Finally decided that we don't watch SKY to justify the outrageous amount of money they charge.
So off it goes on the 7th Feb. i have chosen the Humax system ith he fretime etc but do I go for Freeview or Freesat, I am being advised to go for the
Freesat option and being told I can use my existing SKY dish.
So anyone out there taken this route and can advise me moving forward?
I use both! 
We watch freeview most of the time, as the picture quality is pretty good. We use freesat when we want to watch in HD, or because there's a +1
channel that's not available on freeview.
Out HDD recorder is freeview, but can record freesat with a little bit of faffing.
BTW: you certainly can use the Sky dish for freesat - it's a straight swap.
Freesat gets you a few more channels
Freeview gives you local news
Already having the dish, means its an easy choice. Freesat.
Been thinking about ditching Virgin media, silly amount of money for what I get.
To go from Sky to freesat you don't even need to change your set top box. Sky do a freesat card that plugs into your existing box and allows you
to carry on as normal.
http://www.sky.com/shop/freesat/home/faq/#3
Hopefully that should get you to the right answer, if not choose the 'I already have Sky digital satellite equipment - what else do I need?
' question.
We have both - the picture quality on freesat is better on standard definition (We only have HD on freesat).
quote:
Originally posted by Slimy38
To go from Sky to freesat you don't even need to change your set top box. Sky do a freesat card that plugs into your existing box and allows you to carry on as normal.
http://www.sky.com/shop/freesat/home/faq/#3
Hopefully that should get you to the right answer, if not choose the 'I already have Sky digital satellite equipment - what else do I need? ' question.
We have freesat HD and it gives us local TV. No Dave though 
quote:
Originally posted by scudderfish
quote:
Originally posted by Slimy38
To go from Sky to freesat you don't even need to change your set top box. Sky do a freesat card that plugs into your existing box and allows you to carry on as normal.
http://www.sky.com/shop/freesat/home/faq/#3
Hopefully that should get you to the right answer, if not choose the 'I already have Sky digital satellite equipment - what else do I need? ' question.
What Sky call 'freesat' is not Freesat, it's a limited selection. It also disables the PVR functionality of your Sky+ box.
We have been on Freeview from when it first came to our area only problem we have ever had with it is our main Samsung TV is a bit picky about the
digital signal so any time they change the channel numbers it can take a couple of dozen manual tuning attempts before we get all the channels
back -- last week we lost all the BBC TV for several days and at the moment we don't get the Pick TV channel. The other digital boxes in
the house don't suffer the problem
For Freeview recording we have a 250mb Bush HD 2 channel recorder which was bought about 3 years ago as a recondition manufactures return for
about £60 --- to find similar do an Google shopping search sorted by price.
Because I was p+** with missing channels I bought a satetllite dish and Freesat box box last week but haven't finished aligning it it up
due to the cold weather.
ADSA sell Freesat boxes for £35
[Edited on 18/1/13 by britishtrident]
The Humax me to retain all functions I had with SKY, such as live pause etc and allowing me go back 7 days.
Freesat does have a few extra channels but it also loses a few which freeview does have (depends if you will miss Dave). Most TVs now come with
Freeview built in since they turned off analogue plus if it has it built in it will be freeview HD. My LG TV has Freeview HD built in then I have a
FreeSat Humax box but that is just for recording and because the signal in the area I live can be poor.
Matt
My TV to is a LG with Freeview built in so the Humax Freesat with free time etc looks like the best route and best of bth worlds ..... Thanks to all for the welcomed and appreciated answers and advise.... Pete
I have Freesat HD built in to my Pani plasma. Is great, shame it doesnt have Dave though. I have Sky+ also, and the Sky LNB has 4 ports and Sky+ only uses 2 (unless you have multi room), which means a simple 1 extra cable routed through gives me the free sat with no repostioning or extra equipment.
We get Freeview HD in our area and have Freesat and FreeviewHD built in to the TV. We also have Humax Freeview PVR and a Humax Freesat PVR.
There's a tiny difference in channel availability but the HD is similar quality on both. Have had Humax PVRs since they began, more or less, and
the current Freeview one is better than the Freesat one for some reason. The pause/rewind/record/EPG is better with the freeview one.
If you only had satellite before you would need a new TV aerial for freeview. If you have both aerials already I'd go for freeview because the
Humax box is better that way.
Sky disable the functionality ofthe box that you legally OWN?! Thats very dodgy.
quote:
Originally posted by theduck
Sky disable the functionality ofthe box that you legally OWN?! Thats very dodgy.
It's a clever get around rather than the truth. It is the box that's capable of the feature not anything sky broadcast.
Another thing to consider if you're into Home Cinema/Dolby Digital is that most Freeview TVs only provide a stereo (PCM) output. A home cinema receiver cannot decode this into 5.1 Dolby digital surround. Whereas most Sky HD/freesat boxes output can be decoded (sometimes an optical cable is reqd) into proper 5.1DD.