Hi I hope someone can help!

I have an existing sky dish which was used for Sky+. I have ended my subscription with sky. I want Freesat as I don't have an ariel on my roof for freeview. I have heard that Freesat and Sky use the same signal, I still have the existing sky+ cables so what cable(s) do I need to have the Freesat working on a Freesat HD box? Will I be able to have HD channels coming through?

Could I simply use the existing sky+ cables? Will I need an engineer to come and replace any cabling if new cable(s) are needed? I do want the record/pause and rewind functions on a freesat box.

Which Freesat HD box would you recommend?

The only alternative is to go to freeview and have an ariel fitted which may be costly!??

Yes, you can use your existing dish and cabling for Freesat.

I am not able to recommend any particular Freesat HD box although I have a Humax Foxsat HDR. Does the job although it has a few annoying bugs and a UI to tear your hair out for (especially compared to my gold standard of a Topfield 5800 Freeview PVR using the MyStuff third party add on). Suggest you read up on the various alternatives.

Really?!! I can use the same sky+ cables for Freesat!?

As for the Humax Foxsat HDR box you already have...what do you mean when you say bugs and UI??

The cables are standard cables, as is the dish, they are not specific to Sky. It's the same as if you had an aerial for terrestrial TV, it doesn't matter what make of box or TV you plug into it.

I have a HDR - yes it works well, in particular for sorting out recording clashes and adjusting to programme start and end times so that you don't miss any of the programme. But the interface is quite slow and isn't very responsive to the remote. Has a few annoyances like 30-second delay after you bring up the EPG with the Guide button before you can schedule anything, also a mishandling of the Live Pause facility where you are dumped back to live TV when the programme ends in real time, even though you may be 10 minutes behind and haven't seen the end. The latter can be avoided using Chase Play instead.

It seems that the Samsung box might be a good alternative to the Humax. Have a read through these forums to see various comments on both boxes.

Is the Samsung SMT-S7800 Freesat record box better than the Human Foxsat HDR?

Miles better!

In what ways is Samsung SMT-S7800 better than Human Foxsat HDR?

And in what ways could it be even better? Name three things about it you would change if you could.

If you can afford it, get the EchoStar box, as this has Slingplayer built-in where you can access the Freesat channels
anywhere where there is an Internet connection like Laptop and PCs

Better picture quality. More reliable recordings. Better guide,which has no delay like the Humax. Support from Samsung, which is ongoing.

Support from Humax is ongoing so presumably you mean that Samsung software updates are more frequent? (As compared to Humax's which seem to be many months apart.)

I have a Humax HDR coupled to a Sony KDL-46X4500 TV. Many friends have remarked on the outstanding picture quality of HD.

Judging by the user reports on here and elsewhere that was needed just to get from a dog of a machine when first released to something that it now just about usable. So the same as the Technika (Tesco) / Fetch box then.