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[Entwood]

Due to serious unreliability in the digital reception we are getting, despite replaing the aerial and the coax, I'm seriously considering going the Freesat route

www.freesat.co.uk gives some information, but it is highly biased to just the 4 major retailers.

Do you folks know of any other reliable and unbiased sources of good information on Freesat ??

The HUMAX receiver + PVR looks a possibility as we have an HD ready TV .. any one any knowledge/opinion/advice

Is it DIY'able or best to have the system installed ??

Can the signal be fed to more than one TV, or do you need an LNB for each reciever ??

Any advice greatfully received ..

[Taxi_Driver]

Freeview is a bit pants around this way, Entwood.
About a year ago I had a new aerial and cable fitted....it seemed to sort it out for a bit, now i get picture 'locking' and 'blocking' and sometimes no signal appears on the tv. Its suppose to be a high gain ariel I had fitted.

Ive wondered about a 'mega' aerial....

Something like this

http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/MXDAT75.html

If it would help??  :-/

[cem_devecioglu]

Due to serious unreliability in the digital reception we are getting, despite replaing the aerial and the coax, I'm seriously considering going the Freesat route

www.freesat.co.uk gives some information, but it is highly biased to just the 4 major retailers.

Do you folks know of any other reliable and unbiased sources of good information on Freesat ??

The HUMAX receiver + PVR looks a possibility as we have an HD ready TV .. any one any knowledge/opinion/advice

Is it DIY'able or best to have the system installed ??

Can the signal be fed to more than one TV, or do you need an LNB for each reciever ??

Any advice greatfully received ..

Although there are experts here on that subject I'll try to answer some of the questions as much as I can..

I use goldmaster..dont know exitsts there or not but its highly modifiable (like car engine ) and programmable..

Satellite positioning is the key for DIY.. either you use a small hand tv or some signal powermeter  and need some experience on positions ,otherwise people may think you are desperate DIYer on the roof..

you can use multiple LNBs and one LNB for each receiver..

and if you want to complicate the scenario use a Diseq motor to mess up the things completely like me..And try to watch 16 satellites with one aerial

Seriously choose max 3-4 sats and use fix aerials..
Switching between channels will be very fast..And no freezing in winter and no hair dryer 

hope this helps a bit.. And I pay nothing

[Martin_1962]

Humax HDR is the best UK Satellite system box out there (to seperate from generic boxes costing around £500 as opposed to systems aimed directly at the UK user).

Some of the channels are pretty ropey picture wise eg ITV1, some are stunning eg BBC HD and ITV1 HD

Keep options open and have multiple devices with different sources, we are thunderstorm proof, tropospheric ducting proof and phoneline dug through proof.

[Martin_1962]

For Swindon best answer will be analogue switch off

[Entwood]

Thanks Martin 

As our lad is going traveling around the world for a year or more, he has "donated" his 32" LCD TV that is HD ready to us, to replace our 32" CRT.

My thoughts are to go freesat to get the HD stuff and to get around the unreliable freeview. As the VCR was old when the ark was launched, a PVR as well would make sense.

But this is where my knowledge ends .... my research indicates that the Humax needs a 2-cable input, and I'd like to run another cable to a cheapy reciever in the kitchen ... so I'm guessing I need a "quad LNB" ??

The Humax is just under £300, and it would seem that an installation would be about £150 ... but I'm not sure what LNB and cable runs this would cover. I've found these guys

www.satellitesandaerials.co.uk

I might give them a ring, anything special I should be asking them

[Chris_H]

I nearly bought the Humax Freesat HDD when it first came out.  Backed-off due to poor availability and then decided to build something myself which has not happened yet (naturally).

Humax does need two feeds unless you want to be restricted on the dual recording.  You can DIY it quite easily with dish, LNB and cable and a signal-strength jobby to point the dish with.  There are other models that will get the HD Freesat channels but the EPG is different and they won't understand it unless they are Freesat-badged.

The HD-ready tv will not give you true HD 'cos it's 1366x768 resolution so it will down-res your 1080 picture to suit itself.  Still should be better than SD but don't go bragging down the pub or you'll get massacred.

I understand the BBC HD is pretty good but ITV only transmit it when they feel like it.  Other than that, the other 1 million channels are SD and not all the Freeview ones are there.

All from someone who hasn't got it.

[tunnie]

go for Sky for a year, then cancel.

They can get the dish and set it up, and have cables routed.

[Martin_1962]

Thanks Martin 

As our lad is going traveling around the world for a year or more, he has "donated" his 32" LCD TV that is HD ready to us, to replace our 32" CRT.

My thoughts are to go freesat to get the HD stuff and to get around the unreliable freeview. As the VCR was old when the ark was launched, a PVR as well would make sense.

But this is where my knowledge ends .... my research indicates that the Humax needs a 2-cable input, and I'd like to run another cable to a cheapy reciever in the kitchen ... so I'm guessing I need a "quad LNB" ??

The Humax is just under £300, and it would seem that an installation would be about £150 ... but I'm not sure what LNB and cable runs this would cover. I've found these guys

www.satellitesandaerials.co.uk

I might give them a ring, anything special I should be asking them

Quad LNB is good

Cabling is not difficult, as to aligning - I got someone in to do that bit.

[Martin_1962]

go for Sky for a year, then cancel.

They can get the dish and set it up, and have cables routed.

And get a second rate box, the Sky boxes are not a patch on the Humax Freesat box

[Martin_1962]

I nearly bought the Humax Freesat HDD when it first came out.  Backed-off due to poor availability and then decided to build something myself which has not happened yet (naturally).

Humax does need two feeds unless you want to be restricted on the dual recording.  You can DIY it quite easily with dish, LNB and cable and a signal-strength jobby to point the dish with.  There are other models that will get the HD Freesat channels but the EPG is different and they won't understand it unless they are Freesat-badged.

The HD-ready tv will not give you true HD 'cos it's 1366x768 resolution so it will down-res your 1080 picture to suit itself.  Still should be better than SD but don't go bragging down the pub or you'll get massacred.

I understand the BBC HD is pretty good but ITV only transmit it when they feel like it.  Other than that, the other 1 million channels are SD and not all the Freeview ones are there.

All from someone who hasn't got it.

The Humax is excellent, well worth getting.

Your points are right though

[Entwood]

OK .. the TV is a Bush iD ... model number IDLCD32TV22HD ... it says it is HD ready and has an HDMI slot + 2 SCART. I'm led to believe the HUMAX FOXSAT feeds in through the HDMI connection for all channels, regardless of HD or not..... is this correct  

I'm not understanding "not true HD"  and "1366 x 768 not 1080" bits ...

[TheBoy]

Naturally, I would promote Media Center as the best Freeview/Freesat/Analogue recording system (and Vista with TV Pack 2008, and Windows 7 can do multiple formats at the same time).

It can stream live TV and recordings to other rooms via XBOX360.

[Martin_1962]

OK .. the TV is a Bush iD ... model number IDLCD32TV22HD ... it says it is HD ready and has an HDMI slot + 2 SCART. I'm led to believe the HUMAX FOXSAT feeds in through the HDMI connection for all channels, regardless of HD or not..... is this correct  

I'm not understanding "not true HD"  and "1366 x 768 not 1080" bits ...

Yours is 1366x768P mine is 1920x1080P

Mine is native resolution for HDTV and BluRay - yours will need to upscale 720P and downscale 1080i

You can use scart but no HD and HDMI does work for SDTV

[cem_devecioglu]

go for Sky for a year, then cancel.

They can get the dish and set it up, and have cables routed.