Recommend a TV Box / Sky Alternative

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Stuuuuuu

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Right, I've cancelled Sky cos they keep sneakily increasing the price and I'd rather use my money for something else.

Is there something out there, like a Freeview box or something, or even something that I can connect to the Sky dish?

I'd like something that's just a one-off purchase rather than a monthly subscription.

It would have to have apps such as Amazon Prime etc., BBC iPlayer, YouTube etc.

What are my options?

Thanks.
 
Stuuuuuu said:
Thanks. Yes, I've just been reading it but could really do with a "dummy's guide"!

I.e. What do I need to buy? Where from? Does it connect to my Sky dish?
Click to expand...
No, it’s internet based, nothing g to do with the dish nowadays!
It’s up to you, but I’d go back to that thread, get a sense of who the regular posters/experts are on there & send the odd message.
 
Stuuuuuu said:
Right, I've cancelled Sky cos they keep sneakily increasing the price and I'd rather use my money for something else.

Is there something out there, like a Freeview box or something, or even something that I can connect to the Sky dish?

I'd like something that's just a one-off purchase rather than a monthly subscription.

It would have to have apps such as Amazon Prime etc., BBC iPlayer, YouTube etc.

What are my options?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

I got IPTV, it’s great, but not 100% reliable. Mine had Black Adam on but was unwatchable. Footy is usually ok tho, and I watched the Game of Thrones prequel without any issues.

I had sky Q, and the thing I missed was pausing the telly to go to the loo etc, or be halfway through watching something and just press record so I can go to bed and watch the end later.

so for that I got a freesat recordable 4k box, just plugged in the Q wires and off you go, was like having Q back can record 4 channels, pause etc. only less channels, tries to upscale to 4k too. Not cheap at £229 or £299 for the biggest drive, but not bad vs a sky subscription.

Issue is mine has fixed apps, mainly catch up plus Netflix, so no Disney + for one, but not a big deal when IPTV is on firestick. and when builders came round and knocked my dish I couldn’t call sky to fix it, so had to learn how to point a satellite dish (combo of mobile app and satellite finder gizmo). Worth a go if you’ve dumped Q!
 
We use a Manhattan Freeview box (via aerial) because I'm old school and still like to record things for viewing later on (sometimes years later!). You'd have to go the top model T3R (£170 ish) to still have things like catchup (BBC Iplayer, ITVX etc) but apart from Youtube and BritBox there isn't much in terms of apps. Luckily we have everything else (Netflix, Prime, AppleTV etc) via our TV or you can just use a Roku stick or Firestick. The Manhattan interface isn't as good as Sky's but you get used to it. Humax have a new model as well called Aura which is also Freeview but runs on Android so includes most of the apps. £250 though and I can't say if it's any good.

To connect to an old Sky satellite dish it depends on whether it was Sky+ or SkyQ because the tech is slightly different. If SkyQ look at the Freesat 4k PVR boxes from £230 upwards, which include catchup players, Netflix and Prime.
If Sky+ then it's more complicated because I'm not sure there's anything decent still being made. Manhattan do a non-PVR box (£70 or so) and Humax sell some old refurb models but if you can get a Freeview signal I'd go that route myself.

Or IPTV as others have suggested but then we're getting into slightly different territory (i.e. are you happy to pay for services or do you just want everything for next to nowt regardless of where it comes from).
 
Get the cheapest Freeview (aerial) or Freesat recorder you can. That will give you your usual digital channels with the ability to record them.

If you just want catch up and streaming (Netflix, Amazon, iPlayer etc) an Amazon 4k firestick will do it, or a Chromecast, which is supposed to be better for software, although not tried one.

If you want to step up the quality, and potentially look into IPTV, consider an Nvidia Shield. Does the same thing as a Firestick, but much, much more powerful so can run more challenging streams much better. They're more expensive, but can pick up for around £100 in a sale.
 
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