spec me a freesat TV

millsd44 · 30 Jun 2015 at 11:33

So my parents need a new TV and it has to be freesat. They live in an area where freeview wouldn't work so well (would be required to get a new aerial in) but their old dish works wonders with freesat.

currently using a 5 year old 32" Toshiba with a cheapo good(bad)mans freesat box and I've finally managed to convince them to upgrade.

So, requirements are:

-Freesat HD built in
-40" or less
-Apps if possible (connect to iPlayer, All4, itvplayer etc)
-£500 or less

This might seem a bit of a niche market but hey ho, worth a shot to see what you guys can come up with.

TIA

Liquid_Entity · 30 Jun 2015 at 11:47

I don't know whether it's my TV (Sony KDL55w905a) but my Freesat EPG never updates or updates about 5 minutes after I choose the channel. There is about 900 channels of which 750 of them are related to SKY so are in the channel list but don't work.

I know that doesn't help you but it's worth noting in case the EPG on other sets are as slow.

millsd44 · 30 Jun 2015 at 12:51

Yeah it seems that freesat isn't as speedy or adaptable as freeview. Plus you do get all the extra channels that you can't actually watch. Hopefully there is options in newer TV's to hide these though from the listings.

Liquid_Entity · 30 Jun 2015 at 12:57

I can remove the programs that don't work but it's a seriously hard task on my Sony

monkeys · 2 Jul 2015 at 13:19

Liquid_Entity said:
I don't know whether it's my TV (Sony KDL55w905a) but my Freesat EPG never updates or updates about 5 minutes after I choose the channel. There is about 900 channels of which 750 of them are related to SKY so are in the channel list but don't work.

I know that doesn't help you but it's worth noting in case the EPG on other sets are as slow.

You have to download update from Sony site onto usb, then plug it into tv, worked immediately...as adviced by Sony

Liquid_Entity · 2 Jul 2015 at 13:27

wow thanks I will check it out

spluff · 2 Jul 2015 at 13:40

a link for this would be great?

I have the same problem on my 50W656A - when retune you have tons of unviewable sky channels and have to manually delete them....

Liquid_Entity · 2 Jul 2015 at 13:52

yes a link would be great, I searched on Sony website and did a google search for keywords but nothing

monkeys · 6 Jul 2015 at 11:46

https://www.sony.co.uk/support/en/series/prd-tvhc-tv-lcd

good luck

Liquid_Entity · 6 Jul 2015 at 11:48

I actually found a change in the setup on the menu of the TV which uses Guide & Search - this uses an online service to pull down EPG data. It's still a bit slow but it updates every 30 minutes and it shows the next 3-5 programs on display.

I will see if that other link works too, thanks.

monkeys · 6 Jul 2015 at 11:51

Freesat tv tends to be in a higher range not a budget tv. You can get a cheap freesat box instead.

Psycho Sonny · 6 Jul 2015 at 12:16

millsd44 said:
So, requirements are:

-Freesat HD built in
-40" or less
-Apps if possible (connect to iPlayer, All4, itvplayer etc)
-£500 or less

Amazon fire stick - £35 (covers the apps part)
Humax HD with recording freesat box - £200ish (much better than built in free sat on any tv by miles it's not worth using the built in one IMO) its worth spending money on a decent one of these if your main selection of channels is freesat.

that leaves you with £165 for a tv. Could get a second hand 5-7 year old 42" panny plasma for that. Ideally though you need a much bigger budget for what your wanting to do. It's the fact freesat boxes are a lot more expensive than freeview ones.

what they are probably better off doing is getting the bare minimum sky package for £6 a month after cashback, etc and spend £400 on a tv. forget freesat on that budget. check the sky thread for more info.