Freesat, anyone any experience good/bad?

[Fab Foodie]

I see people recommending Humax boxes for around £100, but the ones I've seen are near to or even over £200.

My TV has Freesat built in so get that already, but if I wanted to record then I presume I'll need something like a Humax box anyway?

Also can you pause,FF,RW Freesat via a Humax box?

I think so.... @Hill Wimp is the expert.

 

[ColinJ]

I haven't yet tried scheduling 2 simultaneous recordings while in non-Freesat mode to see what happens. (Normally, if watching a 3rd channel, a pop-up box warns of a clash and asks what to do. It would be sensible to automatically dump the box back into Freesat mode in this situation and use both tuners for the recordings.)

I tried it this evening. It popped up the usual warning, then started both Freesat recordings as planned and because both tuners were then in use it blanked the screen which had been showing a non-Freesat channel. That is what I would want it to do, so I am happy with that.

 

[the_mikey]

I have freesat, it has a good selection of channels but I'm not really a tv addict, currently I'm enjoying Star Trek: Enterprise, weeknights on the Horror Channel.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

I tried it this evening. It popped up the usual warning, then started both Freesat recordings as planned and because both tuners were then in use it blanked the screen which had been showing a non-Freesat channel. That is what I would want it to do, so I am happy with that.

I've found you can sometimes record 2 channels & watch a 3rd if the 3rd channel is on the same mux as one of those being recorded, I've managed to do this on s couple of occasions by accident.

 

[ColinJ]

I've found you can sometimes record 2 channels & watch a 3rd if the 3rd channel is on the same mux as one of those being recorded, I've managed to do this on s couple of occasions by accident.

My brother-in-law was having a problem with his system. Sometimes he could watch one channel while recording another, sometimes he couldn't. It turned out that he had only connected one of the two satellite signal cables. If the 2nd channel was on the same mux, he got away with it. If it wasn't, he didn't!

 

[the_mikey]

My brother-in-law was having a problem with his system. Sometimes he could watch one channel while recording another, sometimes he couldn't. It turned out that he had only connected one of the two satellite signal cables. If the 2nd channel was on the same mux, he got away with it. If it wasn't, he didn't!

Some freesat boxes will have three F-type connections, one for receiver1, another for receiver 2 and a 3rd which is an output, allowing you to patch it into the 2nd receiver, it's not perfect but will allow you to record and receive any transponder which shares the polarisation used by the first receiver, so at least you're not limited to the same MUX.

 

[ColinJ]

Some freesat boxes will have three F-type connections, one for receiver1, another for receiver 2 and a 3rd which is an output, allowing you to patch it into the 2nd receiver, it's not perfect but will allow you to record and receive any transponder which shares the polarisation used by the first receiver, so at least you're not limited to the same MUX.

I very rarely watch anything important live. I am happy enough to be able to record 2 channels simultaneously and watch a previously recorded programme. That will do me!

The loss of (recordable) Ch4 HD IS a big pain though because that was one of the channels I recorded most often.

 

[ColinJ]

Hmm ... I have been using non-Freesat mode quite often over the past few days and it is definitely a bit of a bodge ...

My Humax box removes the menu options to enter non-Freesat mode when it is recording even a single channel, so I can't change over to watch one of the non-Freesat channels while recording.

If I try to work round that problem by leaving the box in non-Freesat mode before a recording starts, the recording often fails. I have managed to do a couple, but several others have failed.

My advice: Leave the box in Freesat mode when shutting it down, and only watch non-Freesat channels when no recordings are scheduled.

 

[Levo-Lon]

Virgin informed me yesterday that my bill will go up £4 in November.
Im going to get things i dont use or need and all the same things too.

I need to seriously look at tv cost.
I'll be paying £71 pcm for virgin £16 pcm for Amazon Netflix and the tv licence which is about £160 i think.
That's a lot of outlay , though the virgin BB is excellent.

 

[PaulSB]

Obviously it very much depends on what one needs/wants but I just kicked BT in to touch in favour of Sky.

BT was providing services we did not need, and rarely used, for £68pcm, the Sky deal for BB and line rental is £25pcm.

We have Netflix at £8pcm but I can see this getting ditched when we get Amazon.

We rarely watch TV other than Freeview content. My wife is a huge tennis fan and did use Eurosport for this via BT. Amazon has tied up the men's tour for five years.

Eurosport is available at £40pa. Amazon, including movies, Kindle, tennis, is £80. Now TV offers day passes for Sky.

Our new approach should be Sky BB £300pa, Eurosport £40, Amazon £80 giving a total of £420. With BT plus Netflix costing £912 this is a saving of at least** £492 and gives more of the content WE WANT to watch rather than companies wish to sell us.

** the real saving should be higher. We spend heavily on Kindle, £250+??pa, and this is packaged with Amazon.

Which? reported recently many subscribers pay for content they never use and pay significantly over the odds for BB. I have certainly been guilty of not looking closely enough at this before.

The downside is we have to use Amazon and Sky, both companies we prefer not to support. That's a whole other discussion.

 

[Fab Foodie]

The downside is we have to use Amazon and Sky, both companies we prefer not to support. That's a whole other discussion.

That’s a whole other discussion everyone should be having every day....

 

[mjr]

Eurosport is available at £40pa.

Eurosport is available free. In German only and you'll need another receiver and either a second antenna (LNB) on your dish or a second dish. Local satellite installers that sell to non-UK EU citizens should be able to sell that.

The downside is we have to use Amazon and Sky, both companies we prefer not to support. That's a whole other discussion.

Will Sky be safer to buy after Comcast/NBC buy them? Their fibre BB price is very good but Murdoch

 

[Nigel-YZ1]

I've been thinking about one of these: https://www.silicondust.com/product/hdhomerun-duo/ as I run a Plex server.
There is a dish on the new flat, so I'm going to see which is best, some sort of freesat setup up or this.

 

[PaulSB]

Eurosport is available free. In German only and you'll need another receiver and either a second antenna (LNB) on your dish or a second dish. Local satellite installers that sell to non-UK EU citizens should be able to sell that.


Will Sky be safer to buy after Comcast/NBC buy them? Their fibre BB price is very good but Murdoch

Anything in a language I don't speak isn't much of a bargain! Add to that we don't have and don't want a dish on the house.........

Yep. Murdoch is a problem for me and buying Sky really grates. If we can get another supplier, currently that's tricky, in 12 months we will.

 

[PaulSB]

That’s a whole other discussion everyone should be having every day....

Absolutely. The whole media control issue is awful.