Sky + and freesat

[khevolution]

hoping somebody might be able to help me, i will be moving out soon the property has a sky dish installed, me and SWMBO watch very little telly, but little khevolution loves his kiddies programmes, and if possible don't want to be throwing money away subscribing to sky if we don't get much use out of it, after a little research i have found the skys version of freesat which can provide a viewing card for the service if i already have the skybox, which i can get a hold of pretty cheap

but my question is this, if i can get hold of a sky plus box, which has the ability to record programs for future viewing, would it work with the sky freesat

[SS2.]

AIUI, you'll need a Sky subscription to enable the pause / record / playback functions on a Sky+ box.

[mp3manager]

Not really sure what you're getting at but there's no such thing as sky freesat...just freesat.

I cancelled my sky sub and bought a freesat decoder and installed it using the same dish/coax cable.

If you connect a sky box to the dish, you'll need a sky sub, that's if I'm understanding you correctly.

[elster]

The box will work, however you couldn't record on it.

Also you wouldn't get as many channels as with freesat.

[seansverige]

I can pause & record, but only on one channel at a time - being able to record a second channel simultaneously costs about a tenner a month. Most missing Freesat channels can be added manually as necessary

[khevolution]

seansverige said:

I can pause & record, but only on one channel at a time - being able to record a second channel simultaneously costs about a tenner a month. Most missing Freesat channels can be added manually as necessary

recording the one channel, is that with a sky+ box?


This moving house business is expensive and want to cut some costs if possible


thanks

[khevolution]

or would it be better for me to dig deep in my pockets and just go the normal freesat route and buy a freesat recorder

[aclivity]

mp3manager said:

Not really sure what you're getting at but there's no such thing as sky freesat...just freesat.

Freesat from Sky

[seansverige]

khevolution said:

recording the one channel, is that with a sky+ box?

This moving house business is expensive and want to cut some costs if possible

thanks

Black & silver Sky+ HD box, not sure what card but it works; as well as only being able to watch / record single channel, can't access half of drive allocated to sky anytime.

re: sky freesat link doesn't say anything about recording - it's more expensive than Freesat recorder...

[khevolution]

i know it doesn't say anything about recording, hence why im was a little confused

[aclivity]

Sorry - to clarify, the link I posted was in response to MP3 manager saying that there was no link between Freesat and Sky. Sky offer this service called Freesat from sky to try to keep their EPG and their equipment in your house, so that if, as and when you decide to expand your viewing, it makes sense to build upon what you have rather than go to another medium such as cable or BT vision.

Freesat+ HD boxes are PVR's, they can record and timeshift. Not sure about multi channel boxes, but as there are quite a few out there it's not impossible that this is a feature of at least one of them.

Freesat HD and Freesat+ boxes also support streaming video over the 'net as well, I understand, so things like iPlayer are available.

more information from http://www.freesat.co.uk/, discussions on http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=... and http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=...

ETA twin tuner Freesat HDR: http://www.joinfreesat.co.uk/index.php/digital-box...

Edited by aclivity on Tuesday 7th June 10:18

[khevolution]

i would like to get the humax as all i see is good reviews about them, but even used its a bit steep for my shallow pockets at the moment, where as i can pick up a sky+hd box for around £40 then all i need is £25 activation card, i was just wondering if i can still get the benifits of recording, which looks like i can't without shelling out £10 a month, which if possible i would like to avoid

Sorry for all these questions, but this is my first place, so haven't really bothered about looking into things like this before

Edited by khevolution on Tuesday 7th June 12:18

[redtwin]

I have a Sky+ box without a viewing card, and I definitely cannot record with it. I only get the basic free to air channels, none of the Freesat ones. It's connected to a telly we barely use otherwise I would have replaced it with a cheap Freesat box.

I have a Humax Foxsat HD recorder and it is great, no susbscription, recording one,sometimes two channels while watching another etc. They are expensive to buy, but it soon paid for itself with what I saved on Sky subs and I paid more for mine when it was first released than they sell for now.

[khevolution]

so for now, would it best if for now while money is tight going for the cheap and cheerful sky sat and pay for the £25 card and save for the humax at a later date, as im yet to read a bad review about one

[seansverige]

That'd be my approach, as long as you confirm the card will enable basic recording (i.e. single channel). I've been waiting for the Freesat+ boxes to come down a bit but apparently they've not been, so price has stayed high (though things do seem to be improving in last few months)

@redtwin: no, you won't be able to record without a card - but the point is that non-subscription cards which enable this are available

[khevolution]

well i've taken the plunge and picked myself up a sky+hd box for £45, will order the activation card just before i move house, will keep people updated on my thoughts, but still on the look out for a humax, is there any one model i should be looking out for?

[redtwin]

Humax only do two HD recorders and as far as I can tell the only difference between them is hard disc size. I have the 250gb and have never filled it more than 50%. Having said that the 500gb model is less than a tenner more expensive (using the freesat site for price comparos) so it would be silly not to get the 500gb.

Bush do a 250gb HD recorder for £160 if money is tight. I know Bush isn't regarding as a brand, but we have a Bush SD box (non recorder) and I can't fault it. In fact I would say it betters the Humax when it comes to switching bewteen Freesat and Non-Freesat channels.