> Hi all
>
> [Sorry this is not at all Linux but it is reasonably topical and answers
> from this list are usually faster and more reliable than googling...]
>
> Does anyone know anything about Freesat?
>
> I have one Sky dish which has 3 cables coming off it - 1 to my study which
> I've never used and 2 going to the lounge which is happily driving my Sky+
> box.
>
> _Apparently_ if I buy a HD Freesat box from say Currys, I can connect it
> to
> the spare cable in my study but the bloke at "Freeat from Sky" tells me I
> won't get anything without a £20 card which I must buy from them.
> However
> he was adamant you can't get HD over Freesat - which is at odds with
> www.freesat.co.uk as I pointed out to him. He seemed to be saying
> "Freesat from sky" is different to Freesat - but I presume this is because
> the boxes that "Freesat from Sky" supply aren't HD ready rather than plug
> said aerial into my own Humax box and it won't work. One of the things I
> was buying it for was HD was and whether it was worth it - hence my
> reluctance to proceed without all the facts
>
> So in short, I want to buy this £150 HD Freesat box and use it with my
> existing spare satellite connection which everyone seems to be fine with
> -
> but if it can't get HD channels either now or in future - there seems
> little
> point.
>
> Anyone know any more?
Right.. I've been looking into this as my Freeview reception isn't very
good and I'm looking at replacing the DVB-T usb stick that I use with my
linux media centre (Freevo) with a DVB-S one to pick up satellite instead.
There are two "freesat" systems, there is sky's "freesat" which is: "buy a
box and a £20 card from sky and you can watch the free channels". And
there is also "Freesat" (note the capital F) which is the new free-to-air
service from the BBC/ITV etc.
Freesat broadcasts all the free channels that you can receive over
freeview from a satellite (AFAIK, there might not be a 100% overlap but
they are all there for the main channels), which conveniently happens to
be the same one that Sky uses ;). These channels are completely
un-encrypted and can be viewed without needing a card. Before the Freesat
launch you could view many channels without needing a card (BBC etc.) but
Channel4, more4 etc. were encrypted so you needed the card.
Now all these channels are free and un-encrypted over the satellite, all
you need is a dish pointing in the right direction (e.g. a already
installed sky dish) and an appropriate receiver.
Freesat currently only has 1 HD channel, BBC HD, but there are plans from
ITV and others to provide extra HD channels later. To receive the HD
channel you will need an HD capable box, which are more expensive, if you
can live with just normal SD content then you can get a box for about £50
In summary: The sky bloke was lying (or maybe being economical with the
truth) as you can get BBC HD from Freesat if you buy a Freesat branded HD
capable box from Currys and plug it into you existing sky satellite dish.
(I've had some discussions about this on the linux-dvb mailing list, while
I don't use the Freesat system yet, I have had postings from people who
are using it and can receive the BBC HD channel on their linux box with an
appropriate card.)
