Freeview or Freesat?
Author
Discussion

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

70 months

Monday 25th January 2021
quotequote all
I need a new TV aerial for my house after my refurbishment. No Sky required.

Would I be better with an aerial for Freeview or a small dish for Freesat? Is there a better reception, more HD offerings on Freesat for example?

Thanks!

mike_e

593 posts

279 months

Monday 25th January 2021
quotequote all
We have Freesat, simply because there are more channels and it's less prone to interference in the summer (we're at the mid-point between two Freeview transmitters). With a dish you may also be able to retune your TV to pick of some of the free-to-air Sky stuff, but it's not really worth the effort unless you could use an extra 100 god botherer channels and the like.

eccles

14,015 posts

238 months

Monday 25th January 2021
quotequote all
There are a lot more +1 channels on freesat, plus if you are like me from another part of the country, you can get all the local BBC news from different parts.

595Heaven

2,884 posts

94 months

Monday 25th January 2021
quotequote all
Most frustrating issue with Freesat is that Channel 4 HD is not available. They and Freesat fell out a couple of years ago and have never sorted their differences, so the consumer suffers.

We use Freeview on our main TV, but Freesat on the TV in our garden room, and the other annoying difference is the channel numbers are not shared between the two platforms. I suspect you can rearrange them to be the same, so need to try that!

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

70 months

Monday 25th January 2021
quotequote all
Thanks chaps - food for thought.

eccles

14,015 posts

238 months

Monday 25th January 2021
quotequote all
595Heaven said:
Most frustrating issue with Freesat is that Channel 4 HD is not available. They and Freesat fell out a couple of years ago and have never sorted their differences, so the consumer suffers.

We use Freeview on our main TV, but Freesat on the TV in our garden room, and the other annoying difference is the channel numbers are not shared between the two platforms. I suspect you can rearrange them to be the same, so need to try that!
Apparently if you do a bit of googling 4HD is there, you just have to add it yourself.

Mr Pointy

12,570 posts

175 months

Monday 25th January 2021
quotequote all
If you go Freesat check how many aerial cables you need - I think it's at least two.

595Heaven

2,884 posts

94 months

Monday 25th January 2021
quotequote all
eccles said:
595Heaven said:
Most frustrating issue with Freesat is that Channel 4 HD is not available. They and Freesat fell out a couple of years ago and have never sorted their differences, so the consumer suffers.

We use Freeview on our main TV, but Freesat on the TV in our garden room, and the other annoying difference is the channel numbers are not shared between the two platforms. I suspect you can rearrange them to be the same, so need to try that!
Apparently if you do a bit of googling 4HD is there, you just have to add it yourself.
It was FTA channel, but not sure it it’s still available? It’s not part of Freesat, so won’t appear on EPG etc. My (Samsung) TV won’t allow you use Freesat in conjunction with non FTA channels. So would be a PITA

595Heaven

2,884 posts

94 months

Monday 25th January 2021
quotequote all
Mr Pointy said:
If you go Freesat check how many aerial cables you need - I think it's at least two.
Wrong. One aerial cable required

Terrestrial transmission is very different to satellite where you need one feed from the LNB per tuner

Mr Pointy

12,570 posts

175 months

Monday 25th January 2021
quotequote all
595Heaven said:
Wrong. One aerial cable required

Terrestrial transmission is very different to satellite where you need one feed from the LNB per tuner
Are you saying Freesat is a terrestrial signal that doesn't have an LNB? That would be a novel view.

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

70 months

Monday 25th January 2021
quotequote all
You only need one cable connected with Freesat, but will need 2 if you have a box that will record progams.

Radec

5,027 posts

63 months

Monday 25th January 2021
quotequote all
I believe you only need one feed from a satellite dish lnb to view, as the other feed is for recording or you can feed it to another box.

If I had the dish then would just get a second hand sky box from gumtree should give you all the free channels and hd and +1s for cheap.

eccles

14,015 posts

238 months

Monday 25th January 2021
quotequote all
swiveleyedgit said:
You only need one cable connected with Freesat, but will need 2 if you have a box that will record progams.
I have only one cable and a box that records.
It just means you can only record one channel even though the box has twin tuners. I'd need two cables if I wanted to record two channels.

megaphone

11,249 posts

267 months

Monday 25th January 2021
quotequote all
595Heaven said:
Mr Pointy said:
If you go Freesat check how many aerial cables you need - I think it's at least two.
Wrong. One aerial cable required

Terrestrial transmission is very different to satellite where you need one feed from the LNB per tuner
Wrong. Freesat is broadcast on Astra satellite and uses an LNB. It will work on one feed, but most boxes have dual tuners and need two feeds for recording two channels at once, same as SkyHD+

megaphone

11,249 posts

267 months

Monday 25th January 2021
quotequote all
OP. Personally I would go Freeview via aerial. Lot easier to distribute to other rooms, TV will just plug straight in and work. Lots more choice of Recording boxes. Freeview Play is good, many TVs will have it installed

I would run in a twin Satellite feed to the main TV position, even if you don't use it now, you may change your mind in the future.


anonymous-user

Original Poster:

70 months

Monday 25th January 2021
quotequote all
eccles said:
Apparently if you do a bit of googling 4HD is there, you just have to add it yourself.
Thanks - I didn’t know that, but now have C4HD back on my Freesat box.

To the OP: we have a freeview tuner in the TV and a Freesat tuner in the recorder. During the Olympics I tried a comparison between the two, flicking between the TV and the Freesat input. I’d say the Freesat picture quality was very marginally better - 98% vs 96% sort of thing. You have to be both fussy and dedicated to spot it. But it is there.

595Heaven

2,884 posts

94 months

Monday 25th January 2021
quotequote all
595Heaven said:
Mr Pointy said:
If you go Freesat check how many aerial cables you need - I think it's at least two.
Wrong. One aerial cable required

Terrestrial transmission is very different to satellite where you need one feed from the LNB per tuner
Yep, I was wrong. You don’t need any ‘aerial’ cables for Freesat - you need LNB feeds...

595Heaven

2,884 posts

94 months

Monday 25th January 2021
quotequote all
megaphone said:
595Heaven said:
Mr Pointy said:
If you go Freesat check how many aerial cables you need - I think it's at least two.
Wrong. One aerial cable required

Terrestrial transmission is very different to satellite where you need one feed from the LNB per tuner
Wrong. Freesat is broadcast on Astra satellite and uses an LNB. It will work on one feed, but most boxes have dual tuners and need two feeds for recording two channels at once, same as SkyHD+
Yes, sorry. It was the mention of ‘aerial’ leads that made me think he was on about Freeview

One aerial lead for Freeview
One satellite LNB feed for Freesat to view, but two if you use a PVR to record

Europa Jon

603 posts

139 months

Monday 25th January 2021
quotequote all
OP: does your TV have freeesat built in? Our main TV has Freeview, Freesat and other satellite with an aerial/dish feed for each. A dual or quad LNB on the dish was neded. In our region (Norfolk) each of the 3 tuners have unique channels so I use them all. In summer, leaves on nearby trees sometimes mask terrestrial aerial signals, hence the move to a dish.
To surmise, get all 3 feeds if you can, to cover more options.

S6PNJ

5,639 posts

297 months

Monday 25th January 2021
quotequote all
BlackWidow13 said:
eccles said:
Apparently if you do a bit of googling 4HD is there, you just have to add it yourself.
Thanks - I didn’t know that, but now have C4HD back on my Freesat box.

To the OP: we have a freeview tuner in the TV and a Freesat tuner in the recorder. During the Olympics I tried a comparison between the two, flicking between the TV and the Freesat input. I’d say the Freesat picture quality was very marginally better - 98% vs 96% sort of thing. You have to be both fussy and dedicated to spot it. But it is there.
Any chance you can PM me a link or put it on this thread please?