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We have an old Sky box and dish and pay around £40 per month. We occasionally watch programmes on Atlantic but other than that we only use it as a way to access free channels or occasionally record. We have Netflix and a smart TV so can use all the apps to access most channels for catchup etc. Also have Chromecast etc so I am struggling to think of a reason for keeping the box and dish.
Is there a box I can replace this with to get any services over wifi and maybe record programmes etc???
Cheers
If you want to use the dish you want a Freesat box*
If you want to use an aerial you want a Freeview box.
There are slight differences in the channel selection, but all the main ones on both. Relying on internet only is not an option if you are like me and unskippable ads on Channel 4 / ITV is a deal-breaker. Recording stuff still has its place. You can use NowTV for the occasional Sky Atlantic things you want to watch.
*or possibly Sky will let you continue to use your current one for a nominal fee - not sure if that is still an option or not - won't be if you have SkyQ.
I’ve got a Humax Freesat box, uses satellite signal and can record.
Has an app similar to sky app you can set to record remotely.
I know modern smart tvs have made the hard drive recorder almost redundant, but the choice gets kinda overwhelming, I’ve got stuff I’ve had for years on there.
Thanks. No I would rather remove the dish its a bit rusty and a bit of an eyesore really. If it stays I need to get up and replace it. Is it not possible to get free to air channels through the smart TV? Is an aerial the only other option? (We do have an aerial although not used it for years)
Is it not possible to get free to air channels through the smart TV?
Well you can get BBC, ITV, Channel 4 & 5 (plus probably one or two others) through their respective apps so have a play with them and see how you get on. If the majority of what you watch is on the BBC, then you might find it OK. Personally the non-BBC ones are a no-no due to the unskippable ads but your milage might vary. There are illegal ways of getting every channel in the world via the internet and a smart TV app, but that's up to you if you want to investigate that.
When you say satellite do you mean a dish???
Freesat 100% needs a dish.
or possibly Sky will let you continue to use your current one for a nominal fee – not sure if that is still an option or not – won’t be if you have SkyQ
Incorrect - my brother recently cancelled Sky Q and was given the option to keep the main box and pay £5 a month for freesat via it (and just return the mini box). Not saying it's the best option but it is an option. One thing I did notice is that for most channels that were still available they were the non-HD versions, is that standard or do Sky cripple it deliberately to try and get you to return?
Incorrect – my brother recently cancelled Sky Q and was given the option to keep the main box and pay £5 a month for freesat via it
OK fair enough. Them doing that seems mentioned less nowadays, and I assumed that was linked to SkyQ. That's interesting about no HD channels. Sky seem to assign them totally random channel numbers, so they appear shotgunned through the channel guide, sure you're brother is not just failing to spot them? If he is paying Sky for Freesat and not getting the HD channels then I would say he's not getting what he is paying for.
https://www.freesat.co.uk/get-freesat/set-top-boxes/recordable-4k-tv-box
I got one of these - works fine and like you we wanted a recording facility. Sky Q cables plugged straight in and barely any set-up needed.
Recording is archaic I know, but I hate streaming commercial TV programmes and like to fast-forward the adverts.
I like to do series link to so I don't miss stuff I like as I have a memory like a sieve! 🙂
I thought that the older Sky boxes defaulted to offer quite a few of the channels even without a live Sky sub? No HD, and no live pause/recording, but you can watch a fair few of them.
You could marry that up with an HD Firestick with remote on the other HDMI slot and get all your streaming stuff on that.
That’s interesting about no HD channels. Sky seem to assign them totally random channel numbers, so they appear shotgunned through the channel guide, sure you’re brother is not just failing to spot them? If he is paying Sky for Freesat and not getting the HD channels then I would say he’s not getting what he is paying for.
Yeah, I went through every channel to set up favourites again (after most of the previous favourites became unusable), I initially just assumed a particular channel wasn't available until I found it's SD version and that worked. Does sound more like martinhutch is describing though but he definitely mentioned having to carry on with a £5/month sub - maybe that's just to retain the SkyQ box and not actually to provide standard freesat services (if so that's not worth £5/month!), will have a look into it.