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Mondays child
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19-05-2018, 09:38 AM
1

What kind of TV for satellite

I dont have a tv aerial but instead have a satellite dish.
Ive been using an old skybox that was given to me as a freesat box.

However I have had to scrap both box and TV now.
I believe that these days you can buy TVs that have freesat/freeview built in. What are these TVs called so I know what I am looking for.
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19-05-2018, 12:54 PM
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Re: What kind of TV for satellite

The TV's in question do not have specific names, they are just referred to as 'Freesat/freeview' TV's.

Just make sure the antenna output on the TV matches that of the aerial you intend to use. My AOC tv (bought from Tesco in 2011) only has the traditional push on aerial connection but where i am living, the aerial happens to be a satellite dish (screw terminal on the wall in the flat) which means i have to use a separate freeview box that has the right aerial connections.

I therefore spent extra on a TV that has freeview built in which turns out i could not use so had to purchase a separate box that plugs into the TV.

If your looking for a freeview TV, don't make the same mistake.
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19-05-2018, 01:09 PM
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Re: What kind of TV for satellite

You said you don't have an aerial? Pretty sure you need one even if freeview is built in to the telly as it has to get the signal from somewhere.

I don't use my aerial as I watch all my telly through my Skybox.
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19-05-2018, 04:43 PM
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Re: What kind of TV for satellite

Originally Posted by Nicol ->
You said you don't have an aerial? Pretty sure you need one even if freeview is built in to the telly as it has to get the signal from somewhere.

I don't use my aerial as I watch all my telly through my Skybox.
Freeview can be received in two different ways TV aerial or satellite dish.

Majority of houses have the old fashioned TV aerial. When Freeview was released, to receive it you needed an updated TV aerial or the old one modified with an additional part that gets added to the aerial (my father has one). The cable from the wall socket is still the same cable, just push it into the antenna connector on the back of the TV.

The 2nd option is to use satellite signal which requires the use of additional equipment, such as a freeview box, sky box or virgin media box. When my sky subscription ran out, i just used the skybox as a makeshift freeview box because even though it blocked the 'paid' channels, it still allowed the 'free' channels to be shown. (skybox went faulty few months ago)

Now i am looking around for a decent priced freeview box with a satellite dish antenna connection because the block of flats i live in, the old fashioned TV aerial does not work but the satellite dish does and my TV only has the old push fit TV aerial connection, not the satellite screw connection.
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19-05-2018, 06:20 PM
5

Re: What kind of TV for satellite

Yes I was doing the same.
When I first moved here was given a TV, plugged in the aerial but could not get a picture then realised that the aerial cable was just that, an aerial cable there was no actual aerial on the roof, the one I could see was next doors.
So my on gave me his old skybox to try with the satellite cable also in the lounge. Worked a treat in fact for two days I had all the channels then suddenly it changed and I could only get the free ones, about 80+ channels in all.

My son doesnt watch the normal channels instead he seems to be only watching netflix channels. I do not know how he does this.
I have been given a netflix stick but its still in the box unused.

So really what your saying is I need to buy a TV with freesat installed or buy a TV and a freesat box.

Or I just cancel my TV licence payments and dont bother with a TV and make do with Amazon Prime on my Tablet and my iPlayer radio programs and YouTube.
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19-05-2018, 07:24 PM
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Re: What kind of TV for satellite

The tv you need must be able to receive freesat, the cable from your satellite dish will plug into the back of the tv, you will then receive freesat and afaik freeview, just make sure whatever tv you buy has this, or you could buy a freesat recorder the cable will connect in the same way but you will be able to record programmes,
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19-05-2018, 09:12 PM
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Re: What kind of TV for satellite

Originally Posted by Primus1 ->
The tv you need must be able to receive freesat, the cable from your satellite dish will plug into the back of the tv, you will then receive freesat and afaik freeview, just make sure whatever tv you buy has this, or you could buy a freesat recorder the cable will connect in the same way but you will be able to record programmes,
Primus1 is correct.

An easy breakdown of each is as follows

Freeview = over the air digital signal requiring traditional looking TV aerial.

Freesat = over the air digital signal requiring a satellite dish.

If your place of residence does not have a traditional aerial on the roof but it has a satellite dish then you need to be looking for a TV that has Freesat (cable plugs directly into the back of the TV).

To use a TV with Freeview with a property that does not have a traditional aerial on the roof but has a satellite dish, to use the satellite dish you need to have a 'receiver box' that the dish and TV plug into.
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20-05-2018, 05:26 PM
8

Re: What kind of TV for satellite

Originally Posted by Mondays child ->
I believe that these days you can buy TVs that have freesat/freeview built in. What are these TVs called so I know what I am looking for.
In all honesty I wouldn't concentrate on that. The level of functionality of the Freeview/Freesat facilities isn't what most people would be looking for.

Don't you want to be able to record your favourite programmes when you are not there? Or build up a store of your favourite movies and programmes?

Most people do and as a result they buy a "DigiBox" of some kind for that purpose.

There's a % of the population who are bought into Sky's offerings and thus have the Sky Plus boxes which will record programmes.

I've never subscribed to Murdock's Sky empire and never will. I don't want to be paying monthly subscriptions and I don't like the way they operate.

So I bought myself a high tech, high functioning DigiBox called a MiracleBox. It has 3 TV tuners in it, all Freeview tuners which means I can record up to 12 programmes simultaneously. It does series link recording and has a wide range of functionality, way way above the likes of Sky's rather low tech old kit.

Now, all of these Digiboxes have tuners built in to be able to use Freeview or Freesat or Sky.

That being the case, having a TV with built in Freeview or Freesat is somewhat redundant.

If you have a Digibox, then of course you are going to plug that into your TV and you'll be watching Freeview/Freesat using that box rather than using the TV's built-in Freeview/Freesat.

Therefore my advice would be to just spend the money on a really good TV set that doesn't have silly bells and whistles but rather just has outstanding picture and sound.

Then ensure you buy a really good Digibox to go with it.
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21-05-2018, 09:09 AM
9

Re: What kind of TV for satellite

Hi all, thank you for your advice.
I have to be honest and confess that I'm not very well up on all this technology thing as I hid myself away for a couple of years so have lost touch a bit.
I can usually latch onto things pretty quickly though and all your explanations have been very helpful. Thank you.
 

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