Question for People who left Sky and went free to air

jimjangles

I was just wondering how people who left Sky and went the free to air and Saorview combi route are getting on?

Are you happy with the selection of channels?

Was it costly getting it all set up and installed?

I ask because I'm thinking about leaving Sky. My contract with them ended and they jacked the price back up and to me it doesn't feel worth 39 euros a month. Most of the channels are still standard definition. Most of the time there is nothing on worth watching. I find that TV is very much aimed at women with reality TV show trash ,cooking, dancing, weight loss programmes, bad unfunny comedies. I suppose all I really watch is the news and talk shows. I find that Dramas are rubbish now and also aimed only at women. Maybe it was always like that but if so I never realised it was so bad. If Gamesmaster or any video game related shows were on I'd watch them but there's nothing except a terrible Ginx eSports channel that focuses only on online multiplayer and is aimed at casual gamers and doesn't have any good programs on it so I don't mind letting that go. New Simpsons episodes are terrible, I used to like them but that was a long time ago. Anyway some reasons why I find most TV is crap now and why I don't think Sky is worth it anymore. TV programs are trash now.

I'd probably miss at least having something to watch though. Is the free to air and Saorview combination worth the high installation and equipment cost because I'm guessing it is quite costly? Also I don't have an outdoor aerial? Do they have to put it on your roof?

a_yank_for_yes

I have a 4 channel Satellite receiver, Geniatech Netstream4Sat, that I used to use with Geniatech's EyeTV program, 3 & 4, which they turned in to a piece of excrement. I have managed to install NextPVR and Kodi on a iMac running MacOS Ventura (13.1) which works. It was a bit of a technical challenge and it took me a week to get it running and I have a IT background. Albeit, not a programmer but in computer operations, Systems Operation Manager for a major NHS Hospital at one time. I think NextPVR's instructions are a bit vague in places and somewhat outdated and probably written by the programmers who developed it. This tends to be the norm in most manuals & instructions. Unfortunately, they tend to assume knowledge they have which us mere mortals do not possess. I'm going to try and develop more comprehensive instructions but may take some time. If you have any technical ability, give it a go but be prepared to start over, and over, and over again. I'm assuming you have a 2 channel satellite dish, you may need get a receiver box to replace Sky's but give it a try with theirs to begin with, just leave it as is for the moment. After you install NPVR, which is fairly straightforward, the first step for scanning for satellites should tell you if it's going to work. If they show up, have fun! 😉

screamer

Left sky a few years ago for the same reasons. I think I paid about 300 euro but that included an outside aerial installation and running cables. I did miss being able to select what I wanted to watch though, so got the cheapest Netflix subscription. I don’t think you’ll miss sky one bit to be honest, when you get sick of their offering, there’s no point paying out for it.

ELM327

Left sky altogether about 6 months ago when we moved out of our old house.

The only thing I missed was the sports channels so I got Now TV. Other than that I have netflix and amazon but rarely watch them and also youtube premium. Bargains available for all in the bargain alerts forum

Fr Tod Umptious

Hi OP

Left Sky in April 2021 for a 30 euro second had Optmus Plus triple tuner combo box.

It was ok but because the box was old -ish it crashed a fair bit, the remote stopped working and a very good poster on here sent me a new one, but after a few months the back button on that stopped.

Sky kept ringing us offering good deals to come back and eventually we decided on one for e20 a month in March.

What I liked about Sky was not the channel selection but the functionality, however I think Sky Q is not as good functionality wise than the old Sky used to be.

Our contract is up soon, I'm not sure if I'm going to invest in a new triple tuner. I'll see what sky's next offer might be.

The installer said he put a hybrid LNB on when putting in Sky Q so I have to test that first to make sure he did before I make any decisions.

Overall I think the advantage Sky is the functionality and everything in one place, it's much easier for people who are not that interested in having to set stuff up themselves and just want to watch TV.

Lorddrakul

I left Sky after 20 plus years, as similarly, for the cost, it was unjustifiable.

I had the HD+ dish and LNB so it was easy to move.

I got an ancient Vu+ Duo box for a couple of euroes to experiment and see what worked. I put an old laptop 1TB drive into it and put the latest Open Blackhole firmware image on it that would work stably and away it went.

It took a bit of forum searching and research to get it working as needed, but now it's fine and does everything I need it to.

In terms of channels, all the BBCs, ITVs and Channel4s are the main attraction. Film4 is great, but in SD. I also like Quest, which is HD. There are about 6 decent, mostly HD news channels too. With the loss of Smithsonian recently, what I miss are decent docs channels. All that's left is BBC4, PBS America and Sky Arts. That said, what pased for docs on the Sky service was pretty rubbish too.

I find, for my viewing, the Freesat service is 90% of what I used to watch onSky, and it's free, after a little effort on set up. If you have a dish and LNB that's compatible already, a decent second hand receiver will see you right.

StupidLikeAFox

I left around 6 months ago. Had the dish and got a new lnb that let you plug the saorview aerial in so you can use the same cables for satellite and terrestrial. In terms of channels, I've everything I need in all rte, virgin, tg4, bbc x 4, Channel 4, itv x 4 (which wasn't on sky). I honestly couldn't name a single sky channel that I miss - they were mostly crap

Then I have netflix for kids shows, and dip in and out of Disney/ apple TV or whatever subscription channel has a decent series at any particular time. The trick is to cancel when you get bored of them, you can always come back a few months down the line if something decent is released. Now tv is handy if you are into sport

I don't miss any part of sky at all and am saving around 50e a month

andy1249

Ditched Sky back in 2011.

Initially bought a humax 1000s for freesat and a Triax saorview box.

The humax died ( great while it worked ) and the missus couldn't get the hang of switching between boxes for RTE so switched to enigma 2 boxes

First a Tiviar alpha plus , great for 5 years then it died ( swollen caps everywhere )

Then a Zgemma H7S , still working in another room

Now the main box is a VU+ Duo 4K SE running openvix ( unicable lnb and dual FBC tuners ) , 8 sat tuners and two terrestrial tuners ..... it was pricey but drips quality , and I,m very very happy with it.

I have Disney + , 70 euros for a year , and it gets used a lot on various devices , by me for movies and TV shows , by the missus for the likes of Greys Anatomy and all of its spin offs.

Also have Apple TV as part of the Apple family sub ( Music , games , storage , TV ) but theres nothing on that , foundation and for all mankind are the only shows Ive watched on it.

Core6

Depending on where you live, you might find that you don't need an external aerial to pick up Saorview. It certainly is worth trying an internal aerial before you go to the cost and hassle of installing an external one. Internal aerials can be bought for around €20 and you simply plug it into the aerial socket in the back of your TV (assuming your TV is Saorview compatible).

No recording though, unless your TV has the facility to add an external disk (many have).

To view the satellite channels you'll need a satellite receiver box. There are a wide range of those available starting at around €100 upwards.

The response times and EPG of the lower cost boxes can be frustrating.

I have found that this Freesat box is excellent (https://www.freesat.co.uk/get-freesat/set-top-boxes/recordable-4k-tv-box). Great EPG, easy recording including series, etc. It is more expensive to buy though -- of course, it is just a one-off cost rather than your current monthly charge.

Lorddrakul

That's a good point, @Core6

I have an indoor, flat panel type aerial for Saorview. I have it on a shelf near a window and plugged directly into the a Smasung smart tv.

It works fine for RTE and TG4. I'm not fussed about Virgin crap, as anything that's worth watching is on the ITV HD channels on Feesat.

I got the Saroview aerial from adverts for €15. I had a little USB HDD plugged into the TV and it does the rest. It is a minor inconvenience not having the RTE stuff on the satellite box, but hey ho.

icdg

I think it comes up again on these types of threads but if you have Sky Q and a wideband LNB (ie you didn’t ask for a hybrid LNB at installation time) your options are limited unless you feel confident about going up on a ladder and swapping the LNB. Effectively the only free to air satellite boxes that work on a “plug and play” basis (as I understand and no doubt someone will correct me) are the relatively expensive Arris Freesat 4K boxes. May still be worth the expense if you think FTA will be your long term home.

jimjangles

I don't know what LNB I have. Sky changed me over to Sky Q a couple of years ago. I'd had the Sky hd box before that.

eguiney

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120145788#Comment_120145788

You are very likely to have the wideband LNB.

Search online for "Freesat UHD Ireland" to find sites selling the Arris Freesat boxes mentioned above to Irish customers.

dam099

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120145788#Comment_120145788

Is it low enough you can get a good look? If it only has connectors for 2 cables (which will already be hooked up) then its probably wideband, if there are another (usually) 4 connectors (possibly unused) then its probably hybrid.

https://freesat.ie/products/sky-q-wideband-lnb

https://freesat.ie/products/vhk6?_pos=2&_psq=hybrid&_ss=e&_v=1.0

RetroEncabulator

I’m thinking of ditching Sky. There’s just less and less on it in terms of quality content.

Freesat / Saorview and one or two streaming services seem like much better value.

Just seems like it’s slowly moving towards being an obsolete concept, with all the good stuff moving to the streaming services.

Also you can chop and change those month to month depending on what you’re focused on. Sky locks you in.

Most of channels are just utter rubbish these days too. The documentary ones are pretty much all that they have that’s different.

monkeybutter

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058280809/question-for-people-who-left-sky-and-went-free-to-air

I only went with sky as the TV was basically included in the broadband (or other way round) at the time.

On top of that, they put up dish etc, so I save money there

I made sure they gave me the dual purpose LNRB, so it would work seamlessly with another box

TV has aerial and satellite receiver built in

so RTE and BBC side by side in channel list

I did originally have the SKY HD box (prior one to the SKYQ) and I paid 10 euro for a freesat car on ebay

can pickup sairview on internal aerial, tad finicky

What I miss, Freesat has no EPG other than now and next

not one sky channel is missed, the SPORT is the biggest ripp off in Entertainment and they know it

I hardly ever recorded or paused anything when I had the option, but in fairness, that is a good feature. The TV can pause but it doesn't work that well so I don't do it

its about 2500 saved so far

trigger26

Got a smart LG tv with a satellite tuner/saorview for the Freeview channels and then an ariel for the Irish channels. Switch between the 2 mediums using short cut keys, get used to it pretty quick. Then for recordings I use a USB Hard drive plugged in the back.

The functionality of Sky is brilliant, the ease of browsing and recording but I don't miss enough to pay 20/30 quid a month (yearly break up call to get discount), happy with this setup

Slightly Kwackers

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058280809/question-for-people-who-left-sky-and-went-free-to-air

The Sky dish I used to have here was fine when I used another box. I have since put a few Dishes up for Astra 28E and found it no problem, the dishes can be cheap, but here on the Kerry coast the Sky dish and all those cheap pressed steel dishes don't seem good for more than a couple of years.

The main problem with FTA is the EPG, but if you get a Freesat UK TV or a Freesat box, you will have an EPG for the British stuff.

Saorview is via an aerial in the bushes at the edge of the garden. The aerial is hidden, thus not too unsightly and all I do is cut a free space a couple of meters all around it a couple of times a year when breakup starts.

I don't know the distance to the transmitter, it must be over sixty miles, but I do have a fairly clear take off toward the North where the transmitter is located.

I tried Saorview with an LNB bought for the Eutelstat satellite and stuck it onto a one meter dish, but failed to pick up the transmission, it was cold and windy though so after an hour I lost all enthusiasm.

Got rid of Sky 10+ yrs ago. Don’t miss it at all. I thought (and still do) the pricing structure was/is just wrong. Being forced to pay for a basic pack of channels in order to get the Sky Sports channels always annoyed me. I don’t record anything so I have a second hand Sky HD multiroom box (the one with one sat input, no hard drive) with a UK region card. With most of the main UK terrestrial channels now FTA in HD on it, I’m happy. I get Saorview through an external aerial.

Tony

Try this link so see distance and direction of your saorview transmitter, this will give a good indication as to whether an indoor aerial will work or not https://saorview.ie/en/check-coverage/

jimjangles

This is all very helpful guys thank you very much for your responses.

So honestly I still don't know haven't decided fully yet. I was wondering what happens when you unsub? Do they take away the Sky Q box?

If they didn't I could use it as a temporary free to air box probably and just stream the Irish channels using a laptop and would be happy with that to be honest. If they took it away then I have a Sky hd box that likely wouldn't work because I never asked them to use a hybrid LNB so it's likely a wideband LNB which is crap really and restricts you.

Of course the ideal scenario would be to have free to air and the saorview channels in the one box with some record functionality so would that require me to switch to a hybrid LNB?

That freesat 4k box only does English channels right?

Does the 4k box downscale to 1080p as I only have a 1080p tv and don't feel the need for 4k?

I'd probably have to get some tv engineer to change the LNB, I couldn't get up that high.

Gerry Wicklow

You only rent a Sky Q box they will want it back.

If it is a wideband Q LNB (probable) the only other box that works is the official FreeSat box which is a PoS and only does some UK free channels. The beauty of the combo boxes such as the Zgemma H7S is the ability to make your own favourites lists with any combination of Saorview and satellite you like. As dam099 showed in post 14 above, you can tell a hybrid LNB because it has 6 outlets on it. A Q LNB only has 2 outlets.

4K boxes can be set to 1080p. The TV should downscale it also.

Changing the LNB is a fairly simple DIY project but if you are not comfortable or safe working at height then leave it to a pro.