What a hassle!

[Buckman]

Yesterday we decided to cancel a TV subscription servcie altogether after having been customers for over 25 years. The idea was that it is cheaper to have Prime, Disney and Paramount for a lot less and with a lot more variety plus we woudl have a Freesat box.

Got onto phone to TV subscription service requesting cancellation of current contract when it finishes in 31 days. Eventually got persuaded to have a bare bones monthly subscription for £15 enabling us to carry on recording Freesat channels, but not the subscription channels. We specifically asked for the new contract to start at the end of the current contract so we could carry on watching the recorded subscription channels as we were paid up until end of June. All agreed and dusted so we thought. About 10 minutes later we lose all the subscription channels and cannot watch what we have recorded.

Back onto phone and this time we get offered the basic subscription channels for £6 more, but with an 18 month contract so thought might as well carry on and agreed to the new contract. This morning we get an email thanking us for renewing our subscription at £29 per month instead of £21! Back onto phone and they check and it seems a mistake was made. This time I let OH talk to them and she is no sucker like me and finally they agreed to cancellation at long last!

We will now be joining the millions of other happy people who are not locked locked into any long term TV contract. Had a look around for set top boxes for recording Freesat channels in HD and was surprised that there is only one offering. We were keen on a Humax box but apparently this is no longer an option. Oh well at least we will be free, but what a saga!

 

[otherclive]

I hadn’t realised Humax boxes were no longer available. We have had ours since April 2019 as the terrestrial signal wasn’t good. So we installed a freesat receiver and bought the Humax. It comes in very useful for recordings programmes as we even watch live via the box as our family will phone numerous times in the evenings so trying to watch in real brine is a challenge. Our only subscription service is basic Netflix

 

[Mr Plodd]

Have a look on ebay and the like, Humax boxes of various capacities often appear as refurbished items (with a warranty)

 

[Buckman]

Have a look on ebay and the like, Humax boxes of various capacities often appear as refurbished items (with a warranty)

They are available but apparently it has something to do with losing the Freesat contract for manufacturing Huma boxes and not being able to update current boxes. I am not exactly sure what the issue is with them not being available as they were the RR of set top boxes.

 

[Jcloughie]

I did the same last year. (probably the same supplier). Had a job I had convincing them it was cancelled. They kept sending threatening letters. After about 6 months I won and got a £78 payment off them but I dont know why.

There are two more PVR’s. I have the Manhattan T3.

Freesat also do one.

There may be more, Google freeview pvr.

Great not to be tied to that TV supplier, but at least I had an alternative for a broadband supplier.

My setup is a little more complicated than before. The Manhattan set-top box is good for freeview but limited on apps. This means switching between the Samsung TV for apps, Prime, Netflix, iPlayer, ITVx, etc. And back to the box for Freeview recordings. Marj, can’t cope with it. But then she still can't log onto Tesco to make an order.

John

Edit, Just discovered that the Manhattan T3R has recently been discontinued though still available to buy from Argos. (Possible bargain then).

However, the T4R will be ready, they tell us, in July.

John

 

[Buckman]

Thanks John, but would prefer a unit that can record in HD and the option to download a missed program. I believe the new Freesat boxes have all the same facilities as a Sky+HD box, but with various apps lie Prime and being able to pause when some family member decides to phone in the middle of a program.

 

[Jcloughie]

Thanks John, but would prefer a unit that can record in HD and the option to download a missed program. I believe the new Freesat boxes have all the same facilities as a Sky+HD box, but with various apps lie Prime and being able to pause when some family member decides to phone in the middle of a program.

The T3R box can record in HD, it can also do UHD via the apps.

I doubt any will allow you to download a missed program, but it will allow you to watch a missed program via catchup.


John

 

[Jcloughie]

Does Manhattan do Freesat as well as Freeview as it’s the former Buckman is after.

Thanks, I missed that crucial bit of info. So the answer is I don’t know. But. If he has a decent aerial signal he can get all the Freeview channels that way. (and ditch the dish).

Also, there seems to be a move now towards going online. But that would need decent broadband.

John

 

[otherclive]

Thanks, I missed that crucial bit of info. So the answer is I don’t know. But. If he has a decent aerial signal he can get all the Freeview channels that way. (and ditch the dish).

Also, there seems to be a move now towards going online. But that would need decent broadband.

John

Thanks I had a look at the Manhattan, they do freesat but did not see a recordable model. But Freesat now do their own with four channel recording and different storage options. Better not tell my wife of that one, as I can’t watch more than one channel at a time. Seeing recordings that almost merit historical status causes me anxiety 😂

 

[Buckman]

Thanks, I missed that crucial bit of info. So the answer is I don’t know. But. If he has a decent aerial signal he can get all the Freeview channels that way. (and ditch the dish).

Also, there seems to be a move now towards going online. But that would need decent broadband.

John

We do not have an aerial on our bungalow and have never had one so it has to be Freesat. We do get a decent broadband signal so no issues there.

The issue for us is that the caravan has a mounted satellite dish so again makes Freesat essential in many areas as we mainly use CLs except for our main holidays or if we are lucky, holidays.

 

[Jcloughie]

We do not have an aerial on our bungalow and have never had one so it has to be Freesat. We do get a decent broadband signal so no issues there.

The issue for us is that the caravan has a mounted satellite dish so again makes Freesat essential in many areas as we mainly use CLs except for our main holidays or if we are lucky, holidays.

Understood, you would think Freesat would do something similar to Freeview in terms of programming and recording.


John

 

[otherclive]

Understood, you would think Freesat would do something similar to Freeview in terms of programming and recording.


John

I don't know if I have misunderstood your post but at #9 I mentioned a Freesat receiver/recorder box marketed under the Freesat name. Here's the link.
recordable-4k-tv-box

 

[Jcloughie]

I don't know if I have misunderstood your post but at #9 I mentioned a Freesat receiver/recorder box marketed under the Freesat name. Here's the link.
recordable-4k-tv-box

I did see that, but on the other hand the OP says there is nothing available that suits their needs.

I did not investigate as it is not something we need. But hopefully, Ian will look into your suggestion, if he has not done so already.

John

 

[Buckman]

I don't know if I have misunderstood your post but at #9 I mentioned a Freesat receiver/recorder box marketed under the Freesat name. Here's the link.
recordable-4k-tv-box

Thanks I have looked at that link and it is deciding what capacity box. They use SD as a benchmark instead of HD. Maybe best to go for the 2TB box which is the same capacity as our current Sky box.

A 2TB storage is about 500 hours or about 250 movies for HD, but if 4K or UHD movies obviously a lot less at about 7.5GB per hour. However at the moment I don't think there are any 4k UHD channels, but in the future................? As we get older we watch a lot more TV as cheaper than going out.

 

[otherclive]

Thanks I have looked at that link and it is deciding what capacity box. They use SD as a benchmark instead of HD. Maybe best to go for the 2TB box which is the same capacity as our current Sky box.

A 2TB storage is about 500 hours or about 250 movies for HD, but if 4K or UHD movies obviously a lot less at about 7.5GB per hour. However at the moment I don't think there are any 4k UHD channels, but in the future................? As we get older we watch a lot more TV as cheaper than going out.

You will never need less storage, these days unless you go Cloud or streaming, but given you want to exit subscriptions a Freesat recorder makes sense. Ours is 2tb and Mrs OC is doing her best to fill it. But we don't watch tv during the day except on very rare occasions.

Our box is 2TB.

 

[Jcloughie]

For us, it is not so much the size, ours is 1TB and half full of HD recordings. But the number of channels, ours can record 3, the Freesat OC linked to will do 4, our old, expensive Virgin box was 6 (I think).

The reason is, when making recordings, there tend to be too many clashes at peak times.

We are using streaming services increasingly.

John