Sky box / dish to watch free TV

warnox · 3 Oct 2016 at 09:42

Hi,

I'm cancelling my Sky subscription but will still retain the Sky box and obviously the dish on the house. The house does not have a normal aerial for Freeview.

What are my options for being able to watch free TV using this dish and the Sky decoder?

Looking at, http://www.radioandtelly.co.uk/satellitetv.html. Freesat, Subscription Free Sky and Free to air, seem to be ways of doing this but I'm not sure if any of them will work without buying additional kit/service.

Any help appreciated.

Maundie · 3 Oct 2016 at 10:35

To get Freesat you would need to buy a box and replace the Sky box with it.

When your subscription ends then Sky will keep putting a message on your screen saying you need to subscribe to keep receiving channels (even the normal BBC, ITV etc.), this is not right and if you contact them you can request the viewing card is activated to get the normal free-to-air channels.

Pug · 3 Oct 2016 at 11:20

If you are OK not recording then SKY can activate your viewing card for freesat (not the same channels as freeview btw, but more HD)

If you want to record you can pay sky £10/month (they may even discount this, but possibly not).

Otherwise buy a freesat box and use the sky dish.

silverblack · 3 Oct 2016 at 11:43

When we cancelled ours the EPG remains the same but you obviously cant view the Sky channels only Freesat.You also lose the record option unless as said above you pay Sky £10 a month.

warnox · 3 Oct 2016 at 12:14

Thanks all.

Is free-to-air and Freesat the same thing? And is this the list of channels?
http://www.radioandtelly.co.uk/freesatchannels.html

Pug · 3 Oct 2016 at 13:50

technically not the same thing - freesat does the whole EPG bit, whereas as FTA presents everything broadcast that isn't scrambled, in any order... The channel list looks right, basically Freeview except no Dave, and more HD.

My TV is FTA satellite, and of the 400 channels most arer random crap mixed in with what we want and it's a nightmare to sift through. Freesat presents it all in a way that makes sense. (BBC1, 2, ITV C4, in order etc)

Freetime is the new thing and allows you to roll=back 7 days and catchup. Is what i will be buying when my can celled sky contract expires.

warnox · 3 Oct 2016 at 14:16

Pug said:
technically not the same thing - freesat does the whole EPG bit, whereas as FTA presents everything broadcast that isn't scrambled, in any order... The channel list looks right, basically Freeview except no Dave, and more HD.

My TV is FTA satellite, and of the 400 channels most arer random crap mixed in with what we want and it's a nightmare to sift through. Freesat presents it all in a way that makes sense. (BBC1, 2, ITV C4, in order etc)

Freetime is the new thing and allows you to roll=back 7 days and catchup. Is what i will be buying when my can celled sky contract expires.

Thanks, makes sense and I guess it's sensible to just get a Freesat box.

In terms of Freetime, would any of the Freesat boxes below support it?
http://www.freesat.co.uk/get-freesat/all-boxes

Also, I assume the Freesat boxes have the same aerial input as the Sky decoder?

COYS · 3 Oct 2016 at 14:30

Once you have decided what you need then have a look at the Humax Freesat boxes. They also do good prices on their refurb units http://www.humaxdirect.co.uk/refurbished.html which are great value

LoadsaMoney · 3 Oct 2016 at 14:39

warnox said:
Thanks, makes sense and I guess it's sensible to just get a Freesat box.

In terms of Freetime, would any of the Freesat boxes below support it?
http://www.freesat.co.uk/get-freesat/all-boxes

Also, I assume the Freesat boxes have the same aerial input as the Sky decoder?

Ive got the Humax HDR-1100s which supports Freetime, great little box, never had a prob with it, its all nicely layed out (EPG etc...), and yeah, its the same input as the sky box, just unscrew it from the sky box and screw it into the Freesat box, pop in your postcode, and jobs a good'un, can take 2 inputs as well (if you have 2), so you can watch something else while recording another, or record 2 at once, but it can be used with just the 1 input (which is all ive got), but even with just the 1, you can record another programme while watching another, or record 2 at the same time (if they share the same transponder TP).

asim18 · 3 Oct 2016 at 15:32

Pug said:
My TV is FTA satellite, and of the 400 channels most arer random crap mixed in with what we want and it's a nightmare to sift through. Freesat presents it all in a way that makes sense. (BBC1, 2, ITV C4, in order etc)

That's just your TV's TV Guide.

Actual FTA satellite receivers are pretty powerful and versatile devices and are perfectly capable of ordering your channels and getting full EPG info. In fact channel lists are fully customisable on FTA receivers. They're way better than freesat receivers in my opinion.

It's a bit like android vs iphone, freesat is a bit like a locked down iphone which looks great and works nicely out the box. FTA is open source and a bit like android in how you can customise everything and with a bit of tinkering can get it doing some cool stuff like streaming to your phone, network shares, etc.

However I would still recommend freesat if you're not interested in any of that malarkey.

warnox · 4 Oct 2016 at 08:22

Thanks all, much appreciated!