Freesat or Sky box without Sky card?

satellite1

I am currently getting digital TV from Chorus / NTL and want to switch to a non-subscription service such as Freesat. I am looking to set it up for 3 TVs in the house.

I was intent on going with Freesat so I rang a guy from a paper who advertised "satellite services" who called to our house. However, he advised me to subscribe to Sky for a year instead, then simply cancel my subscription but use the hardware to access free-to-air channels. (I understand also that after a year I would need to get a seperate aerial for RTE, etc.) Alternatively he suggested that he could provide me with reconditioned Sky boxes and set me up from scratch to access free-to-air channels with no subscription. He is recommending I get 2 Sky boxes either way, but set them up with magic eyes so that they can be watched from the 3 TVs. He reckons the cost either way would be about the same (roughly €350-400).

So my question is, which is better?
- Freesat
- Sky boxes with no card
- Subscribe to Sky for a year, then cancel the subscription.

Also, do you get the same channels on Freesat as you do on a Sky box without the card?

Any help appreciated as I'm totally confused!

kerrymaninld

If you can do it without paying Sky for 12 months I humbly suggest you do.
The cheapest monthly Sky package is now 23.95 so you are down 290 euro for that and you still need to pay someone to set things up for you....

Either going with Freesat box or reconditioned Sky box will meet your needs, from the sounds of it.

Good luck :-)

Mossy Monk

Subscribe to minimum package on Sky for one year is one solution. Personally I would buy a Freesat HD PVR and get RTÉ, TV3 and TG4 through an aerial.

cunnins4

sorry to hijack the thread, but I have a similar question - I have a sky dish and sky box after we cancelled our subscription a year or so ago and was told I could get FTA channels with the hardware and no subscription. I tried to hook it up again there but got nothing. Have I been misinformed? I've read the sticky on tuning the sky box to FTA channels, but someone told me I need a FTA card from sky?

Any help is most appreciated!

Mossy Monk

FTA channels do not require a card. Do you get anything at all on your screen

cunnins4

Mossy Monk wrote: »

FTA channels do not require a card. Do you get anything at all on your screen

It says no satelite signal is being received. I think I know what the problem is - we haven't used it in a year and the dish has probably been moved by the wind at some stage. I'll get up and try to move it around this evening.

You say FTA channels don't require a card - are their some free channels that do require a card?

Thanks for the help!

parsi

Freesat is handier as you get the full EPG - using a Skybox (as I did for a few years) the EPG doesn't show BBC3/4, ITV1,2,3,4 etc.

Mossy Monk

cunnins4 wrote: »

You say FTA channels don't require a card - are their some free channels that do require a card?

FTV channels like Sky 3, Fiver and Five USA all require a card. These can only be bought in the UK. For those channels I personally feel it's not worth the expense.

cunnins4

Many thanks for the help guys.

One last question - the Sky box is a rather large and ugly affair, as is the remote. I was looking at FreeSat boxes on Ebay for €60 quid or so. Is there any advantage to one of these other than being smaller? I'd fork out the money for additional channels or a better epg, but not just for the sake of the look of the thing!

Thanks again!

montgolfiere

parsi wrote: »

Freesat is handier as you get the full EPG - using a Skybox (as I did for a few years) the EPG doesn't show BBC3/4, ITV1,2,3,4 etc.

when using a skybox as a fta box the above channels are all on the epg.
the skyman

St Senan

parsi wrote: »

Freesat is handier as you get the full EPG - using a Skybox (as I did for a few years) the EPG doesn't show BBC3/4, ITV1,2,3,4 etc.

Not correct all nonsub sky boxes show those channels. they are on
115,116,118,119,120. the only channel that needs to be added manually is FIVE

satellite1

parsi wrote: »

Freesat is handier as you get the full EPG - using a Skybox (as I did for a few years) the EPG doesn't show BBC3/4, ITV1,2,3,4 etc.

montgolfiere wrote: »

when using a skybox as a fta box the above channels are all on the epg.
the skyman

scaller wrote: »

Not correct all nonsub sky boxes show those channels. they are on 115,116,118,119,120. the only channel that needs to be added manually is FIVE

Many thanks for your replies, they are very helpful.

Just to clarify though as there seems to be a bit of confusion - I take it from the above that Freesat and a Skybox (without the card) get pretty much the same channels, but Freesat seems to have a better EPG? (I read somewhere else also that Freesat gives you a 7-day EPG, Sky without the card just gives you "Now and Next").

Is this a fair summary of the the two?

Mossy Monk

satellite1 wrote: »

Sky without the card just gives you "Now and Next").

Sky gives a 7 day EPG without a card. It is only when viewing channels via Other Channels that you get now and next

satellite1

Mossy Monk wrote: »

Sky gives a 7 day EPG without a card. It is only when viewing channels via Other Channels that you get now and next

Thanks for the reply. Could you explain what you mean by "only when viewing channels via Other channels....." Many thanks.