Freesat - Channel 4 HD back PLUS 5 music channels

[ColinJ]

I was mighty peeved when Channel 4 HD was taken off Freesat in 2018. That is my favourite channel and I don't like SD!

I normally access my Freesat Box via my Favourite Channels list. Today though, I was browsing through the other channels and discovered that Channel 4 HD is finally back!

Use ch 126 for Channel 4 HD, rather than the fuzzy version on ch 104.

I also found music channels at ch 501- 505.

I am surprised that it has taken me over 2 weeks to discover this. I would have expected a bit more of an effort to let viewers know!

 

[ColinJ]

And now... not only are BBC1 local programmes finally going to be in HD, but also so are all ITV channels - I discovered the change this evening. I don't normally watch ITV, but I do watch cycling on ITV4 so it is nice that that will be in HD in 2023.

 

[DaveReading]

I was mighty peeved when Channel 4 HD was taken off Freesat in 2018. That is my favourite channel and I don't like SD!

I normally access my Freesat Box via my Favourite Channels list. Today though, I was browsing through the other channels and discovered that Channel 4 HD is finally back!

Use ch 126 for Channel 4 HD, rather than the fuzzy version on ch 104.

I also found music channels at ch 501- 505.

I am surprised that it has taken me over 2 weeks to discover this. I would have expected a bit more of an effort to let viewers know!

Yes, ITV2/3/4 HD appeared on Freesat in early November.

I agree that those changes aren't well publicised - I normally pick them up with a bit of code I've written that scans the EPG on my Humax box daily and alerts me to any channel changes. For example you should find you now have Classic Hits (SD) on Channel 506 as of about 10 days ago (currently playing non-stop Christmas music )..

Incidentally Channel 4 HD never really went away - the Astra satellite has been broadcasting it all this time, it's just that a dispute between C4 and Freesat led to it disappearing from the EPG in 2018, making it a bit more fiddly to tune (depending on what Freesat box you have).

 

[the_mikey]

Yes, ITV2/3/4 HD appeared on Freesat in early November.

I agree that those changes aren't well publicised - I normally pick them up with a bit of code I've written that scans the EPG on my Humax box daily and alerts me to any channel changes. For example you should find you now have Classic Hits (SD) on Channel 506 as of about 10 days ago (currently playing non-stop Christmas music )..

Incidentally Channel 4 HD never really went away - the Astra satellite has been broadcasting it all this time, it's just that a dispute between C4 and Freesat led to it disappearing from the EPG in 2018, making it a bit more fiddly to tune (depending on what Freesat box you have).

Indeed, at one point I had access to Hotbird 13E, Astra 19.2E and Astra 28.2E at one point, all accessed via the non-freesat mode on my Humax Foxsat HD until the window cleaner crashed into the 13E/19.2E dish one day...

 

[Chislenko]

And now... not only are BBC1 local programmes finally going to be in HD, but also so are all ITV channels - I discovered the change this evening. I don't normally watch ITV, but I do watch cycling on ITV4 so it is nice that that will be in HD in 2023.

I was reading about this and it kept referring to people who had an SD dish and saying they would not be able to access BBC anymore.

What it didn't cover was people who watch conventional TV through an aerial. I am presuming that if these people don't have an HD TV they will also lose BBC?

Certainly on our TV in the kitchen and the one in the dining room (both old non smart TV's) when you do a rescan they can no longer pick up BBC.

 

[lazybloke]

I was mighty peeved when Channel 4 HD was taken off Freesat in 2018. That is my favourite channel and I don't like SD!

Hopefully that means there's a software update to restore the All4 catchup app too.

 

[the_mikey]

I was reading about this and it kept referring to people who had an SD dish and saying they would not be able to access BBC anymore.

What it didn't cover was people who watch conventional TV through an aerial. I am presuming that if these people don't have an HD TV they will also lose BBC?

Certainly on our TV in the kitchen and the one in the dining room (both old non smart TV's) when you do a rescan they can no longer pick up BBC.

This discussion isn't about the freeview service, which in all likelihood will remain unchanged, but the Freesat service where some SD services will be upgraded to HD, it's not clear if there will be any SD BBC services remaining (I've not seen any details) , but SD only hardware is vanishingly rare, some HD capable boxes will happily downgrade the picture and output an analogue SD picture for anyone still using older hardware regardless of whether the channel is HD or not.

 

[lazybloke]

This discussion isn't about the freeview service, which in all likelihood will remain unchanged, but the Freesat service where some SD services will be upgraded to HD, it's not clear if there will be any SD BBC services remaining (I've not seen any details) , but SD only hardware is vanishingly rare, some HD capable boxes will happily downgrade the picture and output an analogue SD picture for anyone still using older hardware regardless of whether the channel is HD or not.

Similarly, the 4k freesat box is fine on an HD TV (and gives a far better picture than my old HD Humax Freesat box)

 

[ColinJ]

Hopefully that means there's a software update to restore the All4 catchup app too.

I suspect that won't happen, but hopefully it will. I have the app on my TV but it hasn't been updated for years and has poor picture quality. It is also becoming unreliable, though maybe resetting the TV would fix that.

I have started using the app on my Android tablet and sending the signal to the TV using a Chromecast dongle. That is reliable and has much better picture quality. It would more convenient to have it back on Freesat though.

A good thing about the phasing out of SD is that people will be less able to inflict it on me. My sisters don't even bother switching to HD when I ask them to. They say they can't tell the difference! If that is true then they need to upgrade their glasses too...

 

[GuyBoden]

I'm a dab hand with one of these on the roof.

 

[DaveReading]

I suspect that won't happen, but hopefully it will. I have the app on my TV but it hasn't been updated for years and has poor picture quality. It is also becoming unreliable, though maybe resetting the TV would fix that.

I have started using the app on my Android tablet and sending the signal to the TV using a Chromecast dongle. That is reliable and has much better picture quality. It would more convenient to have it back on Freesat though.

A good thing about the phasing out of SD is that people will be less able to inflict it on me. My sisters don't even bother switching to HD when I ask them to. They say they can't tell the difference! If that is true then they need to upgrade their glasses too...

Could you explain what you mean by having the All4 app on Freesat ?

I thought the only way you could watch All4 was via the Internet ?

 

[ColinJ]

Could you explain what you mean by having the All4 app on Freesat ?

I thought the only way you could watch All4 was via the Internet ?

The Freesat box is linked to the internet as well as the satellite and has apps on it for iPlayer, Netflix etc. Unfortunately, the All4 app was removed when Channel 4 and Freesat fell out.

 

[DaveReading]

The Freesat box is linked to the internet as well as the satellite and has apps on it for iPlayer, Netflix etc. Unfortunately, the All4 app was removed when Channel 4 and Freesat fell out.

Ah right, thanks.

My Humax box is fairly old and can't run apps, so we accessed All4 initially using a NowTV stick and latterly via an LG smart TV.

Having said that, we still had access to the All4 app during the C4 HD absence - I suppose Freesat couldn't force smart TV manufacturers to withdraw it, whereas the Humax boxes are actually badged as Freesat and so they can presumably control access to apps.

 

[lazybloke]

Apparently the All4 app returned to 4K Freesat boxes just over a year ago. Not to mine, it didn't... until this week.

Weird.

 

[ColinJ]

I hardly ever fire up my Freesat box these days. The great OLED TV that I bought last year has very good apps which I use to stream most things that I watch.