Freesat HD box

[DIYspanner]

On my house, which I've lived at for two years, there's a sky dish which presumably was installed at the time of the house build back in 2003/04. All the other houses in the street have a dish too.

I've just tuned my old Grudig Digibox in which I've had since 2005. I can get the likes of Channel 4 and Channel 5 but little else due to HD switch over earlier this year.

Can I simply invest in a Freesat HD box and fit/tune it in to work with the dish?

 

[Wayners]

Yes is my understanding.
Freesat still works

 

[foxhole]

Yes provided it was not Sky Q or dish LNB with not be compatible and need swopping out for one that is.

 

[Lucid]

Do you want to just receive, or to receive and record?

If it's just for watching live, then any Sky HD box being flogged off cheap/given away locally will do. Check Facebook Marketplace. A single cable connection from the dish to the box is all that's needed. Sky's electronic programme guide (EPG) will have a mix of ordinary and subscription channels. The alternative if you just want the straight Freesat HD EPG is a Manhattan SX Freesat HD Box. They're about £70.

For recording, your feed from the dish could do with two cables. This will allow the box to record at least one other channel whilst watching another. You'll also get the 'pause live TV' on Freesat recorder boxes. See here for the Freesat 4K recorders. Freesat 4K recorders range in price from £229 to £299 depending on the capacity of the hard drive.

Freesat (and Freeview) box manufacture is done under licence, and with the Freesat recorders there's only one company with the contract. If it's a recorder box you're after, and you don't want a monthly contract with Sky, then it's going to be one of these Freesat 4K boxes. Satellite doesn't broadcast in 4K. That 4K bit refers to two things.

First, the boxes upscale to 4K output, even with the crappy standard def' channels. Your TV already does this too, but having the box do it does make skipping through the channels a simpler process as it avoids the delay as the TV swaps between resolutions. Second, all these new generation boxes include the ability to access streaming services, and they'll receive and display 4K resolution streams.

There's one other thing with the new 4K boxes. With the right LNB (the lump on the end of the dish arm with the wires connecting to it), then the boxes will record more than one channel whilst you're viewing live. The LNB is the same type that the Sky Q service uses. It's a wideband LNB. These are available to buy and DIY-swap to enable multiple simultaneous channel recording. The 4K boxes will still work with a regular dual cable LNB signal. It's just that you'll be limited to recording one whilst watching another, or recording two channels simultaneously if you're not using the box.

 

[foxhole]

Do you want to just receive, or to receive and record?

If it's just for watching live, then any Sky HD box being flogged off cheap/given away locally will do. Check Facebook Marketplace. A single cable connection from the dish to the box is all that's needed. Sky's electronic programme guide (EPG) will have a mix of ordinary and subscription channels. The alternative if you just want the straight Freesat HD EPG is a Manhattan SX Freesat HD Box. They're about £70.

For recording, your feed from the dish could do with two cables. This will allow the box to record at least one other channel whilst watching another. You'll also get the 'pause live TV' on Freesat recorder boxes. See here for the Freesat 4K recorders. Freesat 4K recorders range in price from £229 to £299 depending on the capacity of the hard drive.

Freesat (and Freeview) box manufacture is done under licence, and with the Freesat recorders there's only one company with the contract. If it's a recorder box you're after, and you don't want a monthly contract with Sky, then it's going to be one of these Freesat 4K boxes. Satellite doesn't broadcast in 4K. That 4K bit refers to two things.

First, the boxes upscale to 4K output, even with the crappy standard def' channels. Your TV already does this too, but having the box do it does make skipping through the channels a simpler process as it avoids the delay as the TV swaps between resolutions. Second, all these new generation boxes include the ability to access streaming services, and they'll receive and display 4K resolution streams.

There's one other thing with the new 4K boxes. With the right LNB (the lump on the end of the dish arm with the wires connecting to it), then the boxes will record more than one channel whilst you're viewing live. The LNB is the same type that the Sky Q service uses. It's a wideband LNB. These are available to buy and DIY-swap to enable multiple simultaneous channel recording. The 4K boxes will still work with a regular dual cable LNB signal. It's just that you'll be limited to recording one whilst watching another, or recording two channels simultaneously if you're not using the box.

Lucid , have tv (Hisense ) which has Sat connection , tried moving feed from my freesat box to tv but shows no signal? Is there something else required ?
It auto selects Astra 28.2 E Sat , is that correct ?

 

[martygturner]

yes, see hear for a full list of channels on astra 28.2 https://en.satexpat.com/tv/uk/freesat/

the key question for your tv is does it come with a freesat decoder or is it just a basic job...what model do you have ?

 

[Lucid]

Lucid , have tv (Hisense ) which has Sat connection , tried moving feed from my freesat box to tv but shows no signal? Is there something else required ?
It auto selects Astra 28.2 E Sat , is that correct ?

To add to what @martygturner wrote, is your LNB a Wideband type (Sky Q) or standard Sky HD type?

Alternatively, is your Freesat box one of the 4K models or a Manhatten/Humax etc?

 

[Rodders53]

$ky boxes are incredibly energy hungry compared to 'proper' freesat boxes when in standby. Plenty of second-user freesat boxes out there as well as $ky. Only currently made freesat boxes are freesat 4k https://www.freesat.co.uk/get-freesat

Hisense TVs aren't freesat approved afaik... no postcode input so will have a dreadfully random channel numbering and only now/next EPG. A real pain to get into a useful order and then keep up to date as well. (My Panasonic OLED is the same and has twin sat and terrestrial tuners).
Check the LNB settings... LNB power ON, 22kHz tone ON and 9750/10600 MHz as your starters for 10 {the Astra 28.2 degrees East is the correct constellation location, but tuning parameters may not be up to date?}.
My Hisense TV defaults to 9750/10600 under antenna in satellite mode for 28.2 E (a dish/lnb is an antenna as much as a UHF TV aerial is an antenna in techno speak. So ought to work if I connected it to a suitable connection.
Check the F-plug has been inserted correctly... Very easy to fold over the centre 'pin' when inserting into a tight new F-socket (I have the T-shirt) = "No signal".

 

[foxhole]

It’s a standard LNB and works with our Humax 1100.
( cable fitted correctly ).
Model

HISENSE A6N 65 inch LED 4K HDR Smart 65A6NTUK​

 

[Rodders53]

Does the TV work if you use the exact same cable as the Humax uses??

Or is it a different cable from the LNB?
If this, use the Humax to check that the TV cable feed is functional.

Sadly the Humax spec is vague at best https://uk.hisense.com/products/tv/uhd-tv/TV-SET-65A6NTUK-HSN/p/000000000020013246
But it is the latest Freely spec so does Live TV streaming from some providers