Best sub €100 Freesat STB with Sky-like interface for OAP?

Blinked_Missed It

Looking to move my 80+ mother in Dublin from Sky Q to Freesat to save her some money but she is familiar with the Sky interface of both the Q and HD boxes and I'm worried she won't be able to handle too much of an interface change. Shes not an app or recording person. She just wants live tv. I was thinking freesat would do the trick but I'm a noob to this area.

The Sky Q box has to go back to Sky but she already has a couple of old Sky HD boxes lying around. Not sure if they can be used for freesat? If not can anyone recommend a decent STB under €100 that has a nice interface or can be skinned to look something similar to Sky's EPG.

Also meant to say when she swapped from Sky HD to Q she doesn't remember the engineer going up the ladder to play with the dish so I'm thinking the dish is not using a wideband LMB. Hopefully.

Cheers.

muffinhead

If your mother is used to the Sky interface and remote control maybe set her up with one of the old boxes and see how it works out. I have an old Sky HD box setup in one room with 50 FTA channels added to the favourites which works fine.

However Freesat is fairly easy to get used to, especially if she won't be recording, plus she'll be able to watch all the channels on the EPG and not have a bunch of unavailable ones that you'd get with the FTA Sky setup. This single tuner non-recordable Manhattan box is well rated and works out at £50.22 delivered to Ireland (adjusted for Irish VAT):

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Manhattan-SX-Freesat-HD-Box/dp/B07CD8GHFF

Blinked_Missed It

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117827135#Comment_117827135

Thanks for the info. I didn't know I can still use the old Sky HD Boxes without a subscription. So do I just plug one of the HD boxes into the cables currently in the Sky Q box from the dish without the card?

muffinhead

Yes just connect the existing satellite cables to the Sky HD box and it should work fine.

If you get the "no satellite signal being received" message there maybe a possibility the LNB was replaced with a Sky Q wideband LNB which isn't compatible with the old boxes. If that is the case you'd have to replace the LNB with a standard or hybrid LNB. But before you go down that road, take a photo of the LNB and share it here just to verify it is a wideband LNB and not some other issue.

Would that get the Irish channels?

I thought they'd be locked.

muffinhead

No Irish channels unfortunately - you'll need a subscription for that.

Blinked_Missed It

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117828198#Comment_117828198

Just tried it there and no signal so looks like I have an LNB to change out. Turns out she wants the Irish channels as well so I guess I'll start looking for a decent combi box. Cheers.

Wabbit Ears

I got a Sony Bravia TV for my old man with sat and terrestrial connectors and he just uses the TV, No STB.

is there a reason you want/need a separate STB?

Blinked_Missed It

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117828569#Comment_117828569

The mother has an older Philips 47". It doesn't have a tv tuner on board sadly so I'll need to grab her an STB.

decor58

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117828609#Comment_117828609

For the sky HD box to be of any real use here it would be best if you got a UK viewing card, it will give you BBC1 on 1 etc, it won't give you the Irish channels and you would need a standard lnb.

Blinked_Missed It

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117829153#Comment_117829153

Thanks. Not familiar with any of this but is using a UK card legal? By any chance would you know what kind of LNB I would need to replace the Sky Q one on the dish. Looking around and seeing a metric tonne of models.