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Paddy20 · 06-08-2003, 12:10

byte,

Well, after some asking around. I was told that if I removed the Skycard from my digibox, then unplug the digibox from the mains and then re-insert the Skycard upside down in to the digibox and power up again. I might be able to receive Freeview* channels from the Sky equipment which I now get to keep as I have been a subscriber for over 12 months.

I did this and guess what?... I am NOW receiving 59 TV channels!, plus 44 Radio channels, 103 channels in total, and they are mainly all FREEVIEW*!, beat that EH.

Apparently, inserting the Skycard upside down activates the digibox EPG whatever that means. Now I have Freeview channels, so who needs a damn Freeview box anyway?.. not me for one.

So, its bye bye Sky subscriptions, and I can not wait to see Cahal the TV Dealer?.

Just thought, you and others on this forum might find my experience enlightening, and maybe helpful. Why pay through the nose for a Sky package, when it is possible to receive 103 Freeview* Digital channels for nothing*!!.

All the best.

Paddy20.

watty · 06-08-2003, 12:40

Avoid Confusion.. Don't call Satellite Freeview

Freeview:
DTT or DVBt( Digital via UHF aerial Terrestrial)
Includes ITV, C4, Five and ITV2
Requires a UK DTT receiver connected to Aerial
About 29 Channels
Only a few Radio

FTA, Satellite FTA:
DSAT or DVBs (Digital via Ku band Satellites 22,500 miles away)
EXCLUDES ITV, C4, Five and ITV2
Requires ANY DVBs Satellite Digital revceiver or Sky+ or Digibox connected to an LNB (horn like box) on a Dish
About 1100 Channels can be got easily in Ireland.
A fixed dish and single LNB can only "see" one Satellite slot , "Sky" at 28E is actually from 4 satellites.
Typically each satellite has 50 to 100 free radio and 80 to 200 Free TV

FTV, Free To View Satellite:
DSAT or DVBs (Digital via Ku band Satellites 22,500 miles away)

INCLUDES ITV, C4, Five and ITV2 from "Sky"

Other countries (Netherlands, Switzerland, Scandinavian run similar schemes. Often there is a once off Admin charge or a small annual charge for "Administration" In the UK BBC paid 82% of this and Five/Ch4 paid 18%. ITV paid nothing. With withdrawal of BBC (now FTA, not FTV) the UK scheme has collapsed. Most of the FTV cards are being turned off and no new ones issued.

Requires Sky+ or Digibox connected to an LNB (horn like box) on a Dish, and FTV card, which used to be free but can't be got anymore. Other countries use basically any Digital Satellite Receiver NOT a Digibox, with a suitable card slot for the FTV card.

Subscription Satellite
Unlike MMDS and Cable, ALL the gear is youors from day1. You may have a minimum 1 year contract initially.

If you cancel you still get all the FTA channels.

With Satellite you can change which Satellite your dish points at by either moving the dish or switching to a different fixed LNB on the dish. An 80cm dish with three LNBs can easily get 3 Satellites giving about 600 TV and 550 Radio FREE.

Paddy20 · 06-08-2003, 16:34

watty,

Yep, you be right. Your post has also taught me a lot!.
However, as I am not a techie and it is all double dutch to me. All I know is that I have now cancelled my Sky subscription and I am now receiving over 100 channels Free* or FTA Satellite, as you state, and this to me is a hell of a lot better than paying Sky a monthly subscription for a Family package of about 40 channels.

The money I will now be saving will pay for my UTVip XL 180 hours a month Internet access package. So, I am laughing all the way to the bank.

Thanks to your very informative post, I now know the differance between Freeview* & FTA Satellite etc.

I checked the FREEVIEW* website and I seem tobe getting most of their 30 odd channels, and those that I am not getting on the Satellite, UTV & Channel 4 etc, I can get anyway from my Analogue aerial.

All the best.

Paddy20.

watty · 06-08-2003, 17:07

I cancelled a long time ago, renewed last december (for Holiday extras.. a mistake) cancelled again in July.

The extra money (27 Euro) buys two or three DVDs extra I really want to watch (and repeat) as apposed to Sky reruns...

We had kept it a bit longer to watch All Creatures Great & small, and I discovered I could have bought the series on DVD instead of the Sky subs all those months!

lawhec · 06-08-2003, 22:40

Channel available on UK DTT (Freeview) that are not free-to-air on the Astra 2 & Eurobird 1 satellites (which Sky uses)

* ITV2
* Sky Travel
* UK History
* The Hits
* UK Brightideas
* FTN
* TMF
* Sky Sports News

Of course not all of them will appeal to everyone, but it's a fairly varied bunch.

Also DTT carries "five" which is not transmitted on analogue from Strabane or Brougher Mountain, and is not FTA on satellite, with it's free-to-view options no caught in a complete muddle.

Astra 2 & Eurobird 1 do carry a few decent FTA channels, thinking off the top of my head the BBC Channels of course, Chartshow TV, The Vault, POP, Channel U, Reality TV along with a load of very low budget TV (Friendly TV, BEN, L!ve TV), a sh*tload of shopping channels and a few "God" channels and news channels.

Here at home either the eight analogue terrestial channels ($ UK or 4 Irish) or the Freeview channels make up most of my viewing - for Sky it is more of a matter of flicking through some twenty Music Video channels or Challenge TV & Bravo - I watch little else that is "Satellite exclusive", say the occassional WWE wrestling.

Horses for corses of course, though I brought a Panasonic Freeview adaptor for my gransparents who love the choice available, except their aerial isn't strong enough for the Mux D for UK Brightideas, so a new high-gain aerial is going up shortly.

Paddy20 · 12-08-2003, 09:41

Northern Correspondent,

Quote your good self:- " a sh*tload of shopping channels " end quote.

I have question this sweeping statement condemning all shopping channels received. Personally, I have found that shopping with QVC has saved me a lot of money on all types of goods, due to their enormous buying power and the fact that I only pay the UK VAT rate of 15%, plus I have lost track of the number of items that I have purchased from BID-UP.TV, a 17 hours a day live auction available on your TV and Computer, not to mention the fact that I practically furnished my house with winnig bids on Bid- Up.

How could anyone who is saving a small fortune in Rip-Off Ireland not be happy with channels like those 2 examples ?.... IMHO it is the way to go.

Paddy.

Black Briar · 13-08-2003, 15:21

Quote:

Originally posted by Paddy20
plus I have lost track of the number of items that I have purchased from BID-UP.TV, a 17 hours a day live auction available on your TV and Computer, not to mention the fact that I practically furnished my house with winnig bids on Bid- Up.
Paddy.

Jayus Paddy , your, house must be filling up by the sounds of things, if I go to donegal, you won't be giving me the spare room then...

I think what NC meant, was something along the lines of... you wouldn't be looking foward to an evening in after work, chinese meal, bottle of wine and hours of entertainment in front of the shopping channels...

See'ing that you have the web, heres a tip for you as well, pass it on, there are many shopping sites on the web too. Try
www.google.ie and do a search for shopping.
I think QVC have a web site also maybe.
It's easier on the sites as you can look for what you want as opposed to buying what you maybe don't want on a shopping channel.
Spread the word

mm

Paddy20 · 13-08-2003, 19:15

Man,

You are right. The damn spare room is full of empty packaging!.

I have already sifted through the shopping channels on the web until I became cross eyed, and whittled the wheat from the chaff.

Personally, I now only ever recommend 1 general shopping channel www.qvcuk.com
and www.bid-up.tv
The live auctions channel , both are on the internet and television live. I enjoy them as they can be very entertaining to watch.

I use specialist sites for music cds or dvds, and only two in total www.cd-wow.com
britanniamusic.uk

P.

lawhec · 18-08-2003, 22:39

To be fair, I wasn't making a target of QVC or bid-up.tv, both of which are among the few half decent shopping channels (and ironically are both on Freeview!) - my main gripe is with the near endless amount of rolling infomercial shopping channels that brodacast with bitrates making the picture marginally better than a real player video stream on a 28.8K line. As you can guess, it is not my type to sit down and watch, except to have a laugh.

It would not surprise me if a combined FTA satellite & freeview comined box comes on to the market in the near future, giving the best of both worlds.

watty · 19-08-2003, 12:23

If you get one of those "styled" Shuttle PC cases to living room / HiFi and put a DTT card and DVBs card (good ones with TV out, not the cheap Skystar 2 type).

Add XP Media Centre Edition

Remote handsets come with the cards.
They do TV set OSD.

Voila ... FTA and Freeview with PVR (180G or 2x IDE = 360G) disk with DVD Writer / player too (need Graphics Card with TV out for DVD). WinDVD has a hardware IR remote and handset too.

Might be doable under 2000 Euro.

(My PC has OSD / Remote to Living room TV and lives in Garden Workshop with WinTV card and Satellite TV card. Remote channel change, record and playback all with OSD menus. The DVD playback only on PC screen and no DVD writer yet...).

06-08-2003, 12:40	#17
watty Registered User Join Date: May 2001 Location: The Research Station Posts: 30,465 Adverts \| Friends	Avoid Confusion.. Don't call Satellite Freeview Avoid Confusion.. Don't call Satellite Freeview Freeview: DTT or DVBt( Digital via UHF aerial Terrestrial) Includes ITV, C4, Five and ITV2 Requires a UK DTT receiver connected to Aerial About 29 Channels Only a few Radio FTA, Satellite FTA: DSAT or DVBs (Digital via Ku band Satellites 22,500 miles away) EXCLUDES ITV, C4, Five and ITV2 Requires ANY DVBs Satellite Digital revceiver or Sky+ or Digibox connected to an LNB (horn like box) on a Dish About 1100 Channels can be got easily in Ireland. A fixed dish and single LNB can only "see" one Satellite slot , "Sky" at 28E is actually from 4 satellites. Typically each satellite has 50 to 100 free radio and 80 to 200 Free TV FTV, Free To View Satellite: DSAT or DVBs (Digital via Ku band Satellites 22,500 miles away) INCLUDES ITV, C4, Five and ITV2 from "Sky" Other countries (Netherlands, Switzerland, Scandinavian run similar schemes. Often there is a once off Admin charge or a small annual charge for "Administration" In the UK BBC paid 82% of this and Five/Ch4 paid 18%. ITV paid nothing. With withdrawal of BBC (now FTA, not FTV) the UK scheme has collapsed. Most of the FTV cards are being turned off and no new ones issued. Requires Sky+ or Digibox connected to an LNB (horn like box) on a Dish, and FTV card, which used to be free but can't be got anymore. Other countries use basically any Digital Satellite Receiver NOT a Digibox, with a suitable card slot for the FTV card. Subscription Satellite Unlike MMDS and Cable, ALL the gear is youors from day1. You may have a minimum 1 year contract initially. If you cancel you still get all the FTA channels. With Satellite you can change which Satellite your dish points at by either moving the dish or switching to a different fixed LNB on the dish. An 80cm dish with three LNBs can easily get 3 Satellites giving about 600 TV and 550 Radio FREE. Last edited by watty; 06-08-2003 at 12:45.

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06-08-2003, 12:10	#16
Paddy20 Banned Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Donegal, Posts: 3,657 Adverts \| Friends	byte, Well, after some asking around. I was told that if I removed the Skycard from my digibox, then unplug the digibox from the mains and then re-insert the Skycard upside down in to the digibox and power up again. I might be able to receive Freeview* channels from the Sky equipment which I now get to keep as I have been a subscriber for over 12 months. I did this and guess what?... I am NOW receiving 59 TV channels!, plus 44 Radio channels, 103 channels in total, and they are mainly all FREEVIEW!, beat that EH. Apparently, inserting the Skycard upside down activates the digibox EPG whatever that means. Now I have Freeview channels, so who needs a damn Freeview box anyway?.. not me for one. So, its bye bye Sky subscriptions, and I can not wait to see Cahal the TV Dealer?. Just thought, you and others on this forum might find my experience enlightening, and maybe helpful. Why pay through the nose for a Sky package, when it is possible to receive 103 Freeview Digital channels for nothing*!!. All the best. Paddy20.

06-08-2003, 16:34	#18
Paddy20 Banned Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Donegal, Posts: 3,657 Adverts \| Friends	watty, Yep, you be right. Your post has also taught me a lot!. However, as I am not a techie and it is all double dutch to me. All I know is that I have now cancelled my Sky subscription and I am now receiving over 100 channels Free* or FTA Satellite, as you state, and this to me is a hell of a lot better than paying Sky a monthly subscription for a Family package of about 40 channels. The money I will now be saving will pay for my UTVip XL 180 hours a month Internet access package. So, I am laughing all the way to the bank. Thanks to your very informative post, I now know the differance between Freeview* & FTA Satellite etc. I checked the FREEVIEW* website and I seem tobe getting most of their 30 odd channels, and those that I am not getting on the Satellite, UTV & Channel 4 etc, I can get anyway from my Analogue aerial. All the best. Paddy20.

06-08-2003, 17:07	#19
watty Registered User Join Date: May 2001 Location: The Research Station Posts: 30,465 Adverts \| Friends	I cancelled a long time ago, renewed last december (for Holiday extras.. a mistake) cancelled again in July. The extra money (27 Euro) buys two or three DVDs extra I really want to watch (and repeat) as apposed to Sky reruns... We had kept it a bit longer to watch All Creatures Great & small, and I discovered I could have bought the series on DVD instead of the Sky subs all those months!

06-08-2003, 22:40	#20
lawhec Closed Account Join Date: May 2001 Posts: 1,743 Adverts \| Friends	Channel available on UK DTT (Freeview) that are not free-to-air on the Astra 2 & Eurobird 1 satellites (which Sky uses) * ITV2 * Sky Travel * UK History * The Hits * UK Brightideas * FTN * TMF * Sky Sports News Of course not all of them will appeal to everyone, but it's a fairly varied bunch. Also DTT carries "five" which is not transmitted on analogue from Strabane or Brougher Mountain, and is not FTA on satellite, with it's free-to-view options no caught in a complete muddle. Astra 2 & Eurobird 1 do carry a few decent FTA channels, thinking off the top of my head the BBC Channels of course, Chartshow TV, The Vault, POP, Channel U, Reality TV along with a load of very low budget TV (Friendly TV, BEN, L!ve TV), a sh*tload of shopping channels and a few "God" channels and news channels. Here at home either the eight analogue terrestial channels ($ UK or 4 Irish) or the Freeview channels make up most of my viewing - for Sky it is more of a matter of flicking through some twenty Music Video channels or Challenge TV & Bravo - I watch little else that is "Satellite exclusive", say the occassional WWE wrestling. Horses for corses of course, though I brought a Panasonic Freeview adaptor for my gransparents who love the choice available, except their aerial isn't strong enough for the Mux D for UK Brightideas, so a new high-gain aerial is going up shortly.

12-08-2003, 09:41	#21
Paddy20 Banned Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Donegal, Posts: 3,657 Adverts \| Friends	Northern Correspondent, Quote your good self:- " a sh*tload of shopping channels " end quote. I have question this sweeping statement condemning all shopping channels received. Personally, I have found that shopping with QVC has saved me a lot of money on all types of goods, due to their enormous buying power and the fact that I only pay the UK VAT rate of 15%, plus I have lost track of the number of items that I have purchased from BID-UP.TV, a 17 hours a day live auction available on your TV and Computer, not to mention the fact that I practically furnished my house with winnig bids on Bid- Up. How could anyone who is saving a small fortune in Rip-Off Ireland not be happy with channels like those 2 examples ?.... IMHO it is the way to go. Paddy.

13-08-2003, 19:15	#23
Paddy20 Banned Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Donegal, Posts: 3,657 Adverts \| Friends	Man, You are right. The damn spare room is full of empty packaging!. I have already sifted through the shopping channels on the web until I became cross eyed, and whittled the wheat from the chaff. Personally, I now only ever recommend 1 general shopping channel www.qvcuk.com and www.bid-up.tv The live auctions channel , both are on the internet and television live. I enjoy them as they can be very entertaining to watch. I use specialist sites for music cds or dvds, and only two in total www.cd-wow.com britanniamusic.uk P.

18-08-2003, 22:39	#24
lawhec Closed Account Join Date: May 2001 Posts: 1,743 Adverts \| Friends	To be fair, I wasn't making a target of QVC or bid-up.tv, both of which are among the few half decent shopping channels (and ironically are both on Freeview!) - my main gripe is with the near endless amount of rolling infomercial shopping channels that brodacast with bitrates making the picture marginally better than a real player video stream on a 28.8K line. As you can guess, it is not my type to sit down and watch, except to have a laugh. It would not surprise me if a combined FTA satellite & freeview comined box comes on to the market in the near future, giving the best of both worlds.

19-08-2003, 12:23	#25
watty Registered User Join Date: May 2001 Location: The Research Station Posts: 30,465 Adverts \| Friends	If you get one of those "styled" Shuttle PC cases to living room / HiFi and put a DTT card and DVBs card (good ones with TV out, not the cheap Skystar 2 type). Add XP Media Centre Edition Remote handsets come with the cards. They do TV set OSD. Voila ... FTA and Freeview with PVR (180G or 2x IDE = 360G) disk with DVD Writer / player too (need Graphics Card with TV out for DVD). WinDVD has a hardware IR remote and handset too. Might be doable under 2000 Euro. (My PC has OSD / Remote to Living room TV and lives in Garden Workshop with WinTV card and Satellite TV card. Remote channel change, record and playback all with OSD menus. The DVD playback only on PC screen and no DVD writer yet...).