Fed up with paying for SKY TV...

[OptiBull]

We currently pay around £70+ a month to sky for line rental, internet (20meg), sky plus HD with all the movies.

Been looking at the other options out there, and there is so much to choose from! We cant get cable so thats out of the question.

Been looking at,

Freesat
BT Vision
Freeview
YouView
Google TV

The mrs really wanted to keep sky one and the movies. Sky one seems only to be available via a sky subscription so she may just have to loose that. Movies could be replaced by lovefilm or netflicks? (do they do HD?)

Was looking at the option of building a media PC with a freesat HD card, freeview card, getting BT infinity internet and using the PC to also stream iPlayer, tv catchup and lovefilm etc? Covering all basses?

So how do you guys watch media content? Im i missing any tricks? Any recommendations for particular services?

[Haynesey]

Sky internet is shite and they only let you use their shitty router which cant reach the other side of the room, let alone all round the house!!
I cancelled mine and got BT infinity, much better!! Still had to have sky tv though.....always had it and although i dont really watch it, like to have it for family guy etc at night!!
Only pay just over £30 for that now though so doesnt break the bank, and £20 odd for my infinity which is superb!!

Used to work at Currys so tried most different set ups out, and still dont really like any apart from sky......its just a few channels they have that I couldnt live without, and i suppose you get used to the menus!!

[OptiBull]

Have had sky internet for over a year and tbh never had any issues. The router gives good wifi range and the connection is fast and stable. Was only looking at infinity because its faster and no more expensive.

[Haynesey]

Have had sky internet for over a year and tbh never had any issues. The router gives good wifi range and the connection is fast and stable. Was only looking at infinity because its faster and no more expensive.

You had a better experience than me then!! We changed from Virgin (who we had been with for years and were pretty good) and went to sky, just wasnt half as good as we were used to!! Have been much happier with BT infinity though, speeds are loads better and the router can reach the whole way around my house with no problems!

[mint]

Im using Sky, Used to use AOL back in the day Hated AOL had no issues with Sky.. however although we have Sky, I far prefer netflix.

£5 a month and I can watch it anywhere with 3G / Wifi etc on my phone, mac, or xbox. I also changed my DNS settings so my xbox thinks im in America.. so much better things to watch like Family Guy, American Dad, Initial D anime etc.. however.. for some odd reason, it wont open anymore.

Probably because i pricked about with the settings lmao.

[OptiBull]

Thumbs up for netflix then, seriously looking into building some sort of media PC to control it all.

[docwra]

If you want to watch Sky TV, you have to pay Sky. Their encryption is that good it has been picked up by governments and defence companies, you aint cracking that

[OptiBull]

Im not after sky for free, just looking at all the alternatives. Just signed upto netflixs first impressions are good...

[mint]

.. Just signed upto netflixs first impressions are good...

As said, on Xbox you can watch the US Netflix (with some tweeks). ALOT more content.

[SECDrift]

i will just stick with next doors connection that i have been using for 2 years free ftw

[mushtafa]

Get a friends and family code. Must of it is half price. I've got all channels apart from sports, hd pack, movies etc, phone line, and Internet for about £41. Only lasts a year so you'll have to fart ass about again next year for another code.
If you're not going to miss sky, build a HTPC and get infinity broadband.

Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk 2

[Joe-sef]

AVOID BT VISON AT ALL COSTS.

Sky TV is better then most mainly because you can use it not connected to the phone line, And it has no effect on broadband. Where i live (in the sticks) you want nothing connected to your internet bar the X box lol.

[OptiBull]

As said, on Xbox you can watch the US Netflix (with some tweeks). ALOT more content.

I have a PS3 not xbox, ill have a google later see if i can do the same.

Get a friends and family code. Must of it is half price. I've got all channels apart from sports, hd pack, movies etc, phone line, and Internet for about £41. Only lasts a year so you'll have to fart ass about again next year for another code.
If you're not going to miss sky, build a HTPC and get infinity broadband.

Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk 2

I wont miss it the Wife will tho, whats a HTPC?

AVOID BT VISON AT ALL COSTS.

Sky TV is better then most mainly because you can use it not connected to the phone line, And it has no effect on broadband. Where i live (in the sticks) you want nothing connected to your internet bar the X box lol.

Yeah i wont be going with vision, Im only a few hundred yards from a huge exchange so get a good speed, BT tell me i could expect upto 80mb down and 19mb up on my line and infinity 2... Tempting

[Rich330]

Just get decent broadband and torrent all your TV/movies in glorious HD like a boss. For free. With no adverts. On demand. Before they come out in the UK.

[mint]

whats with this virgin fiber optics? Japan have some decent internet there.. faster than anything Iv used here before.. we need that!

[mushtafa]

HTPC, home theatre PC.

Slim good looking case, silent fans/no fans, graphics card plugged into TV / A/V receiver etc, run a couple of tv / sat cards so you can record or watch live etc, connect to home network or NAS etc for all your recordings and films.

Have a Google, you'll soon realise you can do endless things with it. The only thing to hold you back is your budget.


Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk 2

[rtlkyuubi]

Already been said but but bt vision is shit. Had sky but then an offer came through about bt vision as we are with them for the Internet. It was crap so went back to sky

[OptiBull]

Im liking the HTPC lots of ideas coming to me!