Wayne Stallwood ALUGlist@digimatic.co.uk wrote:
[...] Does it cope with the freesat EPG etc.
FTA is a bit ambiguous as I presume that is the same as I get in a sky box without the sky pay once viewing card. What is different about Freesat exactly ?
Note this is different to the Sky Subscription free pay once service and should give me the complete freeview channel selection without the Sky paid for channels cluttering the EPG. Also Freesat is HD capable (not that the dreambox appears to be)
As I understand it, Freesat is a collection of free-to-air (not ambiguous at all - it's a well-known term for unencrypted DVB streams) channels and an EPG which is pretty standards-based but all the data is broadcast on one or two transponders, instead of being distributed across transponders like the German broadcasters do. That method has the advantage that you download all channel schedules together instead of waiting for it to populate when you switch to a channel for the first time in a day or two, but the slight disadvantage that the receiver has to tune to an EPG transponder that has no TV channels at least once a day and then remember that data until the next EPG snort.
I think non-freesat receivers should be able to support the freesat EPG (particularly Linux-based receivers - unlike Sky's iOpen one) but my current Digiquest receiver doesn't (not enough EPG memory) and I've not tested or heard about any others. There's some info on http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~klee/freesat.html but I've not been watching closely recently (many websites to do!).
The text services are reportedly MHEG-based, so should "just work" but again, I've not tested or seen reports on it.
There are a few HD channels on freesat and HD has been a major reason for it. There are both HD and SD receivers available, including Linux HD Dreamboxes like the DM8000.
Hope that informs,