Freesat - worth keeping or outdated?
Discussion
We have a Freesat dish and Humax recorder which, frankly, is never used these days. I got it originally when World Superbikes was free on German Eurosport; that lasted just one season... 
I've just been searching through the channels available and can't find anything 'unique' on there that I can't get on freeview/internet stick-thing I don't think.
Before I ditch it, please tell me I'm not overlooking the bleedin' obvious and there is indeed something worth keeping it for?
I've just been searching through the channels available and can't find anything 'unique' on there that I can't get on freeview/internet stick-thing I don't think.
Before I ditch it, please tell me I'm not overlooking the bleedin' obvious and there is indeed something worth keeping it for?
pquinn said:
Not really true. Freesat certainly has more +1 channels, signal is usually more reliable too.
Looking at the channel list again I guess it's true, although I must admit I don't miss not getting France 24 English even if it is in HD.https://ukfree.tv/channels/all
Been using it happily for years. Alongside the usual streaming subs.
What is annoying is the lack of choice when it comes to TVs that have a built in freesat tuner. Current LG one does and it's adequate. EPG is a bit slow but it works fine.
Lack of ch4 HD bloody irritating....you'd think they'd have bottomed that one by now.
What is annoying is the lack of choice when it comes to TVs that have a built in freesat tuner. Current LG one does and it's adequate. EPG is a bit slow but it works fine.
Lack of ch4 HD bloody irritating....you'd think they'd have bottomed that one by now.
I have a Humax Freesat box that replaced a Sky+ box & subscription. It's slow to boot up & the menu isn't as good as Sky, but it's functional. Unfortunately it's one of those boxes that likes the eat its hard drive every so often and insists on reformatting it. For what little TV I watch these days it's good enough though.
We're the same as you OP. When we moved 6years ago we got a Humax freesat box but very rarely use it now. It's been quite buggy so have to unplug, it's quite slow and the remote has some failing buttons but is suppose it is 6 years old.
I've inherited an unbelievably complicated Panasonic freesat,, /DVD player thing to see if that's any better although it's not particularly user friendly. Having said that I have a bluray player so will only use freesat part.
I've inherited an unbelievably complicated Panasonic freesat,, /DVD player thing to see if that's any better although it's not particularly user friendly. Having said that I have a bluray player so will only use freesat part.
Thread Hijack
Very close to buying a Panasonic OLED - however it does not have a freesat connection.
We currently use a Sky HD box to get freesat and it works quite well. It seemed quite a nice thought to get rid of the clunky thing and just plug it into the TV.
We don't record or want to record anything really. I've seen Humax but a lot of them are quite pricey.
I see that LG do some with a freesat connection. Just annoyed as I had preferred the Panasonic
Are there any other options do you think?
Oh and we don't have a TV aerial so can't get freeview
Very close to buying a Panasonic OLED - however it does not have a freesat connection.
We currently use a Sky HD box to get freesat and it works quite well. It seemed quite a nice thought to get rid of the clunky thing and just plug it into the TV.
We don't record or want to record anything really. I've seen Humax but a lot of them are quite pricey.
I see that LG do some with a freesat connection. Just annoyed as I had preferred the Panasonic
Are there any other options do you think?
Oh and we don't have a TV aerial so can't get freeview
We have no TV reception here, just ditched Sky and have gone fully 'streaming' via a Chromecast with Google TV AND an old Roku Stick we had anyway.
Aside from not having TV if the Internet goes down I haven't noticed any downsides to doing it all online.
Only frustration is that, to my knowledge, there isn't a single streaming box/stick that does every service. The new Chromecast is awesome, logged in to all our services (Netflix, Amazon, Disney etc) and it pulls everything into one navigation area, can browse movies by genre and it'll pull eveththing you have access to through, feels like the future! Frustratingly All4 haven't made their service available though, hence the backup Roku Stick just for that.
Aside from not having TV if the Internet goes down I haven't noticed any downsides to doing it all online.
Only frustration is that, to my knowledge, there isn't a single streaming box/stick that does every service. The new Chromecast is awesome, logged in to all our services (Netflix, Amazon, Disney etc) and it pulls everything into one navigation area, can browse movies by genre and it'll pull eveththing you have access to through, feels like the future! Frustratingly All4 haven't made their service available though, hence the backup Roku Stick just for that.
ch37 said:
We have no TV reception here, just ditched Sky and have gone fully 'streaming' via a Chromecast with Google TV AND an old Roku Stick we had anyway.
Aside from not having TV if the Internet goes down I haven't noticed any downsides to doing it all online.
Only frustration is that, to my knowledge, there isn't a single streaming box/stick that does every service. The new Chromecast is awesome, logged in to all our services (Netflix, Amazon, Disney etc) and it pulls everything into one navigation area, can browse movies by genre and it'll pull eveththing you have access to through, feels like the future! Frustratingly All4 haven't made their service available though, hence the backup Roku Stick just for that.
Roku sticks do the main ones... Netflix, amazon prime, now TV, apple TV, BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and 5, Disney, you tube... I can't think of any other major services though. Aside from not having TV if the Internet goes down I haven't noticed any downsides to doing it all online.
Only frustration is that, to my knowledge, there isn't a single streaming box/stick that does every service. The new Chromecast is awesome, logged in to all our services (Netflix, Amazon, Disney etc) and it pulls everything into one navigation area, can browse movies by genre and it'll pull eveththing you have access to through, feels like the future! Frustratingly All4 haven't made their service available though, hence the backup Roku Stick just for that.
heisthegaffer said:
Roku sticks do the main ones... Netflix, amazon prime, now TV, apple TV, BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and 5, Disney, you tube... I can't think of any other major services though.
Yeah I think that covers us if we're missing anything, but we're finding the Google TV UI genuinely useful in bringing content to our attention and it's nice to just have it there without needing to browse each app individually, so in practice the Roku is just a backup for specific content on C4.Gassing Station | TV, Film, Streaming & Radio | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff