellite dish with existing wiring already coming into the rooms so will freesat be the better choice.

I'd go for both so you have a choice if one system fails. Also, the channel choice is far from identical. Freeview offers "Dave", for example, whereas Freesat doesn't.