Scrapping Virgin recorder for a freeview/freesat recorder?

Snow_Gem

Hi,

Wonder if I could have some thoughts/experiences on switching to using a box recorder for something like freeview/freesat?  I'm finding it a bit confusing...

(We've been with Virgin for many years and fed-up with price rises. Having reduced our package down to the minimum services, we can't reduce any more and are having to haggle the price over the phone which is not my mother's strong point as she's quite an anxious person.  As a result the package has had several price increases from about £46, when she last haggled, to £75, for what is the exact same package Virgin are offering to new customers for £33.  My mother had the courage to call them this morning but was offered a reduction to only £58, which is not enough (which she said but the call operative was uninterested and just told her to think about it).  I know the advice is to keep trying but we find this haggling process quite stressful and are considering other options).  

Looking at my mother's recordings, they're mostly BBC, ITV, 4, 5 or UKTV channels - old comedies, detective programmes, quiz shows, dramas, the odd concert, film or documentary - that kind of thing.  (I'm not a big tv watcher myself, usually just watching Netflix/Disney/iPlayer on my laptop).  

Basically she's watching channels available on Freeview but records everything because some of her programmes don't appear on catch-up, disappear from catch-up before she's watched them or with ITV fast-forwards over the adverts.

So I've been looking at a recorder for Freeview/Freesat.  We have an old Sky dish that was installed about 30 years ago. We also have an external tv aerial that was renewed about 10 years ago...  One of my concerns is the signal/picture quality with these compared to Virgin/Sky.  I have no experience with Freesat but the aerial installer tried Freeview when he replaced the aerial and I remember the picture was softer/slightly blurry compared to the strong clear picture through the Virgin box.  I remember my Grandparents' Freeview picture was also prone to blurring/breaking up despite us living in a "good" signal area.  So I'm concerned this kind of issue might end up proving more stressful if my mother finds her programmes regularly disrupted.  Not really sure where to go for help working this out.  Or any other suggestions?

Any experiences/advice welcome!  

Eldi_Dos

Freeview have a easy to use coverage checker that will tell you channels available and signal strength, you just input your postcode and house number.
I just checked for our address and it gives 132 channels all with Good signal strength expected and even a bearing for the transmitter,if you have a compass and want to check line of sight.

prowla

I moved from Sky Q to Freesat at the start of the year.

My old Sky dish's LNBs (little widgets on the dish where the wires connect to) had been upgraded to the "wideband" ones for Q, which allow more simultaneous channels but aren't .

I bought a 2TB HD Freesat recorder from Argos, plugged it in in place of the Sky Q box and it worked straight off; I think it cost me £300, which is less than a year's Sky subscription.

The older Sky LNBs work with other Freesat receivers, so the choice is wider.

I can't speak as to whether your dish works, but a simple way of testing it would be to plug in an old Sky receiver (they're cheap and often free on freecycle) and see if it works; if it does, you can they buy a Freesat recording unit.

I've had my Freesat recorder since January and it works fine.

I also record things I might watch, just so I can skip the ads rather than being forced to have them on the streaming apps.

jbrassy

I moved from Virgin tv to Freeview a few years ago and haven't looked back. Picture quality is great. I would recommend the following box: https://www.argos.co.uk/product/3100000

You can then get rid of Virgin TV and just pay for the broadband. The box will pay for itself after a few years.

Neil49

jbrassy said:

I moved from Virgin tv to Freeview a few years ago and haven't looked back. Picture quality is great. I would recommend the following box: https://www.argos.co.uk/product/3100000

You can then get rid of Virgin TV and just pay for the broadband. The box will pay for itself after a few years.

I've got the previous version of this box and it works well. 

dave_dph

Snow_Gem said:

Hi,

Wonder if I could have some thoughts/experiences on switching to using a box recorder for something like freeview/freesat?  I'm finding it a bit confusing...

(We've been with Virgin for many years and fed-up with price rises. Having reduced our package down to the minimum services, we can't reduce any more and are having to haggle the price over the phone which is not my mother's strong point as she's quite an anxious person.  As a result the package has had several price increases from about £46, when she last haggled, to £75, for what is the exact same package Virgin are offering to new customers for £33.  My mother had the courage to call them this morning but was offered a reduction to only £58, which is not enough (which she said but the call operative was uninterested and just told her to think about it).  I know the advice is to keep trying but we find this haggling process quite stressful and are considering other options).  

Looking at my mother's recordings, they're mostly BBC, ITV, 4, 5 or UKTV channels - old comedies, detective programmes, quiz shows, dramas, the odd concert, film or documentary - that kind of thing.  (I'm not a big tv watcher myself, usually just watching Netflix/Disney/iPlayer on my laptop).  

Basically she's watching channels available on Freeview but records everything because some of her programmes don't appear on catch-up, disappear from catch-up before she's watched them or with ITV fast-forwards over the adverts.

So I've been looking at a recorder for Freeview/Freesat.  We have an old Sky dish that was installed about 30 years ago. We also have an external tv aerial that was renewed about 10 years ago...  One of my concerns is the signal/picture quality with these compared to Virgin/Sky.  I have no experience with Freesat but the aerial installer tried Freeview when he replaced the aerial and I remember the picture was softer/slightly blurry compared to the strong clear picture through the Virgin box.  I remember my Grandparents' Freeview picture was also prone to blurring/breaking up despite us living in a "good" signal area.  So I'm concerned this kind of issue might end up proving more stressful if my mother finds her programmes regularly disrupted.  Not really sure where to go for help working this out.  Or any other suggestions?

Any experiences/advice welcome!  

In order to get a decent price from Virgin you have to give 30 days notice to cancel. This will trigger a call back from Outbound Retentions, who are there to help retain customers. It's no good asking regular customer services for discounts, they don't give the best deals. To make it easier you can actually give 30 days notice via WhatsApp and then wait a few days for a call back.
Note, before giving notice, make sure you've allowed marketing / contact in your Virgin account preferences.
Further information and other customers results are in the virgin retention thread, which is the phone's and TV forum.

Snow_Gem

Thanks for all the replies.  For the benefit of any else reading this thread, we ending up buying a Freesat recorder box and my mother is using it quite happily and getting a perfect picture. So will be cancelling the Virgin Tivo box.