Freesat on air now

[Frankkia]

In recent mags the new Humax "Freesat" HD box also comes up with a bit of a pounding re quality of picture and sound.

 

Also on the "Freesat" web page they mention that as there has been a larger than expected take up some areas have no stock left.

 

It is also worth mentioning that for those of us who go south for the winter that the EPG is being broadcast from Astra 2D 10714 H (points at the north west of Europe) so it would be difficult to get it in say sout Spain and Portugal without a big dish. I haven't tested one yet but I think I will be sticking to using a normal FTA receiver or Sky box.

 

The only advantage would appear to be for domestic use if you have a large HD ready t.v. and you don't want to pay for the Sky HD service. At least you would get BBC and the new ITV HD.

 

n.b. HD in a M/home would be a bit of a waste as the screens used are generally too small for anyone to notice the difference.

 

[davenewellhome]

Some of the missing channels include Sky news, CNN and Red to name just three channels that broadcast some decent stuff. Personally I'll be sticking to my £50 Maplin FTA box that gets thousands of channels and allows me to sort them into favourite groups for ease of channel sorting and selection.

 

D.

[derek500]

It is also worth mentioning that for those of us who go south for the winter that the EPG is being broadcast from Astra 2D 10714 H (points at the north west of Europe) so it would be difficult to get it in say sout Spain and Portugal without a big dish..................n.b. HD in a M/home would be a bit of a waste as the screens used are generally too small for anyone to notice the difference.

 

I believe that Freesat's EPG is broadcast from Eurobird 11,428H and should be available all over southern Europe.

 

At the moment, people are better off getting a Sky box with a viewing card. Then they will get all the channels that have not paid for a Freesat EPG listing, e.g Sky News and the 'soft' encrypted channels like Channel 5 and it's siblings. All for free of course!!

 

We take our Sky HD box away with us and we get a stunning HD picture on a 19" Oki LCD HDTV.

 

 

[GypsyTom]

derek500 - 2008-05-26 8:48 AM

It is also worth mentioning that for those of us who go south for the winter that the EPG is being broadcast from Astra 2D 10714 H (points at the north west of Europe) so it would be difficult to get it in say sout Spain and Portugal without a big dish..................n.b. HD in a M/home would be a bit of a waste as the screens used are generally too small for anyone to notice the difference.

I believe that Freesat's EPG is broadcast from Eurobird 11,428H and should be available all over southern Europe. At the moment, people are better off getting a Sky box with a viewing card. Then they will get all the channels that have not paid for a Freesat EPG listing, e.g Sky News and the 'soft' encrypted channels like Channel 5 and it's siblings. All for free of course!! We take our Sky HD box away with us and we get a stunning HD picture on a 19" Oki LCD HDTV.

I'd be interested to know how you get Channel 5 on a Sky box free of charge. I was always under the impression that you have to buy a card at a cost of £20, which lasts three years. At least that's what I had to do.

However, you omit the most important thing to many of us. My Maxview Freesat box is mains or 12v so can still be used if we're not hooked up.

The last time I used it (two weeks ago) there was still no sign of Channel 4, which is now supposed to be available on Freesat. The Maxview manufacturer tells me that Channel 4 is not yet available on Freesat, despite the promises, although it may be there listed as a numbered channel until they finally get it sorted out. Has anyone been successful in picking up Channel 4 on Freesat? And yes, I have rescanned - twice!

[derek500]

I'd be interested to know how you get Channel 5 on a Sky box free of charge. I was always under the impression that you have to buy a card at a cost of £20, which lasts three years.

 

True, but you're not paying a subsciption. Just consider the viewing card as initial hardware outlay. I've got a ex sub viewing card that's at least five years old and still decoding C4 and C5.

 

However, you omit the most important thing to many of us. My Maxview Freesat box is mains or 12v so can still be used if we're not hooked up.

 

I never use hook-ups and run my TV and Sky Box through an inverter, like many I would have thought. Also you can buy a 12v Sky box if you wish.

 

 

The last time I used it (two weeks ago) there was still no sign of Channel 4, which is now supposed to be available on Freesat. The Maxview manufacturer tells me that Channel 4 is not yet available on Freesat, despite the promises, although it may be there listed as a numbered channel until they finally get it sorted out. Has anyone been successful in picking up Channel 4 on Freesat? And yes, I have rescanned - twice!

 

Channel four is available FTA on 10,729V along with E4, More 4 and their +1 versions. It's labelled 8350.

 

Don't forget Freesat is just an EPG and not separate channels. All channels are picked up on the same frequencies by all boxes, whether Sky, Freesat or generic FTA boxes - like the Lidl/Maplins ones.

 

Sky boxes still pick up regional versions of C4 on the wider footprint of Astra, to enable regional advertising by postcode through the viewing card.

 

The 2d version is a 'national' channel to enable it to be picked up on a FTA box on the tight beam. It's a short term measure until C4's encryption contract with Sky ends and they find space on 2d.

 

 

[GypsyTom]

Thank you for that useful information. One advantage that I find from my Freesat box is that I can receive certain programmes via other satellites. Recently, I couldn't get anything on Astra because of trees but was able to select another satellite and get BBC World News, CNN etc. This would also apply of course if one was outside the Astra 2 footprint.

I'm not sure that I can do this using a Sky box.

I also prefer to run my 12v TV and digibox from 12v rather than messing around with an inverter. I've been lead to believe that it's much more power efficient. If Channel 5 becomes available on my Freesat box it would be perfect! Perhaps one day!

[davenewellhome]

GypsyTom - 2008-05-26 4:50 PM

Thank you for that useful information. One advantage that I find from my Freesat box is that I can receive certain programmes via other satellites. Recently, I couldn't get anything on Astra because of trees but was able to select another satellite and get BBC World News, CNN etc. This would also apply of course if one was outside the Astra 2 footprint.

I'm not sure that I can do this using a Sky box.

I also prefer to run my 12v TV and digibox from 12v rather than messing around with an inverter. I've been lead to believe that it's much more power efficient. If Channel 5 becomes available on my Freesat box it would be perfect! Perhaps one day!

Hi Tom, exactly what "Freesat" box are you using because my understanding is that they are all 240V units?D.

[GypsyTom]

davenewell@home - 2008-05-26 6:04 PM

GypsyTom - 2008-05-26 4:50 PM

Thank you for that useful information. One advantage that I find from my Freesat box is that I can receive certain programmes via other satellites. Recently, I couldn't get anything on Astra because of trees but was able to select another satellite and get BBC World News, CNN etc. This would also apply of course if one was outside the Astra 2 footprint.

I'm not sure that I can do this using a Sky box.

I also prefer to run my 12v TV and digibox from 12v rather than messing around with an inverter. I've been lead to believe that it's much more power efficient. If Channel 5 becomes available on my Freesat box it would be perfect! Perhaps one day!

Hi Tom, exactly what "Freesat" box are you using because my understanding is that they are all 240V units? D.

Maxview, 12v or 240v and it's good. Or am I wrong in calling it 'Freesat'? I've had it over a year now and always thought of it as 'Freesat' but I realise that this may be the name of the new service just launched.

http://www.lcsleisure.co.uk/acatalog/DVB_S.html

[colin]

Thats a fta (free to air) reciever

What with 'freesat from sky' 'freesat' and fta it can get confused

Sky boxes can be tuned to other satellites but it's a real pain as you have to manualy add channels and go into other channel list to select, sometimes they are wiped off.

[davenewellhome]

GypsyTom - 2008-05-26 7:26 PM

davenewell@home - 2008-05-26 6:04 PM

GypsyTom - 2008-05-26 4:50 PM

Thank you for that useful information. One advantage that I find from my Freesat box is that I can receive certain programmes via other satellites. Recently, I couldn't get anything on Astra because of trees but was able to select another satellite and get BBC World News, CNN etc. This would also apply of course if one was outside the Astra 2 footprint.

I'm not sure that I can do this using a Sky box.

I also prefer to run my 12v TV and digibox from 12v rather than messing around with an inverter. I've been lead to believe that it's much more power efficient. If Channel 5 becomes available on my Freesat box it would be perfect! Perhaps one day!

Hi Tom, exactly what "Freesat" box are you using because my understanding is that they are all 240V units? D.

Maxview, 12v or 240v and it's good. Or am I wrong in calling it 'Freesat'? I've had it over a year now and always thought of it as 'Freesat' but I realise that this may be the name of the new service just launched.

http://www.lcsleisure.co.uk/acatalog/DVB_S.html

Spot on Tom, as Colin says, what you have is a "free to air" box rather than a "freesat" box. The former can be used with virtually any satellite in the sky while the latter will only work from the Astra 2 group of satellites and then will only give you 80 channels regardless of how many are actually being broadcast from that satellite.D.