On 22 Aug 2011 at 7:43pm gleeful mary wrote:
Which is better? I know Lewes is on a relay station so no Freeview until May 2012 but some on here must have it. Which has the most channels? Is it true you need 2 wires to record Freesat? What's an octoLNB? Which gives best HD?
Sorry for all the questions.
Mary
On 22 Aug 2011 at 8:10pm TeDeum wrote:
Dunno. TV is hugely overrated.
This is a bit of a departure from your usual and interminable "can you recommend a...." questions......
On 22 Aug 2011 at 9:52pm the old mayor wrote:
One relies so much on the quailty of the programmes rather than the quanity. I cant recommend either.... but think on... its not called FREEview for nothing ! If you love Piorot and Agatha Christie its on 24/7 !
When there is an electrical storm, or very heavy rain, or settling snow, or any stupid reason, unlike an old fashioned aerial - There is a polite sign saying NO SIGNAL.
Progress - bit like the light bulb situation eh ?
Buy some candles and a pack of playing cards. Ha Ha !!
On 23 Aug 2011 at 7:59am DFL wrote:
Hmmm, I'm up on the Nevill and we have Freeview. Always get a good picture, come rain or shine. Do you need a cable connection and/or satelite dish to get Freesat ?
On 23 Aug 2011 at 8:46am Winterbourne Wanderer wrote:
We have freesat (we can't get freeview in Winterbourne apparently as too far down in a dip). You need satellite dish to get it and a freesat box but then you don't pay anything more. We have a lot of channels, don't know what half of them are. All the BBCs and ITVs and 4s including E4 and Film4. Also several kids' channels, radio stations and the unmissable 'Men & Movies.' Freesat website says there are over 150 channels. Anyway, it is an excellent clear picture which we couldn't get before with even an enormous aerial.
On 23 Aug 2011 at 9:33am Southover Queen wrote:
You can get a decent Freeview signal if you have line of sight to the Heathfield transmitter, which means Wallands and the Neville. However it is quite a long way away so you need a high gain antenna and sometimes in particularly poor or difficult atmospheric conditions the signal does drop out. However when I was living in Wallands a high gain aerial did the job very well and I enjoyed Freeview there before I moved here.
Like Winterbourne Wanderer I'm in a dip here in Southover so I don't get Freeview. I'm also slightly doubtful that even by May next year that it will be up and running, so I went the Freesat route. Be warned: it's not cheap, or not at least if you want more than one telly or to be able to record one channel while watching another! Unlike a Freeview setup you have a feed for each signal, so if - for instance - you have a tv in the kitchen and a PVR/TV setup in your living room you'll need three separate feeds. You need to add a feed for each additional television, and if you have more than the minimum I think you'll find you have to have an amplifier as well (although I could be wrong). I needed signals in each room in the house and two (for the PVR) in the living room and the set-up cost about £650 altogether. You are also supposed to get planning permission to put up a dish in a conservation area, although mine is actually at the end of the garden and not really visible from the street and I confess I didn't!
The major advantage of Freesat over Freeview is that all the channels (expect Five) have HD versions now, and the difference is really noticeable. Otherwise I think the selection (beyond the five main broadcasters in this country) is different once you get into the high numbers but the main offerings are (apparently) similar.
On 23 Aug 2011 at 10:38am Ed Can Do wrote:
We've gto Freesat as you can't get Freeview in Malling. We had FreeSky before that (Where you stick a non-subscription viewing card in a Sky box) but Freesat is massively better. I've got a Humax HD receiver and the picture quality is exceptional, even on the SD channels. About the only channels you don't get on Freesat that you do on Freeview are Fiver, Five US and Pick TV. Pretty much all the others are the same.
I didn't bother going for the recordable box because anything I miss that I really wanted to watch I stream through iPlayer/4OD etc on my PS3 and watch films on that through LoveFilm too so it's rare for me to not be able to catch anything I wasn't in for.
On 23 Aug 2011 at 11:21am Old Cynic wrote:
I just find all of this really bemusing and havent a clue what to do in 2012 other then get a load of board games and jigsaws cos Im not going to be able to work out how to get the telly working!
Why did we have to change in the first place?
On 23 Aug 2011 at 12:55pm Expect Nothing Less wrote:
Another proper conversation ruined by some lewes dickhead at the end there.
On 23 Aug 2011 at 1:11pm Taff wrote:
..........well supported enl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
On 23 Aug 2011 at 1:50pm DFL wrote:
I didn't realise that there was such a problem getting freeview down in "the dip" ! I count myself very lucky living in the Nevill clouds !!
On 23 Aug 2011 at 3:27pm ADT wrote:
We've got the FreeSky thing, through the existing dish and a one-off 20 quid payment to Sky.
Would like to know how you get Freesat though, does it come down through the dish? And are the HD channels free?
On 23 Aug 2011 at 3:48pm Expect Nothing Less wrote:
Freesat is free but you need to buy the right receiver for HD programs. Many of the HD channels are free such as BBC and ITV. An HD receiver for Freesat will set you back about £120. A brand such as Humax is fine.
If you want a TV recording facility in your HD receiver, then you are looking £200-£250 for one that won't fail after a year.
Satbuyer know their stuff:
Check it out here »
On 23 Aug 2011 at 5:25pm Rookie wrote:
I may be wrong but I think the usual HD channels will be available on FreeviewHD next year.
On 23 Aug 2011 at 7:33pm Southover Queen wrote:
I think - and I may be wrong as well - that there is more bandwidth available on the Freesat platform than via Freeview which means that there will be more HD channels available on Freesat.
Old Cynic: the system changed because digital delivers a better signal than analogue (which is the old system) and occupies a fraction of the bandwidth into the bargain. That means there's much more room for multiple channels on the digital platforms (whether you want them or not!) and the government can sell off the analogue portion to the highest bidder. If you are really struggling I'd just ask around your neighbours: there will be plenty of people who understand what the different options are and I'm sure they'll help you to get switched to digital once that's available in Lewes.
On 23 Aug 2011 at 7:50pm supporter wrote:
Get a great freeview service in Malling unlike you Ed Can Do no amplifer or special areial needed.
Hd channels and a 10 times stronger signal become available after the switchover next year.
On 23 Aug 2011 at 9:13pm Free of TV wrote:
I've had trouble finding anything worth viewing on TV for a year or two. Recently moved house and not got around to fixing up TV. Not missed it at all and used iPlayer on laptop only twice in two months. This has surprised me somewhat.
On 23 Aug 2011 at 9:19pm Old Cynic wrote:
I trust Expect Nothing Less, that you were not referring to me! It was a genuine wail of misery that I don't know what to do about the telly in 2012, I don't know where to start as there seems a bewildering choice of options. I didnt know there was a difference between freeview and freesat 
On 24 Aug 2011 at 12:05am ADT wrote:
Has anyone still got their CRT telly? I have and love it - amazes me why people can't see how truly crap pictures are on widescreen LCDs and plasmas with a normal SD signal.
On 24 Aug 2011 at 8:36am CATHODE PIRATE wrote:
YARGH! PLUNDER THE LCD TREASURE CHESTS!
Although I've never had a Sky subscription, the place has a Sky dish and is all wired up ("Sky ready" ?). Plugged a FreeSat box into the Sky socket, and hey-presto 24/7 Miss Marple. The FreeSat box is plugged into a lovely second hand (15 or 20 year old) CRT television. I'm not sure that any but the basic 4 channels would be missed though. It is so much easier to watch programs at ones leisure, than be a slave to the TV schedule.
On 24 Aug 2011 at 9:26am Winterbourne Wanderer wrote:
Old Cynic, I might have this wrong but if you can get Freeview where you are it is a much cheaper option. I think you just buy a freeview box, which costs around 20 quid and you're away. But if you can't get the necessary signal for freeview, like us who are down in a dip, you have to go for freesat, which has the cost of linking up a satellite dish (we got someone in to do that) as well as buying a freesat box. We only have one telly so I didn't know about all the additional costs mentioned above by Southover Queen. It IS confusing.
On 24 Aug 2011 at 1:48pm Old Cynic wrote:
WW - thank you! Clearest explanation Ive had so far 
On 24 Aug 2011 at 6:59pm Bongo wrote:
There is a bloke (Mk Installations) out at Shortgate Lane who will install Sat dishes (and I think FreeSat) at a really reasonable price. 01323 740883
On 24 Aug 2011 at 10:49pm oliver wrote:
Ring DigitalUK on 08456 50 50 50 and they will help you (for the cost of a local call) with any queries you have. They even have instructions for most set top boxes...
Oliver (qualified Digital Advisor!)
On 26 Aug 2011 at 9:21pm puzzled wrote:
Whats all the fuss about, I have just crawled back into my hole and I get a great reception with just the aid of a bent coat hanger. Hi, southover queen & winterbourne wanderer not forgetting holly.