Freesat or Freeview

[EdT]

Sky's a gonner next month... and I excpect I'll get frustrated with missing everything I wanted to see (often iPlayer beats me to it too) so a recorder will soon be on the list. I've got a sky dish, and a monster ariel in the roof, so both freesat & freeview are - I assume - viable options.

Any thoughts?

[rhinochopig]

For us, freesat seems to offer abetter picture. Not as many hd channels though.

[tog]

rhinochopig said:

For us, freesat seems to offer abetter picture. Not as many hd channels though.

I went Freesat, but I live in a valley and never even managed to get five analogue channels so figured the chance of a decent Freeview signal was slim. All the channels I need, but I was coming from only four so you might feel you've lost something coming from Sky.

[EdT]

tog said:

All the channels I need, but I was coming from only four so you might feel you've lost something coming from Sky.

One of the reasons we're ditching Sky is that we rarely watch anything other than the man 5 channels. Sky's wasted on us.

[EdT]

Is is true Freesat boxes record the data as is (like the Sky box does) whereas a freeview box re-compresses?

[FlossyThePig]

• YouView box (made by Humax) on Freview for all the bells and whistles
• Freetime box (made by Humax) on Freesat for almost all the bells and whistles (4OD an Demand 5 to come sometime this year).
• More channels for you to ignore on Freesat.
• With a bit of fiddling at least two extra HD channels on Freesat.
• Dave on Freeview

I've got Freesat downstairs and Freeview in the bedroom. I need to upgrade the aerial as two of the Freeview multiplexes are dire.

[Magic919]

I can't see any reason for any STB to compress the recordings further.

[EdT]

Magic919 said:

I can't see any reason for any STB to compress the recordings further.

(think) I read this in a review of a Philips unit a couple of years back..

[EdT]

Hmmmm... the telly's a few years old too.

Are there any TVs with an HD recorded built in?

[EdT]

A lex said:

No that I know of - but our Panasonic lets you put a HDD in the side via USB for direct recording. Pretty neat solution.

Tell me more...!

Does the recording compare well to an external box? ie 2 channels at once.. can play a recording whilst recording another etc. And the telly doesnt have to be powered up to record?

questions, questions..

[EdT]

Which model Alex?

[kazste]

Are you sure about the recordings being portable im sure I read somewhere a few years back mind that they were encoded to the set they were recorded on.

[megaphone]

This is a great option if you want Freesat. Built in Slingbox allows you to watch the box whilst away from home. Great price as well.

http://www.tesco.com/direct/echostar-slingloaded-h...

[daveydave7]

Fresat for pic quality
However I have both freeview built into tv freesat hd box
Got a Samsung 7800freesat hd but the humax I nearly bought
seen one yesterday s/h boxed £80
like some have mentioned - more channels on freesat some on freeview not on fresat I came from sky I adjusted soon adjusted can see little reason to want to pay £x a month for it now also got virgin media stopped using there box then got it moved into lounge - purely for the catch up bits of tv on it

[annodomini2]

Continue using the sky box, you won't get the pay channels obviously and plus (recording) requires a separate sub off the normal plan.

But you get the free channels all the same.

[EdT]

OK Feesat it is, ordered a nice New Humax 'smart box' with Freetime
Apparently riddled with bugs.. should be fun!!

[LordGrover]

Oops! Looks like I'm late to the party. I dropped sky towards the end of last year.
The range of (worthwhile) channels on Freesat is pretty poor; click.
I think I'll plug in my Sky box again and see what channels are available on that without a subscription. The last time I did this it was pretty good, though no recording obviously.

[liller]

EdT said:

OK Feesat it is, ordered a nice New Humax 'smart box' with Freetime
Apparently riddled with bugs.. should be fun!!

I have had one of the freetime boxes for a good few months now and have not encountered any bugs as yet.

The EPG is great and has lots to offer plus the box does a really good job of up-scaling SD channels. The picture quality is much better via the box than it was via the freesat tuner which is built into the TV

[liller]

megaphone said:

This is a great option if you want Freesat. Built in Slingbox allows you to watch the box whilst away from home. Great price as well.

http://www.tesco.com/direct/echostar-slingloaded-h...

good lord, the design of that box is straight out of the 80's!

[Torquey]

The freetime box does look good and quite tempting.

If I was to ditch sky what would be my cheapest way to receieve sky sports 1,2 and sky sports F1??

I'm paying £60 per month for these 3 channels.