TV Package Alternatives

[RoseGold24]

Hi everyone, wasn't really sure what to name this tbh! Basically I'm a bit clueless about tv - currently spending £50 a month on Virgin TV and broadband. Current strategy is just calling them to say I can't afford it every time my 'discount' wears off. But can't help but think there's a cheaper option. Rather than loads of tv channels, my priority is recording shows, pausing, rewinding etc. Can anyone recommend eg a Freeview box that is cost effective?

Thanks!!

We cut our Virgin Media down to broadband only. We then took the hit one month and purchased a Smart TV, which we didn't have before. The Smart TV comes with free view type channels then we pay a monthly sub to Netflix and Prime.

The cost of the TV was 8 months worth of the savings from the Virgin change we made, so before the end of a year we were saving money on what we had before.

We already had a Netflix sub, so the cost of the Prime sub is obviously new but we use it for deliveries too, so feel it's better value than paying Virgin Media.

We don't watch anything "live" at the time it's aired. We always watch everything via catch up apps.

What sort of tv do you have? Is it internet connected? You could use terrestrial tv with a digital recorder. We have a smart tv and can plug in a normal external hard disk drive to use as a tv recorder.

Thanks guys! It's a kinda smart tv, as in there are some apps but not much opportunity to pause etc. I probably just need to work out what it can do!

I've got rid of Sky and bought a Freeview plus box which lets me record as you would do with your sky planner....I also have a friend who has installed Kodi on her Amazon fire TV box and she gets all the latest series and films....bit glitchy but as long as you've got decent BB it's fine....Google it and you'll see how to do it....completely free but a bit of a pain and also probs illegal....

The Freeview plus box also lets you pause rewind etc and has iPlayer and others built into it....it's a Humax from Argos about £100

Yes we have a Freeview Humax with recorder. As the name suggests, once you've bought the box, it's free! We pay for some streaming services, but tend to chop and change depending on what series we're watching.

As an aside, almost everything in these TV packages can be subscribed to separately via a streaming service at the fraction of that cost per month. For example what you find on the SKY entertainment channels can be streamed via NOWTV for less than £10 a month (they often have offers, so I've had long periods where it's just a few £ a month). When the shows you're watching end, and there's not much else you want to watch, you just cancel. I would never go back to a package again.

Anyone know how to do this with Sky Sports/BT Sport?

Amazon prime day is happening in a couple of weeks. You'll be able to buy a fire stick and make your current tv access more apps.

I'd reccomend something like a Roku stick or Now TV box. We have both with non-smart TV's, no subscriptions needed to use and there's iplayer and other channels. Only subscription we have currently is Disney Plus (using clubcard points), though can easily add Netflix, Amazon prime and various sky packages if you want the latter on the Now TV box only.

We also don't watch many things 'live' but don't need to record either as everything is available to stream.

We:
have a Humax to record live TV
have a Roku to watch our streaming services
and subscribe to Prime, Netflix and Disney+, all three together for significantly less than £50 a month.

I have a BT freeview plus box, this allows you to record, pause and rewind. No subscription. I used to be with Sky, but their costs are ridiculous, so switched to the freeview box.

If you live in a poor terrestrial TV signal area and already have a Sky dish, Freesat could be an option. You have to pay up front for the box, or you could do as we did for a couple of years, use the old Sky box. You lose the option to record though. There’s no subscription required.

Does anyone know if there's a way to get Freeview via broadband? We all have to have Sky on our road as we can't get terrestrial TV signal, I know we could just use a fire stick but you can't flick through channels (or have a tv guide). I hate giving Sky so much money

We all have to have Sky on our road as we can't get terrestrial TV signal.

Just use Freesat. That is what we do. You do need Sky.

Don’t need Sky!

So regret getting sky q as with the old dish and box cities have used Freesat for free but have to pay now . .

Thanks

@Matchingcollarandcuffs If you get a Freesat HD box, and it has to be the Freesat HD box specifically, it can use the same dish thingy as Sky Q. That is what we have.

You can find them on eBay. Customer returns are a good buy and have a guarantee. Non recordable boxes are cheapest.

The same LNB as Sky Q.

ooh thanks @Zazdar

Genuine question, because I've often thought about a box that can record - but is there anything that needs recording these days that isn't also available on demand (at least once it's aired traditionally)?

What I am not getting?

Films are often not on demand, also some of the less well known channels don’t have streaming available.

You can pause and rewind live TV with a recordable box, which is very useful if you need to pop to the loo.

You can also do away with watching adverts if you record, and fast forward through them. If you watch something via the likes of All4, you can't skip the adverts.