Do I Get A freesat Receiver Or A $KY Digibox?

Here are the Pro's and Con's of the two options. In this area, the various makes/models mentioned, work as well as each other, with regards to reception quality.
Please note that exactly the same Satellites and Transponders, are used by both freesat and $KY systems, to receive BBC & ITV channels.

"freesat" Receiver?

For this area, it must be a Humax Foxsat HD "freesat" receiver or the Foxsat HDR, recording receiver (the HDR box, which like the $KY+ receiver, needs two separate feeds from the Satellite Dish).

Pro's
1. Never needs a viewing card, nor its updates
2. Can be bought from new, so comes with manufacturers warranty
3. Can be used to watch the free to air HD Channels with no subscription, like the BBC HD channel
4. Has HDMI Connector, ready for you High Definition enabled television.
5. You can set a freesat receiver, to default to your UK regional (BBC1 London for example), by entering your UK post code.
Con's
1. Can Never be used to watch $KY Pay TV
2. Does not have a RF out, so cannot be hard wired to another TV in another room, to watch the same channels as being watched in the main room, where the receiver is.

$KY Digibox?

For this area, it must be a PACE 2600C1 Digibox or a PACE DS430N Digibox (either, sadly no longer made).

Pro's
1. Can be used to watch $KY "Pay TV" channels (with a UK $KY subscription)
2. Does have 2x RF out's, so can be hard wired to another TV in a other room, to watch the same channel as being watched in the main room, where the receiver is. Additional to this, with a $KY TV link, a hard wired second TV, can also be used to remotely control the receiver, in the main room (with a second $KY remote control).
3. Does not need a viewing card to watch most of the free to air channels, which includes BBC1,2,3,4, ITV1,2,3,4, Channel4, E4, More4, Film 4, BBC News 24, $KY News, CBS Channels, True Movies, Movies 4 Men, Zone Horror, Cbebies, Channel 5 (in other channels) and a few other channels.

Con's
1. Always needs a white "freesat from $KY" viewing card, to receiver absolutely all of the available free channels (except the ones mentioned above), including FiveUS and FiveLive.
2. Cannot be bought from new, so only available refurbished via a source in the UK, or an agent here in Spain.
3. Does not have HD capability (incidentally $KY charge to enable the viewing of HD Channels on a HD capable receiver).
4. Does not have a HDMI Connector, so cannot be connect to a HD TV via the HDMI connector.

As with any recording receiver, if you want to watch one channel and record another, at the same time, you will need two feeds from the Satellite Dish. Normally a recording receiver, can be used in "Single Input Mode", but this restricts its use to only being able to record the same station, as being currently watched via the receiver.

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