Help! FREESAT

[TSR2]

Hi Guys,

Moving house on Friday coming and I just assumed that we'd be able to get Freeview as the Analogue signal up here has been switched off. It turns out, for reasons I don't understand, that we cant get Freeview (or at least that's what all of the websites are saying.) So the only way I can get any sort of TV is Freesat. (I will not be buying anything from the Murdoch's)

Does anyone have any experience of FreeSat, any idea how you get it to more than one TV etc. We have a tele in the living room and one in the kitchen. Any idea what "box" is best etc

[SkippyBing]

Not totally sure as my TV has a built in Freesat decoder so I didn't need to buy a box, and the satellite dish came with the house.

However I think your options will either be getting a dish with dual outputs from the receiver so you can feed them to multiple boxes, or splitting the signal once it's in the house. There may be boxes with multiple outputs, but I'm not sure how practical that is as there's a limit on how far HDMI cables have to be able to route the signal.

Do make sure you get one with HD if only to watch NHK World 24, the Japanese news channel, which frequently seems to be only tangentially related to news.

[TSR2]

Cheers Skip,

I'm totally baffled now. I've put in the postcode for the street across the road, literally no more than 100 yards across an open flat road away and they get "excellent signal from the Pontop Pike transmitter," so either the new house has an invisible Faraday cage around it or the digital UK website (which also supplies info to various other websites) is completely wrong.

[speedbird591]

I don't use freesat as I'm a wicked Murdoch supporter, but I've just paid a visit to Which? on your behalf, Ben. They have some good articles about freesat on the website.

Apparently, most high street stores that will sell you a box will also offer a full installation. They mention Comet, Argos and John Lewis. Comet will do a two room install for £120.

The only box they recommend as a 'Best Buy' is the Humax Foxsat HD.

Hope this helps.

Ian

[SkippyBing]

I'm totally baffled now. I've put in the postcode for the street across the road, literally no more than 100 yards across an open flat road away and they get "excellent signal from the Pontop Pike transmitter," so either the new house has an invisible Faraday cage around it or the digital UK website (which also supplies info to various other websites) is completely wrong.

That reminds me, my Father being keen to spend the family, err, fortune before I get a chance to inherit it is something of an early adopter. So despite living at the ends of the Earth and the pimply faced youth in Comet* assuring him that he'd never get a freeview signal as the website showed coverage ending miles away from the family estate**, he brought a digi-box pretty much at the start of the roll-out of digital TV. It worked flawlessly.

So I'd say see what it's like when you get there before recklessly spending money. And don't forget to retune the TV, it saves a lot of swearing at inanimate objects...

*Other electrical retailers are available, use one of them instead.

**Why he bought that car I'll never know.

[Harry Basset]

I use Freesat for my one and only TV set in one room. I find Freesat to be very frustrating. On some days I get the full range of channels and on other days I can only get BBC1. On those days I can't get BBC2 England but I can get BBC2 Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. I live in North Yorkshire so I am confused by Freesat who say it must be my old Sky dish, so why does it all work beautifully some days and not others?

[SkippyBing]

so why does it all work beautifully some days and not others?

Damp?

It may be worth checking the cabling from the dish to make sure the casing isn't deteriorating and there are no bare wires etc. which will reduce the signal below tolerable levels under certain conditions.

[Vc Ten]

We have been using Freesat since its launch Our transmitter did not broadcast channel 4 only the welsh version A bone of contention for us non welsh speakers for many years The analouge signal was flakey anyway and when the digital transmition was rolled out, low power at first it was impossible to tune into. I connected a freesat box to a redundant sky dish at first, but as previously posted the reception was variable depending on weather conditions, as was the sky reception before ditching it. (The standard sky dish even prefectly alligned is marginal in the north of england) Bought a new, slightly larger dish with 4 outputs ( cost little more than just one) and a humax box with hd and recorder Worked great and still does. Old box was connected to one of the bedrooms for one of the kids. Gave the tv to mum and got a Panny with freesat built in this tv picks up the freeview from the terrestrial transmitter fine, but we still use the freesat as the normal tv source. More hd channels as more bandwidth on the satellite. As others have said dont buy owt till you know the score in the new house
Cheers
Dale

[TSR2]

Many thanks for all the advice chaps. As soon as we get the keys I take the little Samsung monitor / tv and plug it in and see what we get. I'm loathed to spend money on a freeview boxes at the minute (quite fancy a Freeview PVR) as until we see how the 4G mobile nonsense will affect Digital freeview transmissions it could be a lame duck, at least with Free Sat I wouldn't have that worry

[DaveB]

HI Ben..

In my experience.. it's not so much the box but what LNB you have on your sat aerial. Some only come with one output.. others come with 4 (mine has 4). This enables you to have up to 4 receivers around the house although you have to have a box for each and each has to be wired directly from the LNB. There may be other ways around the problem but doing it this way, you can watch whatever channel you want from each box. The other way of doing things means that whatever is in one room will be in all other rooms. The choice is yours

If you want a setup where you can watch a different channel in each location, you need to have an LNB with at least 2 outputs.. I think they come as single or 4 which saves you farting around.. always go for a 4 output
ATB
DaveB