On 5 May 2012 at 10:08pm Matt Kent wrote:
I'm thinking of switching to FreeSat, does anyone know whether there is good reception in Malling and can recommend a recordable FreeSat box and installer? Cheers - Matt
On 5 May 2012 at 10:40pm Southover Queen wrote:
Cyril Ireland has installed a system for me and for a friend, and I'd recommend him highly. I think the main issue is that you have a clear view to the south east so that you can receive a strong signal from the satellite. I'm sure Cyril would say if he thought you wouldn't get good service, and I must say I don't regret my installation.
He's on 07714914596
On 6 May 2012 at 7:31am vipalb wrote:
Cyril Ireland has done all my tv work for years and is totally reliable so give him a call and he will be honest with you.
On 6 May 2012 at 10:00am Matt Kent wrote:
@SQ and vipalb. Many thanks for your recommendation. I wasn't sure if we had a good reception for FreeSat in Malling either. I'll call Cyril. Cheers - Matt
On 6 May 2012 at 10:44am bastian wrote:
yes it does work and we installed our own, but it took time to work out and has to run through the video but that works.
On 7 May 2012 at 12:33pm mick wrote:
I use Freesat and use the Humax Freesat set-top boxes. A basic receiver is about £100
and one with a hard drive for recording is about £200. Had mine for three years
without any problems.
If you go for a recorder make sure you have at least a 'dual LNB' on the dish. This will give two cables into the house which will allow recording one channel while watching another if the channels are on different polarities. I had a quad LNB fitted, just-in-case.
On 7 May 2012 at 1:47pm digitaladvisor wrote:
Not sure why Freesat had to run through a Video bastian?
Note - check out the planning portal or with Lewes DC Planning to see if you are allowed to erect a dish - there are restrictions on flats, and on houses when listed or in AONB/Conservation areas etc. Let's face it, they look crap especially when there are a lot of them.
If you're switching to freesat and a neighbour has a sky dish then why not link into theirs - you can get octo LNBs fitted for less than a new dish and it'd be less unsightly!
Given the choice of shotgun cable or two seperate cables go for the latter on anything over short distances as shotgun is poorer quality.
Check it out here »
On 7 May 2012 at 10:23pm bloke wrote:
Matt.
Sorry for the pedantry but what part of town you are in is't really a consideration with FreeSat. As the name implies it's receiving the signal from a satellite. As long as there's somewhere on you house where you can put a dish that has an unobstructed view of the satellite (~23 degrees to the east of south, elevation ~25 degrees) you'll be fine.
Most Freesat boxes now allow you to watch/listen to BBC iPlayer on the TV through the box which is very handy. If you get a Humax box you'l also get ITVPlayer.
We used A1 Aerials in Brighton when first installed and then again when we needed then to add the extra cabling for the Freesat+ both times they did a really neat job. It is noticeable how much neater our chimney mounted dish and cabling is than those of some of our neighbours.
On 9 May 2012 at 6:29pm king cnut wrote:
Getting Freesat (Humax pvr quad connections) was one of the best things I've done! Freeview is very limited and will become more so. Once sales reach a tipping point expect the number of channels to really increase. Theres some great stuff already on there.
Now all we need is for the BBC to stop giving Sky 10million a year!!
On 9 May 2012 at 7:26pm Matt Kent wrote:
Thanks for all this feedback. I need to give Sky the boot and save myself some money at the same time. I only watch about a dozen free-to-air-channels anyway.
On 11 May 2012 at 11:47am in the know wrote:
Matt if you are a sky customer you already have the dish you need for Freesat just dump sky and plug ypur new Humax Freesat box in its place. Job done
On 11 May 2012 at 11:58am Southover Queen wrote:
In the know is right: Freesat comes from the same Astra satellite that Sky does.
If it's relevant - ie, if you've got the right TV kit to view it on - Humax do an SD version and an HD version. Four of the public service channels (ie BBC, ITV and Channel 4) offer HD channels and the difference is considerable. Personally, I think it's worth the extra money to get the high definition Humax box, all other things being equal and you can afford it.
On 11 May 2012 at 12:12pm Deelite wrote:
I have the £100 HD Humax box on my 40" Sony TV. The picture on the HD channels is superb. And the hi bandwidth iPlayer stream (which accounts for 95% of my families viewing time) looks great.
I'd definitely go for the Humax. It's the only brand that entirely adheres to the Freesat spec and always includes a network socket so you can connect it to your broadband router.
My router is nowhere near my TV so I invested in a couple of TP-Link homeplugs (£35 on Amazon) which route the broadband signal through the mains wiring to the TV.