Freesat HD+ System v Sky Freesat HD+

JohnH

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I currently have Sky+ HD and am starting to question the value of paying £61pm. If I decide to go to Freesat I would want to keep the HD and ability to record multiple channels. The options I am looking at are:

1) Humax HD+ box at £240ish

2) Keep Sky+ HD box and pay £25 for the Sky Freesat card and then £10 month for the HD.

Any comments other suggestions or other alternatives

Thanks in advance
 
Well for a start drop the SKY sub to 1 MIX which leaves you all the "free" HD channels, your chosen MIX and the PVR functions, paying £61 with any doubt in your mind is plain daft:)

Once that is done then compare the cost of going to Freesat HD making allowances for (at this time) no CH4HD or FiveHD but offset with no ongoing sub. You could keep the SKY+HD to watch the two HD channels mentioned above or sell it to put towards the Freesat box. The other option of course is Freeview HD (dependent upon coverage).
 
Well for a start drop the SKY sub to 1 MIX which leaves you all the "free" HD channels, your chosen MIX and the PVR functions, paying £61 with any doubt in your mind is plain daft:)

Once that is done then compare the cost of going to Freesat HD making allowances for (at this time) no CH4HD or FiveHD but offset with no ongoing sub. You could keep the SKY+HD to watch the two HD channels mentioned above or sell it to put towards the Freesat box. The other option of course is Freeview HD (dependent upon coverage).

With an HD sub you would also get the "bonus" HD channels as well as the HD equivalents in the chosen mix see here
http://www.sky.com/shop/high-definition/home/hd-channels/
 
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For what HD? :confused:

According to Sky you get: BBC HD, BBC One HD, ITV1 HD, Luxe TV HD, 4 HD, Five HD, Sky News HD, ITV2 HD, ITV3 HD and ITV4 HD

Just need to think if thats worth the £10 a month versus buying a new Freesat box
 
Persdonally I wouldn't touch Sky with a barge pole.
The thought of putting money into Murdoch's pockets fills me with horror.
 
2) Keep Sky+ HD box and pay £25 for the Sky Freesat card and then £10 month for the HD.

Any comments other suggestions or other alternatives
Firstly you do NOT need a Freesat from Sky smartcard. Your subscription card turns into this anyway if you totally cancel.
With the Sky box your options are:-

  1. Pay Sky nothing - no recording but can watch FTA/FTV HD channels
  2. Pay £10/month for recording FTA/FTV channels (inc. HD ones)
  3. Pay for 1-6 SD mixes. This includes recording.
  4. Add SkyHD at £10/month to the 1-6 Mixes. Gives a range of Sky HD channels.
 
Persdonally I wouldn't touch Sky with a barge pole.
The thought of putting money into Murdoch's pockets fills me with horror.
Luckily 10 million people have a more balanced view!
 
The thought of putting money into Murdoch's pockets fills me with horror.

As News Corp owns only 39% of Sky TV, and the Murdoch family owns only 35% of News Corp, Rupert Murdoch owns approx 13 to 14% of Sky TV. How do you feel about the other 86 to 87% of shareholders?
 
Firstly you do NOT need a Freesat from Sky smartcard. Your subscription card turns into this anyway if you totally cancel.
I cancelled Sky and my white viewing card now does not receive Channel Five.
 
I cancelled Sky and my white viewing card now does not receive Channel Five.
This is the first time this has been reported! Has the smartcard been out of the box for any length of time? If so it may need up to 72 hours to revalidate.
 
According to Sky you get....
Just need to think if thats worth the £10 a month
They used to take just £10 a month, with no other subscription, for some HD channels, but stopped doing that.
Are you saying they have confirmed that it is now possible again?
 
They used to take just £10 a month, with no other subscription, for some HD channels, but stopped doing that.
Are you saying they have confirmed that it is now possible again?

HD equivalents of free SD channels must be included in the HD Pack without requiring subscription to a valid SD mix - because which mix would you have to subscribe to?

Actually, reading that back I don't think it's quite what you meant. You were saying that Sky no longer allowed you to subscribe to HD Pack without at least one SD mix. I was saying that certain HD channels would be available as part of HD Pack without forcing you to subscribe to any one particular SD mix.
 
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They used to take just £10 a month, with no other subscription, for some HD channels, but stopped doing that.
Are you saying they have confirmed that it is now possible again?
From the channels he names it is pretty obvious he means the £10 for Sky+ recording - and the FTA/FTV HD channels that a non-subscription HD box gets.
 
From the channels he names it is pretty obvious he means the £10 for Sky+ recording - and the FTA/FTV HD channels that a non-subscription HD box gets.

ITV2 HD, ITV3 HD, ITV4 HD and Sky News HD are neither FTA or FTV. They are definitely part of the HD Pack. But - each of those channels has an SD equivalent which is not part of an SD mix. So, as long as you subscribe to the HD Pack, you should get those channels regardless of which SD mixes you do/don't subscribe to. If you don't subscribe to the HD Pack, you won't get them.
 
ITV2 HD, ITV3 HD, ITV4 HD and Sky News HD are neither FTA or FTV. They are definitely part of the HD Pack. But - each of those channels has an SD equivalent which is not part of an SD mix. So, as long as you subscribe to the HD Pack, you should get those channels regardless of which SD mixes you do/don't subscribe to. If you don't subscribe to the HD Pack, you won't get them.

Add E4HD to those and they are the "bonus channels" that are added to the HD equivalents of your subscribed SD mixes when you subscribe to the HD pack.
 
You were saying that Sky no longer allowed you to subscribe to HD Pack without at least one SD mix.
That's right, and specifically referring to the time when I did that, until they clamped down on it.
I'm trying to get at what OP meant by "pay £25 for the Sky Freesat card and then £10 month for the HD".
 
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On re-looking at it I assume I wont have to pay the £25 for the Freesat card as I already have a sky call. So if I retain my Sky+HD box to get the same as I would with a freesat box and the additional HD channels I need to pay £10 per month. Is this correct?
 
On re-looking at it I assume I wont have to pay the £25 for the Freesat card as I already have a sky call. So if I retain my Sky+HD box to get the same as I would with a freesat box and the additional HD channels I need to pay £10 per month. Is this correct?

No there is no longer an option to pay a £10 option for the HD pack only. The HD pack now only entitles you to the HD equivalents of the SD mixes you subscribe to and NOT all non premium HD channels as it used to be. As you would not be subscribing to any SD packs there would be no HD equivalents in your subscription beyond the 5 bonus channels referred to above. You may be able to talk Sky into allowing you to continue paying £10 per month to use the Sky+ features but that would only be on the FTA and FTV channels.

The minimum subscription for anything HD beyond the free channels (BBC1 HD, BBC HD, ITV1 HD, Channel 4HD and Five HD) would be £29 per month for up to 12 HD subscription channels or £30 for up to 18 HD channels depending on the SD mixes you choose to subscribe to.
 
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So if I wanted to continue using the Sky+ HD box, receive the standard Freesat channels as well as the 5 x HD channels and retain the recording facility what would I need to pay?
 
That's what the £10 a month is for - the use of the Sky+ facilities, not "for the HD" as you first posted. It does not give you any channels additional to those that you get by using your expired card as a FreeSatFromSky card.
As dm2 says you might need "to talk Sky into allowing you to continue paying £10 per month to use the Sky+ features". I'm not sure how easy that would be but it's definite that as he also says "there is no longer an option to pay a £10 option for the HD pack only".
 
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Only thing is from my point of view..and i await to be shot down in flames..HD is not all it's cracked up to be,and if i'm totally honest i cant tell the difference between HD and 560 p ..pictures.
 
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i cant tell the difference between HD and 560 p ..pictures.

Neither can my mother - when she's not wearing her glasses. But given that the OP currently has Sky HD, and one of his requirements is to keep the high definition channels, you have to assume that he has pretty decent eyesight and therefore can tell the difference between HD and SD pictures.
 

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