Freesat

[Jamie]

Just dumped Sky TV because bills were getting silly, decided to see what i can get for free instead.

Has anyone else got Freesat? I'd be interested in your views. I know that there are 2 versions, the Sky one and the BBC one. Sky says they have over 250 channels and BBC do 200, but from what i can see there's only a handful of decent channels and they're all on both systems. I know i can use the sky dish, but can i also use my Sky HD box?

Also as i think the above may be lacking a bit of content, i'm going to be using some online services as well. Already have a Netflix subscription, but i'm going to try NowTV's entertainment pass as well, it's 4.99 a month and has most of the channels on Sky that i watch. Anyone else used this? Interested in impressions on picture quality, sound etc.

[ETC]

Now tv is alright its basically sky tv lite, I think argos were are doing the little boxes with 4-5 month passes for ?12.50 on clearance if you can find one. I have seen one them Yarr android boxes and they are sketchy as hell yes they have everything but very suspect imo (it pretty much shows everything by pre loaded sopcasts so its very internet dependant) it certainly isn't user friendly. Sorry er Now Tv is alright pic quality is decent but it's not the best for watching live shows such as got etc

[charlesr]

I asked Sky for a one-off "Freesat from SKY" card (?10?)
You lose the "Tivo" functions though.
I haven't turned on my sky box more than a couple of times in that last 6 months - never anything on.
Lots of greatness on Netflix US though.

[chipsgravy]

I have freesat but to be honest I rarely turn it on. Most of the channels are on freeview and my favourite (Dave) isn't on freesat anyway. Only good if you can't get freeview for some reason. Here is a list of whats not where.

http://www.ukfree.tv/compare11.php?alt=1

[MartyG]

You don't need to buy a card as the existing one becomes a Free Sat Card when you cancel - Sky will probably offer you a half price subscription for six months and a dozen other offers now you've quit. You can get a different Free Sat receiver like the Humax and retain the ability to use the PVR function or you can continue pay Sky a monthly fee to use the Sky+ (not sure how much that is though).

[smouty]

Freesat is really just the EPG used in some receivers to organise the FTA sat streams.
All the available streams on the Astra cluster - http://en.kingofsat.net/pos-28.2E.php.
I'll cancel Sky shortly too and use either the Sky box for FTA or the built-in sat receiver in the TV (Samsung F6500).

[Brad]

Human freesat HD freetime box here. Does what a sky box does basically e.g. Set recordings up from your phone. Also has I player so you can browse back and watch stuff that's already been on from within the same ui. Only downside of course is that there is absolutely nothing worth watching.

[charlesr]

[Soundwave]

I've got Freesat HD built into my telly (along with Freeview HD) & it was ok but I don't use it now that I can get Freeview HD (when I bought my telly Freeview HD wasn't available in my area) that said I'm still with Sky so it's a bit of a non event, no way I could drop Sky watch way too much on it & I'd be heartbroken without Sky sports...especially now the NFL is back this week

[Baseley09]

It's ?10 a month to use Sky box as a freesat PVR.

[CMcK]

...especially now the NFL is back this week

That's Sunday evenings taken care of until next year!

[Soundwave]

That's Sunday evenings taken care of until next year!

Oh yes!
Can't wait.
Not expecting great things from the Redskins again this year Griffin still not looking great but I can't wait for Redzone to be back...Sky's choice of live games is bound to be a big shower as usual & have barely any games I care for but the Redzone on the red button makes it for me.

[charlesr]

You don't need to buy a card as the existing one becomes a Free Sat Card when you cancel - Sky will probably offer you a half price subscription for six months and a dozen other offers now you've quit. You can get a different Free Sat receiver like the Humax and retain the ability to use the PVR function or you can continue pay Sky a monthly fee to use the Sky+ (not sure how much that is though).

You are right. I didn't pay for a different card. I think the ?10 was a monthly charge they offered me to keep the tivo functions. I politely refused.

And they will do their best to get you to stay. Just say "I don't watch TV any more". That seemed to confuse them into submission quickly.

[Jamie]

Thanks guys, i'm ready for the shock from the lack of content but i think i'm ok with that. Didn't watch 98% of the stuff that was on anyway, will miss Sky Sports but that's about it. I can get Sky Atlantic on NowTV so that's ok. Just bought a NowTV box from Argos with 4 months entertainment pass for ?12.50

When i rang up to cancel they tried all ways to get me to stay, knocked ?35 a month off my current package, but i'd made my mind up to leave. I did manage to get my fibre broadband monthly cost halved for 12 months to a tenner, which i'm happy with as i was planning on keeping that anyway, i didn't tell them that though.

[speedlolita]

Good job not buckling to that discount!

I need to get some kind of HDMI TV solution for my PC display as I don't own a TV and I often miss having a stream of crap delivered to my eyes.