I've had three different versions of a number of BBC channels ever since moving here three years ago. I'm not aware of this ever having caused me problems in all that time - in fact it's given me more choice.
So why is it so bad to have duplicates?
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They are not always bad.
With duplicate channels it is possible that not all the different versions of the channel in the epg will be populated.
When I deliberately tune into two different sets of BBC the links from and to BBC interactive services can malfunction. For a particalar tuning this either works or does not work for me.
Series link and AR can malfunction.
Do you use padding and repeat timers instead of series link and Accurate Recording? Or perhaps (perhaps as in 'theory') your non-800 channels are all from the same transmitter and you only use SL & AR on those?
Whilst viewing a channel from one region, the EPG for channels from other regions won't populate.
Whilst receiving a channel from one region, events set with accurate recording/series link for channels from other regions will likely fail to start.
If you keep your main viewing/recording to one region's channels, and only watch/record from alternate regions when no other events are due, or don't use AR/SL timers, the issue will be minimal.
I've previously set recordings on ITV1 from Anglia and Yorkshire simultaneously, and by setting them to manual events (explicit start/end times) they succeeded.
Having read nvingo's post, I think I may now understand why my attempts to use Freeview+ features on my old Thomson TUTV box before it packed up altogether never worked. Understandably (!) I blamed the Thomson box.
As I have a second (non-PVR) box, I think I might just use that for regional programmes (which I never record anyway) and delete all the 8xx channels on the Humax PVR, leaving me with the Crystal Palace signal, which is marginally stronger.
Having CP channels store at 8xx and deleting those would leave the undesirable situation of a mix of CP and non-CP channels in the remaining line-up.
I think I'm fortunate, but I've noted your warning, and I'll double-check with the "signal detection" feature before deleting any channels. There aren't too many duplicates to go through, and they're all BBC, which simplifies matters considerably.