Freesat Advice

chandleochandleo Posts: 614
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Hi, I was hoping somebody may be able to advise me,

In my house at the moment we have a quad LNB on our dish with three of the connections currently being used (2 in the lounge for sky plus, and 1 on a standard sky box in another bedroom)

I don't fancy paying an extra £10 a month mirror sky subscription in my room as pretty much all the channels I'd want for my bedroom are available on Freesat and of course the added benefit on HD from BBC and ITV. Just wondered what I would need to do, happy enough to buy a Freesat HD box, so first of all which HD box would people recommend and why.

Also the logistics of connecting it up to the dish, it this a difficult job, if so would I be voiding any sky warranty's and if I paid for installation of the freesat to my room would the able to connect it to the existing sky dish thus utilising the as yet unused fourth connection?

Many Thanks, and advice appreciated!

Comments

  • justmegtjustmegt Posts: 1,872
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    I have a Humax and am very happy with it. So I would recommend it.

    You certainly can connect a Freesat box to the spare connector on your LNB. Just buy the appropriate length of coax (WF100) two connectors and some cable clips. Make sure there is no power going to the LNB when connecting to it. I don’t know if you’re violating your agreement with Sky.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,617
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    chandleo wrote: »
    Hi, I was hoping somebody may be able to advise me,

    Just wondered what I would need to do, happy enough to buy a Freesat HD box, so first of all which HD box would people recommend and why.

    I have no experience of the Alba (Goodmans/Bush) boxes so I cannot comment on their performance but I would strongly recommend that you avoid the the Humax HD box unless you like watching programs where the picture and audio are not synchronised.
  • StigStig Posts: 12,446
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    The Bush freesat HD box is cheapest, and in my experience very reliable.

    Installation is a straighforward DIY job unless your dish is in a strange place, and as long as you can get the cable through the wall. Find a mate with a ladder and a big drill if needs be!
  • mastanlemmastanlem Posts: 636
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    I would recommend the Humax Foxsat. I am very pleased with the picture quality etc.

    mastanlem
  • chandleochandleo Posts: 614
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    Sorry for the late reply had a busy few days, and thanks for all the replies and advice, think i'm going for the Humax Foxsat box, particularly as from what I can gather the bush box can't access non-freesat channels, and i'm particularly interested into being able to add channels such as Travel.

    Getting the box next week, I've ordered myself some cable with connectors and cable clips now just to find a friend with a ladder and a drill :D
  • StigStig Posts: 12,446
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    chandleo wrote: »
    I'm going for the Humax Foxsat box, particularly as from what I can gather the bush box can't access non-freesat channels, and i'm particularly interested into being able to add channels such as Travel.
    The Bush box can access non-Freesat channels now, since the recent firmware update.
  • AndrueAndrue Posts: 23,363
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    chandleo wrote: »
    I don't fancy paying an extra £10 a month mirror sky subscription in my room as pretty much all the channels I'd want for my bedroom are available on Freesat and of course the added benefit on HD from BBC and ITV. Just wondered what I would need to do, happy enough to buy a Freesat HD box, so first of all which HD box would people recommend and why.
    Right now I would recommend existing Sky subscribers to buy a Sky HD box. You currently get more HD channels for free off Sky than Freesat. Admittedly the difference is small but simply upgrading your parent's Sky+ to a Sky HD (around £230 from various suppliers) would give you access to BBC HD, Channel 4 HD and Luxe TV. ITV HD will almost certainly be available on Sky for free as soon as ITV have a proper channel operating. This would also allow you to record HD which isn't really possible with Freesat at the moment.
  • victorslotvictorslot Posts: 619
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    Andrue wrote: »
    Right now I would recommend existing Sky subscribers to buy a Sky HD box. You currently get more HD channels for free off Sky than Freesat. Admittedly the difference is small but simply upgrading your parent's Sky+ to a Sky HD (around £230 from various suppliers) would give you access to BBC HD, Channel 4 HD and Luxe TV. ITV HD will almost certainly be available on Sky for free as soon as ITV have a proper channel operating. This would also allow you to record HD which isn't really possible with Freesat at the moment.

    If you check around you can get a brand new Sky+HD box for as little as £150, use the existing card with the HD mix added. Replace the old +plus box with this and put the old one elsewhere with a Sky freesat card for £20.
  • chandleochandleo Posts: 614
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    hmm lots to ponder, may re-think the bush box then if it can access channels not on the freesat EPG, are there any major differences between the bush and the Foxsat, or is it just a case of brand snobbery?

    There's a couple of reasons i'm not going for any SKY HD or well anything sky with mirror subscriptions is 1 i'm not particularly fussed about the pay channels as I've found that most of the stuff I watch is available free so there'd be no point in paying extra,

    and 2also the Sky Equipment is all in my housemate's name if he ever decided to move out I wouldn't want to lumped with having to pay a full sky subscription + hd subscription for myself when it actual fact the only hd channel i'd probably really watch would be BBC HD.

    Hope that makes sense, and thanks for all the replies it's been really helpful.
  • StigStig Posts: 12,446
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    chandleo wrote: »
    hmm lots to ponder, may re-think the bush box then if it can access channels not on the freesat EPG, are there any major differences between the bush and the Foxsat, or is it just a case of brand snobbery?
    On these forums you will find user experinces of both, but it seems to me that a lot more people are complaining about the Humax than the Bush.
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