I see Freesat been launched by the beeb, anyone tried it yet, reason am asking is we have a TV with hdmi slot, and the thought of hd TV is nice. On a 15" screen, dare say we might not know the difference, just wondering whether anyone has tried it.
the standard (as in those aimed at the masses) HD receivers are just available but theres nothing much transmitted yet.
those with normal (not sky) receivers will pick it up anyway but will need to buy a HD sat receiver to benefit from the HD transmissions when they come.
E4 and E4+1 have just become clear and can now be watched without a Freesat card (murdoch version).
theres been 6 BBC and many ITV channels (mostly regional variations) available in the clear for a long time plus most of which sky transmits as a freesat "package" in the clear for all to see ,for the few channels that are still scrambled its not worth the £20 for this "free" service from sky!
check what your box (if you buy one)outputs in ,all will be in 720p (for those cheap and nasty "HD" tv's )but check its also real HD for those with 1080i capabilities.
its not a good time to buy a "HD" tv the worlds flooded with 720p versions at seemingly good prices for the technically challenged buyer to grab! dont waste your money!! if you want real HD the prices are falling on those tv's as we speak
I just got a freesat system from Maplins - a 60 cm dish and a non hd decoder (£40 ish). Only tried it once in the far south of UK (stones throw from the english channel) and it was really easy to set up and the signal was nice and strong. Loads of channels available, but some of them are scrambled (uktv gold for example), and are therefore not watchable. But loads of channels work just fine. Use google to find a web site with a listing of the most up to date channels being broadcast. I am hoping it (freesat) is more reliable than freeview - any comments?
I started to use "freesat" from sky a couple of years ago.
I had a dish fitted and purchased and had a skybox fitted, these came with a card. One off payment of £150 and I get almost all the free channels.
It is all mine to do as I wish with. I take the skybox on holiday and watch the same channels wherever I go, even southern France.
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Took my non sky freesat to Maidstone last week - it works a treat and was quite easy to set up. Seemed easier than my usual tv aerial setup as dish does not need to be put up high to work well. Freesat does not seem to have the channel 'Dave', whereas digital tv freeview does - all a bit odd if you ask me! But signal was good and strong with none of the stuttering or blocking on the screen we encountered with digital freeview.
we are some years away from receiving full 1080 hd so for now you may aswel get a cheapo tv as the prices of these thing seem to fall drastically... what you pay £1000 for today will probably cost around half that in a couple of years.
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Topic: Anyone tried Freesat
a little limited on stations but more being added all the time.
