Freesat

[GaryA]

Genuine question- not sure if this should be in electronic cafe...but its not a technical query....
Recently moved house which has a sky dish installed. Naturally I would never subscribe to murdochs sordid little empire but I understand the dish will work with a freesat decoder.
Have freeview box on TV (shows how old our TV is) but would like to get Eurosport and classic film channels.

 

[Davidc]

You don't get Eurosport and you do get Film 4, True Movies and Movies 4men.

It's worth having if 1) You live somewhere served by a TV repeater which only carries the basic multiplexes 2) you live somewhere (as I do) where the terrestrial TV signal is degraded by obstructions (e.g. trees) but you can get the satellite service OK. 3) You want to watch GOD Channel, Al Jazeera or France 24.

There are a number of both TV and radio services on it which aren't on freeview, I haven't watched any of the TV ones yet so can't comment.

 

[gbb]

Just had a flick through mine GaryA...my Freesat is built into the Panasonic TV, so i assume the channels would be the same...
There's ITV2,3 and 4, each having an extra +1 channel.
Horror channel and again a Horror +1 channel.
CBS Drama, CBS Reality and another CBS channel (cant remember which now)
Men & Motors
A few 'Food' channels.
Film 4 and +1.
Thats not a comprehensive list, but you get the idea.

Mine worked straight off my old Sky dish, no changes, just wired it in and bingo.

 

[accountantpete]

You will have to put up another dish to get Eurosport (European English language version)off the Astra satellite- I keep hearing that it is being removed but it seems to be hanging on.

If you like sport then the Red Button BBC service on Freesat is very useful - snooker and repeats of F1 etc

 

[ColinJ]

My bro-in-law has FreeSat HD and some of the HD programmes looked pretty impressive when I last stayed down there.

 

[mark barker]

I'm not a TV fan, but freesat is ideal for the occasional viewer. Far more choice than freeview, and my receiver cost me £30 from Argos.

B&Q had an offer on recently, freesat receiver, dish & cables for £40 (or £60 for HD).

 

[Ghost Donkey]

if you want eurosport you need to look at a diseq motor and a bigger dish. I'm not sure how the multiple language service works on eurosport and other european broadcast channels as my motor is still in the cupboard under the stairs. Another job on the to do list

You can get eurosport online for around £4 a month or for an annual peice which I can't remember. I would have paid for the online service this year if the cycling highlights and triathlon programming was available on demand after it had been broadcast.

 

[ColinJ]

Alternatively, scrounge an old analogue satellite system of someone and watch International Eurosport free!

 

[the_mikey]

I too refuse to give any money to the near monopolistic sky, I purchased a dish and quad LNB from maplin and got a foxsat HDR from comet, and installed it myself, and I'm quite happy with it, especially since my freeview reception is mostly unwatchable.

 

[Archie_tect]

Latest tele had freesat built in so to be honest we watch so little it's adequate....

or do I mean freeview?

Doh, I don't know!!!

 

[gbb]

Latest tele had freesat built in so to be honest we watch so little it's adequate....

or do I mean freeview?

Doh, I don't know!!!

We're not big TV watchers ourselves...and this may be relevent to OP, there's so much duplication of channels it makes you wonder if its all worthwhile.
We have Virgin TV, we have Freeview AND Freesat built into the TV. Quite honestly, the more i think about it, i never switch to Freeview and Sat. Don't really know why i bothered.

IF i hadnt got Virgin or Sky , then Freesat has its place...but otherwise, its a bit pointless.

 

[jayonabike]

Get Sky, get over yourself, get on the sofa and watch some decent sport / films / documentaries.

 

[the_mikey]

decent sport / films / documentaries.

That's questionable!

 

[surfdude]

yes its worth it if you want to miss all the rubbish on tv you would never watch at least ten times a week

 

[threebikesmcginty]

We've got freesat and for the one-off payment to buy the kit and have it installed it's been worth it.

Freeview reception was poor here but with the Freesat you can get HD on certain programmes - it was good for the Olympics. We don't watch a busting lot, Wallander, some music stuff on BBC4 and the odd film and the kids like Tiny Pop for some reason although it's truly dreadful.

Anyway it's the only way we'd get any extra channels as the Dirty Digger isn't getting his paws on my hard-earned.