Freesat+ machine question

Ian D J

Ian D J

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Ian D J
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Bit of a "noob" question.

I have brought a Samsung Freesat+ HDD recorder from a friend and is on it's way via the Royal Mail . . . but then (and I'm sure we have all done it), the more I looked through google to find out what I can do and what I cannot do with it, the more I'm thinking "Ah, I think I might have messed up".

Basically the plan is to hook it up to the existing outdoor aerial (that itself has been installed very recently), will I be able to recieve all them lovely HD channels (eg BBC HD, etc) without spending more money to have a disk fitted?
But if that doesn't work, can I still use the machine as a standard definition freeview recorder anyway? (Which is the reason why I bought it, the HD part is really a bonus thing).

PS: The telly is a Samsung HD ready 40 ins LCD.
 
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Its a freesat device. You need a satellite dish not an aerial. You need a freeview box.
 
Ah, thank you. I guess I'm now faced with the choice of sending the machine back or spend money to have a dish fitted.

Update: Just got in touch with the seller, he admitted it was his fault in not mentioning that it needs a dish to make it work and will cancel the paypal transfer (he hadn't got around to posting the machine off yet).

Hence a lesson has been taught, there is a difference between freesat and freeview (and I have no interest in getting Sky).
 
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The humax fox-t2 is a decent box. Richersounds have some left and humax direct have a few refurbs.
 
:agree: The Fox T2 is a great freeview dvr.
 
Duly noted, I shall look into those instead. :)
 
Like you I have no desire to get Sky and give them £30 a month for 500 channels of stuff I'll not watch.
I was looking into Youview which is like freeview but has added bbc iplayer/4OD/itvplayer etc built in so you can scroll backwards and watch stuff from up to a week before as well as record stuff.
In the end I couldnt decide if there was a decent youview box out there or not so Im still using freeview.
 
The one heather posted is the same as the one Ive had for donkeys years. Very good but no HD.
As you've got a new aerial fitted and a 40" telly Id be tempted to hold out for a HD capable freeview recorder. Depends on finances and what you want though of course.
 
if you have a tv that can pick up hd then you don't need to do a thing just plug it in and freview does the rest. you can check if it a hd free view buy seeing if you have channel 101 bbd hd
 
DorsetDude said:
Like you I have no desire to get Sky and give them £30 a month for 500 channels of stuff I'll not watch.
I was looking into Youview which is like freeview but has added bbc iplayer/4OD/itvplayer etc built in so you can scroll backwards and watch stuff from up to a week before as well as record stuff.
In the end I couldnt decide if there was a decent youview box out there or not so Im still using freeview.
Click to expand...

The youview platform is a bit on the iffy side. There is another pvr that now offers the backwards epg. The new generation of smart tvs and smart pvrs have on demand anyway. The youview platform doesn't currently support the mheg-ic channels ie those in the 200s either.

I had several humax youview boxes one after another. None of them worked properly. If they're free with a low price sub you can ditch after a year then they're worth it. I'd value a youview box at roughly £70. I paid £130 for mine and some people paid up to £300. I sent it back and got a full refund after having 3 in 2 months. They're not a premium product by any stretch of the imagination. The build and software quality is on a par with bobby no name cheapies from Aldi. In fact ones from Aldi would probably last longer and Aldi tend to offer a 3 year warranty.
 
Hi and good morning from a sunny Folkestone.

Wow, didn't quite expect this much response! But now I've slept on it and things has been squared up with the seller (he found himself another buyer this morning) I've decided to put the recorder business on the back burner for now, especially since any programmes I've missed can be seen on iPlayer and such like.
Actually, I do have a spare PC and a digital tuner and that could be used as a makeshift recorder? Probably won't be as intuitive as using a dedicated device and end up getting bored of it.
 
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Had a go at hooking up a previously redundant freeview set-top box to a spare PC via a composite connection and then configured the Windows Media remote control to do the channel changing, recording, etc . . . and it works! Granted, it isn't cutting edge HD technology and there's now two machines that will have to be plugged in, but at least I now have a simple recorder should I need to use it.
Cost: nil. :banana:
 
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Tigger.ufo said:
That's the sort of cost I like! ;)
Click to expand...

;)

However, today I have decided to upgrade the system by attaching a £19.99 digital TV dongle to the PC as it frees up the plug being used by the freeview set top box and the video quality is better now that it's via USB rather than using composite RGB connection. Not quite so much as a Heath-Robinson set up and I didn't even have to calibrate the remote control.
I have even set the Window Media Player to always show Closed Captions by default every time I turn it on and included in any recording (I'm hard of hearing).
 
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