A while ago my Pace freesat digibox packed up and I need to get a replacement but I am blinded by science. Could the kind people on this forum please pass on their recommendations?
I live in Portugal but as I want to watch UK TV I understand I have to get a UK box. Ideally I want to watch one programme and record another (although this is not totally essential). At the moment I have a DVD-player/recorder which has become a tad unrealiable (also I can only record what I am watching). Should I opt for a freesat box with PVR? Do all boxes come with EPG? As I only want to watch TV and record the odd programme I don't need a super duper expensive device.
Any advice very welcome! Thanks....

All Freesat boxes have a 7-day (8-day?) EPG.

Pace have never done a Freesat box, so you've never had one. I guess what you mean is a generic satellite receiver (free-to-air). None of these have a UK EPG. You can use these to receive UK transmissions (it's just a question of pointing the dish at the right place, which you must already be doing) but they won't have an EPG.

Have a look at Join Freesat or the official Freesat web site for a list and details and reviews of all Freesat boxes.

Thanks, Chris. Just shows you what a technophobe I am – not knowing the difference between a freesat box and a receiver. The Pace I had did have a programme guide but maybe “EPG” was the wrong word to use. It was a programme guide where I could preset programmes I wanted to watch.

Before I continue my research, what would be best for me to get: a freesat box or a satellite receiver? I would like to have a programme guide if at all possible and I no longer have an address in the UK.

Fleur_4444, my guess is that you probably had an old Pace Sky box with no subscription channels on it (known as Freesat from Sky. This should not to be confused to regular Freesat as the channel line up is different). Anyway, the Pace is history so this is all academic.

If I were in your shoes, I would opt for a new Freesat+ recorder. The + part means you can record one channel while watching another or record two channels while watching a previously recorded programme on the hard disk. On some recorders there is the option to record two channels while watching a third from a limited number of other channels but this is way too complicated to go into here.

To make full advantage of what is on offer you will need two dedicated feeds to the recorder from the dish. From what you have said I am assuming you only have one feed that went to your now defunct Pace, therefore, you will need to replace the LNB (the block at the end of the arm of the dish that picks up the reflected signal from the dish face) with either a twin or quad type and run an extra cable to where the receiver is.

As far as receivers go, my recommendation would be a Humax Foxsat-HDR (not the HD, the HDR is the twin tuner recorder). While this unit is nearing the end if its product life, it is tried and tested in 100s of 1000s of Freesat homes (including mine, I dumped Sky+HD in August) and is pretty simple to operate (there are a couple of clunky user interface issues, but nothing that would be a 'deal breaker' for most people). Get the version with a 500GB hard disk unless you want to records loads of HD programming and store it for ever). Avoid the cheap boxes made by Goodmans and Bush and the like, these are unreliable and seeing as you are in Portugal replacing it when it keels over is not the easiest thing for you to do. You should also avoid Sagem which in my opinion is only slightly better.

Good luck, let us know how you get on.

Thank you for your in depth reply, Masteriser!

Although I have two cables attached to the dish (one white/one black), one is just hanging loose. The white cable runs underground and comes out of the wall. Out of the wall socket also comes a black cable but that has never been plugged into anything. Someone told me that could have been for the previous owner’s radio.

As I am not at all technical (but you already gathered that!) and my Portuguese is still cr*p I think I will have to forego the recording bit and make do with my DVD-player/recorder.

Any recommendations for a “simple” system just to receive UK TV would be much appreciated.

Fleur_4444,

No need to give up on a FreeSat recorder just yet. You can still use a Humax FoxSat HDR with only one feed (this is known as single feed mode and can be set this way in the menu). Using single feed mode will allow you to record the channel you are watching and also view any others transmitted within that multiplex (for example BBC 1 London and BBC 2 England or Channel 4 London and Film 4). I am pretty certain that there may even be more options (like watching another channel in the same frequency band and signal polarity as the channel being recorded, an example of this would be record ITV2 and watch More 4, these are broadcast on different frequencies but are related in that they are both in the same frequency band and signal polarity, vertical in this case) but as I have never run my HDR with one feed and therefore have not actually tried this, I do not want to promise anything I am not 100% sure works. However, there are plenty on here who have done this so I am sure someone with more knowledge than I will help you with the finer details.

My advice would still be to get a Humax FoxSat HDR, they are easy to use, have the FreeSat EPG to set recordings from and while not the cheapest are tried and tested. Start off using it in single feed mode then upgrade to twin feed as and when you can. You must have friends nearby with UK TV who can recommend a reliable local installer that will be able to replace your LNB and run two new cables (it would be best practise to replace the old single feed you currently use with a new one as cables degrade over time especially in hot climates). Once you have two feed cables it is a simple operation to switch to twin feed operation in the menu.

I do hope this helps you. Feel free to ask any more questions you might have.

Near 100% correct

Firstly with only one cable, you need to make a short loop cable to connect tuner 1 out to tuner 2 in. When you set up a Foxsat-hdr in this way the single cable is automatically detected. If you subsequently add a second cable for full capability simply do a factory reset to recognise the extra cable.

For more details see here

http://myhumax.org/forum/topic/what-...-1-or-2-cables

Any chance that you could drill through the wall for a replacement to the "hanging loose" cable to give you a 2nd feed ?
That would let you have full functionality from a Foxsat HDR.i.e record one while watching another
David

Isn't there a neater way to make that change? I thought I'd read about a hidden menu or something - but when I needed to do it yesterday, I couldn't find that post, and decided it was quicker to do a factory reset then spend an hour fruitlessly searching DS etc for a trick that I might have misremembered!

The HDR works surprisingly well in single cable mode (with the loop through). With just one feed, and no chance of getting another, I think it's by far the best option. As I said in another thread, I've been running mine like that (by mistake) for six months and never noticed!

Cheers,
David.

(Secret Menu) Go to set up in to the menu 3rd pic down, press OK, now with Freesat tune highlighted, press Red, Green, Yellow, Blue, Green, Yellow, Blue. Antenna settings should appear select it and change type to two.

Two cables (same)