Freesat Dish and Box

Just moved to a new home where the TV aerial not up to much - couple of
snowy analogue channels and nothing picked up on FTA. Previous tenants
had a satellite dish mounted low on wall (so accessible), which they
took with them, so I'm thinking of the Freesat. Don't want/won't have Sky.

Are dishes much of a muchness? A 60cm Argos number is about £25 but
doesn't specify (so i'd guess doesn't have?) dual LNB that the PVRs seem
to need.

I used a Humax FTA PVR and liked that a lot. Money isn't too much of an
issue, and have in mind the Humax FoxsatHDR. I have a 37" 1080P telly
with no satellite tuner.

Thanks, Rob

"Rob" wrote in message
b.com...
Just moved to a new home where the TV aerial not up to much - couple of
snowy analogue channels and nothing picked up on FTA. Previous tenants had
a satellite dish mounted low on wall (so accessible), which they took with
them, so I'm thinking of the Freesat. Don't want/won't have Sky.

Are dishes much of a muchness? A 60cm Argos number is about £25 but
doesn't specify (so i'd guess doesn't have?) dual LNB that the PVRs seem
to need.

I used a Humax FTA PVR and liked that a lot. Money isn't too much of an
issue, and have in mind the Humax FoxsatHDR. I have a 37" 1080P telly with
no satellite tuner.


I have Freesat built in TV set, think if I was starting again like you, I
would seriously consider this over a Freesat

http://www.sky.com/shop/freesat/home/

I would consider it a better option. Think Sky better organized than
Freesat technically etc.
Regards
David

On 17/06/2011 08:51, David wrote:


"Rob" wrote in message
b.com...
Just moved to a new home where the TV aerial not up to much - couple
of snowy analogue channels and nothing picked up on FTA. Previous
tenants had a satellite dish mounted low on wall (so accessible),
which they took with them, so I'm thinking of the Freesat. Don't
want/won't have Sky.

Are dishes much of a muchness? A 60cm Argos number is about £25 but
doesn't specify (so i'd guess doesn't have?) dual LNB that the PVRs
seem to need.

I used a Humax FTA PVR and liked that a lot. Money isn't too much of
an issue, and have in mind the Humax FoxsatHDR. I have a 37" 1080P
telly with no satellite tuner.


I have Freesat built in TV set, think if I was starting again like you,
I would seriously consider this over a Freesat

http://www.sky.com/shop/freesat/home/

I would consider it a better option. Think Sky better organized than
Freesat technically etc.
Regards
David

Hmm, tempting. It's still Sky though and that's enough to put a lot of
people off. Plus the box is very ugly complared to most Freesat boxes.
I suppose it depends on whether or not you need 5HD and the other 5 spin
offs. I can't remember the last time I watched 5.

I'm not sure what you mean by "technically".

In article m,
Rob wrote:

Are dishes much of a muchness? A 60cm Argos number is about £25 but
doesn't specify (so i'd guess doesn't have?) dual LNB that the PVRs seem
to need.

You can get much better value online, for example from NetGadgets (who
you can also order from through Amazon).

-- Richard

On 17/06/2011 09:19, Silk wrote:
On 17/06/2011 08:51, David wrote:


"Rob" wrote in message
b.com...
Just moved to a new home where the TV aerial not up to much - couple
of snowy analogue channels and nothing picked up on FTA. Previous
tenants had a satellite dish mounted low on wall (so accessible),
which they took with them, so I'm thinking of the Freesat. Don't
want/won't have Sky.

Are dishes much of a muchness? A 60cm Argos number is about £25 but
doesn't specify (so i'd guess doesn't have?) dual LNB that the PVRs
seem to need.

I used a Humax FTA PVR and liked that a lot. Money isn't too much of
an issue, and have in mind the Humax FoxsatHDR. I have a 37" 1080P
telly with no satellite tuner.


I have Freesat built in TV set, think if I was starting again like you,
I would seriously consider this over a Freesat

http://www.sky.com/shop/freesat/home/

I would consider it a better option. Think Sky better organized than
Freesat technically etc.

Yes, I'd think it'd be quite slick and possibly a loss leader. Won't do
Sky though unless a last resort.

Regards
David


Thanks for feedback though - not a bad option.

Hmm, tempting. It's still Sky though and that's enough to put a lot of
people off. Plus the box is very ugly complared to most Freesat boxes.
I suppose it depends on whether or not you need 5HD and the other 5 spin
offs. I can't remember the last time I watched 5.


Extra channels not of interest. Although ashamed to say I'll miss Dave
as my TV wallpaper of choice.

Rob

On Jun 17, 8:51*am, "David" wrote:
"Rob" wrote in message

b.com...

Just moved to a new home where the TV aerial not up to much - couple of
snowy analogue channels and nothing picked up on FTA. Previous tenants had
a satellite dish mounted low on wall (so accessible), which they took with
them, so I'm thinking of the Freesat. Don't want/won't have Sky.

Are dishes much of a muchness? *A 60cm Argos number is about £25 but
doesn't specify (so i'd guess doesn't have?) dual LNB that the PVRs seem
to need.

I used a Humax FTA PVR and liked that a lot. Money isn't too much of an
issue, and have in mind the Humax FoxsatHDR. I have a 37" 1080P telly with
no satellite tuner.

I have Freesat built in TV set, think if I was starting again like you, I
would seriously consider this over a Freesat

http://www.sky.com/shop/freesat/home/

I would consider it a better option. * Think Sky better organized than
Freesat technically etc.

If you want a subscription-free PVR then Sky is out of the question.
End of story.

Not sure what you mean by "Sky better organized than Freesat
technically"...

The Freesat-from-Sky EPG shows all the pay-TV channels that you
_can't_ get - i.e. it shows more channels that you _can't_ receive
than ones that you can. Very unhelpful.

Freesat has BBC iPlayer, ITVplayer, extra BBC music/comedy/sport
content, a genuine choice of boxes from the very basic to all-singing
all-dancing...
http://www.myechostar.com/
....and new features coming all the time (we already have boxes with
Sling support, DLNA + FTP, copying to USB drive, HbbTV browser just
announced, etc)


If you want to _pay_ for TV, then Sky is of course a great option and
a very well thought out system. But to _record_ FTA TV, it's
expensive, and lacks some of Freesat's really nice features.

I'll grant you Sky has ?9? extra channels, though all Freesat boxes
also have a "non Freesat" mode, opening the world to all FTA
broadcasts, whether they're on Freesat's or Sky's EPG or not (like
Sky's "other channels" menu).

Some of the BBC's red button content doesn't always make it onto
Freesat. It's there (if your box lets you tune to it), but not on the
red button. None of the IP-only BBC content is available on Sky boxes.

Cheers,
David.

"Silk" wrote in message
...
On 17/06/2011 08:51, David wrote:


I'm not sure what you mean by "technically".

Well Sky boxes and Remotes all work the same what ever make all update when
necessary together, not read of Sky boxes having the recent problems I have
had with my Panasonic Freesat with the BBC messing with the HD standards.
Regards
David

wrote in message
...
On Jun 17, 8:51 am, "David"


Freesat has BBC iPlayer, ITVplayer, .....


Not if you have a 2008 Panasonic model as I have.
Regards
David

On 17/06/2011 10:34, David wrote:


"Silk" wrote in message
...
On 17/06/2011 08:51, David wrote:


I'm not sure what you mean by "technically".

Well Sky boxes and Remotes all work the same what ever make all update
when necessary together, not read of Sky boxes having the recent
problems I have had with my Panasonic Freesat with the BBC messing with
the HD standards.

You've just been unlucky. My Panasonic Freesat TV works fine. I didn't
notice any problems with BBC HD. Sky and Freesat both use the same
signal, so it's not the fault of Freesat if some receivers don't work
properly. My last Sky box died, so I went Freesat and never looked back.

On 17/06/2011 10:37, David wrote:


wrote in message
...
On Jun 17, 8:51 am, "David"


Freesat has BBC iPlayer, ITVplayer, .....


Not if you have a 2008 Panasonic model as I have.

That's the thing with Freesat. It's more of an open system than Sky. The
alternative is no choice over the hardware and a locked down EPG.