Freesat Recordable 4K TV Box review

Freesat Recordable 4K TV Field: Introduction

Not too long ago, I made the soar to Sky Stream and primarily dished the dish. Besides I didn’t. Whenever you do away with the ‘outdated’ Sky setup, no person involves take down your satellite tv for pc dish, nor eliminates the coaxial cables that ship the alerts from the dish to your set-top field.

So that you’re successfully left with some ineffective tools and cabling. Or are you?

Freesat is a subscription-free satellite tv for pc tv service obtainable in the UK that provides a spread of free-to-air digital tv and radio channels utilizing a satellite tv for pc dish.

Like Freeview (which is a part of the identical Everybody TV firm), Freesat is backed by the likes of the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5, and affords an alternative choice to conventional cable and satellite tv for pc TV subscriptions, giving viewers a choice of channels with out ongoing prices past the preliminary tools setup.

That tools, for this evaluate, is the Freesat Recordable 4K TV Field. As you’ll have guessed from the title, it’s a set-top field with PVR capabilities, which can also be constructed with 4K streaming in thoughts.

So in the event you’re seeking to make the swap to Sky Stream or simply wish to do away with your Sky subscription and you’ve got a dish and cables already in place, learn for my Freesat Recordable 4K TV Field evaluate to see if it could be the system for you.

Design and set up

• 500GB, 1TB and 2TB variations
• Multi LNB help – can report 4 reveals directly
• 4K streaming apps on supply

There are literally numerous Freesat bins to select from, together with a smaller model than the one I’ve on take a look at right here, which affords no-recording capabilities however allows you to watch stay TV and use the apps.

The Recordable variants are available three storage sizes: 500GB (£199.99, 125 hours of HD), 1TB (£229.99, 250 hours of HD) and 2TB (£269.99, 500 hours of HD)… I’ve acquired the 500GB on take a look at for this evaluate.

That’s fairly dear, and it’s truly a value that hasn’t dropped within the 3+ years that these bins have been obtainable.

Sure, they trump the streaming-only units akin to Apple TV and Fireplace TV by letting you watch and report stay TV however, given many of the main terrestrial broadcasters now supply apps the place each stay(ish) TV and almost-immediate catch up are on supply, it’s as much as you whether or not the costlier outlay is price it.

Freesat has finished a fairly good job with the design. Measuring simply 250 x 150 x 35 mm, it’s a lot smaller than a Sky+ field and fairly a bit slender than a Sky Q set prime field too.

The field options mild curves with the clear entrance house to simply the IR receiver, with a solitary energy button on the top-right nook.

On the again you’ll discover a HDMI 2.0 (HDCP 2.2) output with help for Dolby Atmos, an Optical S/PDIF for soundbars and AV receivers and a pair of F-connectors.

These RF1 and RF2 inputs are the place the coaxial cable out of your satellite tv for pc dish screw in, in precisely the identical approach as they did in your Sky field.

Their performance will depend on the kind of Low Noise Block (LNB) put in in your satellite tv for pc dish, nonetheless.

With commonplace LNBs, customers can report two channels concurrently. Nonetheless, wideband LNBs broaden this functionality, permitting for the recording of as much as 4 channels on the similar time. In the event you’re switching over from Sky Q, likelihood is you’ll have a wideband LNB (WLNB) in place.

You’ll additionally discover an Ethernet port, which you should use to stream the apps, in the event you don’t wish to use the field’s dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11n.

Throughout setup you add the field to your house Wi-Fi, and add your postcode in order the localised variations of sure TV channels are introduced appropriately.

Then it does a sign take a look at, which I assumed can be fairly fast however failed and cased me a delay in finishing the set-up course of for a number of hours.

A fast Google of my difficulty – i.e. no sign being detected – indicated that it was a widespread difficulty, associated to sure WNLBs and that point was the one healer. Successfully, I needed to go away the field powered on in a single day to carry out a software program replace that sorted the difficulty.

When you’ve overcome any sign issues, all your obtainable stay channels are populated and you’re good to go.

The ergonomic distant is fairly ugly and really clicky, and looks like a controller from the early 2000s. It’s not the slick, svelte controllers we’re extra used to these days.

It’s additionally simply IR, not Bluetooth, so you have to the field in sight to manage it. You possibly can, apparently, register for a Freesat account and management the field utilizing an app however I couldn’t truly handle to login, nor sync issues up; it simply stored throwing me spherical in a loop so I gave up in the long run.

In use

• 7-day scrollback on supply
• Simple to make use of UI
• 180+ channels

As talked about above, it’s quite a bit smaller than your historical Sky+ field, and smaller than the more moderen Sky Q bins too and the excellent news is that it’s additionally quieter and doesn’t get as scorching.

Emphasising simplicity, the primary menu affords a concise choice of choices, permitting fast navigation to the TV information, your recordings, on-demand apps, and settings.

The on-demand button is unusually named, it simply throws you to a menu display screen with all of the apps obtainable to you. It’d in all probability have made extra sense to make use of this button to let folks entry recordings.

Just like Freeview, Freesat incorporates a scrollback function within the Information, enabling customers to backtrack as much as seven days.

If a missed program is on the market on-demand, customers can swiftly choose it and transition to the corresponding on-demand app.

Sure reveals on the BBC supply the choice to begin from the start by way of the iPlayer.

Within the Information, customers can simply schedule recordings by urgent the designated button on the distant, with choices to report single episodes or total sequence.

Whereas watching a program, customers can provoke recording, albeit with an intrusive full-screen dialog immediate. Moreover, Stay TV will be paused for added comfort.

With over 180 channels, together with 25+ in HD, that includes standard broadcasters such because the BBC, ITV, and Channel 5, the channel lineup affords a various vary of content material.

Nonetheless, the 4K within the title doesn’t consult with broadcast in any respect (though it does upscale all content material to a 2160p output). There are presently no 4K free broadcasts within the UK which, in 2024, appears bonkers.

For 4K motion (HDR, not Dolby Imaginative and prescient) you’ll have to fireside up the likes of Netflix, Amazon Prime or YouTube.

I couldn’t appear to entry any UHD content material in any respect on the system’s iPlayer app which appears odd. Presumably issues just like the World Cup and Wimbledon can have a 4K possibility however reveals akin to Boarders and The Vacationer not presenting 4K choices on the Freesat field, after I can entry them in 4K on different streaming units plugged into the identical TV.

Whenever you do stream 4K, from the likes of Netflix, the visuals are spectacular. It’s not fairly on-par with Apple TV or my Sky Stream puck nevertheless it’s definitely an enormous enchancment over Full HD 1080p.

There are a selection of apps on supply, and the likes of the iPlayer and Netflix allow you to use QR code for simple login out of your telephone however notably there’s no no Apple TV, no Disney+, no Discovery+ or Paramount Plus.

Again to broadcasting and the common HD image high quality is fairly first rate, across the similar stage that I used to be getting with Sky Q. Nonetheless, the obligatory upscaling makes SD channels appears horrible, so keep away from these in the event you can.

Recordings are nearly unimaginable to differentiate from their broadcast counterparts, there’s no pixelation or something that deteriorates, to my eye at the very least, from the unique.

Dolby Atmos hit or miss, and solely obtainable by streaming. Typically it appears to work, typically it doesn’t.

The search possibility can also be a bit temperamental, and it doesn’t appear to choose up reveals or films from apps, simply outcomes from the linear TV channels within the TV information.

Last ideas

In the event you’re searching for a Freesat field with recording capabilities then this 4K field might be your greatest wager. However do you actually need it? Will an everyday streaming stick not do the job in the event you’re not after premium channels? Lot’s of TVs additionally supply Freesat tuners now, so be sure to store round first.

How we take a look at

Once we publish our evaluations, you may relaxation assured that they’re the results of “dwelling with” long run exams.

As a result of we’re testing units all day, on a regular basis, we all know what issues and the way a selected gadget compares to options that you may also be contemplating.

Our evaluations are complete, goal and truthful and, in fact, we’re by no means paid on to evaluate a tool.

Learn our information on how we take a look at to be taught extra.

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