Freeview/Freesat without an Aerial

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Hi all, I’m looking for a bit of advice....

I want to cancel my virgin media tv package and just keep my broadband.

The main reasons if any is interested are:

1) Just had a 2nd child and @ £60 a month for 2 boxes (old Hd box + TiVo) with mid range package it’s too expensive + constant price hikes.

2) We barely watch any of the channels we subscribe to and are no way getting our monies worth.

So my question is, is there a freeview or freesat box that does not require an aerial or satellite dish that runs over broadband that can watch and record live tv?

My aerial on the roof is broken so before I go down the route of getting it sorted if I can get a box that can record live tv but by only being connected to the internet that would be perfect...

I’ve done a bit of searching but it doesn’t appear to exist.

My only other option would be to install a TVCatchup app on my smart tv unless any of you guys have any ideas?

Cheers
 
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I think you've already summed up the state of the market pretty well.

Because of apps and the internet, there's not a sufficient market for a conventional box that hosts just web TV. Also, the idea of recording web TV.... that's called download or On Demand. Why record something as it is being broadcast when there's the ability to click on an icon and get it streamed when you're ready to watch or downloaded when the programme takes your fancy? The only real restriction is the time-limited availability of some programmes even after they've been downloaded.

The fly in the ointment of Web TV is the variable quality of the implementation of the apps. The best platforms are a PC or an Android phone/tablet/streamer box, or possibly an iOS device though you'd need to check all the apps run on that OS. Hardware solutions such as smart TVs have a nasty habit of dropping support for apps or for being very limited about which apps they'll host.

All round though, I have to say that getting the aerial fixed and buying a Freeview recorder will be the simplest solution. When you remember that all the house TVs should have a Freeview tuner built in unless they're pre-2005(ish) models, and that one aerial on the roof can feed all those TVs, and USB recording has been a fairly common feature now for at least the last 8 years, then Freeview with some top up from Web TV gives you the lowest-cost practical solution.
 
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Thanks for the reply lucid I thought as much but If there is anything available OCUK is the best place to find out...

Guess I’ll get a quote on how much it is to get my aerial fixed or see what virgin can offer...
 
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I called virgin and told them I wanted to cancel the lot. After the old “let me speak to my manager” I got the same BB package I was already on (50mb) minimum tv for £36 a month so I’ll take that.

I was going to install TVCatchup up on my Nvidea sheild but can’t find it on the App Store.

MoRT489 I’d not thought of one of those I’ll bear that in mind if I need one in the future. Thanks for your replies all.
 
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Doesn't the Virgin box just work as a free view box if you cancel the subscription?
Virgin is a cable TV service. There's no aerial socket or Freeview tuner in a VM box. Maybe you're thinking of a BT Vision / YouView box? They use a mix of Freeview (aerial socket) and catch-up TV via the internet connection.
 
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Virgin is a cable TV service. There's no aerial socket or Freeview tuner in a VM box. Maybe you're thinking of a BT Vision / YouView box? They use a mix of Freeview (aerial socket) and catch-up TV via the internet connection.
Surely that doesn't matter given they already have Virgin TV?

Do they not have a "basic" service with the free channels just like Sky does when your sub card lapses?
 
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AFAIK, the only digital Public Service Broadcasting (PSB) platforms are terrestial (aerial) and satellite.

The rationale is that the channels are being broadcast, and there's no physical connection between the broadcast system and the receiving system, so it doesn't matter to either broadcasters transmission costs if there's people watching the free-to-view channels. That's not the case with Virgin.

There's a cost to lay cable and connect. Also, there's a direct impact on the network load for each live receiver box. All this equates to costs for the broadcaster. It wouldn't be fair to saddle them with those costs just to provide TV to someone wanting the basic PSB channels.

There were some exceptions to this. The main one was was Milton Keynes. That was a new town built in the 60s and it was planned that the whole area would be served by cable. TV aerials were banned by local planning. Satellite dishes were included once they started to become available. Cable was the only way to get a TV signal, but it was provided on the same basis as national terrestrial TV.

MK had an analogue cable TV system for years. However, it was switched off during digital switchover. The cost to upgrade it to handle digital was considered too high.

A fair number of digital TVs include a DVB-C digital cable tuner. It's possible to hook up the VM cable and try tuning in. A word of warning though, this is against VM's Terms and Conditions.
 
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We did the same, ditched our virgin tv package and now use freeview as it’s built into all our screens at home, luckily we had an aerial already on the roof but they can be supplied and fitted for just over £100 (area dependant).

We now have a few services, freeview for all basic channels, Nowtv for tv shows and IPTV for movies and sports.
 
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BT TV is relatively decent if you want a good Freeview box and some extra channels, providing you can get a good deal on it. The UHD box is the one to have though (even if you don't have a UHD TV). They need to badly add some more channels to the line-up though, no E4 HD or Film4 HD is embarrassing and AMC is quite poor as most of the good AMC stuff ends up on other channels or Amazon.
 
Soldato
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Best just getting the aerial fixed, you can use online catchup but for things like 4OD and ITV Hub you will be forced to watch adverts and the quality isn't as good.

We stopped sky last year and I tried apps at first as the aerial only came in to the living room but found it only really worked if you knew what you wanted to watch whereas I like to just stick something on as background noise / channel surf. Tried using a HDHomerun and Plex to wirelessly send freeview to devices in the other rooms (HDhomerun plugs into aerial and has dual tuners so 2 devices could watch over the wifi at once or record 2 things at once etc) but the support for UK tv is terrible as we use interlaced video formats which none of the tv streamer devices really support properly (Shield does but too expensive for each room).

Gave up on it as the main solution, bought a second hand youview box and bought indoor aerials for the other rooms. I actually really like the Youview box, had Sky Q before but can't say I miss it. Have Netflix and Prime for everything else.
 
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