Freesat free-to-view satellite TV

Freesat!! BBC and ITV to start Sky TV rival

Yeah they are right there I wonder how many of them are expats ???

I wonder if we will get the UKTV channels too ???

Sorry far-lands, you misunderstood that one a wee bit :$

Freeview is the official name of the UK DVB-T system. The DVB-T network in the UK currently fails to reach a quarter of the market, hence the statement that they live outside the coverage area.
With Freesat, the missing 25% will soon have the possibility of receiving free-to-air satellite channels (along with the expats of course )

Now as a punishment, write out 700 times "I must learn to differentiate freeview from freesat"

Presumably if all anyone wants is BBC and ITV, then with both being (in future) in the clear, no need for the receiver to be a Sky box anymore...

Or am I mistaken... ?

yes, slightly. AFAIK Channel 4 and 5 will not be part of the deal. 4 & 5 have only last yeas lengthened their contract with sky ...

Yes I was talking only about BBC and ITV. But maybe it's only a matter of time now...

has anyone got a freesat receiver and got it to work???

Yes. Now what's your problem?

well, you've probably guessed, I haven't yet got it to work! It asks me for a postcode (UK of course!) what do you enter...any tips you have will be greatly appreciated!

It uses the postcode to select what regional programmes you get to see...so enter your old UK postcode...

Not true...

It is "Supposed to" !!

When I selected a Humberside Postcode, it gave me ITV Central!

well...that is at least better than not entering a postcode and not getting anything...

I was going to wait until my next trip to UK but I am thinking about trying to pick one up online. Now I read the new DVR/HD box releases on Sept 11 so I may wait again.

Since someone actually has it, how is the programing. Is it worthwhile to watch or are there more shopping channels than real programing?

Sounds like the ultimate solution!

I sure hope dom figured out what to enter when he was asked for a postocde.
Dom... Did you manage to get a picture yet?

Where did you read that the Freesat PVR will be out in September? The last I heard was this thread on AV Forums which states that Humax will be demoing a pre-release version at a trade show in September.

yes and no...I entered the postcode for london and got a picture which disappeared after a few minutes. This had more to do with the weather as it p*ssed down and I think the dish has been jogged!
To be honest, I'm having a nightmare with this whole business! As soon as electricians hear that I want UK and German TV they tell me "oohh, ich lass die Finger davon weg!" I am left wondering how I will get 8 wires into the house from the roof!

Typical German "Over the top" installation by the sounds of it!

There is one local Installer here in Munich claiming its not possible to get BBC here on a 1.5m dish!

Just because he cant fucking do it!

Idiots

dito.

I had someone here try and he miserably f**ked up. A lot wont even try setting up towards astra 2d.

the guy here had a hell of a time aligning our dish to receive from Astra 2d, even with the correct equipment. It took him about 3 hours in the end. Our dish is 80cm and quality was just over half way in the end.

What??

You need only a 75cm Dish in Hiedelberg...

I can get BBC etc on a 75cm dish in Munich, but the wether needs to be clear..

G

Some channels have a weaker signal than others. The worst for me were BBC3 and ITV2 + 1. My dish got knocked a bit and those channels broke up all the time while the others were ok, then when bad weather hit the other BBC channels were always the first to go. Bavaria Satellite came and adjusted the dish and now i hardly ever lose picture (unless there is a really big storm with thick black clouds). Oh and i got a smiley face drawn into the dust on the dish which brightens the garden, to boot.

Kätzchen, if the guy doing the installing doesn't have a clue, it doesn't matter what sized dish you have (except that an over-sized dish can make focussing it harder than the correct size).

What I cannot comprehend: why do you have to knock up a perfectly-shaped piece of metal yourself in order to sit the 2-3 LNB's on it correct??? Why don't hama or someone sell some decent gear like that...the prices seem high enough that they charge!!

huh? You can.

I just wanna know why ITV2+1 disappeared and the program guide for many channels has also disappeared?

bad weather blocking the signal for the EPG?

where from??

Nah, they disappeared a couple months ago and on more than one receiver.

any decent satellite supplier will have one. You could probably find one in one of the bigger MediaMarkt. Bavaria Satellite fitted an LNB bracket for me in my old apartment when i wanted German TV as well as British.

Multi-feed-holders-R-us

The messages here seem old. Can anyone bring me/us up to date? What will be shown on Freesat (don't need to know what won't be shown!!!) The pickings on freeview are soooo meager.
I assume you do need a special box. Do you need a special card, too? Maybe has all been answered before. If so, sorry, but go on and tell it again.

Freesat website where channels are listed. You don't NEED a special box, unless you want the swanky EPG (which can be quite useful) or to receive ITV-HD. The promised PVR has yet to arrive.

I'll let you know on that one. It is theoretically possible to pick up ITV HD with a normal HD box. I just keep forgetting to take my laptop home to perform the channel editting ^^,

Theoretically it's possible, but it's not easy for the common man. You need to know how to manually set-up transponder feeds and ITV-HD changed parameters three times since launch which needs a box-reprogram each time. They don't want non-Freesat box owners to get it easily...

Thanks for the link. I just looked and most of the channels are on my German Receiver. However, I do not get Channel4 or Entertainment. Any ideas? Am I just not looking correctly?

Nope, you are not programming correctly. ALL Freesat channels are are non-encrypted, so available on any digital receiver and correctly sized and aligned dish. Assuming dish is ok (Channel4 needs a larger dish, like BBC/ITV) then it's simply a case of re-programming.

Manually programme the receiver..

10729 V 22000 5/6
10714 H 22000 5/6

This will get you the CH4 offerings. These frequencies may not be pre-programmed into your receiver.

There seem to be a lot of Satellite receivers with HDTV and Hard disks available here in Germany.
Would that be the right thing to get to recieve and record from Freesat? Is DVB-S the correct standard to go for?

DVB-S is a generic term for digital satellite TV services and covers free-to-air digital UK services. Not all HD receivers can receive BBC HD (due to the compression algorithms used) but most newer ones can. ITV HD is is similarly complicated if HD services are important to you. Personally I'd wait for official Freesat (HD) PVRs to be available (promised before Christmas), as then you can make use of the Freesat EPG for recording set up. German receivers/PVRs can't interpret the Freesat (or Sky) EPG so are less use for setting up automated recording.