HD satellite receiver or not?

[joidevie]

Hi..

I'm looking at a new satellite receiver (Technomates seem to review well). If I but a 'non-HD' box, how long before it won't pick up Astra broadcasts? Is there a fixed switchover date? Or will standard digital continue for a long time?

Many thanks..

[Martin963]

Putting my head into the oracular noose.....

A lot of HD development is coming from pay TV;   in this field operators such as Sky can charge a premium to permit people to watch HD material.

In the world of FTA it's very different.    Whilst the BBC and German TV are making some effort to provide HD programmes at no extra cost to the viewer they seem to be the exception.   ITV for example has said that ITV 2/3/4 HD will be only on Sky,   because that's the only way they can get back the extra costs.   Ch 4 and Ch 5 HD will be Sky only.

So with this in mind I doubt that SD will stop anytime soon,   because there just isn't the appetite for free to air broadcasters to go fully HD without losing viewers.

Just my take,    having said that HD can be absolutely stunning and it's a shame to deprive yourself if the budget will stretch.   Of course if you wait I suppose HD receiver prices might drop a bit,   but who knows....?

[Anton Redman II]

Tescos now have a Freesat HD receiver at £ 70 - I cannot see any logical reason why they will not be £ 40 within 2 years.

[joidevie]

The usual waiting game than.. I'm sure SD will be around for plenty of time..

[pachapapa]

[quote user="Anton Redman II"]Tescos now have a Freesat HD receiver at £ 70 - I cannot see any logical reason why they will not be £ 40 within 2 years.[/quote]

And if I get one will the DVB-T2. HD Freeview. MPEG 4 tuner work with TF1, FR2, FR3 and Arte?

[Quillan]

I think I am right in saying, not with a card it won't

[pachapapa]

[quote user="Quillan"]I think I am right in saying, not with a card it won't[/quote]

I presumed cards were only used with FreeSat receivers not FreeView receivers.

The crux of the query was that french TNT HD is DVB-T and UK terrestrial HD is TVB-T2; is the DVB-T2 downward compatible.

[Danny]

The problem is not the compatibility (I am not sure about that!) but that access to the French HD channels by satellite is only available with either a Fransat or TNT sat and decoder.

Danny

[Jako]

DVB-T2 is downwards compatible with DVB-T. So a UK DVB-T2 television will be able to show the French terrestrial HD channels.

Same for DVB-S2, but (as with dvb-t) they can (and will)  use DVB-S2 for SD channels, not only for HD channels. The extra bandwith from the MPEG4 compression will allow to more than double the number of SD  channels per transponder, thus saving 50% transponder capacity=50% less money to pay Astra. Do the math...

[Danny]

[quote user="Anton Redman II"]Tescos now have a Freesat HD receiver at £ 70 - I cannot see any logical reason why they will not be £ 40 within 2 years.[/quote]

Anton, if you mean this receiver

http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.208-0120.aspx

then it is a freeview box just to add to the confusion. Their cheapest freesat HD receivers start at 99.99

http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.206-2744.aspx

which is £80 via Amazon UK

So to answer Pachapapa better,

[quote user="Pachapapa"]if I get one will the DVB-T2. HD Freeview. MPEG 4 tuner work with TF1, FR2, FR3 and Arte?[/quote]

then yes, it will receive the French HD terrestrial channels assuming you have good reception and that the local transmitter is already carrying the HD channels.

But as the original post was about HD by satellite, this freeview box will not receive any satellite channels.

Danny

[pachapapa]

Apologies to everybody I was thinking Terrestrial no card mode; when I googled the lead it gave me only one box at £ 70, namely a Technika Freeview HD box £70.

Still looking for the FreeSat Box at £ 70 but assume that it is FTA without a card or possibly a card restricted to UK channels like TNT Sat and FranSat.

Danny when the Goodmans FreeSat says..... includes subscription free HD content .... does that mean a card supplied or some preloaded flash memory?

The idea of FTA HD still interests me although currently the number of channels are limited.

[Danny]

[quote user="pachapapa"]

Still looking for the FreeSat Box at £ 70 but assume that it is FTA without a card or possibly a card restricted to UK channels like TNT Sat and FranSat.

Danny when the Goodmans FreeSat says..... includes subscription free HD content .... does that mean a card supplied or some preloaded flash memory?

[/quote]

See my post above for the link to Amazon UK for about £80

Freesat boxes do not have a card. They just have a firmware which enables allows viewing of all the free to air channels automatically and with a 7 day menu. You can add some other non Freesat channels (like the religion or shopping or p0rn channels) but not any that are on other satellites as this box is not Diseqc capable.

You can get all the same channels with any FTA HD sat box like this for example but without the 7 day guide and you will have to manually find all the channels and update them manually if the frequencies change.

You can get Freesat receivers that are diseqc enabled so you can get any HD FTA channels from any sat but not French ones as you need a Fransat or TNT sat card and receiver to receive these.

How about two dishes and a diseqc switch and a Fransat or TNTSAT HD decoder which handles all satellites like the Aston Simba or the Humax TN5000HD. (200 -250 euros)?

Then you have all French HD channels and BBC HD and ITV HD too.

Or just throw away the telly and make your own entertainment like the good old days.

Danny

[Anton Redman II]

Sorry Tesco's price for freesat HD is £ 99.99 as is Argos. I can see every reason why it will not work with either Fransat or TNT HD par Satellite as it will not hve a suitable card slot.

[Danny]

I am pretty sure that the Fransat or TNTSAT cards only work in their respective decoders and will not work in any FTA decoder even if it has the correct type card slot...

and the Fransat and TNTSAT cards are only sold together with the approved decoder.

Danny

[Martin963]

Indeed.    There was talk a while back that a TNTsat card could be made to work in one of the grey-area CAMs  (was it a Diablo?)  but from what I read it was quite a hassle.    And the HD cards seem to be even harder to separate from their designated boxes.

And I can confirm that even on an Aston Simba (a box that is marketed in both Fransat and TNTsat forms) you can't use a TNTsat card in a Simba with a Fransat label.

If you see what I mean......