TV - What do you do?

If you're missing the sticky-out bit (to use the technical term), your dish is useless, although you could use it as a wok

 

i have virgin cable for all the usual stuff, i have an old sky dish that's realigned to astra B? so i can get german channels...... not for any other reason than they still have the F1 on terrestrial tv so if i can't find a feed on the net i can watch the races live, it just runs a cheap freesat decoder but has no record.

 

If you cancel Sky do they come and get the dish? We've had it for about 18 months. We have a freeview ariel too so I guess it wouldn't matter too much if they did.

 

Sky don't come and get the dish if you cancel, TBR.

I came to the almost the same conclusion as you in the summer, cancelled sky and moved to TalkTalk in the end, still subscription, but for a fraction of the price of Sky and includes recording, Freeview channels and (in my package) 7 Sky channels. You can bump this to more sky channels for just a month at a time if there's something specific you want to watch for a short period, but I haven't yet - I worked out that about 90% of my viewing was recorded Free to air channels, with only really Sky One and Sky Living being viewed on Sky so this works for me. Despite what Sky might tell you, you can record the sky channels as well.

The service is poorer than sky - the box is slower to respond and doesn't have all the bells and whistles of remote viewing etc that sky offer, but I got my TV and line rental, plus an upgrade to fibre broadband for £30 a month, going up to £38 a month after 6 months, which considering sky wanted to charge me £20 a month for fibre broadband alone isn't bad imho. The organisation (or more precisely the lack thereof) around setting up new accounts is somewhat scary at TalkTalk, though, so be prepared for it if you take the plunge.

If I were doing it again I would cancel Sky first, then go cold turkey for a month or so and see whether I needed the extra channels, though, not least because Sky were immensely annoying and refused to give me any offers when I cancelled, but have been bombarding me with frankly ridiculously cheap offers to "come back to them" ever since - Basic Entertainment package for £6 a month, on a 12 months contract, anyone?

 

But it's horrifically expensive.
They keep increasing my inter web speeds, faster & faster, I only come on here a bit, I don't need 50mbs.
Phone is good, an additional £8 for completely unlimited but the telly...
Apparently I can cancel my virgin telly & just have the freeview channels through the virgin cable and save seven quid a month.
That'll be a bloody bargain then, they're putting it up again in February by another £4.
I'll be up to the best part of £60 a month, when I started it was £20 - I've not signed up for anything extra.
It's the only thing in my World that the prices keep going up on!

 

We have Virgin and are nearing the end of our contract and are gonna cancel, The broadband speed is brilliant but that's it.We never use the phone line ( not even got a phone plugged in ) and rarely use all the channels, we are gonna get a cheap broadband deal next and a HD freeview recorder

 

Looks like the way to go then.
So the next question is:-
Panasonic? BT? Or Humax?
These seem to be the top three.
I think the Panasonic has a "skip adverts" function? The Humax must be idiot proof as @tuesday_wildchild has one.
BT one is cheapest.
Your advice is sought once again, oh wise TLBers.

 

make sure you get a 4g filter when you get it , they are only £8.99 maplin but they stop 4g mobil interference , i think the gov were supposed to be sorting out FREE ones but you know what they are like when they are giving sumat free

 

4G?
We live in the Cotswolds! We barely have a signal!
Does 4G affect satellite anyway.

 

Humax for me. I recall I bought a Panasonic PVR to go with our telly, and I sent it back - the response to commands was so laggy.

 

Also how many people these days use their landline, don't most people use mobiles now even when at home, as I said before, we don't even have a phone plugged in or know our home number, but the broadband companies insist on giving and charging for a phone line and line rental, I think one company may do it but why not just have a standard broadband package

 

I have a land line and I love it.
Completely unlimited use, anytime. Line rental plus eight quid and best of all...
People can hear you and tell what you are saying, none of this dropping out *****.

 

Yes the HUMAX is easy to set up and is rated top on a lot of sites.
Freetime is a must.

Mine also does the DNLA thing

 

Snap, the broadband is great, the telly I don't have one and the phone we don't ever answer. BUT if I want BB only it saves virtually nothing and I have to sign up for another year.

 

Ultimate fighting championship .....apologises if someone has already replied to your question

 

i thought it was ugly fish costume

 

You sure????? V good signals here and 4G

 

That's in the lower class end of the village, it keeps the masses engaged in video games, faceache and *****ter, it stops them rioting.

 

I don't have a television, and as I've been staying at my mum's in the middle of nowhere the last couple of days working on the bus, have had no internet either. (The weather, incidentally has been lovely. Even rigged up lights so I can carry on when it's dark.) I get so many more productive and creative things done with no TV. Just popped back to mine to get more filler and Kurust then going back out in an hour. I love how simple and basic, for want of a better word, it is without having to rely on technology for entertainment. You use your brain or do something physical. Saying that, I'm definitely a city girl. The countryside is nice to visit, but I couldn't live there.

 

Had FREESAT for a number of years now runs through a HUMAX box. Generally that provides enough carp TV for me.