Leaving Sky, is there wifi tv with record function?

confusednellie

Firstly, sorry about the long post, but I have been doing a lot of thinking and looking at options to the point where I am now tired and confused. My sky+ box is very old and increasingly frequently
freezes so I am looking for another option before it gives up as the card can no longer transfer to another box and I would need to change to Stream which has no record function. I have basic sky (no longer in contract), currently £43 a month with +/- 6 monthly increases. If I were to switch to freesat and Amazon prime it would be around £10 so a big saving..
Ideally I would like to have tv from wifi due to trees blocking the satellite reception for some programs in summer which is very annoying, but sadly the only wifi options I have seen do not have the record function or look as if they could be a bit/very dodgy? Freely only has record with an aerial so that is not a possibility.

What I want
Record (very very important) - Pause – Rewind
Program list/planner where I can click on a program to go to it, without going through multiple apps and going nuts
I mostly watch, BBC, ITV, C4+5 - Sky 1, documentaries, nature and history - U&alibi (a lot from
that are available on ITV3, or possibly with Amazon prime), visitor likes to watch Sky Crime and Witness.Do not need HBO

If wifi is not possible, I am left with Freesat – probably obsolete 2030-2034 but seems to have all that I want with the right box. In that case I will get a freesat box, but the record ones have varied and often really bad reviews. Would getting one that will record, but to USB hard drive be a better option – I am thinking that with the very frequent delete and overwrite of data (unless I have 2) the option to reformat will not be possible without deleting unwatched programs? If so is there one that is known to be easy to set up and use to record next time it is on (e.g. orseracing) or all in a series rather than having to choose each individual program? I could also look into a wifi and freesat setup so I have both options but that may be overkill.
The way I am seeing it, compared to Sky, either of the freesat options plus prime would pay for itself in around 9 months possibly less if sky goes up in November. If anyone has any ideas of other options I would be happy to hear them/

.

prowla

iPlayer and such like give you the ability to pause/stop/rewind programmes you stream.

But you don't get to record a local copy.

I have a Freesat recording box and it is functionally equivalent to a Sky Q, but also allows you to go back in time in the programme guide, in which case it invokes the relevant channel's streaming service.

Peter999_2

How are your technical skills? do you pick things up very quickly? If yes, then I would buy a VU+ Solo2 box if I were you.

It is great for satellite viewing. It lets you record whatever you want from freesat (and any other free Astra satellite channel) with no encryption at all.

The box has it's own webserver that you can access and from there you can directly stream channels/recordings to a mobile phone or PC etc. It can be added to Kodi as well so you can use it with an amazon firestick etc. including live channels and recorded programmes.

I bought a VU+ Solo2 from ebay for £100 and it is great. I then bought a VU+ Solo4k (with a unicable LNB) which is pretty amazing (I can record 8 things at once). I have the Solo4k in the lounge connected to my network which then feeds the Solo2 box in my bedroom (it connects using the IP address of the Solo4k box and acts as if it has the satellite cable directly connected).

Obviously it's a bit of a learning curve and my profession was IT so I can work things out pretty quickly.

I've just looked on Ebay and the Solo2 now goes for £40 delivered which is amazing value for a 2nd hand box.

Vu+ SOLO2 HD Digital Satellite Receiver Twin Tuner PVR Ready 1080p HDMI | eBay UK

mta999

my sony tv has a USB socket in the side. I plug a USB stick.in and can record to it (freeview). There is a freeview program guide to set recordings from

JSmithy45AD

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6677681/leaving-sky-is-there-wifi-tv-with-record-function

If you're paying £43 for just "basic Sky" on an outdated HD+ box then you're being ripped off. You're still in contract, albeit with just 31 days notice. You can still get Q but you need to call them and ask for it specifically. Of course this and any Freesat solution won't remove the trees and if there's no better satellite position then you're stuck with streaming over broadband (wifi TV isn't a thing BTW).

As said previously, some TV's allow you to 'record' to a USB stick but absolutely nothing comes close to the ease of use of a Sky HD+ or Q box. Satellite only has maybe 2 to 4 years of life left in it, so sooner rather than later you're going to have to jump ship.

confusednellie

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82082051#Comment_82082051

Thank you, that is one of the options that I was looking at, but really wanted to set the record in advance the same as with sky, rather than having to go backwards to see what I have missed :(

confusednellie

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82082104#Comment_82082104

My technical skills are ok, provided it is relatively wasy to follow the instructions and does not need me to do any programming! I normally look up a tutorial on youtube and find one that is simple to follow, then I am relatively proficient! I will look at that option, and see if it looks like something that I am capable of doing, luckily I only need to have 1 tv running from it so not as complicated as your setup :)

confusednellie

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82082637#Comment_82082637

Thank you, sadly I cannot use freeview as that needs an aerial and there is no reception here :(

confusednellie

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82082701#Comment_82082701

I think that is a rip off as well, I am thinking of getting set up with a different option then giving them notice, so that I know I am not going to change and then find my choice does not work! I know that I will need to jump to a broadband/wifi option at some point, but am hoping that they bring out some better reciever boxes by then, or that they realise that not everyone has good internet reception or are covered by an aerial, and they perhaps use one of the Astras that cover EU at the moment as those look as if they cover UK, and seem to be staying in use for a lot longer.

mjm3346

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82082976#Comment_82082976

Freely uses wifi and covers almost all the live stuff and some streaming services but not recording https://www.freely.co.uk/

confusednellie

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82082991#Comment_82082991

I am hoping that by the time the Astra runs out that there will be a way to record on Freely, and that will then be an option. At the moment I am really wanting the record and an easy life once its going even if it is more of a pain to get a setup