Thinking of switching to Freesat

SilverTongue

SilverTongue

SilverTongue

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Joined
4 Jun 2007
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2,283
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South Wales
As title really, looking to switch to Freesat to save a bit of money. Currently with Sky with the Sky+HD 2TB box.

The only channels that I would miss would be Atlantic and F1, however not really gonna have much time to watch the F1 this season. As for Atlantic I would just look at a NowTV pass if I particularly wanted anything on Atlantic.

Freeview/YouView is not really an option for us as our local transmitters (Rhondda and Ton Pentre) are PSB only so only have BBC/ITV/4/5 channels and being in the valleys we are in a blackspot for the Wenvoe transmitter, which is our nearest commercial transmitter.

I have read that Sky provide an option to retain the record function for a monthly fee, so my question is really do sky still offer this and any idea on how much it would be? @MissChief, also is it better to stick with the Sky box or look into getting the Humax HDR-1100S or wait until the new 4k Freesat+ box is released? Bearing in mind I only have a 1080p TV with no plans to upgrade to 4k any time soon.

TIA
 
Last time I looked
Few months ago the cost of
Retaining record function
Was stupidly high
Not far off just staying with them
I vaguely recall
In the end up phoning them and
Haggling a new deal proved
Cheaper overall
 
I can't answer your question about the price that Sky charges to keep the recording feature, but I suspect that @Mcnumpty2323 is probably correct.

As for recorders, it seems to me that every week there are at least a dozen Freesat and Freesat HD recorders offered for sale in my local classifieds. Prices seem to be between £20 and £40. These seem to be mostly Humax boxes too.

The 4K UHD Freesat recorder has been coming for a long time now. In September 2018, the announcement was made that a French firm, Arris, would be awarded Freesat manufacturer contract instead of Humax; so in theory it's almost 18 months now that they've been in the frame officially, yet we're still waiting for this 4K UHD recorder box. There's already a 4K UHD view-only box, but still no sign of a recorder.

Incidentally, if we're talking about the satellite position that provides Sky and Freesat, there's not a lot of real 4K UHD content being broadcast on satellite right now. AFAIK, there's only a 4K UHD demo channel running (SES, Astra 2E, DVB-S2, QPSK, 12441 V, 29500 8/9). The rest of the 4K UHD content is either internet streamed or internet downloaded to the hard drive.

I think if I was in your shoes then I'd go with a s/h Humax HD box and just wait to see what happens with a UHD recorder if/when it arrives. Throw the money saved in to a rainy day pot :)
 
No Chan 4Hd! Found this out after buying Freesat as could have gone either in my house.no Biggie tho as only watch the Simpsons on four
 
I thought Sky offered the recording facility for free now if you cancelled the contract on the old HD boxes ?
Try taking your Sky card out of the box and see what it does offer you ?

It used to be a tenner a month for the freeview+recording facility before Sky Q came along.
 
When you cancel your sky subscription the card remains in the box (old Sky HD boxes) and allows all the free to air (Freesat as it is via satellite) channels to be viewable. It used to be £120 a year to retain recording functionality on the sky box, but I think they scrapped the charge 4 or 5 years ago.
 
Or get an Enigma 2 box.

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