FreeSat from Sky

[michaeljclark]

Some wisdom fro the PH collective please

Last night my 11 year old Sony TV went bang (power light flashes 3 times - either a fuse or the power supply according to the interweb)

The TV reception where I live is pants (my Aerial is in the loft - no way of mounting on the roof according to the local Aerial man, and I live under 64,000 volt power lines) and Freeview is also crap (can get BBC1/BBC2/Ch5 and some others but not ITV1/2/3/4 and CH4 etc etc)

So my hand has been forced and I'm thinking about Skys' FreeSat for £150 which gives me all the Free-To-Air" channels. I don't really need full blown sky at the mo, thou the other option of Sky’s' "Pay once Watch forever" also seems attractive

My brother has one of these http://www.digitaldirect.co.uk/sony/kdl40x3000.htm... and it does indeed look very good - not sure that my lounge is big enough. But before I calling Der over at DigitalDirect, does anyone have FreeSat ? And anyone have any comments on the TV etc etc (I will got HD at somepoint – so it’s not a complete waste)

I know this is a rather bland thread, but in trying to save for a bigger house, and pay for the car I'd like to spend as little as possible (I'm aware that the TV is ££££'s - having said that the old one that's gone bang I got FOC) I'd appreciate any thoughts.

Cheers

Mike

[Simpo Two]

If it's anything like Freeview I wouldn't bother.

Plus, being cynical, once everybody's loaded up with Freesat, they can knock out the free channels one by one until you're forced to pay.

[michaeljclark]

Simpo Two said:

If it's anything like Freeview I wouldn't bother.

It's got all the Freeview stuff - it was more that my Aerial receptios is st and that I'm hoping that Satellite would be better....... (my neighbours all have satellite)

[Simpo Two]

I got a new aerial professionally fitted. Now I can get about 20 channels of st and 5 of repeats, usually Coast or Top Gear, on Channel 'Dave' which is either Channel 12 or 19 depending, but isn't UKTV History, at least possibly not. However if you want to watch Coast for 24 hours solid it's great...

[stu_the_flat]

I use free sat

DON'T TALK TO SKY!

Its in the name Free sat Just go to a dorky shop like maplins buy a decoder (if you feel your self likely to pay for things in the future buy one with a card reader.) any old satellite dish and a high quality LNB.

Then you can pick up almost any countries free television. whether you can find anything you want to watch is another thing. I use it for the Chinese channels.

If you go to SKY they have made the hard ware so that it will only pick up Astra1 There satellite network and my hardware was only in the region of £70

Its a fun hobby. although aligning the dish can be frustrating

If you are in England evidently you can get the sky sports channel buy pointing to Nile sat.

Oh if you have kids be careful leaving it pointed at foreign countries because it could be much later in the evening and there channels might be showing Erm... Other recreational activities

Cheers Stuart

Edited by stu_the_flat on Monday 22 September 15:25

[Tycho]

stu_the_flat said:

If you go to SKY they have made the hard ware so that it will only pick up Astra1 There satellite network and my hardware was only in the region of £70

Edited by stu_the_flat on Monday 22 September 15:25

That's weird since a lot of channels are on Eurobird.....

[michaeljclark]

I also looked at FreeSat - I think there are already a set of holes on the side of the house for where a dish was- does anyone know if there is a standard for the dish mounts (ie the holes for you attach the mounting bracket to the wall are always in the same place), just wondered if I could avoid turning the house into a pepper pot.

Any thoughts on the TV I've looked at?

Mike

[xiphias]

Make sure you're aware of the distinction between freesat and freesatfromsky. The former is the satellite version of freeview essentially (with hd channels) and the second is sky's offering.

[telecat]

SKY's free product is not FREESAT. FREESAT is a BBC/ITV sponsored service much like FREEVIEW. The channel line-ups are a little different with no DAVE or Virgin 1 on FREESAT. The FIVE channels are not there either. FREESAT also has HD channels and also the potential to carry many more channels than FREEVIEW. As previously stated if you get the HUMAX FREESAT products you can unlock them and get all the other channels transmitted from that area of sky. The other STB's are "locked down" so you cannot get the oth3er satellite "offerings".

[ln1234]

Easy. Buy a Sky decoder + satellite dish from ebay

Call up sky and ask for a freesat card. You'll have to give details of your decoder and they'll match the card to that. It'll cost you about £20 (one off payment) and you'll get all channels apart from subscription ones.

[michaeljclark]

I'm going with Freesrt and hope that I can self install

Pity there's no HD based PVR yet mind you

Time to get down to Maplins or somesuch and get some kit

Mike

[BRGBert]

michaeljclark said:

Pity there's no HD based PVR yet mind you

PlayTV from Sony is meant to be adding HD support at some point, I would imagine you can hook it up to a sat receiver. It's also a good excuse to get a ps3

[Hyperion]

ln1234 said:

Easy. Buy a Sky decoder + satellite dish from ebay

Call up sky and ask for a freesat card. You'll have to give details of your decoder and they'll match the card to that. It'll cost you about £20 (one off payment) and you'll get all channels apart from subscription ones.

Yep...all you need is an old Sky box and a dish/LNB (simply unbolt one from someones house when they aren't looking?). The card is £20 which you will need if you want to watch the ITV channels. It's better than FreeView as you get a lot more channels.

[Surfr]

ln1234 said:

Easy. Buy a Sky decoder + satellite dish from ebay

Call up sky and ask for a freesat card. You'll have to give details of your decoder and they'll match the card to that. It'll cost you about £20 (one off payment) and you'll get all channels apart from subscription ones.

Sky Plus will not work with that without a Sky+ subscription though, will it?

[Hyperion]

Surfr said:

Sky Plus will not work with that without a Sky+ subscription though, will it?

No.

[Surfr]

Hyperion said:

Surfr said:

Sky Plus will not work with that without a Sky+ subscription though, will it?

No.

Oops I thought I was still in the PVR thread. Carry on

[Mr E]

michaeljclark said:

Pity there's no HD based PVR yet mind you

When they make a PC card that will go into my media PC and talk to Vista Media Centre, there will be.

I've even already got an old sky dish hanging off the side of the house...

[Dogwatch]

michaeljclark said:

Time to get down to Maplins or somesuch and get some kit

Mike

If you want to order over t'internet Maplin are doing free postage for orders received before 9am tomorrow morning.

[g_attrill]

Hyperion said:

Yep...all you need is an old Sky box and a dish/LNB (simply unbolt one from someones house when they aren't looking?). The card is £20 which you will need if you want to watch the ITV channels. It's better than FreeView as you get a lot more channels.

You only really need it to receive a few Five channels now, and they will go FTA soon. I have a few Sky receivers at home but would now probably spend a few pounds more on a proper Freesat box, mainly because the EPG excludes all the Sky channels you can't get.

[michaeljclark]

I guess it's time to speak to Derestrictor then, but looking at his member page he's in the US?? Does he still run DigitalDirect?? Or did I miss someting along the way?