Cheapest multiroom with recording package?

thecornflake

Hi, 

For various reasons I'm trying to find the cheapest way to achieve the following for my parents. They currently have broadband, basic tv and phone with talktalk, with a youview box that runs the tv off the internet and a fairly old dvr that they struggle to rember how to use. There isnt currently a satellite dish on their house. 
Requirements - 

Basic tv channel selection (freeview, freesat etc is fine) 
Tv in 2 different rooms, ideally separate channel selection
Recording (in only 1 room is fine) 
Ideally a one-off cost, not subscription

The aerial probably needs updating for freeview, quotes have been around 250-300 to do this 

I'm thinking getting a satellite dish and 2 freesat boxes (one with recording) as it sounds like taking sky for a year then dropping to freesat on the sky boxes isnt an option any more.

Are there any better options? 

Neil_Jones

Who's said you need an aerial updating for Freeview?  There is no such thing as a digital aerial if that's what you've been told..  The only work that should be required on an aerial is either too many chubby pigeons/birds have sat on it/pooped from it and its interfering with receiption, its rusted/corroded, the cable run is damaged or it's fallen off.

Mister_G

Neil_Jones said:

Who's said you need an aerial updating for Freeview?  There is no such thing as a digital aerial if that's what you've been told..  The only work that should be required on an aerial is either too many chubby pigeons/birds have sat on it/pooped from it and its interfering with receiption, its rusted/corroded, the cable run is damaged or it's fallen off.

Don't forget that with all the recent UHF TV Band clearances, a number of services are now on different UHF channels.  That's OK if you've got a fairly new wideband antenna.

Some people will still have the old "grouped" antennas (A, B, C/D & E) and these may need changing out for wideband ones.

Neil_Jones

https://www.aerialsandtv.com/knowledge/aerials/tv-aerial-groups-widebands suggests grouped aerials frequency responses are approximate anyway, very approximate ! For instance, an E group is really a wideband with an emphasis on the top end frequencies.

But the point I was getting at was that there is no such thing as a "digital" aerial, and I was questioning why the OP was being quoted £275 for something they may not need.  Pretty sure wideband aerials have been standard for some time now but a lot will depend on where the OP lives and where they get their signals from.

Neil49

If one of the tv's has an hdmi connection then you could simply plug in an amazon firestick or roku stick and stream the freeview channels to the set via the broadband WiFi network.