Slim Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 Well it seems i was fed a load of BS by the clueless ba****ds at the Switchover Help Scheme There's a lot of ripping off going on. My wifes dad was sold a new 'digital ready' tv from a local store, when all he needs is a set top box. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tucker Posted February 6, 2009 Author Share Posted February 6, 2009 Well it seems i was fed a load of BS by the clueless ba****ds at the Switchover Help Scheme There's a lot of ripping off going on. My wifes dad was sold a new 'digital ready' tv from a local store, when all he needs is a set top box. Not sure but think they may have been trying to sell me Sky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saltire Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 Yesterday i recieved a Switchover help scheme pack ,this morning i made an enquiry and was told that the Isle of Man transmitter will only be broadcasting 5 digital channels ,first ive heard of this,is anyone else aware? That's seriously crap!! Anyone know why?! It's bad enough we can;t get it until they turn terrestrial off - now this! The first UK region to switchover was the Borders in Scotland. Apparently it depends on how clear an ariel signal you get as to watch channels you receive. So if you live in a poor signal area with terrestial TV, you are unlikely to get great digital channels through your freeview box. The residents of the borders found that houses even a mile apart could receive differing amount of channels! Yet Digital TV switchover team had said once the terrestial signal was switched off the digital signal would be increased to combat this problem. Obviously never worked in the borders though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackajah Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 Bought a new Tv from Tescos recently with built-in freeview. Can get BBC1, 2 & 3, C5,QVC (& other assorted shopping related shite), CBBC, Ceebeebies, BBC News, several other dire offerings and two radio channels. All I want is BBC4, so will prob just stick with Freeview at first until the FreeSat+ PVR box becomes cheaper and reliable. Not fussed on HD as I hardly ever watch the thing anyway. Nothing on earth would persuade me to get Sky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manshimajin Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 The first UK region to switchover was the Borders in Scotland. Apparently it depends on how clear an ariel signal you get as to watch channels you receive. So if you live in a poor signal area with terrestial TV, you are unlikely to get great digital channels through your freeview box. The residents of the borders found that houses even a mile apart could receive differing amount of channels! Yet Digital TV switchover team had said once the terrestial signal was switched off the digital signal would be increased to combat this problem. Obviously never worked in the borders though! I assume that this is overcome if you go the Freeview satellite route? Incidentally I assume that if my old-fashioned TV is incapable of receiving signals after the changeover I do not need to pay a TV licence fee unless I buy a digital box or connect to Freeview (slightly ironic name come to think of it - 'NotSoDearView?). I sense a bit of a contretemps with the TVLA coming on... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ballaughbiker Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 Hmmm, well my Foxsat HDR (subscription free equivalent of Sky+HD) is fine. It's easy to use and no problem and it's a lot smaller than the Sky version. My only possible gripe is that the epg doesn't show as many channels at once as Sky's so there's a bit more scrolling up and down to do. If there are software issues that I haven't discovered, it updates the software by satellite as Sky does. The HD picture and 5.1 sound are superb. I'm Sky free for the first time since 1990 and it feels great. It's like giving up smoking.... well sort of. As to putting splitters in the sat dish feeds, you can't for various reasons. If you want to run Sky and non Sky together, get a multi output lnb on your dish. As Slim said more than 4 outputs (Quad LNB which will work two recordable receivers) needs a bigger dish. If you want more than 8 feeds, its still possible with a multi switch and quattro LNB (not quad) but setting it up is not really suitable for diy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manxman2004 Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 On the sky point, It might be worth ringing them and telling them you want to scrap it due to tight money etc, I did this the other day and got put on a new package for 3 months at 7 quid. Rumour is that sky are bricking it as its one of the first things to go when money gets tight, so they might do some decent deal for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bilbo Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 I am considering replacing our sky+ with free sat especially as you can get some hd content which I am sure will look good on my new hd telly. How much is there on there at the mo, hd that is, and is there likely to be more? And if I want sky + like ability is it the foxsat I need, how much is that? We pay over £40pm at present for sky, keep meaning to cut it, well did attempt to then got given a discount but have not rang back to cut it again which is I gues why they do it. The only thing really watched are kids channels and the wife likes cookery type progs. Are there plenty of them on freesat? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keyboarder Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 We pay over £40pm at present for sky Bugger me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebrof Posted February 7, 2009 Share Posted February 7, 2009 The only thing really watched are kids channels and the wife likes cookery type progs. Are there plenty of them on freesat? There's too much already on BBC and ITV. How anybody could wish for more - and pay for it - is a mystery. S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempus Fugit Posted February 7, 2009 Share Posted February 7, 2009 I have an existing sat dish on 19e which I used to mainly use for Eurosport, CNN, RTL and of general interest looking around the continental news channels etc. I bought one of the freesat kits (dish, lnb, receiver) from a large local DIY shop, cost me all of £36 (on a wednesday ). Knocked up a clamp to add the new lnb onto my existing dish (offset from main focus) and having weeded out the scrambled stuff now have an additional set of over 40 channels selected as favourites (some more pop, shopping junk and bbc regions ignored), but what a heck of a lot of repeats there are on there ! at least I don't have to wait and see what happens when they do the switchover as nothing can be tested before that time, maybe use freeview boxes on the other sets around the house when it gets going. I think the next job may be a motor on the dish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pongo Posted February 7, 2009 Share Posted February 7, 2009 I bought one of the freesat kits (dish, lnb, receiver) from a large local DIY shop etc Difference between the Freesat boxes and the free-to-air boxes which B&Q sometimes sell is that the Freesat boxes are self tuning, self updating - when new channels get added or the channels change frequency, transponder etc. And the Freesat EPG is as good as, or possibly better than the Sky EPG. Freesat is a fairly impressive product IMO. Granted there is a lack of actual programmes. When is the MT IPTV product expected to launch? Is there an approximate date yet? I remember it being discussed (I think here) a while back. Checking Google there does not seem to have been any news for a while. Has anyone seen it yet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebrof Posted February 7, 2009 Share Posted February 7, 2009 Freesat is a fairly impressive product IMO. Granted there is a lack of actual programmes. Some might consider that to be not terribly impressive. S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ballaughbiker Posted February 7, 2009 Share Posted February 7, 2009 'Some' people never seem to be happy. This is the first Sky rival in 20 years. It's bound to have a few problems/drawbacks initially. bilbo - HD programming only on BBC HD at the moment and ITV very occasionally when they broadcast a program shot in HD. If watching in non-HD ITV it tells you on screen that its also available on ITV HD and press the red button to change etc. For HD and PVR function you need the Humax Foxsat HDR. £300 in Currys and the like across. Can be set up by any technophobe in 5 minutes. You can alter the ITV region that it defaults to by putting in an appropriate postcode. IM postcodes give you BBC North West and Border as you would expect although I understand they are considering making Granada our area soon. If you have a screen bigger than 32" get a decent HDMI lead to connect the Foxsat to the telly. They are around £60 but well worth it. Mine's a QED silver reference cable but there are many other makes just as good eg Chord etc etc. Its a lot of dosh for a lead but it makes a difference. Yes, all this can be picked up on any fta box which can be bought very cheaply but I wouldn't want to do without the epg. Another plus is that the HDR has a CAM slot should you want to watch foreign encrypted channels as well as Freesat. This lack of this facility stopped me from buying the non PVR Foxsat HD receiver. I think the HD picture is as good or better than Sky and the sound seems much better too. Maybe its just because its free.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebrof Posted February 7, 2009 Share Posted February 7, 2009 'Some' people never seem to be happy. This is the first Sky rival in 20 years. It's bound to have a few problems/drawbacks initially. I wasn't commenting on the quality of the kit; I was referring to the fact that the Freesat system offers so few programmes to watch. His Honour, in Karsales (Harrow) versus Wallis, declared that: "A car which will not go is not a car at all". Likewise, a satellite receiver which offers no programmes (or very few) is not really a receiver at all. The Beeb has made a fundamental error with this, in my view. It should have facilitated the reception of programmes other than its own (and one or two ITV progs). The fact that it hasn't done so will severely reduce its attraction to many people. IMHO. S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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