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Need TV but not sky or Virgin. What's available.
lonestarfan
Forumite 1.2K Posts
My mum is a pensioner. She has a TiVo box. She cannot get sky as we tried to install it but the engineers can't get a satellite signal cos of trees. No chance of cutting down trees as it would spoil the garden. So we had Virgin cable tv (V+ box) phone and internet. Now it's been changed to a Tivo box in the last few months not because we wanted it but because they stopped the old boxes. My mum is ready to throw it out the window every day as she says it does not respond, it goes blank when giving commands, it freezes, it jumps about, it takes forever to go from one command to another. It frustrates her so much every night.
She enjoys tv, series, live pause and record/record series. What other choices does she have now sky isn't an option and now Virgin is so poor. Thanks a lot.
She enjoys tv, series, live pause and record/record series. What other choices does she have now sky isn't an option and now Virgin is so poor. Thanks a lot.
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If she has a new tv, such as the last two years' Panasonics, she can view programmes missed via Freetime (usually only satellite) and catchup. Also the +1 channels hlpt o watch programmes originally broadcast at the same time . eg watch BBC live then the ITV programme, shown at the same time, via ITV+1.
Assuming you have good internet speed (Virgin), you could try a NowTV box, which works over an internet connection; they're owned by Sky and offer the Sky Entertainment packs and are very cheap in supermarkets.
Freesat needs a satellite signal. Freeview does not. It needs an aerial.
What happens in the winter with these trees - are they deciduous (lose their leaves in the autumn and grow back in the spring) or are they evergreen (ie don't lose leaves in the autumn)? Deciduous trees, once they've shed their leaves, should let a signal through.
Sky can and have installed dishes quite high up (including on the chimney but I don't think they'll do that these days) and I have seen dishes on the sides, back and front of houses at all manner of heights.
Some people have their dishes at the bottom of the garden if that's the only place the dish can point to see the satellite.
The problem is that trees tend to be leafless in Autumn/Winter and so can later block a satellite signal when the leaves regrow. So now is probably not the time for a new installation.
Personally, I'd persevere with Virgin. Unless their decoder really has become totally unresponsive for all users, it just sounds as if the box is faulty. Virgin should quickly replace and/or repair.
Now is good, I have it myself in addition to Virgin.
AAh sorry. It is a tivo box not a v+ box. Virgin rang a few months back and said we had to have a TiVo box to replace our v+ box as they're going to stop supporting v+?
We will ring virgin at weekend then when I'm there as you give me the impression that TiVo boxes do work. The engineer had a terrible time getting it to work when he installed it according to my sis so it sounds like a dud.
I will edit my original post to state it's TiVo.
Yes she has massive trees lol. And with a protection order. She's in the middle so all houses around her have their trees as well which are protected. The upside is we get a massive beautiful garden.