Comments on: Prices and availability

By: Olaf

Olaf — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 19:17:48 +0000

I have seen an Octo LNB on ebay. They are going for about £7-£8 plus £5 for P&P. I am a little worried that these seem too cheap! I have read the guys feedback and that all seems to be in order etc.
All I want to do is use my existing Sky (SD) in the living room, the cable in Freesat to the 3 rooms upstairs. Possibly having HD in one of the rooms with the option of a PVR.
Is this possible from the one Sky dish?
Thanks

By: Brian J Boyes

Brian J Boyes — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 19:56:14 +0000

I am thinking of dumping Sky+HD and taking on FREESAT. I have been told that it will cost me £10 per month for the HD facility and an additional £10 per month to use the listing and recording facility of the Sky+ HD box. How can Sky charge £10 for HD when it is in effect free with FREESAT? Does anyone know if this information is correct?

By: Ian

Ian — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 19:30:48 +0000

Shaun, twin LNBs etc.. don’t be blinded by science, it’s easy really! An LNB receives one TV channel at a time. If you only ever watch one channel, a single LNB is fine. If you want to watch one channel and record another, you will need one LNB for each channel, also known as a twin LNB. A quad LNB can receive 4 channels at once, this would be useful to have a sky+ box and a freesat box that records. So with two boxes you can record a channel on each box while watching another, useful for two different rooms for example. You can even get an Octuple LNB!

By: shaun

shaun — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 16:30:32 +0000

All this talk about twin LNB’s and single lines goes right over my head. i will probably get the humax hd pvr and have a standard sky dish already set up. Can someone tell me in a way an idiot can understand, if i need anything special to get set up or will it just plug in to my existing cable.

By: admin

admin — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 06:28:58 +0000

Martin – You will get a single LNB with single cable. Ideally what you need is a quad LNB with two cables. Best thing to do is ask the installer to fit this at the time, you may need to pay him a little back hander, say £10-£20, but it will be cheaper than having someone come back at full cost again.

By: martin

martin — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 21:30:30 +0000

Hi, can someone please help. I`m getting freesat installed next week, just the sd for now. Planning on getting a pvr as soon as available so does anybody know if what i`m getting installed next week (£80 from comet) is suitable for using a pvr in future or will i have to get the installer back again. Basically, what do i need, ie: dual, quad?, & does anybody know what i`ll get.

By: Jack

Jack — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 19:01:35 +0000

FreeSat

I have just taken delivery of my FreeSAT Media Server ! Wow – it records BBC HD – and my 2TB version will record about 300 HRS worth (in HD)- that’s enough for the WHOLE 300hrs of planned BBC HD Olympics !!

It’s not just a multi-channel FreeSAT PVR – it’s a Home Server too !! Not cheap, but then I don’t like cheap – the mutilple HD STBs, means that I can have lots of fun, all around the house – TV, Music, Pictures, Online Videos etc …..

This is the ulitmate media appliance !!!

By: David Haworth

David Haworth — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:25:51 +0000

it is still unbelievable that nearly 3 months after the launch of HD on Freesat there are still no PVR’s available. Humax’s timetable is still early 2009! We can only hope that Panasonic/Sony etc will get one out soon.
What a marketing disaster.

By: mitchpom

mitchpom — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 08:00:19 +0000

Admin – seems a bit extreme, having to marry the installer just to get a Quad LNB….or did you mean bribe…;-)

So much for living in a free market economy – the phased launch of kit is deliberately keeping prices higher than they need to be in the knowledge early adopters will pay through the nose for the kit!

I’m hoping when Tesco’s get involved we’ll see the prices drop – I’m waiting for a reasonably priced HD PVR to appear, shame they didn’t get their act together in time for Euro 2008 as I think they missed a real good sales opportunity there. For now I’m making do with Blue Ray films to show off my HD Sony 40″! Don’t get me started on overpriced cost of those either!

By: admin

admin — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 23:08:07 +0000

Tony – main reason is that dual LNB’s are not cost effective as Quad’s have always been prefered and are standard for what Sky use. Nothing to stop you getting a Quad LNB on the £80 installation, just bride the installer on arrival with tea and biscuits.