Cancelling sky
- Thread starter gigz
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Gigz
"What can i get that i can hook up to the satellite dish that will give me channels and be able to record/catchup"
Search for 'Freesat Recorder' (and make sure it has a harddisk size and does not then say FreeView):
https://www.argos.co.uk/search/freesat/category:33015958/type:freesat-hd/
You can also get TV's that are Freesat enabled:
https://www.richersounds.com/search/?q=freesat
SFK
"What can i get that i can hook up to the satellite dish that will give me channels and be able to record/catchup"
Search for 'Freesat Recorder' (and make sure it has a harddisk size and does not then say FreeView):
https://www.argos.co.uk/search/freesat/category:33015958/type:freesat-hd/
You can also get TV's that are Freesat enabled:
https://www.richersounds.com/search/?q=freesat
SFK
do the new sky Q lnbs work with ordinary freesat boxes? something in the back of my brains says "might not". Lucid will be along shortly to clarify
Nothing without changing the LNB on the dish to a standard one. Cables are OK.
You're right, @Sureitsoff? The standard Sky Q LNB works in a different way to the LNBs used for Sky+HD.
The Q one is called a wideband. An ordinary Sky+HD box or Freesat receiver won't understand the signal from it. There is an option when specifying a new Q install to ask for a hybrid LNB. This works in both new and older systems. However, unless you're making the switch to Sky Q, this won't be something that Sky would be interested in fitting after the event, so to speak.
The simple answer is to have the LNB on the dish arm swapped for a Sky+HD/Freesat compatible version.
Freesat does give more channels than Freeview, but there are some notable exceptions. For example, Ch 4HD and All4 are missing, and also quite a few of the music channels too.
Freesat may have more channels, but from an installation point-of-view it's a PITA for a whole house.
Here's the basic issue: With Freeview, you can take one aerial cable in to a room and loop it through a Freeview recorder with up to 4 internal tuners, and then go on to connect a TV. With Freesat, you can't do that. Every tuner requires its own feed from the dish. With Freesat then, a room with a Freesat TV (1 tuner) and a Freesat recorder (2 tuners) requires 3 cables if you wish for everything to work independently.
The reason why Freeview can supply multiple tuners from a single cable is that the tuners are passive. The signal cable carries all channels available at the location, and all the tuner has to do is tap in to that. Freesat and Sky satellite is different.
The satellite tuner and the LNB (the lump on the end of the satellite dish arm where the cables connect) work together; the tuner is active and it directs the LNB to switch between one of four states depending on the channel being received. It does this by sending a voltage up the cable to the LNB to change the polarisation between horizontal and vertical, and by altering a voltage state between 15v and 19v (allowing for voltage drop over cable).
Technically, it's possible to split a single satellite LNB feed between two tuners - say two TVs - and watch two different programmes, but only if those two channels share the same polarisation and voltage. As soon as one TV calls for a channel that requires a different combination of H/V and voltage then one or other TV will lose its signal. This is why, in reality, you can't split satellite signal cables.
When it comes to installing and wiring up for all the TVs in a house, with satellite you're going to run out of outputs on the LNB pretty quickly. You can offset some of that by choosing an 8-output LNB called an Octo. The catch is that Octos might not work so well if you have the smallest size Sky dish (Zone 1, 45cm).
If this or any other reply was helpful to you, then please do the decent thing and click the T-H-A-N-K-S button. It appears when you hover the mouse pointer near the Quote Multi-quote buttons. This is the proper way to show your thanks for the time and help someone gave you.
The Q one is called a wideband. An ordinary Sky+HD box or Freesat receiver won't understand the signal from it. There is an option when specifying a new Q install to ask for a hybrid LNB. This works in both new and older systems. However, unless you're making the switch to Sky Q, this won't be something that Sky would be interested in fitting after the event, so to speak.
The simple answer is to have the LNB on the dish arm swapped for a Sky+HD/Freesat compatible version.
Freesat does give more channels than Freeview, but there are some notable exceptions. For example, Ch 4HD and All4 are missing, and also quite a few of the music channels too.
Freesat may have more channels, but from an installation point-of-view it's a PITA for a whole house.
Here's the basic issue: With Freeview, you can take one aerial cable in to a room and loop it through a Freeview recorder with up to 4 internal tuners, and then go on to connect a TV. With Freesat, you can't do that. Every tuner requires its own feed from the dish. With Freesat then, a room with a Freesat TV (1 tuner) and a Freesat recorder (2 tuners) requires 3 cables if you wish for everything to work independently.
The reason why Freeview can supply multiple tuners from a single cable is that the tuners are passive. The signal cable carries all channels available at the location, and all the tuner has to do is tap in to that. Freesat and Sky satellite is different.
The satellite tuner and the LNB (the lump on the end of the satellite dish arm where the cables connect) work together; the tuner is active and it directs the LNB to switch between one of four states depending on the channel being received. It does this by sending a voltage up the cable to the LNB to change the polarisation between horizontal and vertical, and by altering a voltage state between 15v and 19v (allowing for voltage drop over cable).
Technically, it's possible to split a single satellite LNB feed between two tuners - say two TVs - and watch two different programmes, but only if those two channels share the same polarisation and voltage. As soon as one TV calls for a channel that requires a different combination of H/V and voltage then one or other TV will lose its signal. This is why, in reality, you can't split satellite signal cables.
When it comes to installing and wiring up for all the TVs in a house, with satellite you're going to run out of outputs on the LNB pretty quickly. You can offset some of that by choosing an 8-output LNB called an Octo. The catch is that Octos might not work so well if you have the smallest size Sky dish (Zone 1, 45cm).
If this or any other reply was helpful to you, then please do the decent thing and click the T-H-A-N-K-S button. It appears when you hover the mouse pointer near the Quote Multi-quote buttons. This is the proper way to show your thanks for the time and help someone gave you.
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I loved my very old Sky box, before HD and + came, you could program the Sky box to change channel, once they included the hard drive, you lost that option, the old box could also use magic eyes so you could change channel from another room, however that was all well and good with a 14" TV, but viewing analogue using coax now, and you soon realise with a 32" TV the quality is not there, even with non HD channels.
So as @Lucid says, you need a cable for every box, there are with some boxes an output, but as said if you daisy chain then second box has limited channels.
So I have a Icecrypt STC3250CCIHD box, it is called a free to air, not freesat, and it does both satellite and terrestrial, and if I want to watch ITV 3 that's great, it will allow it, however to record without a lot of messing around, you need the electronic program guide (EPG) once you find the program you want, you can click on it, and record it on an external drive. And you can even remove the drive and put it on a PC to watch the program. However it is the EPG which presents the problem.
It is spasmodic as to how far forward it will show, and often you need to click on the program for the EPG to show what is on the channel, it works but not very well, and most of the cheap free to air are the same, I have at least three and they show the programs A1, but the EPG leaves a lot to be desired.
We have a 42" TV Toshiba which has both satellite and freeview, but the satellite only receives some channels, had we not got the Icecrypt STC3250CCIHD box as well we may have not realised, as it does get a lot, but all the UKTV programs are missing, I know the dish can get them as the box receives them. But the TV when you scan for channels does not list them.
I am told the HUMAX is good, but was also told the Icecrypt STC3250CCIHD box was good until I came to use it, and to be fair it does receive 100's of channels and the quality is excellent. It is just the EPG which is the problem. As to HD yes it is better, but with 32" TV I need to sit within a couple of meters to see the difference, but use a SCART lead or HDMI and you can easy see the difference.
So I see new freesat for £79 not HD and with HD £179 and hard drive included. But you need new quad LNB and cables into every room, and a box for every room, starts to add up, I am lazy, don't want to route cables, so sticking to Sky Q.
So as @Lucid says, you need a cable for every box, there are with some boxes an output, but as said if you daisy chain then second box has limited channels.
So I have a Icecrypt STC3250CCIHD box, it is called a free to air, not freesat, and it does both satellite and terrestrial, and if I want to watch ITV 3 that's great, it will allow it, however to record without a lot of messing around, you need the electronic program guide (EPG) once you find the program you want, you can click on it, and record it on an external drive. And you can even remove the drive and put it on a PC to watch the program. However it is the EPG which presents the problem.
It is spasmodic as to how far forward it will show, and often you need to click on the program for the EPG to show what is on the channel, it works but not very well, and most of the cheap free to air are the same, I have at least three and they show the programs A1, but the EPG leaves a lot to be desired.
We have a 42" TV Toshiba which has both satellite and freeview, but the satellite only receives some channels, had we not got the Icecrypt STC3250CCIHD box as well we may have not realised, as it does get a lot, but all the UKTV programs are missing, I know the dish can get them as the box receives them. But the TV when you scan for channels does not list them.
I am told the HUMAX is good, but was also told the Icecrypt STC3250CCIHD box was good until I came to use it, and to be fair it does receive 100's of channels and the quality is excellent. It is just the EPG which is the problem. As to HD yes it is better, but with 32" TV I need to sit within a couple of meters to see the difference, but use a SCART lead or HDMI and you can easy see the difference.
So I see new freesat for £79 not HD and with HD £179 and hard drive included. But you need new quad LNB and cables into every room, and a box for every room, starts to add up, I am lazy, don't want to route cables, so sticking to Sky Q.
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You can of course just install a multiswitch if you want to have multiple satellite receivers. Quick and easy.
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Since Sky started to include a hard drive, their boxes needed two inputs, but all my other boxes even if they have a record option only have one input, so looking at 4 or 8 rooms depending on LNB.
If it were not for wife I would also not have Sky, and the old Icecrypt STC3250CCIHD box gives me a silly number of channels, but think I paid around £130 from Maplin around 3 to 4 years ago, and it allows me to arrange channels as I want them, so ITV 3 and ITV 3+1 are next to each other. And I can simply plug in a USB hard drive and stored programs auto show when and what recorded.
OK some time it shows the program before it, but the major problem for recording is the EPG, to view not a problem, if ITV 3 shows blank, click on it so that is program playing and the guide works, but lucky to get two days, unusual to get whole week. It's called free to air, not freesat.
As long as you get freesat not free to air your OK. As to cost it can get silly, at £179 each for the boxes looking at a lot of money to have 4 TV's. As to TV's with satellite built in, I did not get the Toshiba with that in mind, but when I saw it there I thought great, until found half the channels missing.
So Now TV is still Sky, and there is also Netflix and many more, by time you look at price for box, not sure a freesat is best option, I did not get the USB stick as it wanted my card details to work, and I would not use my card to get mothers TV working. And when my mothers house had Sky broadband (not fibre optic) the speeds were great, she loved old films on U-Tube, but on her death we lost Sky, so went to Post Office, same line, but what a rotten speed, could not watch U-Tube not fast enough. And it was forever falling over. We also lost the phone number we had had in that house for 50 plus years.
So when we moved here fed up with phoning up all the time complaining, so got Sky, it simply works. No hassle, it works.
If it were not for wife I would also not have Sky, and the old Icecrypt STC3250CCIHD box gives me a silly number of channels, but think I paid around £130 from Maplin around 3 to 4 years ago, and it allows me to arrange channels as I want them, so ITV 3 and ITV 3+1 are next to each other. And I can simply plug in a USB hard drive and stored programs auto show when and what recorded.
OK some time it shows the program before it, but the major problem for recording is the EPG, to view not a problem, if ITV 3 shows blank, click on it so that is program playing and the guide works, but lucky to get two days, unusual to get whole week. It's called free to air, not freesat.
As long as you get freesat not free to air your OK. As to cost it can get silly, at £179 each for the boxes looking at a lot of money to have 4 TV's. As to TV's with satellite built in, I did not get the Toshiba with that in mind, but when I saw it there I thought great, until found half the channels missing.
So Now TV is still Sky, and there is also Netflix and many more, by time you look at price for box, not sure a freesat is best option, I did not get the USB stick as it wanted my card details to work, and I would not use my card to get mothers TV working. And when my mothers house had Sky broadband (not fibre optic) the speeds were great, she loved old films on U-Tube, but on her death we lost Sky, so went to Post Office, same line, but what a rotten speed, could not watch U-Tube not fast enough. And it was forever falling over. We also lost the phone number we had had in that house for 50 plus years.
So when we moved here fed up with phoning up all the time complaining, so got Sky, it simply works. No hassle, it works.
Could you explain why that should be the case.
Have you worked out why? I have a Sharp (actually UMC) with inbuilt satellite and I get everything that is free to air.
It's quite likely the database is out of date as channels have moved and transponder parameters have changed. You will need to edit manually using up to date information from Flysat or Lyngsat.
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Never did find why, tried re-tuning many times, I will have a guess that the voltage to the LNB is not changing so stuck in either horizontal or vertical hence only half the programs, but only a guess, and since Sky Q is connected no real reason to sort it out, can't get any UK TV channels, but do get all BBC and ITV.
Had I not got other boxes however I may have not realised half the channels were missing, I would have just said freeview is better than free to air. It is the same with extra channels I get with Sky Q, OK I watch UK Gold which is not free, but if I did not have UK Gold unlikely I would miss it, most the programs shown on Gold end up on Drama (that's the UK drama as there are four drama channels in spite of advert).
The other this is Sky Q tends to have +1 channels which are not free, so on Sky can watch UK Drama +1 but it is not shown on free to air, clearly one can record it, so no great loss not having +1 version. Wife likes Universal which is pay for channel, and I don't want to thread cables to every room, so we have Sky Q, but I am sure Now TV would do the same, so there are other options.