Sky in ED

[simpo]

Hi - I have just moved to Peckham Rye and the flat has a sky mini dish and two connectors coming into the lounge, however no standard aerial connection. I have a TV with built in freeview HD however is there any way I can receive the free freeview HD service by connecting the TV to the Sky aerial, or is the only way round this to a) order Sky and get a box activated/connected or b) pay to get a TV aerial put on the roof and fed in.

Cheers in advance!

Ben

[simpo]

-- moved topic --

[SeanMacGabhann]

Ben

I was in a similar position a while back after moving to a new place ? it?s surprising how many places don?t have standard aerials in 2010 but there it is.

You?ve identified the 2 basic options available to you (3rd option is to go cable/Virgin route I guess)

But for all my looking I don?t think you can get any connector/convertor

[EDKiwi]

You could always get a little indoor type aerial, I did that a while ago when we were in the same situation. It was just a cheapie from Woolies (hmm must have been quite a while ago) with an in built amplifier (although the signal is pretty good around here anyway).

[simpo]

Thanks both. Do you know if you can still receive HD tv through a mini indoor aerial?

[Jeremy]

Unlikely to be reliable.

[SeanMacGabhann]

What Jeremy said - and a digital signal that breaks up is really harsh on the ears

You can find all manner of indoor aerials that advertise how good they are for digital TV but I've wasted money on more than a couple

[simpo]

Sky it is then by the sounds of it!

Thanks for your help all.

Ben

[EDKiwi]

SeanMacGabhann Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> What Jeremy said - and a digital signal that

> breaks up is really harsh on the ears

>

> You can find all manner of indoor aerials that

> advertise how good they are for digital TV but

> I've wasted money on more than a couple

Quite true, all depends on if you have good line of sight to the transmitter, I think I was just lucky as we were on the 3rd floor of the building so I just brought a cheap aerial to try it out and it worked alright (although with the amplifier turned off it was rubbish).

Another option would be getting a FreeSat box, they should work quite happily off a sky dish.

Edit: Ironically there is one in the For Sale section FreeSat Box

[ianr]

I use indoor aerials more or less like this http://www.propertysupplies.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=652_683&products_id=304 for Freeview, without problem (though I don't have HD).

This might be useful for comparing Sky and FreeSat. http://www.radioandtelly.co.uk/satellitetv.html

[Loz]

If you only want the basic channels, go for FreeSat. ?30 all in at starter level.

[Earl Aelfheah]

I had exactly the same problem. Got an HD Freesat Recorder (so kind of like sky plus). It's a good option. You can also rig it up to recieve BBC iPlayer, which I haven't done yet, but will be doing soon.

[simpo]

Thanks for the tips - with freesat presumably you only get BBC & ITV in HD?