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Bloody Sky Tv ....................
Lurch88 - 9/10/13 at 07:52 AM

So it seems that Sky Tv have sneaked my monthly payments up to £27.99 a month
and frankly for the amount of actual Sky output I watch ,its now too much money .
As I understand it when I ring them up and cancel the first thing they do is send a
kill signal to my Sky + box
This apparently stops us using the record/play back feature

So The question is what is my best option instead of Sky +
FreeSat using the Sat dish?
BT Tv Service ?
Free View with the ariel ?(Not a very good signal here)
no way I ever going to get fibre Optic here so I guess that counts out Virgin?
500gb Hard drive recorder or do I "need" 1Gb now
Any help gladly received

Thanks in Advance

big-vee-twin - 9/10/13 at 08:14 AM

I got rid and moved to Freesat, got a Freesat+ HD box so it does everything the Sky+ HD box did , records, pause etc.

Frankly I have not missed anything Sky gave me and wished I swapped over before now - saving a lot of money, Freesat box pays for its self.

Just plug in and switch on - no probs.

40inches - 9/10/13 at 08:19 AM

quote:
Originally posted by big-vee-twin
I got rid and moved to Freesat, got a Freesat+ HD box so it does everything the Sky+ HD box did , records, pause etc.

Frankly I have not missed anything Sky gave me and wished I swapped over before now - saving a lot of money, Freesat box pays for its self.

Just plug in and switch on - no probs.


+1

NigeEss - 9/10/13 at 08:28 AM

+2

Binned Sky and bought a Samsung Freesat box. Only two channels I missed for a short while where
Sky 1 and Discovery but now it doesn't bother me.

£200 for the box 12 months ago, so am quids in already.

swanny - 9/10/13 at 08:54 AM

like you we didnt watch enough to justify the monthly spend. bought a humax freesat box about 2 years ago for £200 quid.
I'm currently about £750 quid up compared to staying with Sky.

i do miss odd bits, and the navigation isnt as slick as skys but its still the best for us.

James - 9/10/13 at 09:34 AM

It astounds me that a bunch of capable people like we have on LB don't have better things to do than watch the idiot box!

I took my TV aerial down at the last house some 4/5 years ago and apart from the odd GP which I watch on Iplayer later I genuinely don't miss it.

STOP WATCHING TV... ITS SHITE!


I bet if you buy one of these then you'll watch less TV!!!


Cheers,
James

Ben_Copeland - 9/10/13 at 10:27 AM

If I could find a service that did all the channels my wife watches I'd get rid of sky, but there's too much crap she watches that isn't on freesat/ bt vision. We also can't get virgin and freeview signal in our area is awful

ChrisW - 9/10/13 at 10:41 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Ben_Copeland
If I could find a service that did all the channels my wife watches I'd get rid of sky, but there's too much crap she watches that isn't on freesat/ bt vision. We also can't get virgin and freeview signal in our area is awful


You need an XBMC box (Raspberry Pi or Apple TV mk1 are good choices) and an old PC running sickbeard. Ok it's not live, but it's a damn sight cheaper.

Chris

thefreak - 9/10/13 at 10:47 AM

Currently in the process of binning Sky.
£80 a month for 997 channels I never watch and 4mb broadband is ridiculous.
BT have just rolled out Infinity in the area so I've signed up for that, cancelled Sky and everything they offer and will be moving over to a Freesat box at the end of the month when the contract is up.
Cut the cost down to £26 a month now for phone/internet/rental. The new box should pay for itself by the new year

So any recommendations on Freesat boxes? Or are they much of a muchness?

britishtrident - 9/10/13 at 10:48 AM

If you are not going to get BT FTTC in your area you can forget about any kind broadband TV.
You have two real alternatives either get a Freesat from Sky or buy a Freesat box.

We have a DIY satellite set up using a Dish & Box kit from B&Q to be honest we only use if our Freeview terrestrial is signal is poor. The B&Q box works fine but the menus and channel selection is awkward a proper Freeview box would be better.

ChrisW - 9/10/13 at 10:49 AM

Last time I investigated the Humax ones were regarded as the best. That was a few years ago now though I must admit!

Chris

britishtrident - 9/10/13 at 10:51 AM

quote:
Originally posted by ChrisW
Last time I investigated the Humax ones were regarded as the best. That was a few years ago now though I must admit!

Chris


Humax have a great reputation, I have never seen a bad customer review.

40inches - 9/10/13 at 11:15 AM

quote:
Originally posted by britishtrident
quote:
Originally posted by ChrisW
Last time I investigated the Humax ones were regarded as the best. That was a few years ago now though I must admit!

Chris


Humax have a great reputation, I have never seen a bad customer review.


This is true, I got the Samsung Box because the UI is much better than the Humax is/was, it's 2 years since I used a Humax.
The Samsung needs resetting about twice a year, I think the Humax is technically better than the Samsung, but the Samsung was £100 cheaper for the 500 gig box.

britishtrident - 9/10/13 at 11:38 AM

quote:
Originally posted by 40inches
quote:
Originally posted by britishtrident
quote:
Originally posted by ChrisW
Last time I investigated the Humax ones were regarded as the best. That was a few years ago now though I must admit!

Chris


Humax have a great reputation, I have never seen a bad customer review.


This is true, I got the Samsung Box because the UI is much better than the Humax is/was, it's 2 years since I used a Humax.
The Samsung needs resetting about twice a year, I think the Humax is technically better than the Samsung, but the Samsung was £100 cheaper for the 500 gig box.


I love my Samsung phone but the TV side of the company is perhaps not as good.
My own Samsung TV has a poor Freview tuner/decoder when a retune is required it can take an hours effort to get all the Freeview stations, all the other Freview boxes in the house get all the TV channels first go.

Also I know at least three of my friends & neighbours, have had problems with the screens on Samsung TVs

coozer - 9/10/13 at 12:40 PM

I watch a lot of the Discovery and upwards channels and also the Sky sports and Eurosport channels.

How can I keep them if I bin the Sky? The cost is into 3 figures and I would like to get it down.. I'm also looking at binning the land line but keeping broadband. (theres no Virgin round here)

Looking to move to BT Infinity so I can get the BT Sports and ESPN?

splitrivet - 9/10/13 at 12:47 PM

Yes they will kill your + service so all your recorded stuff wont be available for playback.
When I cancelled they offered me the world to stay, why they couldnt do this originally I dont know I guess being a loyal customer for donkeys years means diddly.

I moved to Talktalk as I was paying £18 a month seperately for my broadband and sky for TV and Phone I now get the lot for £16 including 24/7 calls, broadband with 3 times the D/L speed and catch up TV I'm quids in.
The talktalk box uses Freeview for its TV signal so you'd need a new TV antenna.

The only downside is Talktalks back up is cr@p when my youview box fell over it took 3 weeks to get someone out to replace it so I bought a refurbed Samsung Freesat Pvr off the bay as a stopgap so now Ive got the best of both worlds.
Everything you miss on Sky and discovery you can get for free on torrent usually before Sky and without the Sky adverts which drove me mad, so you dont really need it anyway.
Cheers,
Bob

[Edited on 9/10/13 by splitrivet]

chillis - 9/10/13 at 02:26 PM

quote:
Originally posted by coozer
I watch a lot of the Discovery and upwards channels and also the Sky sports and Eurosport channels.

How can I keep them if I bin the Sky? The cost is into 3 figures and I would like to get it down.. I'm also looking at binning the land line but keeping broadband. (theres no Virgin round here)

Looking to move to BT Infinity so I can get the BT Sports and ESPN?


I also want to bin the landline as the rental is too expensive and i dont use a landline phone but BT wont do infinity ( or anything else) without a landline contract

Also like you I watch the Discovery and sky sports a lot when working in the man cave so dont really have an option to sky

ken555 - 9/10/13 at 02:35 PM

quote:
Originally posted by ChrisW
Last time I investigated the Humax ones were regarded as the best.


If you get a Foxsat-HDR check out the modified Firmware on AVForums. Allows web access to program setting and set it up as a media streamer box to other devices.

rayward - 9/10/13 at 04:40 PM

i'll be selling a HD-Twin Tuner humax foxsat 320gb box in a week or so if your interested ?



Ray

Surrey Dave - 9/10/13 at 04:54 PM

I know Humax are supposed to be the best Freeview box/recorder but.

I bought a Humax 9200 PVR , some years ago ,it still works. But it crashes quite regularly, it forgets to record things, and it gives recordings the wrong name.

So I wouldn't recommend it.

David Jenkins - 9/10/13 at 06:05 PM

I gave up on Sky quite a few years ago - I used to pay over £25 a month for a hundred or so channels I rarely watch, but now I'm on Freesat I pay nothing for 50 or so channels I rarely watch...

The digital Freeview channels are OK but you'll need a very good aerial to get a strong signal.

Personally, I'd get a Freesat recorder...

[Edited on 9/10/13 by David Jenkins]

Lurch88 - 9/10/13 at 06:09 PM

I didnt
But I do now
Thank You

turboben - 9/10/13 at 08:23 PM

I missed the discovery and the kids missed the cartoon network when I binned sky so I bought a skybox f5. If your up for some fidling to get it going its worthwhile. Upgrading to a vu duo now. I dont want to go into the capabilities on here but its worth a google!

David Jenkins - 9/10/13 at 08:39 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Lurch88
I didnt
But I do now
Thank You


Oops! I edited my post too quick!

(I was saying that the Sky dish can be plugged straight into a Freesat box, with no modification or realignment)

nick205 - 10/10/13 at 12:16 AM

quote:
Originally posted by James
It astounds me that a bunch of capable people like we have on LB don't have better things to do than watch the idiot box!

I took my TV aerial down at the last house some 4/5 years ago and apart from the odd GP which I watch on Iplayer later I genuinely don't miss it.

STOP WATCHING TV... ITS SHITE!


I bet if you buy one of these then you'll watch less TV!!!


Cheers,
James



Spot on IMHO!

Scuzzle - 10/10/13 at 02:20 AM

I got rid of Sky about 5 years ago when they got too expensive for my liking. I went for Freesat. Sky keep this really quiet but they will give you a Freesat card you can just plug in to your existing Sky box and you now have Freesat through your Sky dish and existing Sky box, this used to be totally free but I think they take a tenner off you now. When you cancel with them just ask for the Freesat card.

The tenner is a one off payment and once you have your SKy Freesat card you never have to pay anything more ever again, you still get access to all the Sky interactive stuff as well.

Edit - Just checked online and I see it's £25 now for a Freesat card from Sky.

[Edited on 10/10/13 by Scuzzle]

[Edited on 10/10/13 by Scuzzle]

scudderfish - 10/10/13 at 05:39 AM

Sky Freesat has nothing to do with Freesat, and when they tried to get me on it I was told that all the record/playback functionality of the box still wouldn't work.