Idiot's/beginner's guide to watching tv - help please

downshifter

Mornin' all

I haven't had tv at home for over 10 years but am thinking I might do so this winter, however I am bamboozled by all the options and would be grateful for any help.

This is a rented house with no aerial but it does have a dish on the side which hasn't been used for probably 15 years. I can't get tv over the internet as it is too slow (0.19mbps down, 0.38 up at last check). I'm thinking of getting satellite broadband but even so, usage will be capped so not really any help tv wise. My tv is an old box one, smallish, with an aerial socket and a scart socket. Nothing else. At present it's used for watching videos (yup, videos) and has a decent enough picture though I might consider a new tv if I get into the habit of watching.

Given these constraints, what would be best, and cheapest, to go for to watch basic channels, no hd stuff or anything. I also need to factor in the cost of the licence.

Many thanks for any help with such a basic question.

DS

wongataa

A Freesat box to connect to the dish and a new TV to connect to the box is the best solution. Getting a new box to work with a TV as old as yours isn't the easiest now as the connectors are all different.

[Deleted User]

If you intend to use the satellite dish, be sure it's serviceable before investing in any Freesat decoder. Fifteen years is a long time and the dish will be weather worn and will need a new LNB to work with digital services. To be honest, it's probably not worth bothering with.

For the cheapest and most effective option, I'd get an aerial fitted and perhaps buy a (budget) modern TV with inbuilt Freeview. As the other poster said, the connections which your old telly has will limit your range of choice severely.

coffeehound

Do you have a close enough terrestrial transmitter? Sounds like you are somewhere remote.

Perhaps the tech who installs the satellite internet hardware could check/modify/replace the dish at the same time?

Cornucopia

Three main options:-

- Freesat or possibly try to get a free dish/free install from Sky.

- Get a terrestrial aerial installed and use Freeview.

- Get fibre broadband, if available. (This has the possibility of watching only commercial catch-up so not needing a TV Licence).

PasturesNew

Cheapest would be what I've done: buy a £10-15 freeview box from a supermarket, plug it in between the aerial and the telly .... sit back and flick through hundreds of regular freeview TV channels.

It'll work, without investing time/effort/money into trying to work out what that dish does and how ....

I've got TV aerial sockets in the wall, but couldn't get those to work, so I've got an indoor aerial

Cornucopia

PasturesNew wrote: »

Cheapest would be what I've done: buy a £10-15 freeview box from a supermarket, plug it in between the aerial and the telly ....

The OP doesn't have an aerial.

When I moved into a house without an aerial, I was quoted £400 to install one + the amplifier necessary to support 4 existing wired sockets. I got a free Sky install instead. Even paying the minimum contract, I was still ahead by the end of the contract period (just).

downshifter

Thanks for the great answers. Will investigate those options.

No fibre broadband here or in the future sadly, which is why I'm going to get satellite broadband under the subsidised scheme. Can the same dish be used for broadband and tv? Not sure my landlord or the national park will like 2 dishes on the house!

Looks as though freesat with a new tv (sob) is the way to go. I remember trying an indoor aerial years ago but it needed to hang out of the window to get a decent signal (thick stone walls) so probably still difficult,

Many thanks all. This may cost more than I want in the end.

DS

PasturesNew

Cornucopia wrote: »

The OP doesn't have an aerial.

When I moved into a house without an aerial, I was quoted £400 to install one + the amplifier necessary to support 4 existing wired sockets. I got a free Sky install instead. Even paying the minimum contract, I was still ahead by the end of the contract period (just).

I've got an indoor aerial. Cost £3.

I actually have a dish and sockets for Sky, but I've never had sky and don't understand it, so I stuck with what I know: portable telly, indoor aerial, freeview box

Cornucopia

You don't necessarily need a new TV. Some Freesat boxes still have SCART sockets, or you could try picking up a second hand one on eBay.

coffeehound

downshifter wrote: »

No fibre broadband here or in the future sadly, which is why I'm going to get satellite broadband under the subsidised scheme. Can the same dish be used for broadband and tv? Not sure my landlord or the national park will like 2 dishes on the house!

Looks as though freesat with a new tv (sob) is the way to go. I remember trying an indoor aerial years ago but it needed to hang out of the window to get a decent signal (thick stone walls) so probably still difficult,

Another option is fitting an aerial in the loft, which is less hassle than fitting one outside. You're unlikely to find UK TV on the same satellite as your internet services AFAIK. A new TV dish is pretty inexpensive if the existing one is beyond use.

You may not need a new telly. If your existing one has a SCART connector, there are freesat boxes to use that, or as a previous poster said, there are boxes which include the option of using the ordinary round aerial socket. Dedicated TVs with built-in Freesat are uncommon and quite expensive.