Freesat TV................is it any good?

[Audi Parts Guru]

As the title says.............

I'm in the market for a new TV and I'm thinking about getting one with built in Freesat. However is it worth the extra expense as I already have Sky TV although I'm loathed to pay Sky any more money than I do now for the luxury of HD

Your thoughts please Gents?

[Greg_S]

One of my mates got a tv with it integrated recently, looked pretty good. But if you get decent freeview signal im not sure if its worth the extra.

[istoo]

agreed freesat is only really of benefit if you cant get freeview. Although i must say sky continuiously send us through 1-2 months free packages for trail away from freesat. Have had it for 3 years, but i live in rural grampians and freeview is next to useless here. Hence most have freesat/ sky.

[Audi Parts Guru]

Thanks for your replies Gents......

I'm in west London so Freeview is not a problem here. I was just wondering if there was any advantage in terms of channels between Freeview and Freesat.

[mcandmar]

Depends on where you are and what is available for free. I have a tuner in my computer which does the same thing and i can get most of the main channels like BBC and a load of non english channels. But for Discovery and Men and Motors i need to use the Sky box as there encoded channels.

http://www.freesat.co.uk/index.php?page=whatson.Main

[MattS2]

Freesat pro's ;- BBC HD, occasional ITV HD, Men & Motors and more music channels.

Freesat con's ;- No Dave, No 5 US and the extra expense.

The picture quality is the same as Freeview.

I've only gone to a Freesat PVR box because my Freeview DVD recorder failed and I can't bring myself to pay for Sky.

Oh, and the HD looks great.

Matt.

[Keeper of The Kitten]

BBC HD will soon be available on Freeview as well ....they've decommissioned one of the "red button" channels for that.

I have the signal issues that could lend themselves to using Freesat, I know I have line of sight for the satellite but the regular antenna line of sight for the local mast is pretty crowded by nearby trees and in the summertime the signal deteriorates quite severely. Worst situation of all when the overnight motorsport is on Five.

Does anyone know why Virgin1 no longer works through the night?!! It used to on Freeview but now it doesn't ...and I am a bit of an insomniac who misses stuff like Ninja Warriors!