Associate
- Joined
- 15 Jul 2004
- Posts
- 2,437
- Location
- Norway...maybe...
My wife and I are facing a little bit of a dilemma. Currently, we don't watch a massive amount of TV (through the iPlayer only - Our 'net connection isn't quick enough to stream HD content sadly), and I doubt that that will change massively. Currently our house has no aerial, and no way to receive any digital broadcasts. The analogue transmitters in our area were switched off last year, and even then, we didn't have an aerial anyway. Previous to moving in, we didn't really watch an awful lot of TV either.
For the last six months, I've been considering Freesat HD (with the Foxsat PVR box being the likely candidate). Now that I have the money to actually invest, I've noticed that a handful of Freeview HD boxes have been just released. Having checked, we live in one of the few areas currently broadcasting FVHD. This is where the difficulty in decision making starts. I've no idea which to go for, and indeed which box. A PVR would be preferable, simply due to the flexibilty that the iPlayer has given us in watching when we feel like it. Sky is definitely NOT an option, as we really cannot justify a subscription service.
Because we have no infrastructure at the moment, whichever I choose is going to need cable running and something bolting to the roof, so this doesn't influence the decision.
Does either format have any glaring benefits over the other? Is the picture quality significantly better than the other? Is the picture quality of the SD content better on one or the other? Sound quality is also a big deciding factor too, whilst I appreciate that very little TV content is presented in 5.1, is either format capable of receiving DD etc? What are the likely future for either format, in terms of survival and range of channels?
Sorry for the barrage of questions, but 'telly' isn't really one of my fortes, being more of a games and music person
Many thanks in advance.
For the last six months, I've been considering Freesat HD (with the Foxsat PVR box being the likely candidate). Now that I have the money to actually invest, I've noticed that a handful of Freeview HD boxes have been just released. Having checked, we live in one of the few areas currently broadcasting FVHD. This is where the difficulty in decision making starts. I've no idea which to go for, and indeed which box. A PVR would be preferable, simply due to the flexibilty that the iPlayer has given us in watching when we feel like it. Sky is definitely NOT an option, as we really cannot justify a subscription service.
Because we have no infrastructure at the moment, whichever I choose is going to need cable running and something bolting to the roof, so this doesn't influence the decision.
Does either format have any glaring benefits over the other? Is the picture quality significantly better than the other? Is the picture quality of the SD content better on one or the other? Sound quality is also a big deciding factor too, whilst I appreciate that very little TV content is presented in 5.1, is either format capable of receiving DD etc? What are the likely future for either format, in terms of survival and range of channels?
Sorry for the barrage of questions, but 'telly' isn't really one of my fortes, being more of a games and music person
Many thanks in advance.
If it did I would, so not sure which is the best box. I do know you can get freesat boxes now with ethernet connections that allow the iplayer interface to work through the box which I immagine you would also like if you forget to record something!
