Do I need a UK freesat card?

sonofenoch

Giving serious thought to canceling my Sky sub....as above to get the full UK freesat service do I need a card or simply remove my current sub card and reboot the box?

Sono

You need a card to pick up the free to air U.K. Channels

sonofenoch

Ok .....but this vid seems to suggest otherwise https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYk9T1vNd-Q


my bad, later in the vid he says it doesn't work with later HD boxes.....

Sono

You will pick one up cheap enough.

sonofenoch

Yeah already seen one

Johnboy1951

You would be better off, IMO, replacing that Sky box altogether and use a Freesat box for the Satellite channels.

A lot of people prefer to use a combo box which would have both Saorview and Satellite tuners to give the full range of FTA channels, and a single channel list which you can edit to your preference.

sonofenoch

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

You would be better off, IMO, replacing that Sky box altogether and use a Freesat box for the Satellite channels.

A lot of people prefer to use a combo box which would have both Saorview and Satellite tuners to give the full range of FTA channels, and a single channel list which you can edit to your preference.

Might look into that anther time, have android boxes that work well for all the premium sport and other channels......just for the basic tv for now I want the cheapest possible option

Gerry Wicklow

Switch off Sky box and remove card. Switch on and you'll soon see exactly what you're left with.

sonofenoch

Gerry Wicklow wrote: »

Switch off Sky box and remove card. Switch on and you'll soon see exactly what you're left with.

Seems the obvious way, but I'm not at the box right now will try later......also have a couple of the older vewing cards, might see if they work as freeview cards

MrTime

have an old sky+ hd box operating with no card
shows full sky EPg can see most free to air programs ; if a subscription channel is selected ( including bbc 's ) shows meaasge " insert viewing card " as expected

you can select the free to air channels as in favourites but only in the order of sky channel numbering

the feature to program other channels ( such as channel4 , ITV ) does not work for me
i have one lnb feed on input 2 , input 1 seems dead ; i think it needs input 1 to program the other channels

in summary the sky box can show some freeview without card

also the recording feature is not available without an account

from other posts I believe a viewing card might give access to a few other channels such as dave

hope this helps

MrTime

correctiion BBC's work but not ITV's 4's 5's sorry

sonofenoch

Took the card out and rebooted and saw very little, no Irish channels .....just the BBC channels, channel 4 +1 and film4+1 and that's it ....tried an old card and said it needed to be paired ......it's my understanding a UK freesat card won't need any pairing will show up over 150 tv and radio channels starting with BBC at 101, is that correct or will it need pairing? how do you get Sky to pair a card if you're no longer with them

clfy39tzve8njq

You won't get the Irish channels without a sky subscription

icdg

Just to say, if a channel is truly free to air, you don't need a viewing card of any description to watch it. On a Sky STB you may need to tune it in manually using other channels.

Channels that require a viewing card are not free to air, but free to view or "soft" encrypted.

Johnboy1951

IMO no matter what you do with a Sky box without a sub you will meet things that are annoying and limiting to easy use.

clfy39tzve8njq

icdg wrote:

Just to say, if a channel is truly free to air, you don't need a viewing card of any description to watch it. On a Sky STB you may need to tune it in manually using other channels.

icdg wrote:

Channels that require a viewing card are not free to air, but free to view or "soft" encrypted.

This is true but a UK card will put bbc at 101 etc and put the ITV's on the epg

sonofenoch

Bought a UK card on adverts for 4 euro, haven't had a chance to try it yet but the guy said it's as simple as swapping the card in and you get the full UK epg........all I'd miss really is Dave, and a few Discovery/History channels but they can be got online......none of which are worth paying 37 euro a month for.....Irish channels I can get on anologue anyway


and I've still to get on to Sky to cancel so who knows what they'll offer, but I'm determined my bill days for tv are over ...it's just not worth the money anymore

WeleaseWoderick

Thinking of getting rid of Sky but a little confused about how Freesat works.

My TV has a built-in Freesat tuner but seems to require a card to watch the majority of channels.

Would I be better off using the TV's tuner or getting a UK card and using that in my old Sky box?

Gerry Wicklow

Here is the list of FreeSat channels you should be able to get. You only need a card if trying to watch Sky or other subscription channels. The TV should be set up as country = Uk for FreeSat to work correctly. If may ask for a UK post code. This determines which areas channels it shows. EG a London post code gives London versions of BBC and ITV. A Manchester code gives Granada, Belfast code for BBC NI,UTV etc.

Capt'n Midnight

A SKY box won't record, or even playback previous recordings without a card with a valid subscription. It will have the EPG though. The original non-recording SKY boxes might be better as you can use the guide to select stuff to watch.



If you get a proper Freesat box you'll be able to set timers to watch / record , including series link.
http://www.freesat.co.uk/channels channel list



If you get an old Humax Foxsat HDR it'll be slow but you can throw custom firmware on it and web manage it and copy or watch the recordings over the network , including what's currently on time shift on the screen.

If you have the patience you can bodge Soarsat on it too (you have to set recordings manually) to get RTE/TG4, if you have the patience of a saint and don't mind something that might work one boot in five you could even use it with Tivusat to decrypt Italian channels or maybe not because it don't like the cam module.

sonofenoch

How long should a UK freeview card work in a Sky box? mine seems to have lost channels after only 6 months? ....only Sky news available on it now

peking97

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

If you get an old Humax Foxsat HDR it'll be slow but you can throw custom firmware on it and web manage it and copy or watch the recordings over the network , including what's currently on time shift on the screen.

That's an interesting prospect.....could you provide a link to any user forum or website where I could get more info on this?

Capt'n Midnight

peking97 wrote: »

That's an interesting prospect.....could you provide a link to any user forum or website where I could get more info on this?

https://www.avforums.com/threads/media-file-server-bundle-for-the-foxsat-hdr-release-4-part-5.1829374/

https://hummy.tv/forum/threads/useful-links-for-the-foxsat-hdr-customised-firmware.3330/

Settop Patch 4.0.9utc this stops Free To Air HD recordings being encrypted , the norm for any non-freesat receiver. It does not decrypt recording.

Convert Files Plug-in - makes the HDR recordings more compatible for web viewing.


search ebay for Humax Foxsat HDR
the HD is not a recorder -check pictures to confirm

patrick_10

Hi Folks ,

Apologies if this was mentioned already, but setting up a new tv for my father.

I know where to get Sat dish and installation/direction of it, but he has a new smart tv so can I just plug cable from sat dish into tv and tune from their (Uk and Ireland free to air channels?)

Or do I need an freesat box, or an aerial?

We are based along border so shouldn't be issue to get signals.

Thanks

The Cush

patrick_10 wrote: »

I know where to get Sat dish and installation/direction of it, but he has a new smart tv so can I just plug cable from sat dish into tv and tune from their (Uk and Ireland free to air channels?)

Or do I need an freesat box, or an aerial?

We are based along border so shouldn't be issue to get signals.

Does the TV have a satellite tuner, connector will be a screw-on type F-connector at the rear of the TV? If not then a Freesat box will be required.

Aerial required for the Irish Saorview channels and the UK Freeview channels if you're within range of a Freeview transmitter in NI.

patrick_10

Thanks The Cush,
yes TV does have satelitte tuner - I thought that an aerial wouldn't be needed these days but there you go!

lawred2

sonofenoch wrote: »

Giving serious thought to canceling my Sky sub....as above to get the full UK freesat service do I need a card or simply remove my current sub card and reboot the box?

Don't bother with a freesat card in a sky box. Just buy a freesat box.

patrick_10

Thanks The Cush,
yes TV does have satelitte tuner - I thought that an aerial wouldn't be needed these days but there you go!