Do I need digital cabling for Freeview?

Question

I don't have a digital TV or Terrestrial aerial but want to switch from Sky to Freeview. I have had the dish and the same coax cable for a while. I thought I could get away with switching the dish for the aerial, not all the fiddling about with a new cable?

Answer 1

I did the same thiong as you want to do last year, I just disconnected my dish and bought an ariel that would pick up freeview and everything works well even though the freeview website says that I cannot receive freeview in my area yet! I would however, advise you that if your signal is quite weak you might consider buying a signal booster. Some say that they don't work but I bought a very basic 1-way signal booster for £4 (half price) form Argos, I felt if it didn't work what had I lost, it worked brilliant. Before I couldn't get many because of no signal but now I can get all of them and can enjoy sky's saturday afternoon soccer show for free. Don't go for Sky's freesat because they charge you for some channels that you will get for free with freeview. This includes their sat soccer show. Happy viewing!!!!

Answer 2

If you have had sky, then the sky digibox can still be used for the free channels available on sky.
These are not the same channels as Freeview, there are about 200 free channels though most are channels you probably won't be interested in.
All the BBC channels can be seen even without a card, but you will need a card to watch most of the other free channels.
You can get the card for sky freeview from Sky, but I've just spoken to a friend who used to subscribe to sky, but now has
free sky, she kept her own card and just stopped paying, and now gets the free channels.
The sky equipment becomes yours after the first year, you might as well get the use out of it.

It can be an advantage to have freeview as well (Freeview is the name of the service with the digital terrestrial television signal), but for freeview you will need an aerial designed for digital signals.

Don't take the cable from the dish, you can, as I wrote still use sky.

If you are VERY lucky, you could use freeview with a set top aerial and a signal booster, but for this you will need to be very near to the transmitter.

Normally for freeview you will need a aerial fitted quite high up, either over the roof, or in the loft, normal aerial cable is still used for the signal, it is not exspensive, but would need to be fitted.

http://www.freesatfromsky.com/?pid=3
http://www.freeview.co.uk/home

Answer 3

You will need a terrestrial aerial suitable for digital TV. Make sure you can receive Freeview in your area - go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/digital/tv/tv_nonsubs.shtml and enter your postcode to check.

For Freeview, you will need a Freeview receiver box or a TV with a built in digital receiver. You can also get a Freeview receiver with a top-up slot which for an extra regular subsciption fee will enable you to receive more than the standard Freeview channels. However, I guess you're not bothered about this as you are probably trying to downshift to a free service.

The old satellite cable which comes down from the dish location to your receiver location is fine for Freeview. In fact, it's probably better than standard old fashioned so-called low loss TV coaxial cable. I think it handles a bigger range of frequencies or something like that.

Use a SCARTcable from the Freeview box to the TV if you can and if your TV has the function, it will automatically switch to its SCART input from the aerial input whenever the freeview box is switched on.

If you have a VCR and you want to record from the Freeview box, you will need to use either the loop-through aerial connection on the Freeview box or another SCART lead from either a second SCART socket on the Freeview box or from a SCART splitter.

ON THE OTHER HAND, you can keep your dish and get Freesat from Sky - go to http://www.freesatfromsky.co.uk/ for further info. I'm not sure if you can use an existing subscription satellite receiver for this service but I guess you probably can.

Hope this helps.

Answer 4

Freeview recieves its signal through a tv aerial and will NOT recieve it through a sky dish.
You will need to either get an aerial installed on your roof or get a loft aerial.
You should be able to get away with using the same cable you might have to change the connector on the end that will go into the free view box.
Hope this Helps

Answer 5

I would use freeview, but it isn't available in my area yet. I don't want to subscribe to Sky, so I don't have that either. What I do have is a Silvercrest SL65 satellite box. It lets me see all the channels available on Sky that are not encrypted. The SL65 cost me £40 compared to a Sky box which would cost £150 on their "Freesat" box. That's more than 3 times the price just to add a card slot. In my opinion Sky has too big a monopoly on satellite TV. I still don't understand why some channels that are available on Freeview for nothing, are only available on subscription services from Sky. Seems unfair to me. Don't even get me started on my opinion of Channel Four and Five continuing to broadcast encrypted services on Sky, when the BBC and ITV have been "free to air" for ages now. My area goes digital next year, but I am wondering how even the service will be. I get my signal from a sub-transmitter and I've heard that they may not have all the channels that will be available from main masts. It won't surprise me. Typical.

Answer 6

You can use the exsisting cable that is on the sky dish just cut it off and replace the dish with a tv aerial , you will have to adjust the tv aerial for the best signal ! You may also have to change the end that connect`s to the reciever box if it is different ! But it is quite fine to use the cable ...................

Answer 7

If you get really stuck, you can now buy small indoor aerials that are strong enough to receive Freeview (as long as you are in a relatively strong signal area anyway I presume) so perhaps that's another option to consider.

Answer 8

To get freeview you need to buy a digital box, about £35-£50 from Argos, Comet etc. Then you need a digital aerial, fitted about £100. Then off you go, everything is now free.

Answer 9

The current cable you use is okay as sky is also digital, if putting up aerial get the bigger digital one for best picture quality

Answer 10

its just aerial wire for freeview but you have to have an up to date aerial not a very old one