Is it worth insalling a sattelite dish for freeview channels?

[JakeD]

Hi all,

I've recently moved to a new area that doesn't have cable. So I'm wondering if, by installing a satellite dish, would I be able to receive more freeview channels than I could receive via a regular arial? (That is, to say, without paying the likes of Sky TV a subscription...)

Thanks,

J

[brass monkey]

IMO no, you're presumably talking about freesat

many channels, ~4 HD. No "Dave" on freesat but it's on freeview etc.

[Peter Crosland]

You need a Freesat box to connect to your dish. The channel list is here

[Dave Liquorice]

There are enough, quantity isn't everything. 500 channels but still nothing to watch...

Not sure what that means, 4HD is on freesat.

So one channel missing? O woe... Of course Freesat quality is better than Freeview. The Freeview I have seen(*) has so many MPEG artifacts as to be barely watchable. Freesat still has them but not as noticeable.

(*) Not been through DSO yet so no Freeview here until we do (and I reinstate a terrestial aerial).

[Nick Odell]

Have you checked here...

entering your postcode to find out which freeview channels you will receive through an aerial?

Nick

[RickS]

You're better off with Freeview if you get all the channels but it varies from area to area.

Where we are Freesat is better as half of the Freeview are unavailable.

[Ian Jackson]

In message , brass monkey writes

If you go for 'Free-to-air' satellite instead, you get a lot more channels - but I doubt if you'll be particularly interested in many of the additional ones. You still won't get some of the Freeview channels (eg no Yesterday or Dave).

with Freesat, you have to enter a postcode, and that determines which regional BBC, independent and other channels you get (although you always get the regional BBCs in channels numbered in the 900s). Free-to-air satellite doesn't need a postcode, and simply gives you the lot, regardless of where you live. will see that many of the channels are duplicated (multiplicated?), and the only difference between them is the local content of the adverts.

Between the two, Free-to-air probably a bit more fun, but it may need a bit more know-how when doing the channel scanning on the receiver (especially when it comes to editing and numbering the list of channels it has found). Freesat (like Freeview) simply assigns the correct default number for each channel.

[Brian Gaff]

Yes, but its called freesat and though there are more of them the quality is not exactly top notch from the programming s standpoint. Lots of radio though. Brian

[tim.....]

If you get the full freeview service - absolutely not

If you get freeview Lite - possibly

tim

[Martin Brown]

I'd say Freesat probably it was worth it for the £30 cost of the dish even if terrestrial DTV works the MPEG bitrate is higher on satellite. Same applies in spades for digital radio channels. We hardly ever watch TDTV since installing a satellite feed (lack of Dave notwithstanding).

(and you get some HD channels thrown in on satellite)

ISTR some of the latest terrestrial DTV boxes can do HD decoding if the local transmitter supplies them but my older set cannot.

[Harry Bloomfield]

JakeD presented the following explanation :

Very much so, hundreds of channels all free to air[1] and on the same satellite as Sky, but a considerable number of them are rubbish. It might be worth your while getting an HD receiver, there are F to A HD channels. FreeSat is the same system, but working to a restricted spec..

[1] Free to air, rather than Freeview, which the digital via your antenna.

[JakeD]

Martin Brown wrote in news:d0G0s.1613$ [e-mail]:

Thanks to all for the replies. My neighbour gets freeview channels via his regular TV arial. However, the picture often starts breaking up on certain channels, particularly in the late evening. On some days he finds it difficult to access any channels at all except for BBC News and the Parliament channel. Would I experience the same problems using a dish and a freesat box?

Thanks...

J

[John Williamson]

No, but if the system isn't set up correctly, then you may suffer problems in rain and snow.

You also need to be sure there are no trees in the line of sight between the dish and the satellite.

However, if your neighbour had the correct aerial, correctly aimed, for his Freeview installation, he wouldn't get the problem either. On switchover, some aerials had to be replaced, as they were either out of spec. or needed to be changed as the channel group had changed.

[Ian Jackson]

In message , JakeD writes

I you had said "could" instead of "would", the answer is "yes". Otherwise, the answer is "maybe, or maybe not".

There must be a reason why your neighbour is having problems with his Freeview. It's almost certain that the reason is that he is feeding a poor signal to the TV set - but there could be several reasons for this. Unless you and he live in an exceptionally bad area for TV reception, it's almost certain that his problem can be cured. The fact that he has Freeview problems is, in itself, no reason to make you decide to go for satellite reception.

[sm_jamieson]

Freesat is worth it for better quality than Freeview, and for the free HD channels that I believe sky still want 10 quid for. And the red button service is much better than on Freeview when it matters (only the Olympics so far !) Of course the number of channels is nothing compared to Sky if you are willing to pay. If you get free-to-air without the Freeview packaging, you miss out on a good EPG but will pull in various extras and a lot of junk ! Simon.

[Dave Liquorice]

s/Freeview/Freesat/ ?

I think all Freesat boxes offer an "Other Satellite" menu where you can access a few extra channels (Sky News for example) that don't appear in the Freesat EPG and also are worth the effort. There are a number of foreign langauage/country channels as well.

[John Williamson]

I've found that if you forget to tell my Bush Freesat box the postcode, you can get all sorts of strange "local" stations.

The "Other Satellites" option might be useful if ICBA to find out how to work it.

[Martin Brown]

Only when it is throwing it down with rain at a rate that also implies sudden and catastrophic mains disconnect due to lighting strikes to nearby pylons. A thick enough cloud and torrential rain can block the signal but if that happens you would be well advised to go and boil a kettle and fill a Thermos - the mains will go down soon afterwards.

We lose DABradio, TDTV (certain channels) and Freesat in that order with increasing amounts of rain falling.

[Ian Jackson]

In message , John Williamson writes

Any idea which model it is? I've got one, and from what I could see, it definitely did need a post code. If there's a fiddle, I'd like to try it!

I'm in S Bucks, but I like to watch the North East BBC and ITV local news. With Freesat, on channels 101 and 103, you get the BBC1 and ITV1 channels appropriate to your postcode. Although you also get all the other regional BBC1s on channel numbers in the 900s, the only other ITV1 region is London, on 977.

So..... In order to get both the NE regional BBC1 and ITV1 plus the correct ones for London, I entered the Newcastle code NE1 1AA. The NE BBC and ITV then appear on channels 101 and 103, and I can then still watch London BBC1 and ITV1 on 950 and 977.

This seems to be one of the most comprehensive lists of all the channels available on Freesat:

course, on Free-to-air sat, you get all the regional ITV channels.

[Ian Jackson]

Rain in itself (even torrential) - has negligible effect on the strength of VHF and UHF radio/TV signals. However, it can certainly affect satellite signals.