Novalee Posted February 23, 2015 Posted February 23, 2015 So this month I think I will cancel Sky. I currently have TV, phone and fibre internet with them and it costs about £65 a month. We rarely watch TV, particularly 'live' TV. Have a Roku device and stream everything on Netflix, or the odd thing recorded on the Sky box (mainly storage hunters etc! I think most of those type of shows are freeview - well I hope so - must check!) So I want to ditch the TV packages altogether and switch our internet to BT as we have quite poor wireless signal with the Sky router and changing it out isn't an option with them. I would like to get a free-view box which is capable of recording TV though. Does anyone have any recommendations? I don't mind spending up to or about £100 but don't want anything ludicrously 'gadgety' or over the top.
HarryMonkey Posted February 23, 2015 Posted February 23, 2015 (edited) Storage Hunters is on Dave which is not one of the free channels. EDIT: My mistake, it's on Freeview just not on the Sky free channels. Edited February 23, 2015 by HarryMonkey
ChickenDhansak Posted February 23, 2015 Posted February 23, 2015 Whilst it's probably over your budget this is what i bought when cancelling Virgin Buy Humax DTR-T1010 YouView Smart 1TB Freeview+ HD Digital TV Recorder | John Lewis I didn't buy it from JL and you may be able to find it cheaper elsewhere. What I liked about it was the storage (1TB) and the ability to connect it up to our router to stream additional content. If it's not what you're after hopefully the product specs will give you an idea of what is out there.
bossman Posted February 23, 2015 Posted February 23, 2015 @Novalee You only get what you pay for and in my opinion you cannot go far wrong with Humax What they have is brilliant and of course works very well indeed. You could build your own using Xibo and 2 or 3 large drives but for out of the box Humax work very well
Nibiru Posted February 23, 2015 Posted February 23, 2015 Why not just replace the Sky box with a Freesat box Joinfreesat.com - Latest information and products for the new freesat service within the UK for box reviews prices & current channel lineups.
ICTDirect_Dave Posted February 23, 2015 Posted February 23, 2015 (edited) If you're going with BT broadband anyway why not get their basic TV package? It's a fiver a month for all the freeview stuff and you get a nice youview box for free. It's a lovely thing and has all the on demand players for catchup, plus the ability to rent any of the bt boxsets without being committed to a massive monthly fee. Edited February 23, 2015 by ICTDirect_Dave
Novalee Posted February 23, 2015 Author Posted February 23, 2015 Does anyone know the size harddrive in a Sky+ box? Just so I have an idea of how much space I'm likely to need?
HarryMonkey Posted February 23, 2015 Posted February 23, 2015 I think they vary. If you google the model number I'm sure it will tell you.
SteveBentley Posted February 23, 2015 Posted February 23, 2015 Take a look at the FilmOn private channel for Roku - that has a lot of UK channels and I believe it has some kind of cloud PVR functionality
sted Posted February 23, 2015 Posted February 23, 2015 youview from bt isnt bad get discovery and nat geo etc but the box itself is the slowest must unreliable pvr ive ever owned on the 2nd now old one just all programmes i wanted to record were 3 mins long or just diddnt record
Novalee Posted February 24, 2015 Author Posted February 24, 2015 Take a look at the FilmOn private channel for Roku - that has a lot of UK channels and I believe it has some kind of cloud PVR functionality I will have a look at that tonight - sounds interesting. Quite excited to get rid of Sky now!
Nibiru Posted February 24, 2015 Posted February 24, 2015 Does anyone know the size harddrive in a Sky+ box? Just so I have an idea of how much space I'm likely to need? Anything up to 2TB depending on how old the box is.
Arreks Posted February 24, 2015 Posted February 24, 2015 When it comes to free TV it's so confusing, which is the best; YouView, Freeview, FreeSat? I feel like another one pops up every month! Plus there's the possibility of setting up your own media center with Kodi.. it's all too much to handle!
X-13 Posted February 24, 2015 Posted February 24, 2015 It's a fiver a month for all the freeview stuff Which is free... So why would you pay for it? 1
difinity Posted February 24, 2015 Posted February 24, 2015 (edited) Have a look here Arreks Freeview vs Freesat vs YouView - which TV service is best? Am i allowed to say Popcorn Time ?! Edited February 24, 2015 by difinity
Poults Posted February 24, 2015 Posted February 24, 2015 I had the BT box before they switched to youview and it was very clunky and temperamental. Now i have a Humax freesat box, loads better and connects to all the streaming services etc for the catchup tv.
davyboi Posted February 24, 2015 Posted February 24, 2015 I second the Humax Youview box, I have the 500GB one that I think is around £170.00 excellent menu system has access to iPlayer, 4OD, as well as Dave, quest c5 and a couple of other catchup channels I cant think of right now also has Netflix if you have an account. If you download the Youview app and connect it to your box you can view the program listings and set things to record while out and about too!
Norphy Posted February 24, 2015 Posted February 24, 2015 Which is free... So why would you pay for it? You're not paying for FreeView, you're paying for the YouView box. You might prefer to pay a fiver a month over two years for it rather than to splash out £200 or so for one outright.
X-13 Posted February 24, 2015 Posted February 24, 2015 (edited) You're not paying for FreeView, you're paying for the YouView box. You might prefer to pay a fiver a month over two years for it rather than to splash out £200 or so for one outright. Get Freeview | Freeview £129 and you own it forever. You can get them even cheaper if you look around. REALLY cheap is you don't care about the make. Le EDIT: http://www.tesco.com/direct/technology-gaming/digital-tv-recorders/cat3376150.cat Tesco. The cheapest one is £90. Edited February 24, 2015 by X-13
Norphy Posted February 24, 2015 Posted February 24, 2015 Yes, OK, but you get my point. £5 a month might be easier than £90 up front. Just saying. It would still be yours at the end of the contract period as well.
abillybob Posted February 24, 2015 Posted February 24, 2015 Do what I did, get an old PC (£60) install Windows 7, Install DVBViewer, Install Satellite or DVB-S Card int PCI slot, Configure DVB Viewer and turn on the Recording Service, Install Kodi, Point Kodi to the DVBViewer application, Install Kodi add-on's such as YouTube, iPlayer, IceFilms, Navi-X, Netflix, Amazon prime video etc... Point Kodi to a media server (if you have one). Takes no longer than a couple of hours. Done, lovely little box cost all of £69.99 has been working now for 3 years never skipped a beat. Best system I've used.
Kenny_G Posted February 24, 2015 Posted February 24, 2015 I've just moved from Sky to BT. The BT youview box isn't bad at all, I pay for the extra channels which are delivered over the internet. The only issue I've had so far is the internet channels disappearing but this was because the box needed restart after an update. I'm saving about £45 per month by moving from sky.
ChickenDhansak Posted February 24, 2015 Posted February 24, 2015 (edited) youview from bt isnt bad get discovery and nat geo etc but the box itself is the slowest must unreliable pvr ive ever owned on the 2nd now old one just all programmes i wanted to record were 3 mins long or just diddnt record @sted There's a workaround for the 'only recording 3 minutes of a program' fault. It involves factory resetting the box (which you can do whilst saving any recordings that you want to keep). I've had to do that once and it cured the problem. PM me if you want the full instructions. Edited February 24, 2015 by ChickenDhansak
jinnantonnixx Posted February 24, 2015 Posted February 24, 2015 (edited) I'd recommend a Humax box all day long. I've got an old Humax Freesat FOXSAT-HDR box (which pre-dates Freetime/Youview) partnered with a Chromecast for Netflix, IPlayer and all the other demand/catchup stuff. Humax are solid and reliable, and run cool and quiet. Edited February 24, 2015 by jinnantonnixx 1
steveg Posted February 24, 2015 Posted February 24, 2015 Why not keep the current sky box and just put a freeview card in it? They cost £20 from sky, this is what I have done in my bedroom, lets me record the same as if I paid for it, but can only watch the free channels. Steve 1
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