Freesat- Freeview

[Keith T]

Thought I'd start a new thread on this one as the earlier one seems to be getting a bit personal as to whether you should watch it at all! I would assume that if CH5 signal is OK on the TV aerial (we use the Status 530/5 type) then Freeview should be pretty well OK - UK only, I assume. However, I've also seen reference to 'Freesat' - what does this give, ie is it UK and/or Continent, and does it work through the standard aerial, or is a dish required? Are either 'long term' or are we still in a transitional period, and it's better to hang on to see what develops? Any response,please, in simple English, I am NOT that versed techonologically in such matters.

[Philman]

Hi Keith I'm not familiar with Freesat but anything to do with reception of satellite tv signals requires a dish and a decoder/receiver. IMO. Freecom is digital tv but not from a satellite so an 'ordinary' aerial would be ok if you are in a reasonably good signal area. Phil.

[Philman]

ps to my last post here is a list of the channels that can be received in the various European countries. http://www.freecomdemo.com/images/dvb_programs_overview.pdf

[Guest Frank Wilkinson]

I've just researched all this for my new motorhome and this is what I know so far after talking to an acquaintance who runs a specialist caravan/motorhome TV equipment company. I hope that it's correct!

Freeview - This is a digital TV service, which can be received by a normal decent aerial. You can get all the usual terrestial channels (1 to 5) plus others such as Sky News and BBC News 24. You don't need a special TV but you must buy a Freeview box. Although I have cable digital for my main TV I bought a Freeview box for my small TV in my study for £30. A 12v one is about £60 - £70

Free to Air - This is satellite televison which is nominally free. You need a dish and a digibox. If you're a Sky subscriber you can take your existing box and plug it in in your motorhome and receive all the Sky channels.

If you are not a Sky subscriber you can still buy a Sky digibox (£110 -£130) although a 12v one is almost £200 and, as they haven't been made for three years you are in effect, buying old stock and old technology.

If you are not a Sky subscriber and you do buy a Sky digibox you cannot receive channels 4 & 5 as they are encrypted by Sky who will however sell you a viewing card for £20. This card only lets you watch 4 & 5, not all the other Sky programmes. It's a one-off purchase and I think it lasts three years.

However, it is much cheaper to buy what is known as a Free to Air box. These are cheaper than a Sky box at around £90 but you cannot put a Sky card in them and currently you won't be able to receive channels 4 & 5. (This is the one area I'm not absolutely certain about and would welcome other advice as to whether Free to Air will receive 4 & 5).

However, a friend 'in the trade' tells me that next Spring channels 4 & 5 will become available as they are about to pay Sky a lot of money to send them out unencrypted.

On the Free to Air box you get a similar range of channels as with Freeview.

If you are in the UK and usually go where there is good reception, the best alternative is probably a Freeview box. You will need no special satellite dish or and will receive all the five normal channels and a lot of extra digital ones.

However, if you go abroad, satellite is the only choice. If you're a Sky subscriber you may consider a new Sky box for your MH, but it will probably have to be mains operated.

If you buy a Free to Air digibox however, you'll have no fee and can get a 12v one at a reasonable price. For now, you won't get channels 4 & 5 but there's every chance that you will get them shortly - but it's not guaranteed 100% (as I said earlier, I'm not certain of this and welcome advice).

To sum up:

Freeview - digital TV through a normal aerial. Needs a digibox, £30 mains or £60-70 12v. Only for use in the UK.

Free to Air - digital TV from a satellite. Can be used in the UK or in Europe. You'll need a satellite dish setup including a digibox either Sky or Free to Air.

[Dave Newell]

Well said Frank, concise accurate and easy to understand. My only comment is that Woolworths (among others) sell the Sagem freeview box for about £30 (the same unit some leisure dealers are selling for £60-£70) which is a 12 volt unit powered by a 240Volt PSU. If anybody tries one on 12 Volts direct from your leisure battery system I would recomend a 12 volt regulator as the box is unlikely to have voltage regulation built in. I don't know either about CH4&5 going un-encrypted but its been rumoured for a while now. D.

[net-traveller]

You may be interested in this web-site - http://www.ukfree.tv/freesat.php The rest of the site is useful too. Cheers

[docted]

The following site contains lots of good info for would be satellite users http://www.satelliteforcaravans.co.uk/ Docted

[colin]

Can I just make a few corrections to franks posting Not all 12v sky digiboxes are over 3 years old this aplies to Pace minbox, there is a supplier of moddified Pace mains boxes that take 12v. Confusingly there is two freesats First is 'freesat from sky' this is up and running you buy a digibox and get the card. Second is 'freesat' this is underdevelopment from BBC,ITV etc. Last anouncement I think was a launch next year, this might tie in with C4 and C5 buying out there sky contract, but now sky have brought stake in ITV things may go pear shaped.

[Keith T]

Thanks for all this info - not sure if I'm any further forward. Original query was raised as I saw the word 'freesat' mentioned in one of the MMM adverts! Think I'll stick with the old fashioned analogue TV, plus Radio Books and Cd's........

[Frankkia]

A couple of things to take into account when considering wether to get Freesat from Sky or get a free to air box. 1) Yes at the moment you can not get get Ch4 or 5 on a FTA box @ present the contracts with Sky for those broadcasters don't run out till 2008. When ITV wanted to opt out, it appears, they had a fair old struggle so the same may be true if Ch 4 & 5 do. 2) A FTA box does not give you the interactive services available with Sky so, for example, If BBC are showing Wimbledon or olympics etc they have the option of showing three or four other games at the same time. For this you merely press the red button and select the game you want to watch. To do this on a FTA box you need to know the frequency of the interactive broadcast to find it. The same is true of Sky News if all you want is to check the weather forecast you can do it simply on the Sky box but not on a FTA box. Now Terrestrial digital: 1) In many areas digital broadcasts will be difficult / impossible to receive untill analogue has been switched off. (after that they will be able to boost the signal whereas if they did it now it would interfere with other signals). 2) The 1st region to have analogue switched off is Border in 2008 and it will be as late as 2012 before the last region goes all digital (see http://www.freeview.co.uk/switchover for a mapshowing when your region is due fro the switch over) So in my opinion (for what it's worth) for the time being if you want to be certain of receiving your daily fix of tv it would be best to get at least a Sky Freesat set up. It costs £150 but that includes someone coming to your home and installing the kit. You don't have to have it attached to your 'phone line so with the addition of a cheap dish and a sat finder you can receive UK broadcasts almost any where in europe.

[peedee]

[QUOTE]colin - 2006-11-24 8:02 PM Second is 'freesat' this is underdevelopment from BBC,ITV etc. Last anouncement I think was a launch next year, this might tie in with C4 and C5 buying out there sky contract, but now sky have brought stake in ITV things may go pear shaped.[/QUOTE] The specualtion for channel 4 and 5 to be transmitted in the clear was Autumn 2007 and speaking to a dealer this weekend I was advised that Murdock's bid was blocked on objections from Virgin??? I have not verified this yet but it seems that this would be an eminently sensible thing to do otherwise there would be no competition at all and as you say you could kiss freesat propsals bye bye. peedee

[Dave Newell]

Virgin objected to proposals from Murdoch to buy ITV on the grounds that as he already owns SKY (BSB) he would then be able to influence voting for parliamentary elections as he would own the majority of british television broadcasting asnd could therefore choose which party's election broadcasts were given priority. As I understand it the TV channels have to broadcast each party's pieces but they can choose what time of day the broadcasts are put on air. That's what it said on the radio news the other day anyway. D.

[Snelly]

Freeview (terrestial tv) is brilliant as its free. Only downfall as far as motorhoming and caravanning is concerned is signal strength. You need a very good aerial to recieve the relatively weak signals. Those of you with the old 3XX series of status flying saucers will struggle. You need the newer status 530 or maxview gazelle. Personally I use satellite, for which I never have to worry about weak signals. I use a maxview crank up (excellent manual dish fitted to the roof) and a 12/240v multisat reciever that does free to air channels on ANY satellite and also does Sky (with a valid subscriber card) - it does all this and cost me less than a 12v Sky digibox would.

[enodreven]

Hi, Re channel 4 & 5 I spoke to someone at Channel 5 last year and he explained that the reason it was encrypted was due to the government regulation of their licence to broadcast, apparently they are/were not allowed to broadcast to anywhere outside of the UK, and that is why you have to agree when obtaining a Sky free to view card that it will not be used outside of the UK ? just to try and avoid any confusion over free satellite viewing The Sky £20 card which allows you to access channels 4 & 5 is called Free to View quiet often shown as FTV, and the boxes without access to 4 & 5 are known as Free to Air FTA. As for using the Status spaceship fixed Ariel with digital terrestrial signals known as Freeview, we haven't had any problems using this Ariel with our £24 Sagem freeview box from Argos as long as we were in a digital transmission area. In actual fact on two different CC sites where they recommended we use the hook-up column Ariel connection we have found that the Status Ariel with the freeview box has given us 40/50 + channels Just one other point regarding satellite which we also have, if you are going to try and use it in Europe you will need to check to make sure you have the appropriate dish size for the region you are hoping to visit. we currently use the Lidl's dish and LNB that came with there suitcase system but have connected it to an old SKY box fitted with a Free To View £20 Card and it works very well, albeit we have only used it in the UK The reason we used the Lidl's dish etc was that they include a very handy suction pad that i attach to the roof and then use the other bits that come with the suitcase system to mount the dish, its really handy and only takes a few minutes, also if you have a SKY box, its really easy to setup, chose "Services" Button then No4 then No6 and you have a ready made meter ?? so don't buy a satellite finder until you have tried this, it really works Hope this helps Freeview

[tonyishuk]

Can I complicate things by asking if it is possible to get French Sat signals throug these systems. Mainly to get weather forcasts and other local news ? Or is it a trip to a hyper market and buy a box here?

[Rowan Lee]

We have to carry a laptop for internet on the move. In order to try and cut down on the amount of kit we carry, we have abandoned the TV in favour of a Hauppauge WinTV usb gizmo which plugs into the side of the laptop and gives analogue and/or digital television depending on which version you buy. You can also record onto hard drive or DVD. We've tried it in the van on the drive and it works a treat. Cost between £30 and £50 depending on which one you get - some even have remote control. Just something else to consider!

[enodreven]

Hi, I don't think you can use the SKY box from the UK to pick up anything other than UK channels, However the Free To Air satellite boxes are usually OK to use for any Satellites and i feel sure that if you purchase one of these you will be able to find dedicated French channels. But you will need to find the satellite name and position for tuning, You may be able to find a satellite that transmits French channels by using Google. best of luck Other than that if you only want the weather it probably better to buy or have a quick look ? in one of the French newspapers Brian [QUOTE]tonyishuk - 2006-12-13 4:58 PM Can I complicate things by asking if it is possible to get French Sat signals throug these systems. Mainly to get weather forcasts and other local news ? Or is it a trip to a hyper market and buy a box here?[/QUOTE]

[Guest Frank Wilkinson]

[QUOTE]tonyishuk - 2006-12-13 4:58 PM Can I complicate things by asking if it is possible to get French Sat signals throug these systems. Mainly to get weather forcasts and other local news ? Or is it a trip to a hyper market and buy a box here?[/QUOTE]

There is one way. I have a Panasonic GX10 (I think!) that I bought for use in my touring van. It's 12v or 240v and is Pal and Secam (I think that that's the name of the French TV system). When in France I just go into the menu and switch it to the French setting and it then scans all the local channels.

It is of course an analogue TV, not digital and cost me about £300 a couple of years ago. Now that I've got satellite set-up I'm not too worried about the French analogue service and wouldn't mind swopping it for a slimmer LCD TV so if anyone fancies this for a hundred quid it's a good buy!

[colin]

[QUOTE]tonyishuk - 2006-12-13 4:58 PM Can I complicate things by asking if it is possible to get French Sat signals throug these systems. Mainly to get weather forcasts and other local news ? Or is it a trip to a hyper market and buy a box here?[/QUOTE] How to answer without getting to involved? You can pick up a few french stations with FTA or Sky boxes, but most french stations are encripted, also there is a whole range of french stations that use DVB-S2 instead of DVB-S that is commonaly used for standard definition tv. Sky boxes can pick up most stations on other satillites but they are a right pain to use in this mode, I would not recomend trying unless you already have sky box and are curious as to whats out there and have penty of patience

[tonyishuk]

Many thanks for your advice to those that replied to my French TV query especially Frank W. The majority of the answer is staring me in the face every morning at breakfast , when I look at our Pansonic TV !!!!. Completely forgot that is was SECAM compatable. All I need now is an ariel ! (Whole differenthread !) Rgds

[Guest Frank Wilkinson]

[QUOTE]tonyishuk - 2006-12-16 12:01 PM Many thanks for your advice to those that replied to my French TV query especially Frank W. The majority of the answer is staring me in the face every morning at breakfast , when I look at our Pansonic TV !!!!. Completely forgot that is was SECAM compatable. All I need now is an ariel ! (Whole differenthread !) Rgds[/QUOTE]

Me and my big mouth! I suppose there's no chance that you'll want to buy mine now!

[jaypoll]

Hi Keith I thought you might be interested to hear of our own experiences with Freeview. At the Shepton Mallet show last September we bought an Avtex S1040 lcd tv. This set has both analogue and digital tuners and has a very low power consumption. We were warned by the dealer that reception in this area was poor and we might not get very good results, however we took set back to van and plugged it in. Result; 25 digital channels found in a very short time. This set gives very good pictures on both digital and analogue. Rather than have large holes drilled in the roof of our van, we use a Maxview Contour Plus indoor aerial , this gives a very good signal and has the added advantage of being movable to get the best picture. We have used this aerial in our last two vans and would not consider going back to a roof mounted one. Hope this is of some help . John. 8-)

[colin]

I have recently seen that the governments 'Market Transformation Program' have shown that LCD screens over 24" use three times the electricity of conventional sets, not many motorhomes use sets this big yet but I will certainly be checking power consumption of any LCD screen I might get, mind you it might be a bit of 'intrupreted statistics'.

[jaypoll]

Hi Colin As we have a van conversion I don't think we will be going down the 26" plus lcd road. however with reference to my last post I thought you might be interested to know that our Avtex has a 10.4" screen and its power consumption is 18W. By the way it also receives all the digital radio programmes. John

[Guest peter]

We have a free to air sat box and Kathrein flat dish and can pick up hundrds of channels. Depending on which satellite you point it at. Well pleased. I also have a directional ariel for when I'm parked under trees and can't get satellite signal. All viewed on a 15" LCD television.