Hi,

I've just moved into a rental flat where the freeview reception is pants.

It's wired for sat, but I have no assurances that it works (better or at all).

I want to buy the cheapest box possible to try it out.

I have no need for HD, I have no need for internet connection, but I do need a recorder. So I don't want a freesat box at all, I need "something that works" but without the branding. I certainly don't want to pay 250 quid for a box as I may move on in six months and have no further use for it.

Sorry if this is the wrong place to post but none of the other categories looked any more appropriate

Anyhow, I have discovered the Fortec 4400/4700 (with USB record) available at Maplin.

Are these boxes any good, do they do what I want (i.e provide/record all the normal SD freesat channels)?

Are there any other options?

TIA

tim

Note that most (all?) non-Freesat boxes won't have any more than now/next data in this country, so bear that in mind if you plan to use it to actually record things - you'll have to use good old fashioned timers.

OK. I can live with that.

Any other plus/minus points

tim

you will need to rescan periodically to avoid loosing channels, whereas the freesat epg will update automatically

Oh, how often is frequently?

I have to do this **** with my freeview box (3 times in the past 12 months and 6 more expected in the next 18). Is it going to be any worse?

tim

Not particularly worse, depending on how anal you are - channels do come, go and move about quite frequently on satellite, but the vast majority of them are extremely minor changes to channels you would probably never even think of watching.

But if, like me, you're a bit weird and you like having a fully up-to-date list of channels, even ones you never watch, you may get irritated by the number of rescans you have to do to keep it fully up-to-date

Apart from a major reshuffle of the BBC channels on the 18th October last year and major launches like BBC1-HD, ITV1-HD and shortly CH4-HD the major psb channels stay pretty static.

The lesser channels like the CBS ones and pop music ones seem to shuffle transponders quite frequently.

Expect a major rash of transponder and frequency changes later this year after Astra 1N launches and arrives at 28 East.

Argos are advertising the Bush HD Freesat+ 250gbs today for £159.99. see 532/2680 for details. Might be worth a punt?

Why not find out what whatever you have is connected to. Assuming that you are in the UK, satellite reception tends to work so long as the dish has line of sight to the satellite. (Unlike terrestrial transmissions.)


Any receiver from ebay will tell you so long as the box itself is good.

When it comes to PVRs the EPG is important as that lets you easily created timers for the programmes that you want to record. That is what Freesat receivers provide.



USB dongle or PC card

Well I can see the dish.

As it's flat on the roof what I can't see is how (or whether) it is connected to the sockets in my appartment and as yet I have no information about the existance of anybody in the block who can tell me.



Do you have any suggestions for a USB dongle. All of the google links lead to sat boxes with USB outputs.

I have found a PC card, but as I only have a lap top that's no use to me

tim

Buy it now, sell it in six months.

See eBay for typical prices. Prices have been quite stable for over a year, but beware that prices may fall as new boxes come out.

Cheers,
David.

Lots of DVB-S ones

DVB-S2

http://www.whathifi.com/news/technis...cs-and-laptops

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/TECHNISAT-SKYS...e020b0ffa59119

I have no history on ebay.

I would doubt that I would get a good price as a one time seller.

tim

Hello. Play.com are doing the Technisat HDFS Freesat box for 99.99 inc delivery. You can plug in a usb HDD or memory stick to enable single tuner recording. It's a good box as well.

Few people care, makes little difference.

It's this price on Amazon now too.

I don't think that's true for when it comes to selling relatively high price articles.

I'm always very wary of buying from people with less than 100 (100 instances, not 100%) feedback and carefully check what feedback they have - what it's for and over what period.