Cancelled Sky

conaero

conaero

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34,631
After 15 years and 8 months I have finally done it.

Didn't have sports (except F1) or movies but am totally bored of the trash, American, rolling repeats and nothing new.

The biggest bug bear is the adverts and more so the distressing charity adverts and constant begging for money via emotional blackmail. Granted, there are a lot of valid causes but I don't see why I should pay £50 a month to have it rammed down my throat.

So, it leaves me with my old Sky box as a freeview box only. We have Kodi (which is dying) and Netflix which we like.

Any suggestion on which way to go. I need some sort of recorder box PVR and watch mainly BBC and ITV and C4. Like to see the F1 and certain car programmes, Wheeler Dealers/Car SOS/GM Garage.

I don't do Samsung products and Panasonic is my preferred supplier

Any advice appreciated.
 
GeoffCapes

GeoffCapes

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14,000
I bought a Samsung Smart LED TV yesterday for the bedroom.

It's excellent. Probably better than the Panasonic one in the lounge.

Don't see the issue with Samsung to be honest.
 
conaero

conaero

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GeoffCapes said:
Don't see the issue with Samsung to be honest.
Click to expand...

Personal preference. Being a big Apple fan, I will never buy Samsung but thats a conversation for another thread.

Just been looking at Panasonic PVR's and with 1TB of storage, Freeview HD and downloadable App Store to extend along with on demand services built in and the ability to scroll back a week if you missed something look like an excellent alternative.

What would swing it for me if Kodi could run on one of them, Phil, this is your area of expertise, whats the chances of that?
 
midlifecrisis

midlifecrisis

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16,229
When we moved into our flat in Woking we could get Virgin on fibre and therefore get 200mbps theoretical speed for only £33 with BT Sport and a lot of other channels but no movies. Most importantly we do no need a phone line and therefore do not have to spend £18 on line rental, which BT insist you having even if you do not need it. I've cancelled my BT subscription at Bournemouth saving over £60 a month too.

If you can put up with the chopping and changing, it's best to change every year or at least haggle for a better deal.
 
BennyD

BennyD

Sea Urchin Pate
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15,006
GeoffCapes said:
I bought a Samsung Smart LED TV yesterday for the bedroom.

It's excellent. Probably better than the Panasonic one in the lounge.

Don't see the issue with Samsung to be honest.
Click to expand...

I've just got a 55" Samsung QLED and it is fantastic. Heartily recommended.
 
D Walker

D Walker

Member
Messages
9,827
GeoffCapes said:
I bought a Samsung Smart LED TV yesterday for the bedroom.

It's excellent. Probably better than the Panasonic one in the lounge.

Don't see the issue with Samsung to be honest.
Click to expand...

Newly married, bedroom, television......
..
Can't compute!!!
 
MrMickS

MrMickS

Member
Messages
3,959
I have a USB drive plugged into my Samsung FreeSat TV and use that to record stuff for when I'm out. TBH though I don't do that much and instead use catch up for most things and have Amazon Prime for the TV series.

I've more Apple stuff than you can shake a stick at but the TV stuff is all Samsung as it integrates well together. I'm a bit miffed at the fact that my Smart TV seems to get less smart by the month as they remove services from it. That seems to be par for the course though.
 
conaero

conaero

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Ok, it looks like a Panasonic DVD/Bluray 2TB PVR is where I am heading, I can see you can install Kodi direct on a Smart TV but can't find any refs to doing it direct on the PVR which in essence is a twin tuner smart TV.

Its exactly the same interface and app market as the smart TV

Any help appreciated.
 
jluis

jluis

Member
Messages
1,703
Beware of Samsung hardware.
They take planned obsolence to another level and make apple look like child's play.

I have a smart tv that is 2 years old and I already started receiving notifications that due to end of support some apps are going to be automatically uninstalled.
Had a first generation Samsung smart tv that did this too but I still went ahead and bought another ... never again, lesson learned.

I also hear horror stories from owners of samsung galaxy phones that report their phones are barely usable after 1 year with all the crapware slowing down the device.
 
B

bigbob

Member
Messages
8,972
Sky is essentially a broken product so I understand what you have done. Wifi is not strong enough up here yet in rural Scotland so I rang them recently and said I was leaving and they took £20 off pm for the next 18 months. Incidentally when the adverts start (don't watch stuff live) I just press back up and then add 4 minutes and that gets rid of them.

Don't like Samsung either especially since the TVs' that tacitly record ambient noise came out.
 
zagatoes30

zagatoes30

Member
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20,945
We would have cancelled but they offered us a really good deal to stay for another 2 years but the first time that don't deal we will be off
 
Felonious Crud

Felonious Crud

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Most smart TV manufacturers will only support apps for 3 years. Hardware and OS are evolving quickly enough that anything built three years ago most likely won't work on a newer TV, and certainly won't be designed to take advantage of whatever new features that newer TVs provide.

Regarding sky, give them a month or two and I guarantee you can be back on the full package for around £20/25 per month (if you want). No minimum commitment.
 
jluis

jluis

Member
Messages
1,703
Felonious Crud said:
Most smart TV manufacturers will only support apps for 3 years. Hardware and OS are evolving quickly enough that anything built three years ago most likely won't work on a newer TV, and certainly won't be designed to take advantage of whatever new features that newer TVs provide.

Regarding sky, give them a month or two and I guarantee you can be back on the full package for around £20/25 per month (if you want). No minimum commitment.
Click to expand...

I can understand that manufacturers don't support TVs for a long period of time and dot put new software into existing models.
What p1sses me off is the TV automatically uninstalling apps after x amount of time without giving me an option to keep the apps installed.
 
ChrisQP09

ChrisQP09

Member
Messages
2,997
Sky is the single biggest rip off in entertainment! I will, however, be tuning in for 'fight of the century II'
 
mjheathcote

mjheathcote

Centenary Club
Messages
9,038
You are best buying a dumb TV, and using apps etc through third party boxes, smart Blueray players/Amazon Tv etc.
 
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