Our freeview box died and now we are thinking off getting freesat+. We already have a hd tv.

We wanted a free sat pvr where we can also watch BBC HD channel as well. How do we go about installing the dish? Do we need to upgrade our aerial sockets (which might be bad I don't know).

How much would it all cost?

Is it easier to get Sky's freesat (since the install the dish for free) and then after a year move onto BBC's one and use the dish at the receiver so then we could get HD?

John Lewis charge £78 for FreeSat installation and that includes the dish.

No, they say its more than that:


I'm just confused about the installation part of the companies and why its different for pvrs?

As you have Virgin broadband, do you live in a "Cabled" area and have you got the Virgin phone as well? If so, you could get a package which gives you the Virgin V+ Box (which can record programmes). I used to have this when I lived in Walsall. I didn't subscribe to any of the pay packages (L or XL), but still got BBC HD, ITV1 HD and 4HD. Although the V+ Box cost £5 per month to "rent", when combined with the phone and broadband I ended up paying LESS per month than phone and broadband alone. There is an installation fee, but if anything goes wrong with the box, it's not your problem.

Chris.

Nah its only ADSL not cable and I don't think my parents want to add any more monthly subscriptions to their bill.

Ok, I understand. Please ignore my suggestion.

Chris.

We did look into it but for some reason they don't want it so thats the reason

It's possible to get Sky on 30 days trial, then cancel and pay nothing. They will collect the receiver but not bother with the dish.

Thats handy as the dish will be set up and pointing the right way, so all you would need was a freesat box, connect the sat lead they put in for the sky box , and plug it in

See post no 7 I just made in this thread:

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/s...3#post44200703

Also:

1 freesat pvrs are quite expensive, since unlike sky they're not subsidised. Especially the HD ones.

2. If you get sky, the contract is 1 year initially including installation, then if you don't renew you still get the free to air (non encrypted) channels, including the HD ones if your receiver is HD.

See post no 7 I just made in this thread:

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/s...3#post44200703

Also:

1 freesat pvrs are quite expensive, since unlike sky they're not subsidised. Especially the HD ones.

2. If you get sky, the contract is 1 year initially including installation, then if you don't renew you still get the free to air (non encrypted) channels, including the HD ones if your receiver is HD.

3. plugs are f type, easy to fit.

4. diy cost of freesat dish & hd pvr approx £350-400 I would think.

APOLOGY DOUBLE POST, MY STUPID INCOMPETENT ISP CONSTANTLY RESETS THE CONNECTION

Amazon (may not be cheapest):
HDR - £210
Dish, Quad LNB & cable kit - £35
Signal meter - £6 (useful but not essential)

Where did £350 come from, looks closer to £250 ? You should be able to get a professionally installed setup for £350-£400 and then as you rightly say no monthly costs ! K-ching.

I would have been suspicious of the argos installation at £99 but hey they seem to have all 5 star reviews on it, and I think that includes the dish

Because unlike for terrestrial TV, where the aerial is just a lump of metal that doesn't care what you're watching, in satellite, the crucial bit (called the LNB) has to be set to one of four possible settings, depending on the channel you want to watch.

So, you can't just split a cable like you do with terrestrial - what happens if someone else wants to watch a channel that needs different settings?

That's why for a recorder (or for each separate box) you need extra connections, so that each receiver can always get the channel it wants.

You have multiple cables and a special LNB that is essentially several, in the same box, each with their own connection.

Thanks for the help.

At the moment are arial socket is bad so we need an arial booster to watch the freeview channels like Five USA (that mux, I don't know what it is).

Will I need to upgrade this if I get the dish?

The two are entirely seperate, the satellite dish will have it's own cables and uses a different type of screw on connector (f plug) to most terrestrial kit which uses the ancient Belling Lee connectors.

You did not mention that at the end of the year when the subscription ends so will the PVR functions (unless they pay £10 monthly).

The empire relies upon unsuspecting souls being lured accross by the multitude of extra channels and 1 year quickly becoming 5 or 10 years subscription. Best not to go there - weaning a family off Sky isn't always easy.

the thing is, it depends how many feeds you want. If your dish has a single LNB, then you have a single tuner box, and you can watch/record a single channel. (You may be able to play a recording while recording something)

If you want a two-channel recorder, eg sky+ type arrangement, then you need a dual-feed LNB. Depending on your house internal wiring therefore, you may need to conceal another cable somewhere.

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i re-read your first post - you have freeview, not freesat, dont you.

I have a HDD DVD Recorder to record freeview programmes, which I can then edit out adverts, and archive to DVD if I want. Its SD, but I use it lots, and have hundreds of DVDs as a result. (Normally I use Sony DVD-R blanks at about 20p each, in spindles of 100)

Occasionally, I would like to record two things at the same time, but it isnt so much of an issue, tbh. Series record, and things like that are invaluable.

I also have a humax freesat HD player (not recorder) - If I want to I can mess around with timers manually, and record from the freesat, but I dont very often. I find BBC HD not much different in quality from BBC SD, and the content sadly lacking - but ITV HD is excellent, and seems to me to have a higher bit-rate - and all ITV1 is broadcast on ITV HD

The only other HD channel, is more of a demo thing - a german channel called LuxeTV - and it isnt available on the main EPG - but it is available on the manual channel list.
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When SKY (or anyone else) install a sat system, they will bring black cables into your roofspace and drop them into the room where you want them. You will therefore have one or two cables that will need hiding/covering in some way. If you need to redecorate, consider channelling out and burying a couple of sutiable satellite cables.

Also, note that a condition of taking sky, is that the skybox MUST be connected to a phone socket for the first year.

This arial socket is nothing to do with the Satellite system.
With Freesat you will not be able to get Five USA or Fiver, you can with Freesat from Sky but will have to pay to record.

mastanlem

Not entirely accurate. All twin or single tuner pvrs freesat or freeview will allow you to watch a recorded programme while recording (no tuner is involved in replay).

Some freeview pvrs allow the viewing of a third channel while recording two, this requires the tuner to be capable of extracting two programmes from the same multiplex (all Humax and Topfield pvrs have this capability)

One freesat twin tuner pvr has the same capability - the Humax Foxsat-hdr.

In addition it has a tuner1 out to tuner2 in provision.

This allows the hdr to record two channels at the same time with some restriction and also allow third channel viewing with only a single coax and lnb. (and of course watching any recording)