Anyone got FreeSat

[seagullsovergrimsby]

Is that because ITV are being TWATS, or is it the unadulterated GREED of Sky that is keeping off their listings?

HD is SUPERB btw

ITV HD is only available via the red button on a freesat box so rather than being an actual channel it is an interactive stream. They are also using a different codec so atm the signal is incompatible with Sky HD boxes. Sky are keen to get ITV HD onto its platform but they are in discussion over carriage and epg costs which is ongoing.
p.s. if you live in Scotland or Wales and get a onscreen message when watching ITV HD for the football on a freesat box which says the programme is blocked all you need to do is enter an English postcode on the receiver menu and it will come through in the clear.

 

[Cian]

Our dish was fitted about 4 years ago (by Sky) but we have recently been getting that pixellated interference when the weather is bad - could the dish have been blown out of alignment or something, or could it be a hardware problem?

BTW the dish is on the roof so I can't adjust it myself without risking a 'Rod Hull'!!

could be off-alignment, could be rusting. Could be water ingress in the cable or the LNB. Could also be the dish being too small, the Minidish used in England is much smaller than Scotland/Ireland, and if you're well away from London its really too small.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Have you tried switching it off and on again?

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

My Sky dish was installed in 2003 and worked alright with a Sky+ box and multiroom , however when I upgraded to a Sky HD box I had problems with it, which a sub contractor said there was basically nothing wrong , when a "real" Sky engineer was sent he realigned the dish to get an optimum signal and replaced the lnb. The Sky HD box likes a decent signal so really if you live outside of London and the South East its better to get a zone 2 minidish regardless of what Sky say about signal strength and coverage.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

If anyone is considering Freesat it maybe worthwhile waiting for receivers that have a manual tuning option - The channels that appear on the Freesat box are those that are on the Freesat epg , there are other channels which are free to air which can be stored as additional channels if the manual tuning option is available.

 

[clapham_gull]

I believe its the former ..

..or the fact that Sky won't pay enough to carry it.

It's probably both.

 

[blackprince]

Is the fact that ITV HD is not on Sky down to the BBC and ITV jointly launching freesat in direct competition to SKY.

 

[Uncle C]

There is an LNB system that has four outputs. This would be ideal to feed 4 TVs in my bungalow (each with their own box).

If you split an analogue signal from an aerial this used to weaken the signal to each TV and often a booster would be needed. Does the same happen when feeding a digital signal to several TVs?

 

[Cian]

There is an LNB system that has four outputs. This would be ideal to feed 4 TVs in my bungalow (each with their own box).

If you split an analogue signal from an aerial this used to weaken the signal to each TV and often a booster would be needed. Does the same happen when feeding a digital signal to several TVs?

No, the LNB has four independent outputs - theres no splitting.

 

[dylan_bha]

You can even get an octo LNB if required

 

[Uncle C]

Thanks guys

 

[Storer68]

Is the fact that ITV HD is not on Sky down to the BBC and ITV jointly launching freesat in direct competition to SKY.

Nope. All down to money (carriage fees apparently) pure and simple

 

[clippedgull]

Nope. All down to money (carriage fees apparently) pure and simple

It will be on SKY before Xmas this year.

I believe SKY have a large shareholding in ITV so i'm sure a few deals are being sorted.

 

[Uncle C]

If you receive BBC and (later) ITV on Sky are they free for HD or do you pay a premium for it?

 

[clippedgull]

If you receive BBC and (later) ITV on Sky are they free for HD or do you pay a premium for it?

free as is Channel 4 HD

 

[Uncle C]

My Sky set top box is an Amstrad digibox about 2 years old. Will this 'let' the HD signal through to a new full HD TV or will I need a new box?

 

[cjwoolven]

i seem quite interested in freesat... and it seems like a good bit of kit.
but how many channels can you get on it?

 

[Uncle C]

i seem quite interested in freesat... and it seems like a good bit of kit.
but how many channels can you get on it?

I have their brochure in front of me its over 80 at present and more added every month

 

[cjwoolven]

impressive... thanks for that bit of info

 

[See-Goals]

Can someone confirm without any doubt that you can buy a freesat box and attach it to a sky dish and it will work or do you have to buy a 'freesat' dish?

I ask because I'm moving into a house soon that already has a sky dish and cable running to the front room and thought I'd need to get the dish replaced?

Thanks