sorry (I told you this was all new to me!) I meant if I buy a TV with built in FREEVIEW+ (not freesat+) then can I also use the freesat that I have, somone else has answered in another thread and said that I can but the more advice I get before buying a new TV the better. Basically I want to be able to watch all terrestrial programmes and as many free digital ones as possible but also have the facility to easily record - to be able to pause live TV would be a bonus (eg when the phone rings!) but is not vital. Any comments/advice greatly appreciated.
I see a lot of mention of Humax on this forum but it's a make I have never heard of, is it generally available or are they only available from the manufacturer. Sorry to keep asking questions and thanks for your help.
Humax is a respected name across Europe with some excellent products. They are now sold through Argos, Comet, Dixons, John Lewis to name just a few and although the PVR has been in short supply that should improve over the next month or two.
Freesat will give you many more channels than Freeview although the channel lineups differ to a large extent.
Both have all the main BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Five channels.
Freeview has Fiver, Five US, UK TV History, Dave, Virgin 1, Setanta Sports News and Sky Sports News that freesat does not have.
Freesat has Zone Reality, Zone Thriller, Zone Rpmantica, Film 24. Men and Motors, Travel Channel, Horse and Country, Zone Horror, True Movies,Movies4men 1 and 2, World Movies, Pop (kids channel), Tiny Pop, Popgirl, Kix, BBC HD and ITV HD plus many time shift variants, news channels and Asian channels that you will not receive on Freeview. Some of these may not appear on the full 7 day EPG but are available in what is called non freesat mode.
So which PVR you go for Freeview+ or freesat+ depends on which channels you are likely to want to record most. In basic operation there is little to chose between the two although some have facilities others do not have and virtually all should have "live pause"
Both Freeview+ and freesat+ set top boxes will work with virtually any TV whether or not it has built in Freeview or freesat. My preference is for seperate boxes rather than TVs with built in PVRs, if the PVR fails and needs to go away for repair at least you still have the TV.