Is Freesat the solution?

[admin_exported]

My girlfriend lives in an area with poor TV reception and keeps saying that she needs to investigate a new ariel and whatever is neccessary to improve the signal. This week during the bad weather she is getting no picture at all on freeview later in the evening and only a very sparkly picture on analogue. In addition to this she started talking about getting a freeview PVR (Humax).

It was suggested to her that she would be better investing in a Freesat set up with a Humax Foxsat PVR. The cost of this would be approx £250 + £100 for dish and fiting.

If she were to go down the route of a new ariel, the cost could be quite substantial and although there should be an improvement in quality, there would be no guarantee it would be as she would like.

The question is, would installing Freesat be the solution? The priority is to obtain acceptable reception on SD channels. HD reception, for what it is worth at the moment, would be a bonus.

 

[Big Aura]

If you check Wolfbane (just plug in the postcode), it will give you a clue as to how strong the freeview reception actually is. It's far from gospel, but it's a decent indicator. This should help you decide whether you want a better aerial, or switch to a sat dish.
Freesat, on the other hand, is (obviously) more certain, and you will get, as you say, the bonus of BBC HD and ITV HD, assuming there's a HD telly in the mix. Note that ITV HD is very rarely broadcast, although your girlfriend will have the benefit of the Champions League (!) to look forward to.

 

[Anonymous]

I would have thought it would be worth getting a good aerial installer to check the current aerial and cable first. I had to replace my ageing narrowband aerial last year with a wideband one to get all the Freeview channels to tune properly. THe aerial installer will also know if reception is a problem in the local area and be able to advise accordingly and probably install a dish if Freesat is a better option.

 

[Naxos]

I've had Freesat since last February, and in the recent snow falls here in Berkshire I've actually lost the signal twice as snow built up on the dish/LNB. We still have our old indoor aeriel for Freeview, so I re-connected this until I was able to get on a ladder and brush the snow away. Does anyone else have this problem regularly at all?

Other than that, no probs at all with Freesat, so on balance I would say it's the way to go if weak reception is the problem.

 

[Big Aura]

don't forget - Liverpool v Reading on ITV HD this evening!

 

[Dave_]

Big Aura:don't forget - Liverpool v Reading on ITV HD this evening!Provided they manage to keep the HD feed up and running

 

[Big Aura]

ceteris paribus!

 

[PIPPI]

Daveh75 di ITV normally have problems with HD. Watching a program a couple of weeks ago and on freesat and Sky HD, ITV HD kept going back to Sd.

 

[Dave_]

I know.ITV are rank amateur when it comes to HD,hence my comment.

 

[Anonymous]

You could always buy a HD TV with built in Freesat which includes free HD channels and a dish no box required! check out Freesat site.

http://www.freesat.co.uk/index.php?page=products.Products&type_id=4