Switching to Freesat from Sky

[Gilli]

My contract with Sky ends on 14 August.  I would like to cancel Sky TV and get Freesat from Sky.  We have been with Sky for 23 years and originally got it because reception is very poor through an arial. We don't really watch the extra programmes we get through Sky and so thought we would save some money by getting rid of Sky TV and going to their Freesat.  I know that Freesat from Sky is not available to new customers but we're definitely not new! Any advice about how to proceed would be much appreciated.

[MightyQuinn]

Hi @Gilli   Do you mean Sky Q Essentials at £15 a month? Do you have Sky Broadband?

[PandJ2020]

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@Gilli wrote:

My contract with Sky ends on 14 August.

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Unless you've given 31 days notice to cancel then your contract doesn't end...  (Only discounts expire)

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I would like to cancel Sky TV and get Freesat from Sky.  

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Freesat is not Sky.

However, Sky offer the 'Essentials' package for £15pm that allows you to keep your Q box and watch and record  free-to-air channels.  Otherwise, you have to return your Q box and purchase a Freesat receiver (which Sky do not sell).

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Any advice about how to proceed would be much appreciated.

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Call Sky and see what deal you can get on Q Essentials (You may be able to get a better deal if you commit to a minimum term).  Otherwise, purchase a Freesat 4K box that is compatible with Sky LNB on your dish.

[Gilli]

Yes, we have Sky broadband as well.  The TV part costs us over £40 per month

[Spectre01]

I would also recommend seeing if you can get a deal on Sky essentials, either via the Q box or Sky Stream.

I would not recommend buying a Freesat box as, to be honest, they are rubbish.  Also, they use the same satellites as Sky which are due to stop working in a few years, so it has a limited life span.   After I cancelled Sky Q several years ago I got a Freesat box.  It is now in a cupboard and I've got Sky Stream Essentials instead.   Stream is not perfect but it's better than the Freesat box.

[Chodley]

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@Spectre01 wrote:

I would also recommend seeing if you can get a deal on Sky essentials, either via the Q box or Sky Stream.

I would not recommend buying a Freesat box as, to be honest, they are rubbish.  Also, they use the same satellites as Sky which are due to stop working in a few years, so it has a limited life span.   After I cancelled Sky Q several years ago I got a Freesat box.  It is now in a cupboard and I've got Sky Stream Essentials instead.   Stream is not perfect but it's better than the Freesat box.

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Was that a freesat 4K box?

[Spectre01]

Yes, it was the 4K box.

The two main issues are that the box permanently outputs everything in HDR, even when you set the output to 1080p. The only way I found around this is to use a separate HDMI port on the TV which was set to not accept HDR.   The second issue is that the sound output is not right if you are using an AVR.   If you set the sound output to 5.1 it always outputs 5.1, even if the program is mono or stereo.   This results in voices coming out of the side speakers instead of the centre.   This is probably not so much of an issue if you are only using the TVs speakers.   The solution for this was to set the output to stereo and let the AVR do fake 'upscaling'.

As far as I can see from recent firmware updates none of this has been fixed.

[Chodley]

There are more than one make / model of those boxes though, aren't there?

Those are some pretty weird bugs.

[stereohaven]

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@Chodley wrote:

There are more than one make / model of those boxes though, aren't there?

Those are some pretty weird bugs.

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Arris made the last supported version of a FreesatPVR, it was the one with wideband support so was the only box you could do a straight swap with Sky Q without an LNB change.

They have not acknowledged or fixed any of the key bugs like the always on HDR since launch in 2019.

The Humax boxes that preceded it are as rare as hens teeth. I would stick with Sky Essentials personally if you can find a way to get it.

[oj01]

@Gilli Note that 'Essentials' on Sky Q and 'Essentials' on Sky Stream are not the same package and have different channels included so do your research if that's the path you decide to take.

[Chodley]

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@stereohaven wrote:

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@Chodley wrote:

There are more than one make / model of those boxes though, aren't there?

Those are some pretty weird bugs.

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Arris made the last supported version of a FreesatPVR, it was the one with wideband support so was the only box you could do a straight swap with Sky Q without an LNB change.

They have not acknowledged or fixed any of the key bugs like the always on HDR since launch in 2019.

The Humax boxes that preceded it are as rare as hens teeth. I would stick with Sky Essentials personally if you can find a way to get it.

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Ah interesting. Is that this thing?

[Spectre01]

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@Chodley wrote:

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@stereohaven wrote:

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@Chodley wrote:

There are more than one make / model of those boxes though, aren't there?

Those are some pretty weird bugs.

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Arris made the last supported version of a FreesatPVR, it was the one with wideband support so was the only box you could do a straight swap with Sky Q without an LNB change.

They have not acknowledged or fixed any of the key bugs like the always on HDR since launch in 2019.

The Humax boxes that preceded it are as rare as hens teeth. I would stick with Sky Essentials personally if you can find a way to get it.

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Ah interesting. Is that this thing?

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That's the box, except I had the £299 recordable version.

I'm surprised it gets such good reviews on Argos.   I mean no disrespect, but I suspect some of the people who bought this are the same people who buy a TV, leave it on the default 'Vivid' setting and then marvel at how bright and colourful the picture is 🙂.

Search for 'Freesat' on AVForum and you may find some differing opinions over the past 5 years.

[Chodley]

Yeah I can imagine

btw, that is the recordable version

[stereohaven]

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@Chodley wrote:

Yeah I can imagine

btw, that is the recordable version

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As many users have found, having a recordable version doesn't mean it will! 🤣

The remote is a work of art...

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