


OVERVIEW
The 3 terms widely (and often incorrectly) used to describe a
receiver to get the free satellite channels are:
- Free to Air: Generic Satellite receiver
- Freesat: ITV/BBC patented range
- Freeview: NOT a Satellite receiver - its a Terrestrial Digital receiver
Below we give full details of the differences
Free to Air (FTA)
- This is a Satellite Digital receiver and is used with a satellite dish
- It is Free to Air meaning it is used to pick up free satellite channels
- but can come with a card slot to allow it to be used for subscription services
- It is capable of working with any satellite (so long as the dish is large enough)
- Manufactured by a range of up to about 120 different companies
- Boxes can come in the following formats
- Standard definition receivers: No hard drive
- High Definition Receivers: Option to add on external hard drive
- HD+ Receiver: Twin feeds to allow you to record one channel & look at another
- HD Satellite & Combo receiver: a satellite feed & a Digital terrestrial feed
- Good Points ?
- It is non subscription
- It is very versatile in terms of channel line up and satellite
- huge range of different boxes
- generally cheaper than freesat
- Drawback
- Unlike freesat it does not automatically updates if their is a frequency change
- or a new channels becomes available
- getting spare remotes etc can be a problem
- Main channels include (on astra 2, but totally flexible):
- BBC 1,2,3,4,
- UTV, ITV 2,3,4,
- Channel 4, E4, More 4,
- 6 News Channels, 7 Childrens, 8 Movie channels.
- TVTRADE.IE stock these in our free to air satellite receiver section
FREESAT
Main points
- This is a Satellite Digital receiver
- It meets the Freesat standards set out by ITV/BBC to work
- It will work anywhere in Ireland from a 60cm satellite dish
- It comes in range of types (and about 5 manufactures):
- Freesat SD: SD with no hard drive
- Freesat HD: HD with no hard drive
- Freesat+: twin feed, with hard drive, series link etc
- What makes Freesat special ?
- It is non subscription
- It has a standard channel line up (programme with a UK Post code)
- it automatically updates if their is a frequency change
- or a new channels becomes available
- easy to get spare remotes etc (there is 10 million freesat boxes out there)
- Drawbacks
- It is generally more expensive that free to air boxes
- It is not as flexible - i.e. you can't decide the order of the channels in freesat mode
- Only works off the Astra 2 (28 degrees E) satellite.
- Main channels include:
- BBC 1,2,3,4,
- UTV, ITV 2,3,4,
- Channel 4, E4, More 4,
- 6 News Channels, 7 Childrens, 8 Movie channels.
- TVTRADE.IE stock these in our Freesat Satellite Receivers section
Freeview
Main points
- This is a terrestrial Digital receiver (NOT a satellite receiver)
- Works with UHF Aerial rather than a Satellite dish
- It meets the Freeview standards set out by ITV/BBC
- It does not generally work in Ireland (Except along border and East coast)
- It is not stocked by TVTrade.ie
- What people generally mean when they say Freeview is that they are looking for either:
- Free To Air Receiver
- Freesat Receiver
Xoro 8530 Firmware Update (8530-firmware.zip, 2,922 Kb) [Download]
Latest Channel List (Xoro8530HD_V3_May15.zip, 19 Kb) [Download]
User Manual (xoro-hrs-8530-user-manual.pdf, 7,875 Kb) [Download]