Advice Needed The best satellite receiver for free uk channels

[Raule]

Hi, I hope that my post is in the right section.

We just done house extension with beautiful conservatory and I want to get some satellite receiver with my old 32 inch TV, so I can watch free UK channels in the extension. Any suggestions?

 

[Channel Hopper]

How many cables have you run to the TV point?

 

[Analoguesat]

Welcome! If you just want the free channels then a Freesat receiver is plug & play if the dish is all set up correctly. Full epg without any faffing around with plugins or downloads. The disadvantage is that many fta channels dont appear on the epg.

A secondhand Sky box will give you everything, but you then have to suffer the epg being cluttered up with hundreds of unwatchable pay channels.

A cheap fta box will alow full customisation of the channel lists but wont track channels that move frequency so you need to do housekeeping on it once a month or so.

At the end of the day its up to you

 

[Lazarus]

I see you are a Dreambox user, so suggest either a cheapo generic box (£30 or less) or a proprietary Freesat box

 

[Raule]

Thanks for the answers, I don't know much about cables but I have about 15-20 metres of coaxial cable from the dish to the TV Point.
I remember we had trouble with one sky box so I don't know is the time we can spend setting up worth it. I search google last night for receivers and I stopped on two good ones (I think) Vu + Solo2 and HUMAX HDR-1100S . Able to record tv series while not at home is a great thing.

 

[Analoguesat]

If you are new to satellite tv the Vu+ is a bad choice - its a high end enthusiasts receiver. To get the best out of it can take a long time. The Hummy is a Freesat receiver - an excellent choice.

 

[daro2096]

I agree with Analoguesat the Vu+ receivers are not for the fainthearted. It took me several days to get the hang of the Duo 2 box.

 

[4wd]

Vu + Solo2 and HUMAX HDR-1100S .

2 different worlds :O) Have owned both.

Humax: unpack, power on, watch, full epg, record. Freesat app, on demand player. All locked down, simplicity.

VU: unpack, scratch one's head, choose an image, mount a harddisk, scan channels, sort channnels, get to know the menus, download wanted plugins, learn how to do settings\channels etc backups, etc etc. After a 'short' :O) time: power on, watch, full epg (openPLI), record. Tons of possibilities, needs initial work.

Now, which one do I use and like? 111% the VU+ (sold the Humax). More sensitive tuners (important here), recordings not encrypted (can be downloaded\saved\watched\editied on pc), network\internet possibilities, user interface\looks\remote etc etc configurable. Exellent for other sats than 28e. Once set up, just works.

Good luck.

 

[daro2096]

Second hand Vu+ Duo2 receivers are selling for about £100 to £200 on eBay for the last 3 months. The price depends on tuner card configuration. I sold mine for about £140. Was disappointed it didn't go higher. Hoping to get the Ultimo 4K or Duo 4K box in the future when funds permit.

 

[daro2096]

Welcome! If you just want the free channels then a Freesat receiver is plug & play if the dish is all set up correctly. Full epg without any faffing around with plugins or downloads. The disadvantage is that many fta channels dont appear on the epg.

Most Freesat receivers are capable of scanning in non freesat channels. Some can even do Diseqc switching in other satellites mode.