[rich1068]

I have Sky TV, broadband and phone. Very happy with the broadband and phone but I think the TV is a waste of money. However, I would miss the fancy recording capabilities of the Sky box and programmes in HD quality. I can get iPlayer, ITVPlayer, 4OD and whatever 5's thing is through my PS3. So, I guess my options are...

Freeview+ HD, YouView or freesat+ HD.

Does anyone have any opinion on any of them?

Freeview+ HD is the cheapest route and I know my aerial is capable of Freeview because we used it before we got Sky. Could get a decent box for about £150

YouView is the 'newest' thing but it seems to be a glorified Freeview+ HD box. Not cheap at £225-250 for the unit.

freesat+ HD also not too cheap at about £225 but I can use my existing Sky dish. Does anyone actually use freesat now Freeview is everywhere?

I guess I'm asking about content, picture quality and whether it'll be around in 12 months.

[m@rk]

Every 6 months I find myself asking this very question.

I think about all the crap that's on TV and how much I am paying etc etc etc

I then look at the options and realise that there is a reason why the Sky option is so much more than the others

Just like I could drive to the South of France in the new Fiat 500 I bought for my wife that cost less than £11k new, I would much rather do the journey in my A7 that cost £66k new. The scenery would be the same and I would actually spend less money in fuel etc etc and when I got there the view would be just as good but I know which car I would rather do the journey in. I would say that the A7 is a better car but then again others would argue that the Fiat is better because it would cost me less.

So yes there are plenty of other CHEAPER options and they are good out there but it really is a case of getting what you pay for and if you pay the extra for Sky, you do get a better experience.

BTW

I can't comment on cable (Virgin)

[AlanQS]

Freeview HD with a good quality dual or triple tuner HD PVR would replicate the facilities you currently use.

The only real question is, does your Sky package supply you with channels you just won't get anywhere else -and, that you would miss.

I have a XL package from Virgin (it's the second top package available) plus Sky Sports, phone with free calls (mostly) and 60mb broadband so this is probably overkill but my son just got a basic Virgin package with the same phone deal, 20mb broadband, and quite a lot of channels that you might want with a 500mb Tivo box (triple tuner) and an HD box for a second room and it was about half the cost of mine. It doesn't have BT Sports or Eurosport as mine does) but it does have Sky Sports news and quite a few HD channels.

I think if you take a look at some of these options, you may find something you like.

[rich1068]

Thanks for the input guys.

I'm not sure I consider Sky TV to be 'quality'. I have no need for the movie or sports channels and think some of the hardware alternatives are certainly comparable with the Sky+ HD box. As far as other content is concerned I think like most, we end up watching the same TV channels we watched 10 years ago namely BBC, ITV and Channel 4. And to be honest if any of the American stuff that may be on Atlantic etc takes my fancy I tend to torrent it anyway.

Virgin and their TiVo box I'm really not interested in I'm afraid.

[The_Bear_Yid]

If their retentions team think you're set on leaving you maybe offered a nice discount for a year.

[mowflow]

I had sky+ HD when it first came out. When we moved 3 years ago I started looking at alternatives as with a bigger mortgage I wasn't really wanting to be spending nearly £100 per month on phone, Internet and TV.

I came to the conclusion that Freesat was the way to go. However, after a short discussion with the chap I was getting to instal it I was talked down to regular freeview with a Humax box to give all the features of Sky+ only with the regular freeview channels.

We were both perfectly happy with this for the last 2 years however we have recently went on to the Talk Talk TV thingy as they were doing an offer which means we now pay £35pm for line rental, calls, unlimited broadband and a TV package which includes a PVR with all the Sky+ type features including all the main channel on demand stuff, some kind of on demand box office top up thing and some kind of kids club package with all the Disney, nickelodeon crap. It just runs through our regular aerial and phone line so no HD but to be honest I rarely watched HD when I had it, I would always forget anyway.

TBH it blows the socks off Sky. I dare say if I was into watching sports I'd have Sky but otherwise it's a total ripoff. They must be shitting bricks now BT are gunning for them.

[The_Bear_Yid]

I very much doubt they're shitting anything. Afaik, BT are taking a loss on the Sport channels, it's the broadband where they get their money.

I would never go with Talk Talk. The YouView offering is OK, but a bit like a Ford to a BMW, the quality is not quite there.

[rich1068]

Originally Posted by The_Bear_Yid

If their retentions team think you're set on leaving you may be offered a nice discount for a year.

That did cross my mind but as I'm still keeping the phone and internet it's not like they're losing everything. Also, apart from the cost of whichever box I get the alternatives are all free. I doubt I'd get my current TV set up for nowt per month!

Originally Posted by mowflow

I came to the conclusion that Freesat was the way to go. However, after a short discussion with the chap I was getting to instal it I was talked down to regular freeview with a Humax box to give all the features of Sky+ only with the regular freeview channels.

At the time why were you talked out of it? I'd have no installation costs as I've already got the dish. I just think freesat can't last now that Freeview in one form or another now has virtually all of the UK covered. And purely anecdotal but I don't know anyone with freesat.

Freeview+ HD seems to be the way to go for me as the extra features offered by YouView and freesat+ HD are either not enough to warrant the additional box outlay or are available elsewhere eg on my PS3.

[scaryprowler]

No one here with any motorised dish setups? I know they can be a little expensive initially, but it would pay for itself eventually (over Sky TV). The only thing holding me back is kid and wife friendliness...oh, and a level piece of roofing with full visibility to the skies. The kids would only end up 'riding' it if it was installed at ground level.

[lemonukas]

Just cancel your tv pack, and wait for couple month. They will keep ringing you with half price discounts. Just ignore it. Then they will give you for free for six month (sport, movies). After 5 month call them to cancel, then they will give you good deal again, but not free.

[m@rk]

Originally Posted by rich1068

Thanks for the input guys.

I'm not sure I consider Sky TV to be 'quality'. I have no need for the movie or sports channels and think some of the hardware alternatives are certainly comparable with the Sky+ HD box. As far as other content is concerned I think like most, we end up watching the same TV channels we watched 10 years ago namely BBC, ITV and Channel 4. And to be honest if any of the American stuff that may be on Atlantic etc takes my fancy I tend to torrent it anyway.

Virgin and their TiVo box I'm really not interested in I'm afraid.

My point was not about the content.

You can pretty much get all of the channels on all of the platforms and Emmerdale on Sky is excatly the same as Emmerdale on Freeview etc

Likewise with Sky, when things go wrong their customer service is poor but with Freeview there is no customer service at all

It's about the box itself or rather the features of the box and every time I look at this, I can't find the same features in a family friendly package. It seems that the likes of Humax etc are constantly playing catchup but then again, Sky have a lot of money coming through the door so can afford to spend millions on R&D

[rich1068]

Ah, OK. I'll look closely at the hardware before I do anything. I'll admit I am a little suspicious of brands like Humax or Goodmans or whatever. Then again who makes the Sky boxes? I'm sure it's not Sony or Panasonic.

[adamroutley]

Originally Posted by rich1068

Virgin and their TiVo box I'm really not interested in I'm afraid.

We recently had the choice of which provider to go with and basically, in a nutshell the TiVo box pi55es all over the sky+ box and then some. Plus the only "comparable" package that sky could offer was way more expensive. I highlight the word "comparable" because their broadband speeds don't even compare unless you want to pay through the bum-hole!

If it makes any difference I was dead set on getting Sky+ until I did some digging and also found out that Virgin TiVo has been MASSIVE in the US for years. Not to mention that Virgin have just been taken over by one of the biggest companies in the world!

Edit:

http://www.libertyglobal.com/ <---is the company that has just taken over. "The worlds largest cable company"

[dar2008]

TV – Freeview & Freesat = £0 a month
Broadband – VirginMedia 60Mbits = £22.50 a month
Home Phone – Vonage = £6 a month (no line rental!)

I used to be with Sky (just for TV), paying £65 a month (or £780 a year!). Then about 5years ago I went for ‘free’ TV when I realised most of the channels we watched through Sky were the ‘free’ channels anyway (BBC, ITV etc). Over that time I’ve NOT paid Sky approx. £4,000. Here's what I now have, all of which allow recording of one or sometimes two channels whilst watching a third etc…

• Humax YouView – This is a HD Freeview box that also allows you to go back in time on the TV Guide and watch things you missed yesterday, two days ago etc – for the BBC, ITV, 4 and 5 channels)
• Humax FreeTime – HD Freesat box with the same features as YouView (back in time on the TV Guide etc).
• Humax Freesat Foxsat HDR – HD Freesat box, connected to a fixed 80cm satellite dish and picking up channels from 3 different satellites (13e, 19.2e and 28.2e (the Sky sat) – this means I can watch F1 fta when it’s on Sky over here because it’s shown unencrypted in Germany on 19.2

Humax make by far the best boxes for both Freeview and Freesat viewing (imo). For the Freesat Foxsat HDR above, you can load custom firmware making the box visible on your home network and accessible from any other connected device – eg: watch a recording on your iPad or even live TV if you want. All three boxes above support the On-Demand services (iPlayer etc.)

YouView also has an app for your iPhone (presumably Android too) so you can check the TV guide wherever you are and set a recording remotely.

[m@rk]

Originally Posted by rich1068

Then again who makes the Sky boxes? I'm sure it's not Sony or Panasonic.

Pace (who I seem to recall are owned by Sky) and Amstrad

[mowflow]

Originally Posted by The_Bear_Yid

I very much doubt they're shitting anything. Afaik, BT are taking a loss on the Sport channels, it's the broadband where they get their money.

I would never go with Talk Talk. The YouView offering is OK, but a bit like a Ford to a BMW, the quality is not quite there.

Clearly you have never compared a modern Ford to a modern BMW

If Virgin had been available in my area I would have went with it as just as one poster says, it pisses all over Sky.

As I said, based on my ACTUAL experience of living with the services rather than what i read in Which? or on some website. Several years using Sky+ HD followed by several years of Freeview with a Humax box followed by the last 6 months of using Talk Talk Youview. Completely ignoring costs I can hand on heart say that Sky was only marginally better than the totally free Humax solution purely because the box had a slightly better user interface. Features and functions were no different.

The Talk Talk offering isn't without it's technical issues, it's a relatively new offering so I forgive it some, and the only 1 issue we had was dealt with quickly without cost.

We watch a lot of movies but like I say, neither of us are into mainstream sports and as far as i can see this is the big sell with Sky. It was certainly the hook they tried to dangle in front of me when i told them I wanted to cancel. They offered me 6 months of free sports so I could watch the cricket, sorry, I'm Scottish.

[xPETEZx]

If you are at all into setting up a Media PC to do this function for you, you can far outstrip the functionality of a DVR with something like Media Portal (Free)

I have mine setup to do lots of cool stuff like:
1.) Tag the start and end of adverts as chapters. On playback of a recording the system then auto-skips these.
2.)Stream live TV / Recordings and other media to mobile device
3.) Set / Schedule recordings both via Mobile app and web page.

IT does require a bit of setup, but the forum for it is excellent.
The end product is far more use friendly than any DVR / Sky box I have ever used.

Overall cost would be cheaper if you already have a PC to use as the media PC. (Just need a TV card)
If you do not have a PC to use for this, it would cost more than a DVR.

Just an alternative idea

[rich1068]

Originally Posted by mowflow

They offered me 6 months of free sports so I could watch the cricket...

Classic.

[Desmondo]

Freeview, Netflix and not spending time sitting around watching too much TV seems to work for us

[The_Bear_Yid]

Originally Posted by mowflow

Clearly you have never compared a modern Ford to a modern BMW

Yes I have, I drive both currently.

Originally Posted by mowflow

Virgin had been available in my area I would have went with it as just as one poster says, it pisses all over Sky.

Would never touch Virgin based on ACTUAL experience and ACTUAL customer feedback.

Originally Posted by mowflow

I said, based on my ACTUAL experience of living with the services rather than what i read in Which? or on some website. Several years using Sky+ HD followed by several years of Freeview with a Humax box followed by the last 6 months of using Talk Talk Youview. Completely ignoring costs I can hand on heart say that Sky was only marginally better than the totally free Humax solution purely because the box had a slightly better user interface. Features and functions were no different.

The Talk Talk offering isn't without it's technical issues, it's a relatively new offering so I forgive it some, and the only 1 issue we had was dealt with quickly without cost.

If the Which? and website comments are aimed at me then you're a tad hypocritical. I don't see how you can say Virgin pisses all over Sky if you've never had it.

I actually think the Sky Sport and/or Movie packages cost a lot and have considered dropping down or leaving Sky. Decided to keep it for another year but may well leave then.

I've pretty much used all current systems and none seem to come close imo to Sky. The only company I'd leave Sky for atm is BT but that would only be for broadband, I'd always want to use the Sky TV set up.

[davyk31]

What do you loose if you drop the HD pack with Sky, costs about a tenner a month? We do watch HD where possible but 95% of the viewing is BBC etc, maybe a few kids HD channels are watched but not sure.

[mowflow]

Originally Posted by The_Bear_Yid

.... If the Which? and website comments are aimed at me then you're a tad hypocritical.....

It's not you, it's me . It's a general comment as people like to say I wouldn't touch this that or the other based on opinions they may have read from some troll on a forum.......

That probably makes me more of a hypocrite on my Virgin comment but I do genuinely believe it wee wee's all over Sky based on the fact some bloke in my local used to always be talking about watching The Shield/Sopranos/The wire etc on his Virgin on demand and my Sky box had none of that cool shit..... Call me a hypocrite but it's obviously a fact.

PS. E92 is not a modern BMW