Freeview or Freesat?
 

Hi guys!!!!!!!!!!!!

God, I ain't been here for months! Been caught up with doing my
family tree. Taken up all me time.

Anyway, A friend of a friend wants Freeview. They live in a slightly
fringe area (a place called Wymington in very north Bedfordshire).
The roofs aerials are ancient & don't give a single blip of a Freeview
signal. I tried using a cheapo wideband in the loft & got a signal on
some muxs & not others. The roof ain't easy to get to (not
impossible, just not easy). She has a Sky dish on the house but no
Sky box (it was there when she moved in a few weeks ago). She can't
afford a Sky subscription, which is why she wanted Freeview. Now, the
question is, is it worth climbing the roof to replace the ageing
aerials or go for Freesat? Would a sat box off ebay work ok? Are all
the main channels in the clear? Advice would be appreciated.

Marky P.

Freeview or Freesat?
 

Marky P
[...] She has a Sky dish on the house but no
Sky box (it was there when she moved in a few weeks ago). She can't
afford a Sky subscription, which is why she wanted Freeview. Now, the
question is, is it worth climbing the roof to replace the ageing
aerials or go for Freesat? Would a sat box off ebay work ok? Are all
the main channels in the clear? Advice would be appreciated.

Any DVB-S receiver should work, although the non-standard Sky EPG and
interactive services require Sky boxes. Only a few channels still send
teletext, but bizarrely Sky News does. You should find receivers around
for well under GBP 100, including occasional Lidl/Aldi in-store offers.

All BBC and ITV channels are in the clear, as are many more. For more
info, see my sat FAQ "How is satellite TV different to Sky? Where's
ITV 1?" at http://mjr.towers.org.uk/blog/2006/astefaq

Hope that helps,
--
MJR/slef

Freeview or Freesat?
 

"Marky P" wrote in message
...
Hi guys!!!!!!!!!!!!
God, I ain't been here for months! Been caught up with doing my
family tree. Taken up all me time.
Anyway, A friend of a friend wants Freeview. They live in a slightly
fringe area (a place called Wymington in very north Bedfordshire).
The roofs aerials are ancient & don't give a single blip of a Freeview
signal. I tried using a cheapo wideband in the loft & got a signal on
some muxs & not others. The roof ain't easy to get to (not
impossible, just not easy). She has a Sky dish on the house but no
Sky box (it was there when she moved in a few weeks ago). She can't
afford a Sky subscription, which is why she wanted Freeview. Now, the
question is, is it worth climbing the roof to replace the ageing
aerials or go for Freesat? Would a sat box off ebay work ok? Are all
the main channels in the clear? Advice would be appreciated.
Marky P.

http://www.heyrick.co.uk/ricksworld/...x/skyfree.html
http://www.wickonline.com/fta.htm
http://www.freesatfromsky.com/
http://www.lpilsley.co.uk/skydigital.htm

etc,etc
Steve Terry

Freeview or Freesat?
 

"MJ Ray" wrote in message
reenews.net...
Marky P
[...] She has a Sky dish on the house but no
Sky box (it was there when she moved in a few weeks ago). She
can't
afford a Sky subscription, which is why she wanted Freeview. Now,
the
question is, is it worth climbing the roof to replace the ageing
aerials or go for Freesat? Would a sat box off ebay work ok? Are
all
the main channels in the clear? Advice would be appreciated.

Any DVB-S receiver should work, although the non-standard Sky EPG
and
interactive services require Sky boxes. Only a few channels still
send
teletext, but bizarrely Sky News does. You should find receivers
around
for well under GBP 100, including occasional Lidl/Aldi in-store
offers.

All BBC and ITV channels are in the clear, as are many more. For
more
info, see my sat FAQ "How is satellite TV different to Sky? Where's
ITV 1?" at http://mjr.towers.org.uk/blog/2006/astefaq

Hope that helps,
--
MJR/slef



To add to that, not all channels that are on Freeview are free on Sky,
and vice versa. For instance Freeview has Ch4, five, E4 and More 4
(plus their +1 variants), Men and Motors, UK History, and I believe
shortly Film Four, but on Sky these are all part of chargeable
packages. The converse is that on radio there is no Classic FM on
Freeview, and there are some other radio stations on Freeview but not
on Sky and again vice versa.

As for a box, secondhand Sky boxes are plentiful over the counter as
well as on eBay. Going price tends to be around £40-ish. Pace are
reasonable, Panasonic are the best, but don't overlook the Amstrad 400
either. Your friend will need to get a Sky FreeSat card from Sky for a
once-off charge of £20; this gives access to Ch4 and five and fixes
your BBC1 and ITV regions, but not much else. Beware the ITV region is
set by your postcode and the associated franchise; for instance we
live in Harrogate which is in Yorkshire and where a high proportion of
residents receive Yorkshire from Emley Moor. The postcode however
shows that we live in the Tyne Tees area and that is what we have to
watch. Agreed it is possible to see Yorkshire but it is a pain to get
at.


--
Woody

harrogate3 at ntlworld dot com

Freeview or Freesat?
 

Marky P wrote:
Hi guys!!!!!!!!!!!!

God, I ain't been here for months! Been caught up with doing my
family tree. Taken up all me time.

Anyway, A friend of a friend wants Freeview. They live in a slightly
fringe area (a place called Wymington in very north Bedfordshire).
The roofs aerials are ancient & don't give a single blip of a Freeview
signal. I tried using a cheapo wideband in the loft & got a signal on
some muxs & not others. The roof ain't easy to get to (not
impossible, just not easy). She has a Sky dish on the house but no
Sky box (it was there when she moved in a few weeks ago). She can't
afford a Sky subscription, which is why she wanted Freeview. Now, the
question is, is it worth climbing the roof to replace the ageing
aerials or go for Freesat? Would a sat box off ebay work ok? Are all
the main channels in the clear? Advice would be appreciated.

Marky P.

Go for Freesat, She may be lucky and get a second hand box with a card for a
reasonable price. Though she would have to be very lucky to do as well as I
did a couple of years ago, an elderly neighbour died and I asked his
daughter if she wanted to sell his Sky box, I offered her £30, she said she
only wanted £10.
--
Adrian A

Freeview or Freesat?
 

"MJ Ray" wrote in message
reenews.net...
Marky P
[...] She has a Sky dish on the house but no
Sky box (it was there when she moved in a few weeks ago). She can't
afford a Sky subscription, which is why she wanted Freeview. Now, the
question is, is it worth climbing the roof to replace the ageing
aerials or go for Freesat? Would a sat box off ebay work ok? Are all
the main channels in the clear? Advice would be appreciated.

Any DVB-S receiver should work, although the non-standard Sky EPG and
interactive services require Sky boxes. Only a few channels still send
teletext, but bizarrely Sky News does. You should find receivers around
for well under GBP 100, including occasional Lidl/Aldi in-store offers.

All BBC and ITV channels are in the clear, as are many more. For more
info, see my sat FAQ "How is satellite TV different to Sky? Where's
ITV 1?" at http://mjr.towers.org.uk/blog/2006/astefaq

What if you are interested in recording from Freesat for future viewing? Or
recording one channel while watching another? Are there DVRs available with
an associated EPG, as presumably a Sky+ box is out of the question?

Freeview or Freesat?
 

"Max Demian"
"MJ Ray" wrote:
All BBC and ITV channels are in the clear, as are many more. For more
info, see my sat FAQ "How is satellite TV different to Sky? Where's
ITV 1?" at http://mjr.towers.org.uk/blog/2006/astefaq

What if you are interested in recording from Freesat for future viewing?

You need a recording device of some sort.

Or recording one channel while watching another?

Two decoders and probably a quad LNB, as I understand it.

Are there DVRs available with
an associated EPG, as presumably a Sky+ box is out of the question?

I believe there are network and telephone downloadable EPGs, but
I've not been reading reviews of DVRs closely.

Freeview or Freesat?
 

MJ Ray wrote:
"Max Demian"
"MJ Ray" wrote:
All BBC and ITV channels are in the clear, as are many more. For
more info, see my sat FAQ "How is satellite TV different to Sky?
Where's ITV 1?" at http://mjr.towers.org.uk/blog/2006/astefaq

What if you are interested in recording from Freesat for future
viewing?

You need a recording device of some sort.

Or recording one channel while watching another?

Two decoders and probably a quad LNB, as I understand it.

Are there DVRs available with
an associated EPG, as presumably a Sky+ box is out of the question?

I believe there are network and telephone downloadable EPGs, but
I've not been reading reviews of DVRs closely.

Tivo has sky in its EPG

A more messy solution is to use sky's autoview feature, and that will
auto-record on many modern DVRs and VCRs (they usually need to
be in standby)

--
Mike

Freeview or Freesat?
 

"Marky P" wrote in message
...
Hi guys!!!!!!!!!!!!

God, I ain't been here for months! Been caught up with doing my
family tree. Taken up all me time.

Anyway, A friend of a friend wants Freeview. They live in a slightly
fringe area (a place called Wymington in very north Bedfordshire).
The roofs aerials are ancient & don't give a single blip of a Freeview
signal. I tried using a cheapo wideband in the loft & got a signal on
some muxs & not others. The roof ain't easy to get to (not
impossible, just not easy). She has a Sky dish on the house but no
Sky box (it was there when she moved in a few weeks ago). She can't
afford a Sky subscription, which is why she wanted Freeview. Now, the
question is, is it worth climbing the roof to replace the ageing
aerials or go for Freesat? Would a sat box off ebay work ok? Are all
the main channels in the clear? Advice would be appreciated.

The problem with Freeview particularly in marginal areas, is that (AIUI) you
have to obtain a suitable aerial and then install it to find out if if is going
to work. - and if if does not work.....

With satellite, if you have line of sight, you can just obtain a suitable size
dish for your part of the country, (or larger) and it is likely to work.

Both are feasible as DIY jobs. In the case of satellite, the alignment is more
critical, but likely you can install the dish lower down.


--

Michael Chare









Marky P.

Freeview or Freesat?
 

"Marky P" wrote in message
...
Hi guys!!!!!!!!!!!!

God, I ain't been here for months! Been caught up with doing my
family tree. Taken up all me time.

Have you found the missing link?

Bill