Adrian arrived at about three-fifty yesterday afternoon to link our satellite dish to Freesat. Straightforward enough: replace the LNB with a multiple LNB in the satellite dish; align cable from dish along guttering, down wall and in to house; connect cable to Freesat connection on television.
Adrian, of Ultrabeam Aerials in east Belfast, is, in my experience, most helpful, honest and charges reasonable rates. He must have spent forty-five minutes with us and charged £65, including a quad LNB and cable.
What is my verdict, so far, on Freesat? It's a real revelation; such a change. I have the basic, free-to-air Sky package known as "Freesatfromsky" and Freesat has effectively made this, and my Sky set-top box, redundant! Freesat has dozens of channels - including a Russian one - and, essential for me, it has all the BBC and ITV regions. The reception seems to be even better, possibly because the integrated Freesat on the telly omits the need for a set-top box and connects directly in to the TV.
On Freesat picture and sound quality is impeccable; not so much as a hint of shadowing. For high definition - HD - on BBC you are prompted to tune in to their HD channel 108 for HD simulcasts; whereas, on ITV, you are advised to press your Red Button. I have only watched ten or fifteen minutes of HD - Cortes - and, I can tell you, it is most impressive; not only the more detailed picture but the sound quality too. It would sound clichéd to describe it as crystal-clear.
I may seriously consider a Freesat Plus HDD recorder next!
3 comments :
Will have to consider Freesat. I have no problems with Freeview but I am very tempted by the idea of having the BBC regions, so I can get programmes such as Have I Got News For You when they're supposed to be aired, rather than at 12:40am on Saturday morning!
Precisely. I even get the Radio Times London Edition sent to me by post every Tuesday! It costs £1 a week.
If you read the Freesat website, they claim to have almost double the amount of Freeview channels.
Tim
Just don't get fleeced by unscrupulous or under-trained staff. A standard box should cost you less than £60, and an HD box no more than £135. Shop around and you should be able to get one a fair bit cheaper. As for installation, many of the HIgh Street sellers will try to force you to get it installed by them, or at best via them. There is no need for this. You can do it yourself if you have the inclination (especially if you already have a Sky dish in situ) but an indie installer will usually work out much cheaper.
Good luck. And enjoy.
Nik from DAS TV
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