Moving to freesat advice

[Veni Vidi Vici]

I currently have Sky Q box with Sky dish but have cancelled my Sky package and awaiting the 30 days notice to lapse. What is the best freesat box to get if I want to keep recording, pausing, series link etc? My tv is fairly new (Sony XH9505 HDR 4K Ultra HD) if that makes any difference? I have Netflix and Prime already and I’ve never had Sky sports or movies.

 

[mikej]

There is only one choice these days if you want a new Freesat PVR and that is the generic 'Arris' Freesat box which comes in 500GB, 1 TB or 2TB sizes.

I would check out the 'Satellite TV, Sky TV & Freesat' forum. There's a thread on the Arris boxes here...

New generation Freesat STB - Arris

Does anyone have any "insider" information on the release date of the next generation of Freesat boxes manufactured by Arris.? This project was announced way back in September 2018, with a date in 2019 for release. Here we are more than 12 months on and still no news of a release date. My...

www.avforums.com

 

[Veni Vidi Vici]

There is only one choice these days if you want a new Freesat PVR and that is the generic 'Arris' Freesat box which comes in 500GB, 1 TB or 2TB sizes.

I would check out the 'Satellite TV, Sky TV & Freesat' forum. There's a thread on the Arris boxes here...

New generation Freesat STB - Arris

Does anyone have any "insider" information on the release date of the next generation of Freesat boxes manufactured by Arris.? This project was announced way back in September 2018, with a date in 2019 for release. Here we are more than 12 months on and still no news of a release date. My...

www.avforums.com

Thank you. So the box the official freesat site sells isn’t a Humax I assume? No benefit from getting a box from freesat direct?

Recordable 4K TV Box

Hundreds of hours of entertainnent. No sky-high TV bills. The Freesat Recordable 4K TV Box covers your every need.

www.freesat.co.uk

 

[mikej]

One bit of good news is that if you have a Sky Q dish, then I'm pretty sure that you don't need to change the LNB if you buy one of those boxes, plus you'll be able to record up to 4 channels at once.

For older Freesat PVRs or many Freesat-compatible TVs, an LNB change would be required.

 

[mikej]

Thank you. So the box the official freesat site sells isn’t a Humax I assume? No benefit from getting a box from freesat direct?

Recordable 4K TV Box

Hundreds of hours of entertainnent. No sky-high TV bills. The Freesat Recordable 4K TV Box covers your every need.

www.freesat.co.uk

No, I think the box is made by a company called Arris. It's available from places like Currys or Richer Sounds for the same price, so there's no obvious benefit in buying direct from the Freesat site.

It might actually be a good idea to buy it from somewhere with good customer service like Richer Sounds, in case of any problems.

I think Humax stopped making Freesat PVRs a number of years ago.

 

[Rodders53]

Richer will sell you an extended warranty guarantee (6 years) which is refundable if not used (10% of purchase price). freesat have done some special offers with £50 off certain HDD sizes in the past.

Do you have a working UHF TV aerial? If so your TV has multiple tuners (and also two satellite inputs) so you might find it worthwhile adding a spare HDD to record via it? At least in the short term while evaluating the way to proceed.
Freeview Play PVRs are cheaper that freesat and have more makers to choose from.

To use the TV sat tuner inputs you would need to swap the LNB though. I think Sony support the freesat EPG (do double check).

TVs as PVRs are a bit of a variable feast so do check out the threads on here regarding your TV model?

 

[Veni Vidi Vici]

Richer will sell you an extended warranty guarantee (6 years) which is refundable if not used (10% of purchase price). freesat have done some special offers with £50 off certain HDD sizes in the past.

Do you have a working UHF TV aerial? If so your TV has multiple tuners (and also two satellite inputs) so you might find it worthwhile adding a spare HDD to record via it? At least in the short term while evaluating the way to proceed.
Freeview Play PVRs are cheaper that freesat and have more makers to choose from.

To use the TV sat tuner inputs you would need to swap the LNB though. I think Sony support the freesat EPG (do double check).

TVs as PVRs are a bit of a variable feast so do check out the threads on here regarding your TV model?

There is an aerial on the roof but I’m not sure if it works to be honest. I guess I can get an aerial lead, plug the tv in and check.

So as it stands if I did buy a freesat box my tv/dish doesn’t need any alterations, it should just plug in and work?

 

[Rodders53]

The freesat 4k box (made for freesat by Arris) should just plug and play; it detects the type of (wideband Q) LNB on setup and postcode entry.
BUT the unit has a few unwanted foibles - HDR always enabled being one AIUI. I don't have one.
Read up on the long thread on here before committing money to one?

If the aerial works then you can likely take more time to decide before the Q box goes back.