Freesat HD or Sky HD? Advice please

[6CylinderMerc]

Here's my dilemma.
I have being delivered in a few weeks a 50" Pioneer 1080p Plasma & I'd like to get HD on it. At the same time I'm re-arranging my whole sitting room with the plasma going against an inside wall & out of the corner where the TV currently is. A new carpet is coming shortly before the plasma arrives & I want to take the opportunity to bury all my aerial, speaker cables etc under the carpet before the new one is laid. I've arranged for a new wideband terrestrial aerial to be fitted before the carpet is laid but what to do about the HD? I was toying with the idea of Sky HD but the cost is frankly ridiculous. Then I came across this Freesat which will be launched in early May 2008??

Either way I want the cable out of sight so do I bite the bullet & get Sky HD or do I get my aerial guy to fit me a satellite dish & run cable to the new TV position in anticipation of Freesat? If so, which HD receiver with hard drive to get?

Any advice welcome.

[Phlog]

"If so, which HD receiver with hard drive to get?"

Nice TV! To everybody's frustration the products haven't been announced yet. Whilst the people at Freesat still seem to be writing to people that it will launch in the first week of May (most recently on another forum), there's no actual sign of anything happening.

Possibly your aerial guy can still fit the cable anyway, along with a dish since the satellite position is known.

[6CylinderMerc]

Thanks for the advice. I posted the same question on the Sy HD forum but in all honesty I don't think the Sky deal is good value. £299 to buy the box of which I don't get a say in what make / model I get (already have a broaband contract so don't qualify for the cheap deal), £60 install fee, monthly subscription fee in order to use the recording feature, £10 per month for the privelige of having HD. Most of the HD programmes are subscription ones and Sky is littered with excessive adverts & repeats.
So, I'll be doing just what you suggested. Getting a dish (or new LNB's on my old Sky dish) & getting the cable laid in anticipation of Freesat. All I need now is for Freesat to pull their finger out & start giving us some info. Launch date of early May is still the official line but it's drawing ever closer with no further info

[J L Jones]

I'd get a dish and quad LNB fitted now with as many cables as you want. You'll need two to watch one satellite channel and record another. All the programmes come from the Astra 2D satellite, so you don't have to choose between Sky and Freesat now.
Freesat's EPG comes from a different satellite (Eurobird1), but it's so close to the Astra that one dish will cover both sats.
It's quite likely that there won't be a Freesat PVR for some months after launch. Humax have said theirs won't be. There's no word what (if any) Panasonic products there will be at launch. They've only announced a Freesat TV for later in the year.
If you don't want the Freesat EPG, there are HD receivers and PVRs avaiable now. As are all the channels on the Freesat EPG.

[Stephen Neal]

If you don't want the Freesat EPG, there are HD receivers and PVRs avaiable now. As are all the channels on the Freesat EPG.

Though it is also worth pointing out that whilst existing FTA receivers will receive the existing Freesat TV and Radio services, albeit without an EPG, only Sky and freesat receivers will offer interactive TV services like BBCi, a proper front-end to the BBC Sport multiscreen services etc.

freesat receivers will have an MHEG5 engine (as used on Freeview) for interactive applications and digital text AIUI, whilst Sky receivers will continue to run OpenTV.

However most (all?) FTA boxes currently on sale have neither of these interactive text engines - and only cope with the older teletext system, which isn't in widespread use for digital satellite in the UK, and certainly doesn't support things like the Sport multi-screens etc.

It MAY be possible to tune into the BBCi multiscreen streams on an FTA box, but you won't get the user interface, scores/results etc.

[STFC]

i dont know a lot about freesat but if i go and buy the panny 37lzd80 will i be able to run it? wots this about freesat ready tvs?

[Starburst]

i dont know a lot about freesat but if i go and buy the panny 37lzd80 will i be able to run it? wots this about freesat ready tvs?




Any HD Ready or Full HD display has the required inputs to connect to any set top box or media player.
A couple of TV manufacturers have said they will release a TV with a built in digital satellite tuner and the required Freesat firmware, no idea of a launch date or if they also include a DTT tuner.

Personal opinion only but an external STB especially given the HDMI (Digital) link provides more flexibility and given only a HD DVR can record HD as HD then that's even more of a reason to go for a external STB.

[flashgordon1952]

wait until mid may before spending anything then yu see whats out there. FREESAT HD will be cheaper by at least £100 plus no subs then again sky might lower the price to £199 with a deal. if sky phone yu to try and sell yu there HD tell them about Freesat HD they want to give yu better offer.

[p4lm4n]

i'm waiting for freesat too, but i hear at launch it won't be as good as i want it, ie all hd on all 5 channels. on bbc and ch4

the others havent signed up to it yet

needless to say i woudl need hmi input to the tv

[Stephen Neal]

The three HD channels expected around launch are BBC HD, Luxe HD and ITV HD (which is expected to launch when Freesat HD does).

C4 HD is expected by many to appear when C4's existing contract with Sky expires in October this year - but some have suggested that this contract only applies to C4 SD services, and that C4 may have a separate deal covering C4 HD. However given that C4 HD playout is moving to Red Bee Media relatively soon - it may be that the Sky deal was a short one.

No suggestions - yet - that Five SD (or HD if they launch an HD service) will be on the freesat platform.

BBC One and Two in HD are a while away - the BBC have specifically launched BBC HD as a way of maximising their HD output whilst not having to pay to uplink HD versions of all of their channels (they would have problems with the BBC One National and Regional content on a BBC One HD service - unless they just put up BBC One London in HD, which given that Reporting Scotland - and I guess Newsnight Scotland - is the only news programme made in an HD studio, would be a bit ironic)