Loading ...We conducted a poll to find out what type of Freesat Digital Box you guys are waiting on. The results are nothing short of staggering, with 1110 votes so far, and clear intent on what most of you want.
A massive 69% (709 votes) want a Freesat PVR/DTV Digital Box, allowing the ability to record your favourite programmes. These receivers are due for launch some time this year, from Humax and the Alba Group. It would certainly be interesting to know how many of that 69% are existing Sky+ subscribers looking to drop their subscription completely.
6% of you are waiting on IDTV, the Freesat receiver built into the new Panasonic plasma’s due at the beginning of June. Whilst not a high percentage, considering the cost of plasma televisions etc, its still a very good result, and one which we are sure Panasonic would be quite happy with.
A combined 21% of you are intending on buying a SD or HD Freesat Digital Box. We suspect that some of that percentage may now have bought, with the introduction of more availability and manufacturers. Some may still be waiting until more channels/options are available, whilst others might be presently tied into contracts with Sky, or simply waiting for prices to fall.
A good percentage of you (7%) have already bought and are happy with your purchase, whilst 6% have purchased but consider it a short term purchase before upgrading presumably to a Freesat HD, PVR or IDTV receiver.
These polls give a good indication of what the general consumer are wanting, and the results will of course be supplied to Freesat, who hopefully appreciate it.
We would welcome your thoughts on these results, plus more importantly, to give us an indication of what poll you would like us to start next?
May 25th, 2008 at 9:12 am
“A massive 69% (709 votes) want a Freesat PVR/DTV Digital Box, allowing the ability to record your favourite programmes. These receivers are due for launch some time this year, from Humax and the Alba Group. It would certainly be interesting to know how many of that 69% are existing Sky+ subscribers looking to drop their subscription completely.”
Well I’m one of the 69% and I intend holding out for a PVR unit. I’m also an existing Sky+ customer that has cancelled my subscription as from next month (only had the family package) so a freesat PVR would be a perfect transition from what I have now to a future-proof solution for less cost in the long-run (with HD).
I think a suitable subject for a new poll would possibly look to finding out just how many existing Sky subscribers intend to replace their ‘paid-for’ service with freesat. Not sure exactly of the question / options you’d need but I think the whole Sky subsciber ‘churn’ in favour of freesat is a very important area for discussion.
May 25th, 2008 at 11:05 am
It would be nice to know whether any of the forthcoming PVR’s have DiSEq capability.
May 25th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
i’m 1 of the 21% as i voted for a HD box ,but i deffenetly wont be buying until five and a few more quality fta channels(and a bit more radio)Join the epg.but the future for freesat looks promising
May 25th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
Of those that are waiting for PVR equipment, I wonder hpw many people are waiting for “higher end” equipment before taking the plunge? Goodmans, Alba and Co hardly have a reputation for producuing quality products. Maybe when Sony, Panasonic and the like start producing equipment, some more people might join in?
Personally, I’m waiting for things to settle before I take the plunge, and it will be the plunge into HD.
Oh and I need to have a sign made with a big arrow pointing at the dish saying “This isn’t a $ky Dish!”
May 25th, 2008 at 4:36 pm
I am a Sky HD subscriber mainly for the Sports channels which I would only give up if I could no longer afford it. I want to by some Freesat boxes for other rooms. I also would like to use a freesat HD box so I could record 2 programs while watching a third.
At present Skys “Pay once watch forever” is a much better deal than BBC freesat for SD. I suspect that Sky will introduce a similar competative Sky+ freesat package when BBC freesat PVRs become available.
May 25th, 2008 at 5:44 pm
I’ve been blissfully unaware of Freesat, but having been reading about it, I’ll be getting it as soon as there’s a stable PVR. That’s despite having bought a Freeview Humax PVR only 2-3 weeks ago. My mum will get an early birthday present so I can get some HD. It seemed to take ages to get the Freeview PVRs stable and feature-rich so I hope they can speed it up a bit for Freesat.
I’ve recently seen DirectTV PVRs in the US which work fine, so I wonder whether any of those manufacturers will convert and bring here?
May 25th, 2008 at 9:09 pm
Tivo used to be here, but sky shafted them and they didn’t release any more boxes. I’ve got one of the S1 boxes upstairs, and it is really, really good. Easily expandable, customisable and upgradeable.
I’m waiting to hear if a Topfield PVR will be released and time soon for freesat…
May 26th, 2008 at 11:25 am
I am looking to get aN HD box with PVR capabilities.I notice on the Freesat site they mention that Humax arer bringing one out ‘later in the year’?
Searching around the net I find that there is a possibility of getting such units now. I found Technomate who have a box with an output link to an external HDD, and Topfield who have one with HDD incorporated. These units are an order of magnitude more expensive than the current batch of Freesat boxes (£200+). I am also likely to wait for Five before taking the plunge since I currently don’t have HD capability nor Satellite so I need to upgrade to an HD television and get a dish.
May 26th, 2008 at 11:39 am
I am looking to get a friend to bring me a Freesat HD box to Spain next week. Can someone please advise which box - Humax, Grundig, Bush or Goodmans - would be the best for reception in Southern Spain.
I am currently using a Sky FTA/FTV box with a 1.9 dish and want to daisy chain this box with the Freesat until all FTA channels are on the Freesat platform ie Channel 5. I only have one feed from the Sky dish available.
I see that the Humax does not have a LNB out which I would need so that probably rule that one out.
Of the others, does anyone have any suggestions as to which of the other boxes would be best.
May 26th, 2008 at 5:02 pm
I’ve just plunged in and got a Bush HD box. Like Gordon I am also an avid TIVO fan, having had my series 1 for 5 years now and it still can’t be beat. When we get a freesat/freeview PVR with TIVO software then I will probably upgrade but until that day I am certainly not going to change, and certainly won’t be paying Sky £300 plus an extra £20 a month for a Sky HD Box.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:40 am
Anne you might struggle to get all of the channels as the Astra 2D footprint doesn’t seem to extend into Spain although the beam does go as far as Southern Portugal / Northern tip of Spain with a 1.2m dish:
Footprint map here:
http://www.ses-astra.com/business/en/satellite-fleet/satellite-list/astra2d/index.php
The other channels on Eurobird and the other Astras should be receiveable no problem with a large dish by the looks of it.
So don’t know what size dish you have, but it looks like if you’re after Astra 2D’s content it needs to be very large.
There are comprehensive channel by channel coverage maps and footprint maps here:
http://www.ukfree.tv/fullstory.php?storyid=1107051366
May 27th, 2008 at 9:49 am
As for PVR’s said it elsewhere and will repeat it here - there needs to a reasonably priced top quality twin or tri tuner HD PVR enthusiasts box as well as a run of the mill HD PVR box.
The existing Foxsat box got a good review on Whathif but was found to have thin sound and soft SD pictures. Doesn’t mean its not a good box, but its obviously not the best satellite box they’ve ever tested: http://whathifi.com/home-cinema/archive/2008/05/12/exclusive-test-our-verdict-on-the-humax-foxsat-hd-freesat-set-top-box.aspx
As Freesat is very much a home cinema platform given the dolby digital transmissions and HD picture quality we really need a box thats going to give top end performance. I’d happily pay an extra £20-30 over the standard box for top notch performance.
It would also be nice to see a box thats True HD sound ready and codec firmware upgradeable just in case in the next few years it becomes possible to transmit True HD sound over Freesat.
May 27th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
Anne, you asked about the suitability of the different brands for picking up the 2D beam in southern Spain. Can anyone clarify this, as the dish size is only half of the equation? Viewers down on the southern tip of Europe find that different DVB receivers vary enormously in what they can receive, e.g the old Pace 430n Sky digibox is about the best, but the newer Pace box is rubbish. If we can identify the most sensitive box, we might not have to fit a bigger dish in order to get free HD. Any advice gratefully received
May 28th, 2008 at 9:04 am
David - My friend in UK is bringing me a Bush Freesat HD Box on Tuesday - I will post suitability when it is up and running.
I went for the “cheap” Argos box as it can, hopefully, be exchanged within 30 days if it is not suitable.
May 28th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
My Wife and I are thinking of using FreeSat, but we do need Guidance.
Currently we are using Freeview.
Load of Rubbish.
Where we live in East Anglia the service for Freeview is not very good.
We would like to be able to record two channels concurrently.
Will this be possible with Freesat?
May 28th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Not yet, no Freesat PVR yet exists, although its only a few month away.
In the meantime, why not considering buying a standard Grundig Freesat Box £49.99 and also installation. Atleast then you have something to enjoy whilst you wait for the PVR. Also consider having the installer add a quad LNB and additional cable, so that you have everything you need for a PVR without further expense (apart from the box of course!)
May 28th, 2008 at 8:34 pm
For me, personally, I hope a FTA receiver will become available that includes Freesat functions so I can enjoy the Freesat EPG and still view satellites at locations other than 28.2′E as I already do. It would need full DiSEqC capability and other editable functions including the ‘Red Button’ function for Freesat. perhaps this is asking too much and may not be licenseable under Freesat rules, if not this could be a little short sighted, some people will definately want this functionality.
Otherwise I’ll go buy a copy of the Radio Times and look up programming manually, like in the old days.. Freesat will obviously want to be ‘in control’ of your viewing needs, as you would expect and probably at least 95% of viewers would not want to tune ‘manually’ for interesting stuff. They’ll also want to charge for the EPG, no doubt.
Regards . .
May 30th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
I would be cautious about waiting for HD PVRs to become available.
Humax have already disabled component output of HD for certain transmissions - I doubt whether all HD recordings will be able to be played forever. Seems to me that with all the current restrictions on HD content there’ll probably be some DRM restrictions on how many times / how long you can play it for.
June 4th, 2008 at 10:41 am
My Bush Freesat HD box is up and running in Southern Spain. Like the Humax I find the picture “soft” but the BBC HD channel is stunning.