How Will Sky Respond to Freesat

On Wed, 07 May 2008 22:40:45 GMT, "jb" wrote:

someone just posted a mesaage on another newsgroup saying his new brother
has just got a new Humax HD reciever and has found roughly 300 or 400
channels

The Humax box is a proper satellite receiver, with Freesat 'added on'.


A normal freesat receiver will receive only 46 TV channels at the time
of writing and will NOT allow you to tune other FTA channels in.

--

On Thu, 08 May 2008 12:08:19 GMT, (Zero Tolerance) wrote:

On Wed, 07 May 2008 22:15:51 GMT, "jb" wrote:

yes indeed... but my point was how much is a sky HD box for a 'freesat for
sky' viewer please forgive me if im wrong but i had the impression that
official HD boxes for non subscribers are an astronomical 399 - when
compared to the the freesat for bbc boxes selling in comet now for 149 ....

You're comparing a twin tuner PVR against a single-tuner standalone.
Of course one is going to be cheaper.

The going rate for a Sky HD box on eBay (new) seems to be between £200
- £250, with used ones around £150. I'd be very surprised if the
Freesat PVR (when it finally arrives) is substantially cheaper.

You seem to be forgetting the 120 pounds per year forever cost of using the Sky HD PVR. Without the
10 pounds per month it only functions as a single tuner receiver.
--

Cheers

Nigel Barker
Live from the sunny Cote d'Azur

"Zero Tolerance" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 07 May 2008 22:40:45 GMT, "jb" wrote:

someone just posted a mesaage on another newsgroup saying his new brother
has just got a new Humax HD reciever and has found roughly 300 or 400
channels

The Humax box is a proper satellite receiver, with Freesat 'added on'.


A normal freesat receiver will receive only 46 TV channels at the time
of writing and will NOT allow you to tune other FTA channels in.

--

it therefore seems like at the present time.. the humax box is the one to go
for init...

quite good value at 149quid when compared with say.. the sky HD one which is
being sold for 399quid accordong to their current website... whether this
price is dependant on the additional 150 quid for the quoted instal etc im
not sure.


personally when the humax HD PVR comes out in about six weeks or so I think
myself and many others may be sorely tempted .. (especially if available for
the two hundred quid or so being bandied about..) ney.. driven by invisible
forces... to buy one : )

cheers

jb

selling their sky HD box on their website for 399 when comet et al are
knocking out an argually even better Humax one for 149.. isnt going to
exactly help attract in cash strapped hard working families is it..

indeed anyone who has actually bought the sky HD box and had it installed
for the whopping 549 quoted might be forgiven for feeling ever so slightly
wobbly... : )

even the ludicrously wealthy would probably run a mile faced with the
lauughable prices being published on the sky website today

just my humble opinion mind

cheers
jb
"Paul Heslop" wrote in message
...
by ignoring it, like they ignore their customers.


--
Paul (We won't die of devotion)
-------------------------------------------------------
Stop and Look
http://www.geocities.com/dreamst8me/

jb wrote:
: selling their sky HD box on their website for 399 when comet et al are
: knocking out an argually even better Humax one for 149.. isnt going to
: exactly help attract in cash strapped hard working families is it..

But this is a pretty ridiculous comparison!

Noone pays £399 for SkyHD! Why would you want a one unless you had Sky TV
(any level at all - £16/month and up)??

*With* Sky TV the SkyHd box is comparable to the (not even out!) Humax PVR
(reputed to be going to cost £299).

In uk.media.tv.sky Nigel Barker wrote:

: You seem to be forgetting the 120 pounds per year forever cost of using
: the Sky HD PVR. Without the 10 pounds per month it only functions as
: a single tuner receiver.

Your comparion is equally artificial! Yes, up to now, *some* people may have
been paying the £10/month. Now I can think of no reason why someone not
subscribing to Sky at all would even want a SkyHD STB!

With even the £16/month Sky subscription - which people even get for the
included brooadband these days! - the SkyHD STB becomes a twin-tuner Sky+ PVR
with a few free HD channels. Very directly comparable to the Humax PVR at a
(possible!) cost of £299

Why do people insist that the SkyHD STB and Humax Freesat PVR are still in
competition??

On Thu, 8 May 2008 14:40:23 +0000 (UTC), Brian McIlwrath wrote:

In uk.media.tv.sky Nigel Barker wrote:

: You seem to be forgetting the 120 pounds per year forever cost of using
: the Sky HD PVR. Without the 10 pounds per month it only functions as
: a single tuner receiver.

Your comparion is equally artificial! Yes, up to now, *some* people may have
been paying the £10/month. Now I can think of no reason why someone not
subscribing to Sky at all would even want a SkyHD STB!

Until recently the Sky HD digibox was available on Ebay at a much cheaper price & was actually not
too expensive for an FTA HD receiver. It was one of the very first on the market & MPEG4 HD DVB-S2
receivers have been pretty rare. Even now MPEG4 HD DVB-S2 PVRs are very thin on the ground.

I was actually responding to Mr Tolerance who complained that it was unfair to compare the prices of
a twin tuner PVR against a single-tuner standalone. I was pointing out that the price of the Sky PVR
is much higher given the ongoing subscription costs or has similar single tuner receiver
functionality if a subscription is not paid.
--

Cheers

Nigel Barker
Live from the sunny Cote d'Azur

"jb" wrote in message
...

"Zero Tolerance" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 07 May 2008 22:40:45 GMT, "jb" wrote:

someone just posted a mesaage on another newsgroup saying his new brother
has just got a new Humax HD reciever and has found roughly 300 or 400
channels

The Humax box is a proper satellite receiver, with Freesat 'added on'.


A normal freesat receiver will receive only 46 TV channels at the time
of writing and will NOT allow you to tune other FTA channels in.

--

it therefore seems like at the present time.. the humax box is the one to
go for init...

quite good value at 149quid when compared with say.. the sky HD one which
is being sold for 399quid accordong to their current website... whether
this price is dependant on the additional 150 quid for the quoted instal
etc im not sure.


personally when the humax HD PVR comes out in about six weeks or so I
think myself and many others may be sorely tempted .. (especially if
available for the two hundred quid or so being bandied about..) ney..
driven by invisible forces... to buy one : )

cheers

jb


I want as many people as possible to get a HD receiver, Freesat, FTA or SKY.
That's the only way to prove that demand is there, and hence increase the
number of HD channels. In the mean time I'm happy with my SKY HD because I
like what SKY offers in terms of Sport and Films and the added quality of
those in HD is worth it to me.

P.S. I don't care if some of the main HD channels will largely be scaled SD
to start, like Channel4. The quality of their SD scalers produces a much
better picture then either your TV or the HD box scaling a crappy MPEG2 SD
broadcast.

"Nigel Barker" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 8 May 2008 14:40:23 +0000 (UTC), Brian McIlwrath
wrote:

In uk.media.tv.sky Nigel Barker wrote:

: You seem to be forgetting the 120 pounds per year forever cost of using
: the Sky HD PVR. Without the 10 pounds per month it only functions as
: a single tuner receiver.

Your comparion is equally artificial! Yes, up to now, *some* people may
have
been paying the £10/month. Now I can think of no reason why someone not
subscribing to Sky at all would even want a SkyHD STB!

Until recently the Sky HD digibox was available on Ebay at a much cheaper
price & was actually not
too expensive for an FTA HD receiver. It was one of the very first on the
market & MPEG4 HD DVB-S2
receivers have been pretty rare. Even now MPEG4 HD DVB-S2 PVRs are very
thin on the ground.

I was actually responding to Mr Tolerance who complained that it was
unfair to compare the prices of
a twin tuner PVR against a single-tuner standalone. I was pointing out
that the price of the Sky PVR
is much higher given the ongoing subscription costs or has similar single
tuner receiver
functionality if a subscription is not paid.

Everyone complained when TV's where still sold without DVB-T tuners as a
drag on the spread of DVB. Well it's a disgrace that in order to have a
"cheap" option Freesat is offering SD only box's. If the majority of Freesat
systems sold are SD then that will act as a drag on increasing HD channels.

On Thu, 8 May 2008 15:10:49 +0100, "jb" wrote:

quite good value at 149quid when compared with say.. the sky HD one which is
being sold for 399quid accordong to their current website...

If you can't buy a Sky HD box for the same £150, then you're just not
trying.

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