Freesat launched

[Funkstar]

No HEXUS news article yet?

http://www.freesat.co.uk is down, I don't think they anticipated the volume of traffic.

Some details on DigitalSpy:

Pre-launch Freesat line up revealed

Confirmed: ITV HD is Freesat exclusive

Spy Guide: What is Freesat?

E4 and More4 go free to air on satellite

[badger]

So, which is better? Freesat or Sky freesat? The Sky service seems like a good deal, but does it 'do' HD?

[dave87]

Freesat if you want HD.

I've got SkyHD, so am a bit miffed ITV HD is a freesat exclusive

[badger]

Sky does have a lot more channels though...will those others be coming to Freesat do you think, or are they Sky exclusives?

[dave87]

Most of the HD stuff on Sky is a premium channel - Sky Movies, Sky Premiere, History HD etc which you have to subscribe to - so I doubt it will come to freesat.

BBC HD is already on there, C4HD should be going that way if not already there, so there will be some UK HD content. Remember you also get the Continental channels aswell.

[badger]

Not the Sky HD stuff, I know that's subscription only, but Sky's freesat option has stuff that's not listed on BBC Freesat (Zone Horror, for example). What are the chances of that coming to freesat?

[badger]

More questions: do any of the Freesat boxes upscale to 1080p? The models I've been able to find all say 720p/1080i.

[dave87]

Oh, probably not.

[Funkstar]

Freesat hardware:
Argos - www.argos.co.uk

C4HD will be sky only for the time being because of broadcast contracts. ITV HD is Freesat only and will only work with Freesat hardware (it's a H.264 video stream wrapped in a h.222 data stream. PVR software should get round this though).

I would suspect that many of the channels on the Sky free-to-view range will move across as well, they are expecting a 200 channel lineup by the end of the year.

[this_is_gav]

Am I right in thinking no Dave yet? Stuff that then.

[Bluecube]

Dave is on Freeview so I'd be surprised if it didn't pop up on Freesat as well.

[directhex]

Originally Posted by Bluecube

Dave is on Freeview so I'd be surprised if it didn't pop up on Freesat as well.

Dave is heavily encrypted on SKy. It'd take a fairly major (expensive) change by UKTV to drop their encryption - and unlike Ch4/5, there's been absolutely no talk of it happening

[badger]

It's bound to happen eventually though, surely the plan for Freesat is to mirror the the content available on Freeview?

[directhex]

Originally Posted by badger

It's bound to happen eventually though, surely the plan for Freesat is to mirror the the content available on Freeview?

well, given who's behind it, the intention is to get BBC and ITV channels to homes without freeview. anything else is icing.

[Bluecube]

Originally Posted by directhex

well, given who's behind it, the intention is to get BBC and ITV channels to homes without freeview. anything else is icing.

I don't see what you're getting at here. The BBC has a large stake in Freeview as well. I always had the impression that Freesat as Freeview by satellite with a few HD channels thrown in for good measure.

[Gunbuster]

It's easier to think of it as a taming of the back alleyway that is FTA satellite. My street is in a dead zone in an otherwise high signal Freeview area. I have a dual Freeview/FTA tuner becuase of my poor DVB-T signal. I often look up the times on the Freeview EPG then swap to FTA-Sat for the picture. Luckily the debt dodging idiots that owned the flat before me did one thing right and plumbed in a dual LNB sat dish. Personally hope that the Freesat hardware allows removal of some of the more annoying FTA channels and that Anime Central get a shot in the arm from this.

More than likely I will get a Freesat PVR for general viewing and HD, using either PlayTV on the PS3 or what ever spare freeview box I have lying around at the time for Rallying/QI/Red Dwarf on Dave.