Decided To Go Sat......

Myrddin

Guys - apologies for noob questions herein, Ive decided to go down the sat road. Im looking at freesat.ie here, and all the signs look good. There are a decent list of channels with a few HD's in there too. I have two questions which Ive researched, but cant seem to find a simple answer, so Im hoping somebody here can enlighten me a little;

Ive seen and read about freesat, but somebody has also told me there is a different system called freview - upon researching freeview, essentially it has more or less the same main channels, but no hd, so the better choice would be freesat - correct??

Also from the freesat.ie site, it states that some freeview channels are not on its lieup, but they can be added manually i.e sky news, and to get them you can add them manually with the reciever - how accurate is this and does it involve realligning the dish??

Apologies if these topics have been covered before, im sure they have, but Id appreciate any input

joolsveer

Freeview is a non satellite option for people in the UK. It uses a terrestrial aerial.

STB

Freeview is the UK Digital Terrestrial Service. This is received through an aerial in the UK. You may also pick it up in border areas (NI). It is also available on parts of the est coast (mainly parts of Wexford) with a big aerial on your roof.

Freesat is the satellite service from the UK. This requires a sat dish pointing at 28.2. Adding other channels to a freesat box just requires adding them via a menu (done via your remote control). It does not require realignment of the dish.

Freesat is a menu based idea. The truth is that any sat box will pick these stations up but will not give 7 day epg nor the snazzy freesat menu. you will only get now and next programme information in the EPG or programme information on a normal sat box.

Be aware that you will not receive RTE/Irish Tv channels via a freesat box. There are combo boxes that do both ie free Sat and DTT(the Irish Digital services). There is a combo sticky in the terrestrial forum. MVision HD 200 Combo is a popular model. THey retail at about 200/220 euro. You can order the channels as you wish with these. The other added advantage is that these receivers pick up more than just the 28.2 satelitte for the UK (should you get a motorised dish in the future)

Myrddin

Thanks guys - brill info - I shall study the box you mentioned, and the sticky in question.

Martin_F

The combo boxes are worth a look. Also the Humax PVR is worth considering - similar function to a sky+ HD box - (No RTE etc though).
I've the Humax PVR - combined with Analogue RTE recording on a DVD HDD recorder.

The Humax PVR is a good deal @ Richersounds.ie (no install) - also a boards thread - also available from some of the local independants with or wiothout install.

Myrddin

Cheers martin Ill add that one to the list of candidates. I ventured off onto the sky website yesterday, and for what I want (all the channel packs (ex music) and movies 1 & 2 its working out around 60 a month for two rooms. Quick question about sky, in the uk they have a sky freeview card which allows access to quite a few channels. If I got the sky package here, would I get all the freeview channels as standard?

Scratch that question - Basically what im wondering is, if I went with a sky setup, would I recieve all the freeview channels as well as skys packages?

This list http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_free-to-air_channels_in_the_UK#Entertainment contains all the channels available on free sat, just wondering if they are part of the sky packages too, and if not - can they be manually added?

watty

Its a Freesat-from-sky card.

Yes a Sky subscription does give you all the free channels, but most of the BBC and ALL ITV you have to add manually via menu and it "forgets" them.

If your main focus is BBC, ITV, C4, Five and Radio, then buy a Freesat branded receiver. A FTA receiver is a bit cheaper, but not automatic when chanels change settings and only gives now/nect info rather than the full Program Guide of Sky or Freesat.

Unlike cable, you actually own the subsidized Sky box and can cancel sub after a year and continue receiving free channels. See the stickies.

Freesat NOT Freeview.
Sky's Freesat-from-Sky is NOT Freesat either, it uses a Viewing Card. It includes Sky3. It's not available to an Irish address.

FTA (Free to Air), Sat4free and Freesat need no card or subscription ever.