In anticipation of the analogue switchoff here next year we are looking
for alterntive solutions to the 'watch one, record another' situation.

Roughly how much would we need to shell out for a change from
single-feed old Sky box to Sky+ and a twin feed from the dish?
Is there a monthly charge increase as well as the one-off upgrade
charge?

Another possibility is a twin-tuner Freeview hard-drive box, but the
unknown is how much stronger the Freeview signal will be in this area
after the switchoff.

--
/\/\aurice
(Retired in Surrey, UK)
(Replace "nomail.afraid" by "bcs" to reply by email)

On Tue, 27 Sep 2011 17:20:55 +0100, Maurice Batey
wrote:

In anticipation of the analogue switchoff here next year we are looking
for alterntive solutions to the 'watch one, record another' situation.

Roughly how much would we need to shell out for a change from
single-feed old Sky box to Sky+ and a twin feed from the dish?
Is there a monthly charge increase as well as the one-off upgrade
charge?

Another possibility is a twin-tuner Freeview hard-drive box, but the
unknown is how much stronger the Freeview signal will be in this area
after the switchoff.

Don't forget FreeSat :-
http://www.freesat.co.uk/
which uses the brand Freesat+ for the recordable version :-
http://www.freesat.co.uk/what-you-get/freesat-plus

On Tue, 27 Sep 2011 23:41:31 +0100, Charles Ellson wrote:

Don't forget FreeSat :-

But that would need feeds from the Sky dish.

I was thinking of an alternative to Sky+ would be to keep the old Sky
box and dish feed for Sky channels, and add a twin-tuner Freeview HDR
for viewing Freeview channel when recording Sky, (or recording Freeview
channel when watching Sky) - thus avoiding the expense of upgrading the
dish to 2 feeds.

Hence the question of how much stronger the Freeview signal here would
be after analogue switchoff. (GU10 - Farnham-Hindhead area).

--
/\/\aurice
(Replace "nomail.afraid" by "bcs" to reply by email)

On Thu, 29 Sep 2011 16:33:02 +0100, Maurice Batey
wrote:

On Tue, 27 Sep 2011 23:41:31 +0100, Charles Ellson wrote:

Don't forget FreeSat :-

But that would need feeds from the Sky dish.

For full functionality yes but you can still get limited multi-channel
working with a single feed.

I was thinking of an alternative to Sky+ would be to keep the old Sky
box and dish feed for Sky channels, and add a twin-tuner Freeview HDR
for viewing Freeview channel when recording Sky, (or recording Freeview
channel when watching Sky) - thus avoiding the expense of upgrading the
dish to 2 feeds.

The dish is presumably not a DIY job ?

Hence the question of how much stronger the Freeview signal here would
be after analogue switchoff. (GU10 - Farnham-Hindhead area).

You could try a trip to www.ukfree.tv, www.switchhelp.co.uk etc. You
seem to be at roughly the same signal levels from Crystal Palace,
Hannington and Midhurst suggesting your aerial might be pointing in
any of three or more directions. It looks like some digital channels
are already on full power so you might already have one available for
testing.

"Maurice Batey" wrote in message
news

In anticipation of the analogue switchoff here next year we are looking
for alterntive solutions to the 'watch one, record another' situation.

Roughly how much would we need to shell out for a change from
single-feed old Sky box to Sky+ and a twin feed from the dish?
Is there a monthly charge increase as well as the one-off upgrade
charge?

Another possibility is a twin-tuner Freeview hard-drive box, but the
unknown is how much stronger the Freeview signal will be in this area
after the switchoff.

£ 8.50 for the Quad LNB
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ORIGINAL-4...item4cfa702344
some extra cable, nominal cost.
and £ 10 month for the record facility switched on from Sky
--
Vass

"Vass" wrote in message
...

"Maurice Batey" wrote in message
news

In anticipation of the analogue switchoff here next year we are looking
for alterntive solutions to the 'watch one, record another' situation.

Roughly how much would we need to shell out for a change from
single-feed old Sky box to Sky+ and a twin feed from the dish?
Is there a monthly charge increase as well as the one-off upgrade
charge?

Another possibility is a twin-tuner Freeview hard-drive box, but the
unknown is how much stronger the Freeview signal will be in this area
after the switchoff.

£ 8.50 for the Quad LNB
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ORIGINAL-4...item4cfa702344
some extra cable, nominal cost.
and £ 10 month for the record facility switched on from Sky


my bad

Sky+ box another £ 8
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AMSTRAD-SK...item3f0e6dd4c7

On Fri, 30 Sep 2011 00:03:19 +0100, Charles Ellson wrote:

On Thu, 29 Sep 2011 16:33:02 +0100, I wrote:

On Tue, 27 Sep 2011 23:41:31 +0100, Charles Ellson wrote:

Don't forget FreeSat :-

But that would need feeds from the Sky dish.

For full functionality yes but you can still get limited multi-channel
working with a single feed.

But if retain basic Sky box (to keep Sky channels) the same single
dish feed can't be also used as input to a Freesat box, can it?

The dish is presumably not a DIY job ?

Correct: A Sky install.

It looks like some digital channels are already on full power so you
might already have one available for testing.

I have an old Goodmans Freeview box. Will give it a try. Thanks!
--
/\/\aurice
(Replace "nomail.afraid" by "bcs" to reply by email)

On Fri, 30 Sep 2011 13:30:47 +0100, Vass wrote:

£ 8.50 for the Quad LNB, some extra cable, nominal cost.

DIY not 'on', I'm afraid!

and £ 10 month for the record facility switched on from Sky

I don't understand that, sorry.

--
/\/\aurice
(Replace "nomail.afraid" by "bcs" to reply by email)

On Fri, 30 Sep 2011 18:01:11 +0100, Maurice Batey
wrote:

On Fri, 30 Sep 2011 00:03:19 +0100, Charles Ellson wrote:

On Thu, 29 Sep 2011 16:33:02 +0100, I wrote:

On Tue, 27 Sep 2011 23:41:31 +0100, Charles Ellson wrote:

Don't forget FreeSat :-

But that would need feeds from the Sky dish.

For full functionality yes but you can still get limited multi-channel
working with a single feed.

But if retain basic Sky box (to keep Sky channels) the same single
dish feed can't be also used as input to a Freesat box, can it?

You can use e.g. a twin-tuner Humax with a single LNB, IIRC any timed
or manual recording will "grab" the LNB and leave you able to view or
record any other channel of the same polarity and high/low band;
sometimes this is several channels, sometimes it is two or three. You
could use a changeover switch between the inputs of a FreeSat and $ky
box although in practice you need two alternative inputs (2
SCARTS/HDMI) to the television to avoid pulling leads in and out.

The dish is presumably not a DIY job ?

Correct: A Sky install.

No, I meant "DIY job" as in an LNB upgrade you could reasonably be
expected to do yourself (within safer ladder reach, dish firmly fixed
to avoid accidental movement when changing LNB etc.).

It looks like some digital channels are already on full power so you
might already have one available for testing.

I have an old Goodmans Freeview box. Will give it a try. Thanks!

If it has been stored for some time then you might have to do a full
re-install if any local channels have changed. If it works then IIRC
in combination with a FreeSat or cardless £ky box you'll get all or
most of what requires a FTV card in a $ky box although it's possible
some might have changed since I retired my $ky box.

On Sat, 01 Oct 2011 01:18:31 +0100, Charles Ellson wrote:

an LNB upgrade you could reasonably be
expected to do yourself (within safer ladder reach, dish firmly fixed
to avoid accidental movement when changing LNB etc.).

I stopped going up ladders when I reached 75...

--
/\/\aurice
(Replace "nomail.afraid" by "bcs" to reply by email)