Alternative to sky. Smart tv? Youview?

[LumpySpacePrincessOhMyGlob]

We are about to upgrade our telly and I am having a look around to see if there are any alternatives to sky. Would a smart tv give us the same sort of options and are they recordable. Or would I be better getting a good non smart telly then plugging in a good smart device like blu ray or Apple TV?

We have bt vision, but are thinking of changing to sky....however last time we tried about 5 years ago they told us a tree opposite was in the way. Since then our neighbours have got sky no problem and I would have thought the tree would have been an issue for them too.

BT vision seems expensive for not much to be honest. Get a box to record stuff on and iplayer and a film channel which is rubbish. The boys are happy because now there is a sports channel so have the odd premier league match to watch. We have also looked at Talk Talk you view -with that we could get sky sports too. However I have read terrible reviews of talk talk so am not sure.

We have a smart tv upstairs - gives me iplayer and netflix, but I can't record anything. Have no idea about Apple TV.

Talk talk are a vile company, avoid at all costs.

I've done loads of research this morning but can't really see a good alternative to sky, plus the few channels from sky we do watch don't seem to be available elsewhere.

I think I will still get a Samsung smart tv so I can watch lovefilm.

Oh dear talk talk had potential for us! I spent ages trawling through the options for us too. So far done nothing!

Do you have sky now, if so what do you watch?

Do you live in an area where you get reasonable Freeview reception? Some people have sky due to not getting very many channels on free to air tv.

Do you need live sport?

Do you need the latest movies, or do you tend to watch movies that are 2-10 years old or even older?

Talk talk managed to cut my mil phone off after fil died. I phoned up to change the name on the account then they cut her off, just when she was most vulnerable. They have a terrible record for customer survive, you will probably be fine with them, until something goes wrong.

We currently have sky but watch mostly bbc channels however we also watch Sky Atlantic and the Cartoon Network is mine and dd's favourite channel.

We don't get that many channels with freesat. I may get a smart tv, so we can watch lovefilm, Netflix etc, then convert the sky box into sky freesat but pay to keep the recording functions.

However that still doesn't get us Atlantic or The Cartoon Network.

I may just suck it up and carry on paying into Rupert Murdochs pension fund.