Comments on: Soft launch for Freesat

By: Alex McCaffrey

Alex McCaffrey — Sat, 10 May 2008 18:49:17 +0000

Until Freeesat HD PVRs are available this doesn’t interest me in the slightest.

I wouldn’t go back to VHS now I have a DVD Player, so why would I buy a Freesat box which wasn’t also a PVR? Likewise why would I buy a Freesat SD PVR when I’ve already got Freeview with a Humax PVR.

I hope a Freeesat HD PVR does come sooner rather than later. For a one off cost of roughly £250 I would take up Freesat but provided it offered some channel(s) in HD and was PVR based. I’d even live with just BBC HD to start with, even some programming in HD is better than nothing.

I’ve no interest in subscription TV though which knocks out Sky and Cable HD.

By: Al Catraz

Al Catraz — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 17:12:32 +0000

I’m not trying to promote other sites as I find this one is very useful, but I found this article which explains quite a lot about satellite transmissions which I thought other may like to read too:

http://www.ukfree.tv/fullstory.php?storyid=1107051366

By: Trevor

Trevor — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 15:13:53 +0000

The HD box will have HDMI and so should give you a better upscaled SD pictures as well. I found the HDMI output of Sky’s HD box gives much better pictures than scarts.

By: Simon

Simon — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 13:23:49 +0000

I currently have freesatfromsky + HDD recorder. I live in a no freeview-’til-switchover area, so still have no option for a decent ‘watch 1 channel, record another’ unless I cheat and use my old ‘Comtel’ (;-) cable to get the 5 terrestrial analogue channels.
An HD freesat receiver with a second cable from my dish will answer this problem and give me a (hopefully increasing) choice of no-subscription high-def transmissions.
As I’m not certain just how much better the HD picture will be over SD on a 32″ Regza, this will be my cheapest option of testing it out before I decide whether to go Bluray etc etc.
I agree that it is a long term thing – what’s the rush? Time has always got to be on the side of free (as in ‘no-subscription’).

By: Bob

Bob — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 12:23:46 +0000

Freesat from $ky looks a much better option at this moment in time.
I will stick with my toppy with Freeview and may even be tempted to get the $ky freesat, 200 free channels are better than 80 including radio from freesat

By: Lucy

Lucy — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 12:12:19 +0000

Even after the complete roll-out of digital freeview by 2011, there will still be a small proportion of us who will only have access to satellite services. The problem that Freesat face is that most of those customers have already had to get Freesat from Sky or full Sky subscription to get any TV at all. At the moment, Freesat’s package is not attractive enough to make them switch from Sky, at least until a decent PVR receiver is available at a comparable price to other PVRs on the market. I’m going to hold out until then, and hope that Freesat hasn’t crashed and burned in the meantime!

By: Barry S

Barry S — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 12:02:44 +0000

Ok thanks. Yeah I agree. Probably the best solution for now would be to keep a mixture – a Freeview PVR and a Freesat HD box until the dogs b* Freesat PVR arrives. Hopefully by then the only channels missing on the Freesat lineup will be the three from Sky.

By: admin

admin — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 11:38:13 +0000

Barry S – Was meaning in the distant future, as satellite broadcasts can handle much more future technlogy like HD than Freeview will be able to. We are a long way from that happening though.

By: Barry S

Barry S — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 11:15:35 +0000

Admin. I’m sorry but I disagree when you say Freesat will be the service to replace Freeview. At present armed with the latest Humax PVR9200T, the Sky+ like functonality and Freeview channel line up is hard to beat – that’s why it’s overtaken Sky in numbers of units sold in half the time. I’d be very surprised if Freesat can deliver a better package than Freeview in 2008. Also in 2009 it’s likely that Freeview (in the Granada region to start with) will get 3/4 HD channels of it’s own. I hope I’m wrong but I can’t see Freesat making a big impact this year.

By: Bob

Bob — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 09:16:02 +0000

Thank you for the replies, I will not be rushing out next week to buy a box now. I will wait for the prices to drop and more channels added, the line up in the EPG is very poor.

Launch will come and go with out me on board, I have waited so long for this to arrive and this was not worth the wait.

The boxes will drop in price after the first rush.. and at £50 they are overpriced seeing as you can get a freeview box for £20.

All the hype and they launch with this…… They are wise not to make a big song and dance about it.