Freesat - Anyone use it?

gubble

We've come to the conclusion that we do not watch any of the sky channels that we pay for. Most things are either the normal terrestrial channels or Netflix and can probably save ourselves a small fortune by cancelling sky.

We would however like to have the option of Recording TV. We don't have a TV Ariel and was wondering if anyone has freesat ?

Ideally we'd like two boxes - one in the living room and one upstairs in the bedroom.

iseverynamegone

I have a Humax SAT PVR box and whilst the interface is not as good as SKY it works well enough. At the time I got it a few years ago the Humax was supposedly he best interface.

boogieman

I had a Humax box as well, worked very well. Freesat isn't that different from Freeview, just a couple of channels are different. 

kuro

I have a cheap sky sub which enables me to record freesat, including hd on the sky box.

strumjoughlamps

Yep TV has it built in and have a Humax box in the conservatory. It's a good service a fair few HD channels. 

jellyroll

We're doing the same, moving away from Sky. We currently have 3 TVs linked to the same Sky box via the "magic eye" link. Is there a magic eye equivalent to link several TVs with Freesat or Humax?

TheBigDipper

Me. Got a Humax PVR that takes two satellite feeds and client apps for lots of On Demand channels (the list is somewhere on the Humax website) via broadband. Does HD channels but not 4K.

Rocker

We are going the same way, ditching Sky and buying a Humax sat box [most probably from Maplins].  Sky is costing us €52 per month, we are paying for free to air channels which I have to admit is a daft thing to do.  The Sky user interface is very good but it comes at a price.

bobblehat

I use the humax freesat hd box and a video sender device for watching in the bedroom  which works well.
Ditched Sky around 3 years ago and don't miss it. I have Amazon Prime and Netflix which makes up for any loss of channels.

vasselmeyer

I have a Humax Foxsat HDR box which allows us to  receive Freesat. It has a reasonable EPG which allows series record etc. Freesat has 200+ channels and it also has iPlayer and the other UK on-demand channels  if you get a SmartBox (the Humax has this). It's missing some channels (Dave, I think is the main one I  would ever watch).

Channel guide here:
http://cdn.freesat.co.uk/freesat/freesat_website/content/downloadables/channels guide - nov 24 2016.pdf

gubble

Well we bought a new TV yesterday (part of the reason for discussing ditching sky).

PLugged in an indoor ariel for tuning and was amazed that it brought up every freeview channel going - even the HD ones with clear reception. Being a smart TV it also has Netflix and Freeview Plus which is great.

So will just need a single freesat recorder box for the TV upstairs - which to be fair is where we mainly watch TV.

Thanks for the input guys - really looking forward to ditching Sky.

boogieman

gubble said:

Well we bought a new TV yesterday (part of the reason for discussing ditching sky).

PLugged in an indoor ariel for tuning and was amazed that it brought up every freeview channel going - even the HD ones with clear reception. Being a smart TV it also has Netflix and Freeview Plus which is great.

So will just need a single freesat recorder box for the TV upstairs - which to be fair is where we mainly watch TV.

Thanks for the input guys - really looking forward to ditching Sky.

Have a look at the shop on the Humax website, they do reconditioned boxes at bargain prices. I got an A grade refurb and it was as-new. They still come with a full warranty too. 

MrBump

Maybe it's a common theme for 2017, but I'm planning on ditching Sky too over the next few months - TV, broadband, the lot.  However, I'll probably go with BT telly and subscription services.  Netflix/Amazon are pretty good value still, I think.  Sky sucks.

strumjoughlamps

Humax direct have a refurb section, look out on HUKD for codes too. 

https://www.humaxdirect.co.uk/refurbished.html

GSPBASSES

Likewise, I'm seriously thinking of dumping sky, it's costing me over £70 a month at the present time. I have the family entertainment pack plus sports and movies. I shall most likely dump the movies at the end of the month, then check on how much it's costing me. The big downside to losing sky, I will not be able to watch F1, as it appears that no other channel will be showing it this year. Also, a lot of the programs I watch on the entertainment package are also not broadcast by anybody else, like Elementary, Westworld, Blindspot, Bones,Delicious,Killjoys,Dark Matter, Castle , to mention but a few. I do have BT sport for watching the Moto Grand Prix's, but I think if I cancel the sports channels the BT sport goes with them even though I pay separately for it, I may be wrong about that. My television has freesat and youview built-in plus Amazon and Netflix, unfortunately where I live a lot of the freeview channels are not available. I may well drop sky sports and sky movies and just keep the entertainment package, of course, the big rip-off with sky is you pay extra to receive anything in HD.

TheBigDipper

GSPBASSES said:

Likewise, I'm seriously thinking of dumping sky, it's costing me over £70 a month at the present time. I have the family entertainment pack plus sports and movies. I shall most likely dump the movies at the end of the month, then check on how much it's costing me. The big downside to losing sky, I will not be able to watch F1, as it appears that no other channel will be showing it this year. Also, a lot of the programs I watch on the entertainment package are also not broadcast by anybody else, like Elementary, Westworld, Blindspot, Bones,Delicious,Killjoys,Dark Matter, Castle , to mention but a few. I do have BT sport for watching the Moto Grand Prix's, but I think if I cancel the sports channels the BT sport goes with them even though I pay separately for it, I may be wrong about that. My television has freesat and youview built-in plus Amazon and Netflix, unfortunately where I live a lot of the freeview channels are not available. I may well drop sky sports and sky movies and just keep the entertainment package, of course, the big rip-off with sky is you pay extra to receive anything in HD.

I do watch Sky Sports sometimes, buying a NowTV day pass and using my Apple TV box. 

ToneControl

I dumped sky 10 years or 15 years ago
recently got NowTV at £7 pcm to get  GOT, Walking dead,  Westworld

I have a Humax foxsat HDR box, not used since we moved house, no idea what it's worth, was high spec  when I got it

TTBZ

I got a Manhattan freesat hd box when I moved in my first house about 3 years ago and I've had no complaints. I never even entertained the idea of Sky as it's so expensive and I get most things I want to watch on netflix or just download them.

exocet

I have the original Humax Foxsat box - had it 4 years ad its still going strong. The newer versions have much better EPG and are "faster" to respond. That said, for some reason they still don't support the more advanced iPlayer type functions where you simply scroll back through the EPG to select a program that you want to watch and it fires up the appropriate "player" to open it with. Humax provide this feature on their "You View" boxes but these are driven from standard terrestrial aerial rather than Satellite feed.

GSPBASSES

Having read all the above comments, and done some research on Now TV I think it's time to say goodbye to sky, I've just checked my bill and its £75 a month. I'm now pretty sure I can get most of the programs I like on other platforms for a fraction of the price With these day tickets to sky sport at under £7,  I can watch F1. Admittedly, I won't watch the practice and qualifying, but we can't have everything.

I forgot to mention the answer to what this post is all about, I have freesat I don't use it much because of the skybox, but I also have it in my bedroom on my old HD television. The quality of the image I think is better than sky HD, and its free, unlike sky. 

UnclePsychosis

When I moved house I cancelled my TV package and bought a BT youview box. 

It has its foibles (the most annoying one is being able to hear the drive click) but for the most part I'd recommend one.