I have inherited in my new apartment a dish which I presumes points at a satellite I will be able to het freesat on.
Do I buy this;

http://www.richersounds.com/product/.../sams-smts7800

or pay £175 for Sky to supply and set-up?

Depends on what TV channels and programmes you like to watch. Is there a single or a twin feed from the dish?

It doesnt have a twin LNB, I thought that Freesat had it's own line up of channels?

Freesat is just an epg for some of the free to air content from 28.2/28.5E. The channels that pay to be on the epg are the same as the ones that are on the Sky epg (The sky epg has more of the free channels and subscription channels). Most freesat boxes can be used in free to air mode where you can view all the free channels but without the posh epg.

Am I right in thinking that the Freesat From Sky service (not to be confused with Freessat) is receive only? I'm assuming that is the £175 package mentioned in the OP. It's not at all clear from the blurb on the Sky website whether you get recording facilities with this package.

Don't you have to pay a monthly fee to Sky to activate the recorder section of the box or am I barking up entirely the wrong forest here?

Yes. If you do not sign up to a subscription package with Sky then you still have to pay them a tenner a month to record using the box you have just paid £175 for.

If the OP only has a single feed then whatever service they go for for (Freesat, Freesat from Sky) then they will only be able to record one thing at a time and be limited as to what they can watch whilst a recording is in progress.

If the OP is not a big sports (aka footy) fan or film fan then they may as well go for the Freesat option although whether that Samsung is the best choice is open to question. I suggest they also look at the Humax and the Echostar offerings.

That bit of information is conspicuous by it's absence from the Freesat From Sky website unless it is buried very very deep and I haven't spotted it yet.

Wonder how many people have asked the Sky installer how they set up recordings on their new box not knowing they can't unless they cough up even more money?

Why would they need to mention it does not record, surely the fact that it doesn't mention that it does record is good enough (as it is not a Sky+HD box, it is a SkyHD box).

http://www.sky.com/shop/freesat/home/

Is it now? For £175? They are having a giraffe!

OK thanks. What are anybodys reccomendations for a Freesat box with hard drive. I only have a single LNB and not overly fussed on films or footy. I thought of Richer Sounds because they offer good service and it seemed reasonably competively priced. But any other specific ideas on products?

If you can't change the lnb to get an extra cable there's only one (afaik) that can use both tuners on a single cable to give two channel recording (some restrictions on second channel recording) and 3rd channel viewing while recording two. The Foxsat-hdr. Richer Sounds have the box and a very cheap 5yr warranty deal.

From what I've read the new G2 standard requires single cable multi-channel recording capabilities, and the Samsung may not be capable of it right now, but it will be soon and is the only box available right now that will be updated to the full G2 standard. (According to this : http://www.techradar.com/reviews/aud...-958920/review )

To the OP - you really want to get a twin LNB, and although it appears to be frowned upon on this section to recommend Sky, I would use them for 12 months to get a new dish installed. A 12 month contract will cost you £240 - but using cashback sites like quidco will get you £75 off and you can sell the box for around £30 at the end of the contract. Also this time next year there will be a new generation of TV platforms and boxes around to choose from.

If you do choose Freesat, I suggest you go to a shop and compare the Samsung and Humax side buy side - they seem to be by far the most popular boxes, and they both appear to have small problems which may or may not be a major issue to you.

That sounds like a hardware design limitation and not the sort of thing doable just by a firmware upgrade.

Theres different methods of achieving it apparently, but if they all require hardware, then we can only presume that the Samsung box has it, as they knew the G2 spec when the box was released. I've read that the Samsung is capable of 3D and all kinds of other things, but these features will only be "unlocked" in future firmware releases.

Without using a scr (unicable) lnb, or a stacker arrangement there's only 1 way, that's to arrange for a physical link from tuner 1 to tuner 2. Unless the box already has either an internal link selectable by a firmware mod or an external loop terminal I don't see how it would be possible just in firmware. If this exists why would it not be implemented

There seems to be lots of "whys" regarding all FreeSat boxes from I've experienced and what I've read about them.

If G2 specifies unicable, and Samsung have said they will update the S7800 to G2 spec, then we can only presume that either a) they're lying or b) that it has the necessary hardware and it will be activated via a future firmware update.

I've read that it has things like 3D support installed but also not implemented, but obviously this means little until that actually do implement it.

c) Their sales people do not know / understand what their technical people do.

Any Freesat-HD box supports 3D. There's nothing special about 3D in respect of the signal. It's a standard 1920 x 1080i signal with 2 frames squashed side by side into 1. It's the display that sorts it out not the box. Anyone with Freeview-HD or Freesat-HD and a suitable TV could watch the BBC-HD Wimbledon 3D coverage. As for scr technology the Foxsat-hdr already has it. This would leave anyone who couldn't swap their universal lnb for a scr one (they are not cheap) out in the cold.

I meant 2D to 3D support like on the new Samsung FreeView box - if the Foxsat does not even have the processing power to show a TV picture whist viewing the guide, then I doubt it has the power for 3D conversion (although I suspect that 99% of people really don't care about anything 3D just yet)

You pointed out that the Foxsat was the only box offering unicable support - if someone asks for advice then I think its fair to point out that Samsung have said that this will be supported with future firmware updates.

I presume that actually looks as 'orrible as it sounds?

Actually, it's not about the processing power, but tuning to specific transponder to download the up to date epg information. However, it definitely shall be solved more user-friendly way (like using second tuner if not used or better epg-caching scenario

I didn't say the Foxsat was the only box unicable capable just that it is capable of using one (I have no idea which other boxes can). You missed the point entirely it can feed two tuners from a standard universal lnb we all use. Anyone in a block of flats with only a single source can use one to record two channels at once with no fancy lnb's all you need is a short length of coax with a f connector on each end. The point was without a capability to link one tuner to the other twin tuner recording is not possible without resorting to expensive external kit.

2D to 3D sounds about as sensible as the 30% blue at the top and 70% green filters that you put in front of a monochrome TV to get colour back in the 60's .

Worked after a fashion if you had green fields and a blue sky - yuk.

The Space Invaders look.

M'kay


I've not tried it, and personally I'm many years away from being interested in 3D - but reviews say that although the conversion isn't great, it isnt bad either. If I'd just spent £2k on a 3D TV (something I would'nt do ) then I imagine there isnt a massive amount of 3D content around, so features like that maybe interesting to them.