Freesat feedback thread - Non Testers: what would you do with an extra £360 a year? You could win a Freesat+ box NOW CLOSED

[AngelieMumsnet]

This is the feedback thread for the 15 testers who have received a new Freesat+ TV box and who are currently trying it out in their homes.
Freesat say "Hello. We're freesat. We believe you shouldn't have to pay a monthly subscription to watch and listen to 180 channels of the best comedy, drama, sport, lifestyle, music and news. We offer free HD services from ITV, the BBC and Channel 4; freesat+ to record pause and rewind, BBC iPlayer, ITV Player, 4oD and Demand; and all subscription free."

Freesat launched last Autumn which includes a Roll Back TV Guide that allows you to watch programmes you've missed from the previous seven days across 21 channels, a new showcase section providing top TV picks chosen daily by Freesat's reviewers, on-demand services and enhanced recordings.

Freesat is a subscription free service and Freesat+ boxes are available to buy from a range of retailers - RRP from £226.


If you're not a tester, Freesat would love to hear from you. An average satellite TV bill (including On Demand services) is around £30 per month, if you could have Freesat what would you with an extra £30 per month (£360 per year). Everyone who adds a comment will be entered into a prize draw where one winner will receive a Freesat Humax box.

Testers: we'll be asking you to add feedback twice - we'd like your first impressions now and in a couple of weeks (or when you're ready) we would like you to answer the follow-up questions.

So, in terms of your first impressions. please....

~ give your overall impression when it arrived

~ describe the set up: did you set up your Freesat box yourself? If not, who did? How easy did you / your DH/DP etc find it to set up your Freesat box?

~ tell us which TV is it on/ in which room

~ share what you/ your family think the first couple of times you used it - what was the best feature and what, if anything, have you struggled with

Follow-up questions:
~ How long did it take you to understand how to use Freesat?

~ Has your child/children used Freesat? How long did it take them to understand it and get used to it?

~ Which programmes have you most enjoyed watching on Freesat so far?

~ Which of the following services have you most enjoyed so far? Live TV/ on-demand/7 day catch up

~ Who in your family has used your Freesat box the most?

~ What have you found Freesat most useful for so far? Catching up on shows you've missed? Entertaining the kids? Finding something to watch to pass time?

Thanks,

MNHQ

PS: Humax are offering a Mumsnet and Gransnet an exclusive discount code to purchase a 500GB Humax Freesat+ box for £199. Up to 199 MNers and GNers can buy a discounted box using the code FT30

[Littlemissexpecting]

We love ours too. Went on holiday for a couple of days and missed not being able to record or pause.
Remote still annoys me though.

[HappyMummyOfOne]

Still loving mine, very simple to use and i have not yet had to refer to the manual once. DS can use with ease and has started recording shows and anticipate as the weather grows colder he will use it far more.

Have cancelled my Sky, this does much more and has a good selection of channels. Already have two friends considering switching.

[mymummysworld]

Seems I missed this so will do a late reply.

Give your overall impression when it arrived
Much more attractive then I remember Sky being, and a lovely shiny box, which is very compact. Makes for great storage though, and I love that it shows you what channel you are watching (Although I'm not sure you need this). The only thing I don't like it how noisy the remote is.

Describe the set up: did you set up your Freesat box yourself? If not, who did? How easy did you / your DH/DP etc find it to set up your Freesat box?
The Freesat box was extremely easy to set up, just a few wires to insert and away you go. One thing I didn't know was it needed to be connected to the internet via a cable, cue buying an external plug :)

Tell us which TV is it on/ in which room
We have the Freesat set up on our Living Room television.

Share what you/ your family think the first couple of times you used it - what was the best feature and what, if anything, have you struggled with
Having not used Sky for a long time, getting used to a 3 digit television number was a bit tricky again, but slowly we are getting there. The quality of the television programmes is a lot lot clearer - especially on the HD ones (Yes I know you would expect this) The only downside we have found is it can take a while to scroll through all of the channels unless you know exactly what your looking for.

Follow-up questions:
How long did it take you to understand how to use Freesat?
It didn't take very long at all, maybe all of 10 minutes, the only thing we are still getting our head around is the channel numbers.

Has your child/children used Freesat? How long did it take them to understand it and get used to it?
Jack is too young to be using it, however he does like the remote and knows how to work the volume.

Which programmes have you most enjoyed watching on Freesat so far?
I've enjoyed watching the soaps, which I know sounds weird but I never get chance to watch (good old record) I've also enjoyed some more cheesy American cookery programmes.

Which of the following services have you most enjoyed so far? Live TV/ on-demand/7 day catch up
I have enjoyed the on demand the most. We would normally watch programmes we missed on the wii/xbox which was so hit and miss with connection or via the interenet on the desktop or iPad which leads to a smaller screen. Not really the same effect as watching it on the television so this has been fantastic!

Who in your family has used your Freesat box the most?
Quite possibly myself as I am at home the most, however I am closely followed by OH who enjoys watching some cheesy programmes on there!

What have you found Freesat most useful for so far? Catching up on shows you've missed? Entertaining the kids? Finding something to watch to pass time?
I have found it most useful for watching catch-up and being able to record things when I know we will be out! I've also managed to find more programmes for Jack to watch when I need to keep him occupied for 5 minutes.

[AngelieMumsnet]

Hi everyone - thanks so much to all the testers who have posted feedback, and to all the non-testers who have posted comments here.

Here's a message from Freesat:
"We’d like to thank all of the testers for their feedback, this has been incredibly beneficial and please be assured that we will be referring to all your comments when making decisions at Freesat. We hope you continue to enjoy your Freesat box and for non-testers we’d like to offer you £30 off a 500GB Humax Freesat+ HD with Freetime box by using the code FT30 when ordering. We hope you agree that great TV doesn’t need to come with a monthly bill."

The non-tester winner of the Freesat box is bluebump, congratulations! I'll PM you to get your details :)

[DoctorTwo]

I have a Freesat box and usually love it, but recently both Aljazeera and RT disappeared from the listings so I've switched back to Freeview to get my fix of news. Life without Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert is unbearable.

[Justtrying]

If I had an extra £360 a year I'd use it to have a date night every other month with dh, baby sitter and for us to get out for a few hours chill time. It's not easy to schedule working shifts and money is tight at the moment.

[WeAreEternal]

And we will try that again....

How long did it take you to understand how to use Freesat?

Not very long, it is a pretty simply set up, although we did have to figure out the catch up thing as we had never used a feature like that before.

Has your child/children used Freesat? How long did it take them to understand it and get used to it?

Yes he loves it, he figured it out fairly quickly, he now know the channel numbers of the children's channels by heart.

Which programmes have you most enjoyed watching on Freesat so far?

Probably xfactor and the soaps, I have never been able to get into them before and I can't commit to sitting down at a specific time on certain days to watch them, but now with catch up and recording I can watch them when I want.

Which of the following services have you most enjoyed so far? Live TV/ on-demand/7 day catch up

The demand/catch up is fab, because of that I have been able to get into shows that I would normally have missed or never had chance to watch.

Who in your family has used your Freesat box the most?

Probably me.

What have you found Freesat most useful for so far? Catching up on shows you've missed? Entertaining the kids? Finding something to watch to pass time?

Again it's probably just being able to watch programs I would not have been able to watch otherwise.
DS loves the extra children's channels he now has, but I don't really let he watch any more tv than I did before.
I love the box, it's fab (I don't like the remote much though).

Thank you MN.

[WeAreEternal]

How long did it take you to understand how to use Freesat?

Not very long, it is a pretty sim

~ Has your child/children used Freesat? How long did it take them to understand it and get used to it?

~ Which programmes have you most enjoyed watching on Freesat so far?

~ Which of the following services have you most enjoyed so far? Live TV/ on-demand/7 day catch up

~ Who in your family has used your Freesat box the most?

~ What have you found Freesat most useful for so far? Catching up on shows you've missed? Entertaining the kids? Finding something to watch to pass time?

[ckkj]

I would use £360 towards childcare costs

[lifeishunkydory]

How long did it take you to understand how to use Freesat?
Not long, it was easy to navigate and find my way around, I have had no problems with the basic use of it.

Has your child/children used Freesat? How long did it take them to understand it and get used to it?
Children haven't used it on their own as it has more channels I want to ensure they are only watching programmes that I feelare appropriate for them.

Which programmes have you most enjoyed watching on Freesat so far?
Moto GP in HD on the red button channel.

Which of the following services have you most enjoyed so far? Live TV/ on-demand/7 day catch up
I have only used it to warch live TV, recorded programmes and BBC iPlayer.

Who in your family has used your Freesat box the most?
My husband has used it to watch films on the channel 4 films channel.

What have you found Freesat most useful for so far? Catching up on shows you've missed? Entertaining the kids? Finding something to watch to pass time?
Easy recording and playback, quick to watch on iPlayer and lovefilm.

[showmethemoneyhoney]

With an extra £360 I'd treat the DH to a weekend away, just us, to somewhere nice as a thank you for putting up with my terrible moods and stress whilst I've been doing a degree as a mature student.

[TTCnightmare]

If I had an extra £30 a month, I'd save it up so we could go on our first family holiday

[aliciaflorrick]

Non-tester here:

An extra £360 a year would make a huge difference to me and when you lay it out in cold hard figures like that it makes me all the more determined to give Sky the boot. The first year I'd use the £360 to buy a Freesat box, because the only thing keeping me with Sky is I can't afford the initial outlay for the new box.

After that, I'd probably put it towards a family day out for me and my DCs, money is tight and we don't have much left over for fun things. One day where we could let our hair down and not have to be aware of how much food would cost in a restaurant or say no to cokes and ice-creams because we've only been able to afford petrol money and entrance fees.

[sc00ter]

With an extra £30 per month we would either go on a family bowling night or a movie evening once per month that would help keep us all sane. :)

[MoogDroog]

An extra £360 a year? I'd put a bit towards the credit card bill and a bit into a child trust fund for DD, to try and match DS's (he benefited from the money the government used to give out, she didn't)

[UserError]

Follow-up questions:
~ How long did it take you to understand how to use Freesat?

Not long at all - pretty much immediately. We certainly haven't discovered any new functions through using it that we weren't aware of within minutes of setting it up.

~ Has your child/children used Freesat? How long did it take them to understand it and get used to it?

Nope - our DS is three, so it's a bit beyond him.

~ Which programmes have you most enjoyed watching on Freesat so far?

Mock the Week and Match of the Day - the sort of things we'd usually watch. It has been nice having CNN and CNBC news channels for a bit of variety too.

~ Which of the following services have you most enjoyed so far? Live TV/ on-demand/7 day catch up

7 day catch up - it's really easy to use and we're rubbish at remembering to set things to record. Case in point, just now 'Oh crap, Homeland was back on this Sunday'. Not a problem - we'll use the 7 day catch-up and watch it tomorrow.

~ Who in your family has used your Freesat box the most?

A mix between me and DS.

~ What have you found Freesat most useful for so far? Catching up on shows you've missed? Entertaining the kids? Finding something to watch to pass time?

Definitely for catching up on shows we've missed and for normal, everyday viewing.

[Wannabestepfordwife]

Extra £360 either go and mine and dp's first holiday together- have a house and dd together but never a holiday.

Or new carpets have used a carpet cleaner countless times and there are still make-up and poo stains from the previous owner

[lews]

Riding lessons for my daughter. She's been begging for about 3 years!

[CousinArnold]

Completely unoriginal choice, but the extra £360 would go towards a family holiday!

[SevenOnwardsAndUpwards]

~ How long did it take you to understand how to use Freesat?
Not long at all really, it's very easy to use and understand, though it took me a while to find the home button for the easiest way to get to the on demand services should have read the instructions

~ Has your child/children used Freesat? How long did it take them to understand it and get used to it?
No because DD1 has a habit of breaking the battery covers on remotes and I know 5yo DS will leave it laying around.

~ Which programmes have you most enjoyed watching on Freesat so far?
X factor and GBBO, and the DCs love Octonauts which we watch a lot on the Iplayer.

~ Which of the following services have you most enjoyed so far? Live TV/ on-demand/7 day catch up
Most enjoyed on-demand services, Octonauts is usually on at tea time so they watch it after. I love being able to pause and rewind live TV, I usually switch it onto ITV before X factor and turn TV off, then rewind it when I'm ready after the DCs have gone to bed, it's always after 8 but before 9 so I don't have to wait for ITV+1.

~ Who in your family has used your Freesat box the most?
Probably me

~ What have you found Freesat most useful for so far? Catching up on shows you've missed? Entertaining the kids? Finding something to watch to pass time?
Definitely entertaining the DCs when there's something on CBeebies they don't want to watch, and catching up on GBBO when I've missed it.

[WeAreEternal]

give your overall impression when it arrived

Not impressed with the delivery, at all.
But the box is great, it looks very stylish, it has a much sleeker, smarter design than other satellite/cable boxes I have seen.
I also really like the digital display on the front.

describe the set up: did you set up your Freesat box yourself? If not, who did? How easy did you / your DH/DP etc find it to set up your Freesat box?

I set up the box myself. It was incredibly easy to set up, it's literally just plug it in, and follow the setup steps. I was very impressed with how easy it was.

tell us which TV is it on/ in which room

It is on our main tv, in the living room.

share what you/ your family think the first couple of times you used it - what was the best feature and what, if anything, have you struggled with.

I love the way the planner is set up, it is much easier to navigate than sky, being able to scroll back for the catch ups is very convenient.
I love being able to record programs and fast forwarding adverts is amazing, I have taken to pausing the beginning of a program for a while so that I can FF past the ads.

DS was very impressed with the kids channels.

And we were generally very surprised and impressed with the amount of channels that are available.

[NeatFreak]

~ Has your child/children used Freesat? How long did it take them to understand it and get used to it?
My dc are 9 and 5. The older one Sussex it straight away but the younger one is still learning!

~ Which programmes have you most enjoyed watching on Freesat so far?
Childrens programmes mainly

~ Which of the following services have you most enjoyed so far? Live TV/ on-demand/7 day catch up
Live tv mainly as the internet speed hasn't been great for on demand

~ Who in your family has used your Freesat box the most?
Children

~ What have you found Freesat most useful for so far? Catching up on shows you've missed? Entertaining the kids? Finding something to watch to pass time?
Catching up on programmes I've missed whilst feeding or settling the baby during the evenings

[IncaAztec]

With an extra £30 per month, I would probably enrol in a decent gym with pool (and a spa!). Looking at it as £360 per year, I would have a nice short break somewhere posh for the 2 of us!

[VeeAndTea]

I'd just use it to make my day to day life a bit easier, itd be nice to not have to juggle our finances.

[greathat]

After the other thread. I'd hire a cleaner!