Cheapest Way to get Free-view
- Thread starter 2013
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Since analogue transmissions stopped aren't you due a free Freeview box to use with a very old tv?
Tv's since 2010 should have a Freeview tuner built in. Not HD though.
Andi.
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Firestick is a good option if you have reasonable wifi and an HDMi input. There are a number of freeview boxes around the £30 region.
I don't think that ever existed and it certainly doesn't now.
I don't think that ever existed and it certainly doesn't now.
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Yes, if your TV has an HDMI input, but Now TV isn't straightforward freeview.
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Nothing if you are just plugging an aerial into a non-freeview TV.
Yes, but as mentioned above a ~6 year old TV is likely to have freeview built in - worth checking/trying first
@2013 What make/model TV is it - we can check
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Hi there,
I was in the same boat - I didn't have internet in one of my properties and had an old TV but wanted a decent signal in the bedroom as a 2nd TV.
I got a BT YouView Box DB-T2200 - very fast and responsive and had HD Freeview too. You can get them on the auction site for between £12 - £20 second hand in fantastic condition with a good quality remote too.
You'd need an HDMI socket on your TV though as no scart. Simple search for DB-T2200.
I was in the same boat - I didn't have internet in one of my properties and had an old TV but wanted a decent signal in the bedroom as a 2nd TV.
I got a BT YouView Box DB-T2200 - very fast and responsive and had HD Freeview too. You can get them on the auction site for between £12 - £20 second hand in fantastic condition with a good quality remote too.
You'd need an HDMI socket on your TV though as no scart. Simple search for DB-T2200.
My 6 year old TV has a freesat tuner in it. Look on the back of your TV to see if you have the connection for a sattelite feed. If so, just plug in the lead that fed the Sky box, and retune the freesat tuner. Free, and wont cost anything to try (not even the cost of the aerial).
Freeview isn't free. You need a TV licence. http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/check-if-you-need-one That is an annual cost on top of the initial outlay for reception gear.
Where a house has been wired for Virgin/cable or Sky then the chances are high that the previous occupants had a licence at some point. You may even be paying for a TV licence right now; but since we don't know enough about your circumstances other than what information you provide in the posts here then that's pure speculation.
There are some iffy web sites that stream TV - but of course I couldn't say which stream TV because generally forums frown on disseminating info about potentially illegal sites that stream TV. If you've read the previous line and noticed a recurring phrase then you might have a clue which sites stream TV
Whether you can find a such sites though depends on your ISP. Some block access, particularly if you're with an ISP that also provides TV services such as Sky, Virgin or BT.
For the majority of the UK using it, Freeview comes via a TV aerial mounted on the roof or in the loft. Height is a key factor to reception quality. That's where a lot of indoor aerials fail.
The cost of an aerial install varies with local signal conditions and the type of building. Someone living in a strong signal area with clear line of sight towards the local transmitter and whose house is a bungalow or basic two storey dwelling with good roof access might pay as little as £90 from a cowboy or £150 from someone who actually knows what they're doing. At the other end of the scale you've the person living in the bottom of a valley, with a 3 storey house ringed by trees. Getting a signal there requires mucho moolah and the sacrifice of a first born. Since you have VM cable then we can presume you don't live out in the middle of some wilderness. Also, as your property has a satellite dish, then we can make an educated guess that there's reasonably clear line of sight to the south; not that that really helps if your aerial has to point other than a general southerly direction
Once an aerial is installed (and presuming there's good signal quality - and yes, that's different to signal strength) then it's a relatively simple job to extend the supply to reach other TVs and Freeview recorders in your home. That's a key advantage of Freeview; the signal can be shared to multiple receivers via just a simple aerial distribution amp. This isn't possible with Freesat.
Freesat comes via a satellite dish pointing at the same satellite position that provides Sky's service. For those out of contract with Sky, it's possible to use their old Sky box to pick up a version of Freesat. I have come across situations where folks say this is on their old viewing card already. Other times the service has been limited to not many channels, so a one-off payment to Sky for their Free-to-View satellite service opens up a similar number of channels to Freeview.
Satellite signals can't be received by an ordinary TV through its aerial socket. That might sound obvious to you but it's surprising how many times people make that assumption. The signal requires a satellite receiver to decode it. For most people that means an external tuner box or a Freesat recorder. Freesat also requires at least one cable connection direct from the dish to the reception point. Two cables are required if a recorder is to be used to view one channel while recording another. The requirement for direct cable connections from the dish and the cost of receiver boxes for each basic TV means that Freesat (or Sky's version of it) works out more expensive than Freeview if new gear and wiring is required.
Whether you watch Freesat or Freeview live or record from them, a TV licence will be required.
Where a house has been wired for Virgin/cable or Sky then the chances are high that the previous occupants had a licence at some point. You may even be paying for a TV licence right now; but since we don't know enough about your circumstances other than what information you provide in the posts here then that's pure speculation.
There are some iffy web sites that stream TV - but of course I couldn't say which stream TV because generally forums frown on disseminating info about potentially illegal sites that stream TV. If you've read the previous line and noticed a recurring phrase then you might have a clue which sites stream TV
Whether you can find a such sites though depends on your ISP. Some block access, particularly if you're with an ISP that also provides TV services such as Sky, Virgin or BT. For the majority of the UK using it, Freeview comes via a TV aerial mounted on the roof or in the loft. Height is a key factor to reception quality. That's where a lot of indoor aerials fail.
The cost of an aerial install varies with local signal conditions and the type of building. Someone living in a strong signal area with clear line of sight towards the local transmitter and whose house is a bungalow or basic two storey dwelling with good roof access might pay as little as £90 from a cowboy or £150 from someone who actually knows what they're doing. At the other end of the scale you've the person living in the bottom of a valley, with a 3 storey house ringed by trees. Getting a signal there requires mucho moolah and the sacrifice of a first born. Since you have VM cable then we can presume you don't live out in the middle of some wilderness. Also, as your property has a satellite dish, then we can make an educated guess that there's reasonably clear line of sight to the south; not that that really helps if your aerial has to point other than a general southerly direction
Once an aerial is installed (and presuming there's good signal quality - and yes, that's different to signal strength) then it's a relatively simple job to extend the supply to reach other TVs and Freeview recorders in your home. That's a key advantage of Freeview; the signal can be shared to multiple receivers via just a simple aerial distribution amp. This isn't possible with Freesat.
Freesat comes via a satellite dish pointing at the same satellite position that provides Sky's service. For those out of contract with Sky, it's possible to use their old Sky box to pick up a version of Freesat. I have come across situations where folks say this is on their old viewing card already. Other times the service has been limited to not many channels, so a one-off payment to Sky for their Free-to-View satellite service opens up a similar number of channels to Freeview.
Satellite signals can't be received by an ordinary TV through its aerial socket. That might sound obvious to you but it's surprising how many times people make that assumption. The signal requires a satellite receiver to decode it. For most people that means an external tuner box or a Freesat recorder. Freesat also requires at least one cable connection direct from the dish to the reception point. Two cables are required if a recorder is to be used to view one channel while recording another. The requirement for direct cable connections from the dish and the cost of receiver boxes for each basic TV means that Freesat (or Sky's version of it) works out more expensive than Freeview if new gear and wiring is required.
Whether you watch Freesat or Freeview live or record from them, a TV licence will be required.
There are some iffy web sites that stream TV - but of course I couldn't say which stream TV because generally forums frown on disseminating info about potentially illegal sites that stream TV. If you've read the previous line and noticed a recurring phrase then you might have a clue which sites stream TV
Not really necessary to stream the regular freeview channels. Most of them have an official app, and most of them stream live TV.
You do still need the TV license for live streams though. However, you can watch their on-demand programming without a license, except for content on the BBC iPlayer. If you goto an apps live tv stream, and select watch from start, rather than watch live, however, I believe that loophole bypasses the requirement for a TV license, as you are not streaming the content, as it is shown live, which is the stipulation for watching live TV streams. This used to be how I used the iplayer, before they changed the rules and required the license for ANY iplayer content. I have since purchased a license. But I am considering moving back to no license, and just buying Blue Planet 2, the only thing left that justifies paying the license fee (potentially a argument could be made for Any Questions too, but you can watch that on youtube within a couple days usually).