freeview v freesat is it worth it

I hope so. I have the 9200T and have just bought from Argos the Humax FoxSat HDR complete with twin FreeSat installation. The box should arrive in time for xmas. The installation won't be until the new year

you wont be disappointed!

pj, if you'd  got a independant aerial/ satellite installer to fit the dish in all likelyhood  you could of had it set up in time for xmas and definitely would have saved some money!

Just got off the phone with the installers.....they're coming xmas eve. Hoping that the Hummy will get here before then. What's the chances d'ya reckon?

that's a result!

hmmm..... well they are in pretty short supply still, so who knows. did argos not give you a delivery date?

Thanks guys for the replies . i do miss men and motors on freeview just wondered if you can get top up tv to get uk gold i would still like to see only fools and horses even tho i have seen many times but still make me laugh , also are the extra channels worth it daveh 75 taking that i think you have one ?

there's no top up tv option, but there is a ci slot on the box so could be an option in the future"maybe". but yeah i'd still say it's worth getting

the thing i'm finding most useful at the moment is the box will prompt you if a sd program is available in hd and also if there's a recording clash will let you know if the program is available at another time

Personally I'm glad there's not top up option, its just the thin edge of the wedge towards the best channels going pay for view.

As for content, I'm finding plenty most nights.

Only disappointment to me is ITV HD and thats not the quality but the way it functions (although Star Wars Attack of the Clones looked pretty poor to me for HD, but True Lies was very good in places (more likely transfer than ITV broadcast on True Lies)) . Red Button system simply doesn't work with well with PVR's as breaks for news in SD can cause problems and there have been several instances of incorrect EPG programming. eg. Only 1/2 of the programme, no HD option offered despite HD transmission etc.

If you get a good quality Freeview picture, I personally don't see the point in Freesat at the moment.  There are a lot of low quality (both content and bitrate) channels around. If you have an existing sky dish but no sky box, perhaps it's worth getting but I thought there was better on offer from sky's own non-subscription service.  There simply isn't enough on HD to justify the cost of the HD boxes at the moment in my opinion, perhaps it will improve (we were spoiled over the summer).  ITV-HD is pointless and very poor when compared to BBC HD.

I have a HD Humax Freesat box (and PZ81) which I have now moved to the bedroom.  The SD picture over HDMI was very poor in my opinion, it was better via SCART.

If you want HD broadcasting, sky HD is the only way to go.  Sure, it's expensive but in this case, you definitely do get what you pay for.

D4V3PUM4

As to sky over freeview without subscription what extra channels would i get ( never had sky )
sky plus boxes are pretty cheap but wont record ? i do have a dish on the house and cables any thoughts thanks

has2mow, see here for sky "freesat" channel line up. yes sky+ boxes are cheap at the moment, but as you mention without subscription the record function doesn't work! which kinda makes it pointless. so if you was to go down "sky freesat" route i would just get a standard sky box, but i'd still go for freesat over skys "freesat" anyday

if you buy the humax freesat box and choose non freesat in the menu you get most of the channels sky are offering as well as your freesat channels

d4v3pum4:

If you get a good quality Freeview picture, I personally don't see the point in Freesat at the moment.  There are a lot of low quality (both content and bitrate) channels around.

I have to disagree.

Whereas the SD bit rate isn't quite as high as on Freeview, there's very little difference in the picture. Initially I thought there was, but some programmes really shine eg. Home and Away on Five for instance almost looks HD. In recent episodes you've been able to see detail and blemishes in Lea's and Martha's faces that I've simply never seen before in over 10 years of watching the soap. Also, the detail in Roman's flat and the corridor oustide is amazing - I actually noticed a plant out there for the 1st time ever the other day and you can see the grain in the stone in the walls!

There are other programmes that shine as well. Bottom line is there's good and bad programming quality on both services and the provider can only transmit at the quality thats there.

Freesat has a better long term future for bandwidth period. Freeview has no where to go other than increased compression as the government is selling off the spare frequencies freed up by analogue switch off. Astra 2D might be full on Freesat, but Astra have put another satelite up to take the pressure off 2D so no doubt in the future as some services (maybe Sky) get transferred across, bandwidth will be come available in large amounts. Thats my opinion anyway.

On Freeview vs Freesat, this is a comparison shot I did of a HD Camcorder (Canon HV30) video shot by me - these are 2 screen captures side by side.

One on the left is Freeview compression level ie. 4.5mbs. One on right is Freesat compression level ie. 3.7mbs.

Same clip, different output compression. Can you see any difference in detail because I can't:

http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/9339/compressiontesthj0.jpg

Also videos here - 4.5mbs compression: - http://vimeo.com/2520884

                           3.7mbs compression: - http://vimeo.com/2520891

daveh75 thanks for the link most interesting reading so if i get a sky box i can get extra channels foc over freeview , i can then see what is on and then put this into the bedroom as the box there has never been any good from new , im not to fussed about hd as the picture quality were getting is outstanding but then what would hd be like . i could then fit a freesat box downstairs with extra channels and hd the only problem is then the picture would hammer the sound into another level , i will be changing the amp when i know what to buy ? i have hdmi and s to projector , what i would like to do is to have only one wire to tv and projector and the amp will do the rest my friend has a harmon and what ever lead he puts in the amp converts it to one type of lead ? many thanks again and a merry xmas to you all

Well, apparently Argos (or Home Delivery Network Ltd to be more precise) tried to deliver my Hummy yesterday....but couldn't find the house despite having delivered to the road before (the telephonist told me so).

She asked for special instructions...I told her we were right next door to number n. I have given them my telephone number but, apparently, they are unable to contact their drivers. So, if they can't find the house today, it'll have to be tomorrow.

We have put a great big flag outside the house with No 1 written on it.

We've never had this problem before.

Can anyone smell it? Cos I can.

The hummy has landed. Delivered around 13:00....just as a delivery of logs arrived! Will post some pictures shortly.