Purple Jim

For a long time, we have been watching Freeview channels (BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Five, etc,..) via our satellite dish (into a very reliable Golden Interstar tuner). The advantage is that once installed, there is no subscription. The downside is, we have no BBC iPlayer or catch-up for the other channels and we are unable record programs on an internal hard-drive. So, we really need a box that will give us the access that I have detailed.
Have any of you found a good solution for this? Is it a Sky box/subsription? Virgin Tivo?
Thanks

Tweedpipe

Welcome back!
Unable to answer your query exactly to your needs, but this is what we have:- No satellite dish or any subsciptions. Just plain vanille French tv stations and an Optex decoder with double tuner. That gives us a host of tv channels (twenty-something on last count) a few of which show American/UK films which one can either watch in French or in English (or German if it's a German film) simply by selecting the required language using the remote.
A quick peek in the TelèJours app shows there's Toy Story4 tonight (not really my scene) and probably a few others. Our most-watched channels are Arte (7) and M6 either for their fims or documentaries. TF1, France2 and France3 frequently show UK/American films which we either watch directly or record and watch later. The neat feature with some of the decoders is if they have dual tuners, one can record 2 different films and watch a third channel on live.
Some time ago my work overseas work contract included a satellite dish and subscription to Sky tv or whatever which included BBC news and other channels you mentioned. Watched a few for several months and cancelled the subsciption as imho most of the contents were rubbish, although I appreciate each one to his/her own.
So many of the documentaries on French tv and especially their telefims are first class, and one makes leaps and bounds in assimilating into the new language.
Fwiw I also have an SSD half full of English language documentaries and films taken from YTube using ClipGrab - a brilliant free app! The trouble being I hardly find time to watch any of them as there's truly so much of interest on French tv.

Purple Jim

I find French TV to be appalling. Having the satellite dish to get all the Freeview channels saved our lives.
Now, we could do with an upgrade.

Annetje

I watch all my English TV via internet.

Helen1964

Like you Purple Jim we have had a satellite dish for many years and get all the UK TV channels free of charge, in our case via a very old Sky digibox.
We have an ancient Panasonic recorder and can record any of the UK stuff without any problem.

Getting the dish erected was a huge palaver because we’re in the middle of the city and live in a listed neighbourhood.
If we ever move, I’m hoping we can skip the satellite next time and get all the UK channels via the internet but when I ask friends and colleagues none of them seem to have a VPN that will let them watch the BBC.

Annetje, have you found a VPN that isn’t detected by the BBC?

Annetje

I use Express VPN.
I watch most English channels live via Zattoo in Switzerland which seems to work easier than direct from the UK channels.
Just use the location Switzerland on the VPN.

Purple Jim

Can you access iPlayer, ITV Hub etc.?

Jerseygirl

I use AirTV. It is located in the US but is worldwide. It is by subscription but you can ask for a trial. You can watch UK TV live, up to 7 days, or record. There are over 100 channels. There is also films/series on demand. My daughter is in Canada and doesn’t watch anything else. I have been watching the Jubilee celebrations live.

Annetje

Assuming you ask me I watch all BBC all ITV all All 4 and everything around it.
Well, I don't really watch all of that ...
Anyway, just had a look and there are 200 channels to choose from.
One does need a good internet connection though, otherwise the buffering (I think that's the word) can be very irritating.

Helen1964

Thanks very much Annetje.

bazzer70

The house I’ve just bought in Dordogne has satellite dish and Sky box. It’s not great in that only gets about a fifth of those first hundred free view channels. When I switch on it says “moving dish” which which I assume means it has some sort of signal finder? I can forget about using this if weather is bad.
maybe the dish needs to be redirected or is the reception pretty hit and miss anyway? I doubt we’ll watch tv much when we go for our 3 months this summer but it is nice to have it. We are taking the fire stick with this time - we’ll let you know how we get on.

Listen Very Carefully

Probably you need something like this
https://www.freesat.co.uk/get-freesa...E&gclsrc=aw.ds

but of course you will need to make sure your dish is pointing at the right satellite
https://www.aerialforce.co.uk/how-to...%20the%20trick.

bazzer70

Thanks LVC - those freesat boxes are pricey! I bought a BT you view box here which was very reasonable.I’ve got soooo much tv recorded I should probably start watching that and avoid the news anyway!

Purple Jim

Yes, those seem to be the boxes to go for. However, I think one needs a "UK VPN router" so that the box thinks that it is in the UK. Can anyone confirm this?

calman014

The free sat boxes do not need to be supported by a VPN unless you want to use iPlayer or catch up TV.
However, the freesat boxes are very limited in what you can pick up regarding FTA channels.

Invest in a decent ( modern) satellite receiver from a local satellite dealer and have them set it up. They know all the tricks for getting maximum channels and can preprogramme it for you. Here is a good example.

If they programme it well you can pick up hundreds of free streams via Internet as well as many channels via satellite.