Hi All

Currently got Sky multi room, with working full time and not being a huge fan of TV anyway im thinking on saving myself the monthly bill and switching to free view.

Now i obviously have the sky dish and wired up to both rooms independently so if i was to cancel my sky how do i get my freeview to work (already built into the TV) do i need a new arial or will the Sky dish double up as this?

You can still use the dish to get freesat but will need an aerial to get freeview.

Freeview won't work via a Sky dish. You'll need an aerial. Thought about Freesat? With that you can use your existing dish. Why not just keep the Sky box and use it to get the Free to Air channels.. Not sure if you can record with them if not paying subs though.

Freeview won't work via a Sky dish. You'll need an aerial. Thought about Freesat? With that you can use your existing dish. Why not just keep the Sky box and use it to get the Free to Air channels.. Not sure if you can record with them if not paying subs though.

That's pretty much what my brother did recently, as he got fed up paying for the sky service. Free to air channels work through his retained box but the record facility is disabled.

I did this myself.

Cancelled Sky and bought a FreeSat box.

It worked straight away.

Don't watch TV much at all and this suits us fine.

What the difference between freeview and freesat? (channel wise)

So i just cancel..obviously sky will go off then what do i do?

Try this link:- http://www.ukfree.tv/allchannels.php

there's positives and negatives IMO. I have both. On Freeview you get some channels you can't get on Freesat and vice~versa. Then you've got Freesat/view+ where you can record, pause rewind etc.

have a look on here http://www.freeview.co.uk/

and here http://www.freesat.co.uk/

http://www.ukfree.tv/compare11.php

I wired the house for both freesat and freeview when I moved in - went with freesat hd and never regretted it. I've got an oversized dish with a Freesat hd box on each of the TV's - Two have Humax recorders in place (freesat box with hard drive) - you should have no problem utilising your current dish to do the same. :-)

NB. Sky won't just 'go off'. You'll still be able to view a limited number of channels but you won't, AFAIK, be able to record/rewind/pause etc.

NB. Sky won't just 'go off'. You'll still be able to view a limited number of channels but you won't, AFAIK, be able to record/rewind/pause etc.

Ah right i see, i know when Sky was incorrectly suspended i still got channel 1-5 but i think that was before switch over, so i still get the standard sky menu and set up but only free sat channels view-able?

Ah right i see, i know when Sky was incorrectly suspended i still got channel 1-5 but i think that was before switch over, so i still get the standard sky menu and set up but only free sat channels view-able?

yep, AFAIK,,,,,,,not sure if you'll get Dave, Yesterday or Quest. You'll still get 1-5 BBC3,4 etc CBS channels (i think) so you'll still have watchable telly Oh, and C4 E4 More4 and ITV 2,3,4 and +1 ,,,,,,,,too much to list

That's what my inlaws did.

They cancelled their sky subscription but still have the dish and sky box so still use the sky guide to view channels but only get the free ones.

There is though nothing on the guide to indicate which channels you do and don't get so I am forever going "yeah I can watch that. oh we don't get that channel" etc

Thanks guys that made life easier!

Much appreciated!

If you pull the sky cards out of your sky boxes you should be able to see what you can get for free once you give Mr Murdoch the heave ho.

If you have no ariel then having one put up will cost you quite a bit and you might be better off trying the satellite without the sky subsription and see how it goes? You can always splash out on an ariel later if it doesn't give you all the channels you want.

Sometimes if you ring up sky and tell them you're leaving they'll put a deal together for a set period to try and keep you, and you can always leave after providing they don't attach any strings

Might be worth a search on tinternet to see if there's a better time to do this each month, same type of thing when you're buying a car

If you have sky+ or sky+HD and you miss being able to record programes while you're at work/on the off chance there's something worth watching on 2 channels at the same time you can get a satallite equivelent that won't cost you anything apart from the purchase price, which are somewhere around £250.

cheers

Ade

Can't you pay sky £10 to enable all the freeview /sat channels and ability to record?

Can't you pay sky £10 to enable all the freeview /sat channels and ability to record?

So im guessing free view has more choice?

Freesat has many more channels than Freeview, particularly the +1s like More4+1, but as has been mentioned there are the odd few channels on Freeview that aren't on Freesat - I'd have to check but Dave springs to mind as one example.

If you can only do one or the other, I'd say go for Freesat. If you get a Freesat box, a lot of them can be hooked up to the Internet so you can get BBC iPlayer (e.g. my Humax FoxsatHD does). Freeview aerials and the cabling aren't dear to buy if you have a place to mount the aerial, but a Freesat box will just connect to the sat cable that goes into your Sky box, no need to move the dish.

Edit: forgot to say that Freesat is a defined set of satellite tv channels that have a programme guide as well. There are other tv channels that aren't part of Freesat, which a satellite reciever box (Freesat box) may well be able to get as well. My Humax has two modes - Freesat mode and 'ordinary' mode. The latter picks up any free channels it can find on the satellite the dish is pointed at.

As you can imagine there's a lot of rubbish, but thought I'd mention it in case it makes a difference to you.

Edited 7 February, 201313 yr by Yearofthegoat

Ema_Jane, Gadgetman, is correct we did this for the upstairs, retained the Old Sky Box paid Sky £20 (not sure on the price) was told its for a year, 4 years later say no more. It enables freeview.

sorry to add confusion, but there are two types of freesat. There is http://www.freesat.co.uk but you need a new set top box. As you already have a sky set top box, you can use sky's version http://www.sky.com/shop/freesat/home/what-can-i-watch/ should only cost £25 for the viewing card.

Ré Freeview, the electronic antenna are vastly improved over early models, I have replaced both my "fringe" aerials with electronic ones and get far more channels and less interference.

Ré Freeview, the electronic antenna are vastly improved over early models, I have replaced both my "fringe" aerials with electronic ones and get far more channels and less interference.

Yes, dependant on area to a small degree but replacing an older style ariel with a multi element hi gain digital one can make a massive difference.

Use a "magical box" to sky for nothing - After all you have the dish still in place

To summarise;-

Freeview = need a aerial installing. What channels you get depends on where you live as some parts only get Freeview Lite (main channels only.) To record programmes you would need to buy another box (ie. FOX T2 HDR ; Youview -both would give you HD channels and recording, Fox T2 would give you iplayer and Youview gives Iplayer, 4OD, 5ondemand and ITVplayer - but they need a Internet connection )

Freesat From Sky - pay for viewing card and use existing box - can't record.

Freesat - buy new Freesat Box replaces Sky box connects to existing dish (no adjustments required). If you get one that can record gives similar functions to a Sky HD+ box. (ie. FOXSAT HDR or Freetime boxes - both of these give iPlayer and ITVplayer with an internet connection - although the ITVplayer is a bit flaky on the FOXSAT - 5 and Channel 4 ondemand catchup sevices are promised for the freetime box - but don't hold your breath)

I have a FOX T2 HD (it hasn't got a built in Hard Disc - but you can add a external USB Hard drive and record - but only one channel at once) and will act as a DLNA media player when connected to a network and a Foxsat HDR with customised firmware which allows web access, to act a a Media server (via Twonky). You can easily copy SD recordings off the FOXSAT (by network or USB) to play on PC. HD recordings are more problematic as they are encrypted.

You dont need a FREESAT box - which will limit you to the FREESAT channel list only, there are 1,000s of FTA (free to air) receivers out there; I have a cheap "SkyBox" model, which records to a USB stick.