Thanks for this Sir, my Sky Q cancellation is imminent for exactly the same reason as yours was and this looks like the perfect replacement. Good to know it works with the Q fittings on the dish. Thanks again.
i just bought this yesterday- i havent set it up yet as sky goes off today. i was concerned i had the wrong lnb but thanks to your video, i am reassured. thanks!
Hello guys, do you know if I have to cancel Sky before plugging one of these in? I wanted to purchase a second hand one to make sure it works with my dish and LNB before cancelling Sky.
Hello guys, do you know if I have to cancel Sky before plugging one of these in? I wanted to purchase a second hand one to make sure it works with my dish and LNB before cancelling Sky.
Hi. good video. When switching between channels is there much delay? I've seen videos of the Humax Aura and there is a delay that would drive me crazy!
I am thinking (edited) of also reviewing an older box i have, its a samsung freesat box. It hasnt got any of the features of this box as it was released a good 10 years ago but still works. It still does the job. Would anyone like me to do a video about that?
Yes you can use the dual satellite cables from a sky Q dish. It is a clever settop box as it supports both the older style skyHD and the newer style skyQ dish without having to change anything. It autodetects which one you have on first setup
I know its premature, but £8 against £62 a month is good i would like to think. We rarely watch sky anymore, and we are considering using NOWTV for the sky channels we might watch. In the current climate im up for saving money when i can because the cost of living is ridicolous
HI What is the £8 for. Can't find out if Freesat is totally free after buying a box. Is there a cost for the recording functions? I understand it should be plug and play, with nothing else to pay, is that correct?
@@timshaw390No, the £8 a month is just to pay for the box itself. The Freesat box costs about £200 and he's paying for it on a monthly plan of £8 a month over the course of until it's fully paid off.
Im switching from virgin and having just broadband so my virgin tivo box will be going. Can i use this to record a program when im out and play it later just like a tivo box?
Have never had an issue in thunderstorm even. Snow on the dish can sometimes cause a momentarily freeze here and there but nothing substational. Its as reliable with bad weather as sky is (it uses the same dish)
These boxes have an audio fault - you basically can't use them in surround sound/5.1 mode or you get annoying intermittent sound dropouts. Freesat/Arris have now about it for years without being able to fix it.
@@leearnall6393 The FreeSAT box has an optical connection on the back. I would imagine you would just change the audio output to optical in the settings menu.
Not that it makes much difference to me as we don't really watch Channel 4 - but is Channel 4 in HD now? I read that towards the end of last year Channel 4 HD was coming back to Freesat - and perhaps the app. I was just interested. Also - can you pause and rewind TV? What we do on occasion is pause the TV and wander off for 15 mins and then start the programme later but fast forward through ads. I notice it only says about recording - no specifically about pausing. Thanks!
Yes channel 4 HD is back on HD. However as it stands i dont think channel 4 on-demand is. All pause and rewind tv is just like a sky q box. However if im personally honest, i would just use firestick for the internet stuff in hdmi 2, the box works well enough but firesticks work much better for the ondemand. BBC iplayer and all the most popular ones including ITVX work fine. So does youtube, amazon prime video, netflix etc. But i always prefer to have a firestick in hdmi 2 also
We currently have a sky HD dish with 4 ports, we have 2 to an upstairs box and the other 2 fees our sky HD box, is this definitely compatible with all types? And where did you find that info?
I just ordered one my self gonna be ringing sky up once the box is here and give them the good news lol. Im sick of the prices going up i mainly stream anyway so makes no sense £55 a month vanishing out the bank.
Yes it auto detects which type of LNB you have on the dish and caters accordingly. Works with both the old style HD LNB and the sky Q LNB. In fact it's better to have a sky Q dish if possible as you can record more channels at the same time
Hi, We are thinking of doing the same in our house as Sky Q ends in July. We have multiroom in the bedroom with old cabling from previous box ( now redundant as Mini box uses wifi) so Presuming if want to want content there would have to buy an addiitional freesat box to watch upsatairs if that makes sense, also how do you find the pause and rewind functions? Thanks
yes thats exactly right, you will need two freesat boxes. You might want to check on your sky dish LNB see if those extra redundant cables are even connected, as sky tends to just put a 2 cable LNB on sky Q setups. If they are not connected, you need to get hold of a sky Q (if 4K is important) or a sky standard LNB with 4 outputs and install it. Sadly at the time of writing this, there is no Sky Q Mini (over wifi) alternative for freesat
I wish I had watches this before last night. I have ordered a box and supposed to be picking it up from Argos on Monday. I've been after one for a while, but looking at this I'm really disappointed! I know there will be differences between SkyQ to Freesat, but this looks 'clunky' and outdated!
is anyone getting iplayer programmes in uhd, iplayer on my tv gives some programmes in uhd but on the freesat box iplayer seems to be restricted to hd. i would like to know if its just my box or if they are all like this.
The sky HD and sky amstrad 1998 box yes as it's ours. But sky apparently only loan the sky Q boxes so when the contract ends i will return them if they request them
I have had error 2 message on my new box, unable to identify lnb. This is my 2nd box in just over a month. Currys exchanged this for me. Both boxes told me of the same error yet I have tried the box in 2 different locations. Cables, dish and lnb new. Tried other cables and bought another lnb same problem. Any ideas?
Some one on Argos review had same problem, and was told to leave it a couple of hours for the box to find the signal. Hope this helps - have yet to buy a box myself.
I can't see any reason why not but I don't think it will make the interface any faster. The menu system is CPU controlled you might notice some speed increases here and there but I doubt it will be substantional
I have just bought the same box and followed yhe instructions to the letter but cant receive a signal...very annoyed...had sky for years jo issues...i reconnected the sky q box and it works fine ..i have taken the box back to currys and exchanged it for another one,the guy in currys gave me some old flannel about adjusting the dish...im jot having that this should be a straight swap and no issues...been looking on here and read some stuff about the lnb mat need swapping? If that is a issue why is there no warning on the instructions saying a change may be necessary 🤔
You need a dual lnb sky q uses wideband I bought a dual lnb from eBay for £22 fitted it in 10 mins used the cables in the legacy side of the new lnb all done
last year I Got a freesat 4k refurbished 2TB Box from richersounds just above half price of the new 2TB Box price so a bargain it updated ok then after a while it stopped responding to the remote and wouldnt set rec via the remote or tv guide or it set multiple records of a programme. i contacted freesat who changed the box asap the new refurb box came with a NOV 2022 Date software update that didnt seem to be available to the general public at the time. today it has a software update 10th Feb 2023 ver 5.5.2p1_ui_1.50-1 this box has been fine ive done a quick reboot when the box got a bit sluggish with the remote done that twice in what the last 6 months, only ever issue i came across one issue a while back via the on demand youtube app when i went to youtube it loaded ok when i clicked to play a youtube video it booted me back to the freesat demand section. now fixed other than that the box has been ok, i can get freeview or freesat here i went freesat because i watch BBC Scotland a bit for football. still game etc BBCScots not available on local freeview, here, i fitted a hybrid LNB ok with wideband and HD Outlets (cost about £34) now i can use the old humax in bedroom and freesat 4k in the living room the wideband LNB allows the freesat 4k box to record 4 programmes at once you can use a standard HD LNB on the freesat 4k box that lnb only allows 2 recordings at once. ive had no issues using the android freesat app
I also got this box from Currys and was a Sky Customer and I am delighted with the little box, sound and picture are excellent.
I’ve just cancelled Sky.. I’m absolutely fed up of watching those direct debits going up. This looks great going to order one.
Thanks for this Sir, my Sky Q cancellation is imminent for exactly the same reason as yours was and this looks like the perfect replacement. Good to know it works with the Q fittings on the dish. Thanks again.
i just bought this yesterday- i havent set it up yet as sky goes off today. i was concerned i had the wrong lnb but thanks to your video, i am reassured. thanks!
It's clever it can autodetects both type
That is done in initial setup
Hello guys, do you know if I have to cancel Sky before plugging one of these in? I wanted to purchase a second hand one to make sure it works with my dish and LNB before cancelling Sky.
Hello guys, do you know if I have to cancel Sky before plugging one of these in? I wanted to purchase a second hand one to make sure it works with my dish and LNB before cancelling Sky.
Brilliant review thank you! That’ll save me £72 a month from next month!
Hi. good video. When switching between channels is there much delay? I've seen videos of the Humax Aura and there is a delay that would drive me crazy!
I am thinking (edited) of also reviewing an older box i have, its a samsung freesat box. It hasnt got any of the features of this box as it was released a good 10 years ago but still works. It still does the job. Would anyone like me to do a video about that?
Yeah I'd love to see a video about that
Can you use the dual satellite cables from your Sky Q box for the rear of the Freesat box? Are they the LNB cables your refer to?
Yes you can use the dual satellite cables from a sky Q dish. It is a clever settop box as it supports both the older style skyHD and the newer style skyQ dish without having to change anything. It autodetects which one you have on first setup
Thank you, that is very useful@@paulisthebest3uk
I know its premature, but £8 against £62 a month is good i would like to think. We rarely watch sky anymore, and we are considering using NOWTV for the sky channels we might watch. In the current climate im up for saving money when i can because the cost of living is ridicolous
HI What is the £8 for. Can't find out if Freesat is totally free after buying a box. Is there a cost for the recording functions? I understand it should be plug and play, with nothing else to pay, is that correct?
@@timshaw390 zero cost
@@timshaw390No, the £8 a month is just to pay for the box itself. The Freesat box costs about £200 and he's paying for it on a monthly plan of £8 a month over the course of until it's fully paid off.
Can you set it to remind an entire series? The same way you can record an entire series?
@@Revolver1981think so
After leaving the box on standby for a couple of hours the box is working. I then found that the guide was not displaying so a reboot did the trick.
Im switching from virgin and having just broadband so my virgin tivo box will be going. Can i use this to record a program when im out and play it later just like a tivo box?
I miss the Skip function of the Humax box
I'm happy just with Freeview, If I was wanting paid channels etc this is good and cheaper than sky. Good review too.
Freeview's getting worse though. There's hardly any HD channels now.
Are you still happy with your Freesat box? I've read a lot of negative reviews about the quality of the current boxes. Whats your experience so far?
Do the people help you connect it who you bought it from
Apparently pre installed hard drives dont last long I see a video on here some bloke installing SSD into his freesat 4K box.
Hi it comes up with a 24 hour clock can you change it on your freesat to 12 hour clock? Thanks
Hi cheers for the video, can you please tell me, what’s it like in bad weather.
Cheers curt 👍
Have never had an issue in thunderstorm even. Snow on the dish can sometimes cause a momentarily freeze here and there but nothing substational.
Its as reliable with bad weather as sky is (it uses the same dish)
These boxes have an audio fault - you basically can't use them in surround sound/5.1 mode or you get annoying intermittent sound dropouts. Freesat/Arris have now about it for years without being able to fix it.
Oh no so this wouldn’t work with my AV receiver box?
@@leearnall6393 The FreeSAT box has an optical connection on the back. I would imagine you would just change the audio output to optical in the settings menu.
Not that it makes much difference to me as we don't really watch Channel 4 - but is Channel 4 in HD now? I read that towards the end of last year Channel 4 HD was coming back to Freesat - and perhaps the app. I was just interested. Also - can you pause and rewind TV? What we do on occasion is pause the TV and wander off for 15 mins and then start the programme later but fast forward through ads. I notice it only says about recording - no specifically about pausing. Thanks!
Yes channel 4 HD is back on HD. However as it stands i dont think channel 4 on-demand is. All pause and rewind tv is just like a sky q box. However if im personally honest, i would just use firestick for the internet stuff in hdmi 2, the box works well enough but firesticks work much better for the ondemand. BBC iplayer and all the most popular ones including ITVX work fine. So does youtube, amazon prime video, netflix etc. But i always prefer to have a firestick in hdmi 2 also
Why this one vs the Manhattan hdr 1100s ?
Does it got much to fix a dish mines need alignment?
Why one or two cables ? Dish to box
Does it matter what way you connect you satellite cables
Hey Paul, do you know if the Wifi can be disabled in the menu?
Should be
We currently have a sky HD dish with 4 ports, we have 2 to an upstairs box and the other 2 fees our sky HD box, is this definitely compatible with all types? And where did you find that info?
It’s very easy to change LNB if required
I just ordered one my self gonna be ringing sky up once the box is here and give them the good news lol. Im sick of the prices going up i mainly stream anyway so makes no sense £55 a month vanishing out the bank.
So does this work with a sky q dish without doing anything to the dish?
Yes it auto detects which type of LNB you have on the dish and caters accordingly. Works with both the old style HD LNB and the sky Q LNB. In fact it's better to have a sky Q dish if possible as you can record more channels at the same time
Hi, We are thinking of doing the same in our house as Sky Q ends in July. We have multiroom in the bedroom with old cabling from previous box ( now redundant as Mini box uses wifi) so Presuming if want to want content there would have to buy an addiitional freesat box to watch upsatairs if that makes sense, also how do you find the pause and rewind functions?
Thanks
yes thats exactly right, you will need two freesat boxes. You might want to check on your sky dish LNB see if those extra redundant cables are even connected, as sky tends to just put a 2 cable LNB on sky Q setups. If they are not connected, you need to get hold of a sky Q (if 4K is important) or a sky standard LNB with 4 outputs and install it. Sadly at the time of writing this, there is no Sky Q Mini (over wifi) alternative for freesat
I wish I had watches this before last night. I have ordered a box and supposed to be picking it up from Argos on Monday. I've been after one for a while, but looking at this I'm really disappointed! I know there will be differences between SkyQ to Freesat, but this looks 'clunky' and outdated!
HAVE YOU HAD ANY PROBLEMS WITH IT .? Thank you
I have the same one , it glitches on play back occasionally, other than that nothing.
Great vid mate, just about to get rid of Sky, will be getting this I think 👍🏾
What is the USB Use For?
Very happy with mine, despite the odd glitch
is anyone getting iplayer programmes in uhd, iplayer on my tv gives some programmes in uhd but on the freesat box iplayer seems to be restricted to hd. i would like to know if its just my box or if they are all like this.
Is it the one from argos?
Are you still going to be keeping your Sky boxes?
The sky HD and sky amstrad 1998 box yes as it's ours. But sky apparently only loan the sky Q boxes so when the contract ends i will return them if they request them
They sent me packaging today so I could return my sky q mini box
Do yo get any Asian channels on it
I have had error 2 message on my new box, unable to identify lnb. This is my 2nd box in just over a month. Currys exchanged this for me. Both boxes told me of the same error yet I have tried the box in 2 different locations. Cables, dish and lnb new. Tried other cables and bought another lnb same problem. Any ideas?
Some one on Argos review had same problem, and was told to leave it a couple of hours for the box to find the signal. Hope this helps - have yet to buy a box myself.
Can i use this without a dish and just wifi?
No don't think so
Is there any way to use this as a NAS?
Thank you this video was very helpful.
Good video, but you don't need to include the distracting and noisy music backtrack. It is frustrating when trying to hear your dialogue.
Does this box work without internet as i only want to get the tv channels
You don't need the Internet to watch TV , just a satellite dish
Really useful video. Thank you
can i side load apps ie Kodi and can i plug in a usb to play my films?
I doubt it
Can you swap out the hdd for an ssd?
I can't see any reason why not but I don't think it will make the interface any faster. The menu system is CPU controlled you might notice some speed increases here and there but I doubt it will be substantional
what sports channels can i get
SportyStuff TV on channel 250 and Viaplay Xtra through Non-Freesat Mode, and that's about it.
My brain is working hard to eliminate the background music. Music spoils the presentation.
If your unemployed go on social tariff as you will save lots of money per year ❤
Can’t wait to cancel my sky charging me £15 for channels I can get for free on freesat
180 quid a year, just to be able to record and watch free channels. I would deffo go freesat if your not interested in sky channels anymore
What is point in 6 Nations? Watching rugby is worse than watching paint dry!
Freesat Why Yeah No one does
Sky Die Please Make Freesat Better
Rubbish doesn’t even show you how to connect cable to box
I have just bought the same box and followed yhe instructions to the letter but cant receive a signal...very annoyed...had sky for years jo issues...i reconnected the sky q box and it works fine ..i have taken the box back to currys and exchanged it for another one,the guy in currys gave me some old flannel about adjusting the dish...im jot having that this should be a straight swap and no issues...been looking on here and read some stuff about the lnb mat need swapping? If that is a issue why is there no warning on the instructions saying a change may be necessary 🤔
You need a dual lnb sky q uses wideband I bought a dual lnb from eBay for £22 fitted it in 10 mins used the cables in the legacy side of the new lnb all done
last year I Got a freesat 4k refurbished 2TB Box from richersounds just above half price of the new 2TB Box price so a bargain it updated ok then after a while it stopped responding to the remote and wouldnt set rec via the remote or tv guide or it set multiple records of a programme. i contacted freesat who changed the box asap the new refurb box came with a NOV 2022 Date software update that didnt seem to be available to the general public at the time. today it has a software update 10th Feb 2023 ver 5.5.2p1_ui_1.50-1 this box has been fine ive done a quick reboot when the box got a bit sluggish with the remote done that twice in what the last 6 months, only ever issue i came across one issue a while back via the on demand youtube app when i went to youtube it loaded ok when i clicked to play a youtube video it booted me back to the freesat demand section. now fixed other than that the box has been ok, i can get freeview or freesat here i went freesat because i watch BBC Scotland a bit for football. still game etc BBCScots not available on local freeview, here, i fitted a hybrid LNB ok with wideband and HD Outlets (cost about £34) now i can use the old humax in bedroom and freesat 4k in the living room the wideband LNB allows the freesat 4k box to record 4 programmes at once you can use a standard HD LNB on the freesat 4k box that lnb only allows 2 recordings at once. ive had no issues using the android freesat app