Freesat??

penrhyn

Skint_Catt wrote: »

But I shouldn't need installation if the satellites working?????????????

Sky don't do self install, but there is nothing stopping you from picking up a cheap Sky box from a car boot or Ebay for £20 or less and installing it yourself.
Did we establish that your dish has its LNB and downlead in place?
Or get the £50 freesat box for the BBC service (less channels though), and no option to subscribe in the future if you are feeling flush.

Skint_Catt

I don't want sky - I wnt the BBC/ITV freesat thingy - it will have up to 200 channels - enough for us! Not even worried about HD for now - we've only got old standard TVs as we're renting at the mo.

So - can I buy a £50 and plug it in myself? I have the small egg shaped ex-sky dish with the leads coming into the rooms.

sleep2much

http://www.comet.co.uk/shopcomet/product/444324/GRUNDIG-GUFSAT01 that's the kind of thing you want.

BexTech

Skint_Catt wrote: »

Thats the best news I've had in a while! Now is anyone Freesat box better than another? :rotfl:

The Bush, Grundig and Goodmans are all the same box - made by Alba.

Humax have an Hi-Def receiver, so you'll be able to pick up BBC HD, ITV HD and Luxe TV-HD.

There are around 200 Free To Air channels, however only around 80 of them have paid the BBC/ITV to be automatically listed on the Freesat EPG - they've already been paying Sky to be listed on their EPG - you see it's the same channels in the same places from the same satellites (Sky don't own any satellites). At the moment the Humax allows you to add the other channels onto the receiver, soon the Alba boxes will too - as it's an EU requirement that they can't block out and not make easily accessible the Free To Air broadcasts.

As for the comment in the opening post about 'digital' aerials - an aerial is an aerial - cowboy fitters term to use digital aerial. Some aerials however are better for weaker signals, be they weak analogue or weak digital, some are grouped others wideband - wideband covering the whole band however are not as good as pulling in the signal. Once analogue is switched off the power to the digital channels will be increased, so you should be able to then pick up digital terrestrial - be it Freeview, TopUpTV or Setanta (Three separate services operating over DTT) on more or less a wet piece of string.

Nic_Niewart

I'm just starting to gather information about delving into freesat. Basically because the freeview picture has got rotten over the past month or so. It seems lots of people have- whether they have old rabbit ear antennas or fancy co-ax titanium, freerange, oxygen blue-veined digital hi-gain ones.
I have read with interest the problems of people with the £75 Sky package.If something looks too good to be true it usually isn't.
The one thing that has put me off ever having Sky up to now has been the presence of a Murdoch on the board. I just don't like 'em or trust them.
It seems I have been proved right. It is a con to get you to keep signing up to their odious system of incompetency and shenanigans. They kept calling me once a month saying why don't I join/ After humming and hawing, saying I didn't like the mix, or whatever, I finally had had enough, I said that I didn't like Murdoch. Any Murdoch. They had obviously written me off as a political but it worked: from that day, I have never, ever had a call from them.
But so much about Sky:
What are the best boxes, the best installers: do you go to Comet or wherever and pay them for an installation or find a Reg or a Stan locally and buy a box from Comet first? If so ,which box is the one?
Or is it better to hang on, for the prices to fall, as they no doubt will?

deejayen

The SD boxes for freesat made by Alba will be able to pick up all the FTA channels available on 28E Astra2/Eurobird after the new update due out next week (note that the extra channels you load will not be on the EPG) -- Source Digital Spy -- I personally use a spare standard satellite rxer. Freesat really is the EPG software built into the new boxes. -- Dave