Freesat or Freeview HD ?
 

We live in an area with great reception (from winter hill) yet we also
have an unused sky digital dish should we chose to go for freesat.

HD broadcasts sound exciting, however I've always had concern that
they'll never put that many on Freeview to actually make it much of a
selling point. At this point my heart turns to Freesat, but then I see
that has some of the standard freeview channels missing with next to no
chance of them ever joining the platform.....

I'm very excited by the upcoming 'iPlayer to set top box' developments -
is this limited to freesat boxes at the moment or are the emerging wave
of Freeview HD boxes going to integrate this?

It's all so confusing - I guess I'm just asking what the views of others
are really?

Freesat or Freeview HD ?
 

"Lucky13" wrote in message
...

We live in an area with great reception (from winter hill) yet we also
have an unused sky digital dish should we chose to go for freesat.

HD broadcasts sound exciting, however I've always had concern that they'll
never put that many on Freeview to actually make it much of a selling
point. At this point my heart turns to Freesat, but then I see that has
some of the standard freeview channels missing with next to no chance of
them ever joining the platform.....

I'm very excited by the upcoming 'iPlayer to set top box' developments -
is this limited to freesat boxes at the moment or are the emerging wave of
Freeview HD boxes going to integrate this?

It's all so confusing - I guess I'm just asking what the views of others
are really?

There's no rule that says you have to choose a single viewing platform...

--
Graham.

%Profound_observation%

Freesat or Freeview HD ?
 

Graham. wrote:
"Lucky13" wrote in message
...
We live in an area with great reception (from winter hill) yet we also
have an unused sky digital dish should we chose to go for freesat.

HD broadcasts sound exciting, however I've always had concern that they'll
never put that many on Freeview to actually make it much of a selling
point. At this point my heart turns to Freesat, but then I see that has
some of the standard freeview channels missing with next to no chance of
them ever joining the platform.....

I'm very excited by the upcoming 'iPlayer to set top box' developments -
is this limited to freesat boxes at the moment or are the emerging wave of
Freeview HD boxes going to integrate this?

It's all so confusing - I guess I'm just asking what the views of others
are really?

There's no rule that says you have to choose a single viewing platform...


That's very true, however I'm going to in this instance. Having said
that, if I do go down the Freesat route I'll use the TV's built in
Freeview tuner for the channels that are missing. It's not an ideal
solution in my mind but I think it might be the closest that I come (if
I go for the Freesat route).

Freesat or Freeview HD ?
 

On Mon, 28 Sep 2009 12:24:18 +0100, Lucky13 wrote:

but then I see that has some of the standard freeview channels
missing with next to no chance of them ever joining the platform.....

How often do you watch Dave, Dejavu, Yesterday, Five USA, and Five Life?

Perhaps you will not have time to watch these once you are watching
the Zone channels soon to be reformatted to CBS material, or Red,
or Men and Motors, or MoviesForMen, or Luxe TV, or Al Jazeera English,
or NHK World etc etc

There is of course no reason why you cannot keep your terrestrial digital
receiver and antenna, in addition to a satellite dish and receiver.

And should one fail, you will then have a backup.

Freesat or Freeview HD ?
 

On Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:47:09 +0100, Lucky13 wrote:

It's not an ideal solution in my mind but I think it might
be the closest that I come (if I go for the Freesat route).

Perhaps the ideal solution would be to get a "satellite" receiver box
which can also accommodate a terrestrial tuner, but wait until the
manufacturer offers a DVB-t2 tuner rather than the current DVB-t only
tuner eg the Technomate 6900, AZbox, Lyngbox, Dreambox etc.

Freesat or Freeview HD ?
 

J G Miller wrote:
On Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:47:09 +0100, Lucky13 wrote:

It's not an ideal solution in my mind but I think it might
be the closest that I come (if I go for the Freesat route).

Perhaps the ideal solution would be to get a "satellite" receiver box
which can also accommodate a terrestrial tuner, but wait until the
manufacturer offers a DVB-t2 tuner rather than the current DVB-t only
tuner eg the Technomate 6900, AZbox, Lyngbox, Dreambox etc.


You mean like this HD satellite and terrestrial DVB set top box?

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=224786

From the Q&A at the bottom...

"Q- will this be able to receive the proposed Freeview HD? - mike

Answer- Yes the product does support that. "

Really?

Freesat or Freeview HD ?
 

On Mon, 28 Sep 2009 17:14:21 +0100, Chunky Old Cortina wrote:

You mean like this HD satellite and terrestrial DVB set top box?

Something very similar to that yes. But whether the manufacturer
for that box will offer an upgrade of the DVB-t tuner to DVB-t2
is more than unlikely.

The boxes to which I refer above are ones where you buy the box
and also specify the additional tuner which you require (viz another
satellite tuner or a terrestrial tuner or a cable tuner).

Hence my comment about waiting until the manufacturers of those boxes
offer a DVB-t2 tuner before buying one.

"Q- will this be able to receive the proposed Freeview HD? - mike

If Mike had read the specifications he would have seen

"Suitable for use where DVB-T HD channels exist
(commonly mainland Europe at present)"

Since Freeview HD will be using DVB-t2, the box will clearly not
work for that.

Answer- Yes the product does support that. "

Quite often the employees of large chain stores have little knowledge
of the product which they are selling, and the end of the day are only
interested in making a sale.

Really?

Always best to research a product before buying and not rely on a
sales person's sometime flawed and frequently biased advice.

Freesat or Freeview HD ?
 

On Mon, 28 Sep 2009 17:14:21 +0100, chunkyoldcortina
wrote:

J G Miller wrote:
On Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:47:09 +0100, Lucky13 wrote:

It's not an ideal solution in my mind but I think it might
be the closest that I come (if I go for the Freesat route).

Perhaps the ideal solution would be to get a "satellite" receiver box
which can also accommodate a terrestrial tuner, but wait until the
manufacturer offers a DVB-t2 tuner rather than the current DVB-t only
tuner eg the Technomate 6900, AZbox, Lyngbox, Dreambox etc.


You mean like this HD satellite and terrestrial DVB set top box?

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=224786

From the Q&A at the bottom...

"Q- will this be able to receive the proposed Freeview HD? - mike

Answer- Yes the product does support that. "

Really?

Not according to that page now. I can't see that question and answer.

--
Peter Duncanson
(in uk.tech.digital-tv)

Freesat or Freeview HD ?
 

"Lucky13" wrote in message
...

We live in an area with great reception (from winter hill) yet we also
have an unused sky digital dish should we chose to go for freesat.

HD broadcasts sound exciting, however I've always had concern that they'll
never put that many on Freeview to actually make it much of a selling
point. At this point my heart turns to Freesat, but then I see that has
some of the standard freeview channels missing with next to no chance of
them ever joining the platform.....

I'm very excited by the upcoming 'iPlayer to set top box' developments -
is this limited to freesat boxes at the moment or are the emerging wave of
Freeview HD boxes going to integrate this?

It's all so confusing - I guess I'm just asking what the views of others
are really?

Get both - I did.

Any CI digital receiver will get all the Freesat channels anyway (cheap from
TPS etc.) and some TV's already have it in e.g. LG 42LF-7700.

If you are skint, you might wait until December to see what will be on
Freeview HD from Winter Hill.

Freesat or Freeview HD ?
 

Lucky13 wrote:

We live in an area with great reception (from winter hill) yet we also
have an unused sky digital dish should we chose to go for freesat.

HD broadcasts sound exciting, however I've always had concern that
they'll never put that many on Freeview to actually make it much of a
selling point. At this point my heart turns to Freesat, but then I see
that has some of the standard freeview channels missing with next to no
chance of them ever joining the platform.....

I'm very excited by the upcoming 'iPlayer to set top box' developments -
is this limited to freesat boxes at the moment or are the emerging wave
of Freeview HD boxes going to integrate this?

It's all so confusing - I guess I'm just asking what the views of others
are really?

I should add that this is really something for my mother in the long
term - is Freesat the only reliable none $ky service with an EPG and the
majority of Freeview channels?

Freesat or Freeview HD ?
 

J G Miller wrote:
On Mon, 28 Sep 2009 12:24:18 +0100, Lucky13 wrote:

but then I see that has some of the standard freeview channels
missing with next to no chance of them ever joining the platform.....

How often do you watch Dave, Dejavu, Yesterday, Five USA, and Five Life?

Perhaps you will not have time to watch these once you are watching
the Zone channels soon to be reformatted to CBS material, or Red,
or Men and Motors, or MoviesForMen, or Luxe TV, or Al Jazeera English,
or NHK World etc etc

There is of course no reason why you cannot keep your terrestrial digital
receiver and antenna, in addition to a satellite dish and receiver.

And should one fail, you will then have a backup.

Ha ha ha! I have to say I think I would watch Dave, Dejavu, Yesterday,
Five USA, and Five Life more often than Luxe TV, or Al Jazeera English,
or NHK World or some CBS tripe.

I will be keeping the Freeview tuner as it's in the TV, I just like the
idea (impossible though it may be) of a one box solution.

Freesat or Freeview HD ?
 

R. Mark Clayton wrote:
"Lucky13" wrote in message
...
We live in an area with great reception (from winter hill) yet we also
have an unused sky digital dish should we chose to go for freesat.

HD broadcasts sound exciting, however I've always had concern that they'll
never put that many on Freeview to actually make it much of a selling
point. At this point my heart turns to Freesat, but then I see that has
some of the standard freeview channels missing with next to no chance of
them ever joining the platform.....

I'm very excited by the upcoming 'iPlayer to set top box' developments -
is this limited to freesat boxes at the moment or are the emerging wave of
Freeview HD boxes going to integrate this?

It's all so confusing - I guess I'm just asking what the views of others
are really?

Get both - I did.

Any CI digital receiver will get all the Freesat channels anyway (cheap from
TPS etc.) and some TV's already have it in e.g. LG 42LF-7700.

If you are skint, you might wait until December to see what will be on
Freeview HD from Winter Hill.



Thanks for the tips - is it not the case there will only be a couple of
HD channels on Freeview even when the a broadcaster such as the BBC
starts to record all of their programming in HD?

Freesat or Freeview HD ?
 

On Mon, 28 Sep 2009 21:07:11 +0100, Lucky13 asked:

Thanks for the tips - is it not the case there will only be a couple of
HD channels on Freeview even when the a broadcaster such as the BBC
starts to record all of their programming in HD?

Multiplex PSB-3 (the former pre-DSO BBC B multiplex) is being cleared to make
way for conversion for DVB-t2/MPEG-4 transmssion of HD stations.

Even with the much greater efficiencies of DVB-t2 over DVB-t and
MPEG-4 encoding over MPEG-2, it is only possible to squeeze in four
stations in HD in the 8 MHZ bandwidth -- BBC HD, ITV HD, C4 HD, and
five HD (although five HD will not start broadcasting for some time yet)
on a multiplex.

When the other multiplexes are converted from DVB-t/MPEG-2 to DVB-t/MPEG-4,
there is no reason why BBC HD should not disappear and be replaced by
BBC-1 HD and BBC-2 HD because of the extra capacity of the more efficient
transmission and encoding.

However, satellite will always be able to provide many more HD stations
than Freeview because of the greater bandwidth available at the higher
frequencies.

Freesat or Freeview HD ?
 

On 28/09/09 21:39, J G Miller wrote:

When the other multiplexes are converted from DVB-t/MPEG-2 to DVB-t/MPEG-4

That'll take a brave/foolhardy government.

Freesat or Freeview HD ?
 

On Mon, 28 Sep 2009 22:12:44 +0100, Andy Burns wrote:

That'll take a brave/foolhardy government.

It is inevitable. $ky may very well accelerate the conversion of one
of the commercial multiplexes to DVB-t2/MPEG-4 so that they can get
Picnic version 2 onto the terrestrial system.

Realistically one would expect the other multiplexes to be gradually converted
sometime after 2012 once analog switch off is complete, and most people
have upgraded their boxes to DVB-t2/MPEG-4 so that they can watch BBC-HD.

Some other European countries have already laid down a timetable for their
DVB-t multiplexes to be converted to DVB-t2. And the commercial multiplex
operators will only be too happy to do so since it means they can cram in
more stations and earn more revenue.

Freesat or Freeview HD ?
 

Peter Duncanson wrote:
On Mon, 28 Sep 2009 17:14:21 +0100, chunkyoldcortina
wrote:

J G Miller wrote:
On Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:47:09 +0100, Lucky13 wrote:

It's not an ideal solution in my mind but I think it might
be the closest that I come (if I go for the Freesat route).
Perhaps the ideal solution would be to get a "satellite" receiver box
which can also accommodate a terrestrial tuner, but wait until the
manufacturer offers a DVB-t2 tuner rather than the current DVB-t only
tuner eg the Technomate 6900, AZbox, Lyngbox, Dreambox etc.

You mean like this HD satellite and terrestrial DVB set top box?

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=224786

From the Q&A at the bottom...

"Q- will this be able to receive the proposed Freeview HD? - mike

Answer- Yes the product does support that. "

Really?

Not according to that page now. I can't see that question and answer.


It's at the top of the list. But if you can't see it, click "Show All"

Freesat or Freeview HD ?
 

On Tue, 29 Sep 2009 12:20:32 +0100, chunkyoldcortina
wrote:

Peter Duncanson wrote:
On Mon, 28 Sep 2009 17:14:21 +0100, chunkyoldcortina
wrote:

J G Miller wrote:
On Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:47:09 +0100, Lucky13 wrote:

It's not an ideal solution in my mind but I think it might
be the closest that I come (if I go for the Freesat route).
Perhaps the ideal solution would be to get a "satellite" receiver box
which can also accommodate a terrestrial tuner, but wait until the
manufacturer offers a DVB-t2 tuner rather than the current DVB-t only
tuner eg the Technomate 6900, AZbox, Lyngbox, Dreambox etc.

You mean like this HD satellite and terrestrial DVB set top box?

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=224786

From the Q&A at the bottom...

"Q- will this be able to receive the proposed Freeview HD? - mike

Answer- Yes the product does support that. "

Really?

Not according to that page now. I can't see that question and answer.


It's at the top of the list. But if you can't see it, click "Show All"

OK. I can see it now, although it is not top of the list.

--
Peter Duncanson
(in uk.tech.digital-tv)

Freesat or Freeview HD ?
 

Andy Burns wrote:
On 28/09/09 21:39, J G Miller wrote:

When the other multiplexes are converted from DVB-t/MPEG-2 to
DVB-t/MPEG-4

That'll take a brave/foolhardy government.

Why? It seems to me to be no more contentious than turning off
analogue. Or 425 VHF...

Andy