freeview versus sky plus

[lou222]

any opinions?
not sure which to go for?

I love my Sky plus. We don't watch anything when it is actually on any more. I just set the Sky+ and then watch it when we have the time (and fast forward through all the adverts). Brilliant! But obviouly costs money...
I presume you could do something similar with Freeview and a harddisk recorder???

I have freeview plus (or whatever they call it now).
But have never had Sky and am not really interested as don't watch lots of tv, not interested in sport and not bothered about movies.
Do like freeview + over plain old freeview though.

You can get freeview plus boxes now - is all the pause tv options but without having to pay for sky. Make sure you get a dual tuner one so you can watch one channel while recording another.

Doh! Too slow!

and one with series link, and the biggest hard drive you can afford (you think - I won't use that much space, but you do!).

Depends whether you watch Sky channels I guess?

We've got a Humax PVR (?) and have used it with a normal cheapy Freeview box (though you can use it with the new TVs that have Freeview receivers built in).

It's brilliant for digital recording from any Freeview channel, has 2 tuners (so you can record one channel and watch another) and pauses/rewinds live TV. Costs less than £200 I think, though haven't looked recently.

Oooh that is interesting. I didn't know about Freeview +. That is a good option imo. We only watch 24 and Ross Kemp on Sky. Oh and Grey's Anatomy on Living (but that is on C5 soon enough)

oh and you can actually record two channels at the same time, as long as you're not trying to watch a third - so okay if you're out!

freeview + is like sky +, so you don't need a separate freeview box and pvr.
I got this just before xmas - though I wouldn't recommend it, the programme guide is crap (I have a freeview TV, another freeview+ box and have had 2 other freeview boxes - and this is dire compared to all of them), plus the first one didn't work and this one freezes up quite alot. I should see about taking it back.

Am very find of the Humax PVR. Although you miss some good stuff, because you don't have Sky, you find you tape so much that you have loads anyway.

Oops "find" should be "fond"

I changed from sky+ HD/multi-room to freesat HD after our box went wrong and nobody noticed for well over a week! I realised what a lot of money I was wasting on something nobody even missed. Felt v optimistic about FreeSat at first but a few months down the road and I do hanker for some more channels, I just don't think we watch enough TV to justify the £70+ a month it was costing when I cancelled it. The main TV has built in freeview which throws in a couple of bonus channels I suppose.

If I was making the decision today I'd probably get a FreeSat+ box as what I miss most is the ability to record a series of something (springwatch and autumnwatch! ) and then catch up in my own time. There's only one HD channel at the moment (BBC) but some football matches and films come in HD on ITV via the red button - I'll be happier when this expands a bit. Feeling sorry for myself today because for once, I could, if I wanted to (and I do!) lie on the sofa watching anything I want as the children are all out. But there is nothing to watch!

this is freesat by the way, it's not the same as freeview

We've got a Humax PVR... it's wonderful... we never watch normal TV any more. It's got a really good menu, and i love it.

was about £180 from John Lewis I think, with a 2 year guaruntee

hm...freeview will only be good if you live in an area where you can receive a fair amount of channels...in teh area we live we get hardly any freview channels, so, for us it would be crap...iykwim

We've just cancelled our Sky, to get the Virgin Media, V+, I'm hoping it's exactly the same but without the drivel channels. We like mostly everyone watch 15% of the channels we pay for on sky.

Ambi - we've had V+ for a couple years now. it's GREAT! not only does it have all the same features at Sky+ but you also have a back catalogue of whole series, and Play again for certain channels including BBC iPlayer.

we love it!

We canceled Virgin and downgraded to freeview and a Humax harddisk recorder..no more cable tv bills...yeah

With the Humax you can also set 'series record' I think - is that where it automatically sets itself to record every upcoming episode of something? If so, it definitely does it!

And the menu is very good, easy to see what's on and set it to record.

Babies everywhere, we're in the process of doing the exact same thing - gone from V+ to Humax. Hubbie says Humax is one of the best PVRs that exist. Only thing we're going to miss is Lost and Nick Junior - but I've put a load of their faves onto DVD from Nick junior and I'll periodically buy some more DVDs, but should save us lots of pennies each month!

Another vote for the Humax PVR. We had a Thompsons version before, but it broke down three times before we gave up and bought a Humax. It cost about £170 from Comet.

Moon 66, Your Thompsons PVR - was that a TIVO? I still the mourn the demise of my TIVO!

Karamazov - It may have been. It looked nice and easy to work, but often failed to record for no reason at all.

The Humax is way better.

series link on most of the newer ones now.
the one I have upstairs is great, but old and no series link. intitutive menu etc. But the tesco one I linked to is horrid, and is always freezing. maybe i should take it back and complain, it is only a few months old.

well i bought freeview on sat from asda £65 - took it back today and ordered sky plus!
I started watching housewives from new york city on diva tv last night and realised i couldn't manage without alot of my fave channels, the hills on mtv one for example. the humax sounds good but i'm a bit of a techno phobe so thought i'd go for something i understand!
thanks for all your replies though!