freeview or freesat

madmummy101

I'm thinking of ditching my sky deal, which I have had for a few years and going with freeview as I no longer watch the channels sky offers. But will miss my sky+ box - it makes recording so very easy.
My TV has freeview on it already but wondered if I could get a freesat+ box and use my old sky dish (can you do this?), or get a freeview + box (the aerial is in the loft as I am not allowed an aerial on the roof and not sure if reception is great as I have always had sky in this property) or can the freeview+ come through the broadband?
Which would be cheaper? Which is easiest?
Help please. Thank you.

teddysmum

First of all, I'd suggest trying your tv with the aerial to see if reception is good enough.


You can get a Humax pvr (or other brand) for Freeview or Freesat, but the programmes offered are slightly different, so have a look online for details.

[Deleted User]

You do need a very strong signal for freeview PVR has it has twin tuners so you can record one channel and watch another at the same time I would doubt an aerial in the loft would be good enough. I would buy a humax freetime/freesat PVR. You just need to plug in your Sky wires and you're away. It is very easy and works a treat.

coffeehound

Not done this but I understand Sky will give you a card to carry on using your sky box for their freesat service. I may be out of date on that but it would save buying another box if they still do it.

http://www.sky.com/shop/freesat/home/

VisionMan

coffeehound wrote: »

Not done this but I understand Sky will give you a card to carry on using your sky box for their freesat service. I may be out of date on that but it would save buying another box if they still do it.

http://www.sky.com/shop/freesat/home/

Its £10 a month every month. All for the privilege of recording TV. Not recommended. Far better and cheaper just to buy a new box.

almillar

Sky don't need to give you another card, your existing one will still work for free channels. You can also pay the £10 per month to allow recording to continue as above - this will go on your existing card, and there is NO NEED for a new one.

Since you've already got a working dish and wiring, I'd go with a Freesat box. If you want all the catch up stuff, make it a Freetime one.

madmummy101

Thank you very much for taking the time to reply. The advice is food for thought. Appreciated!

Moneymaker

Deleted_User wrote: »

at the same time I would doubt an aerial in the loft would be good enough.

That's just a wild, pointless guess. The OP hasn't even provided a postcode so it's impossible to know how close he is to whichever transmitter. In many cases an aerial in the loft will be perfectly OK.

Comstock

A Freesat Plus box will work with your existing dish and is probably the best solution.

Or you can continue to use your Sky box (which will no longer record) to watch live TV and buy a cheap Roku or similar to plug into your TV and use catch up instead of recording. But be warned, not all shows are avaible on catch up, especially films

robin58

Moneymaker wrote: »

That's just a wild, pointless guess. The OP hasn't even provided a postcode so it's impossible to know how close he is to whichever transmitter. In many cases an aerial in the loft will be perfectly OK.

I would agree. Once the final analogue transmitter were turned off, they ramped up the power output to all the digital transmitters.

In fact I am going to go and get a replacement aerial to go into my loft very soon. Does help though that I have the choice of 3 transmitters.