TV in NZ

[victoria24]

What channels are free to air through a freeview box? can you get freeview via a dish or is it always through the TV ariel?

[Jon-and-Lou]

We haven't succumbed to freeview yet.

Terrestrial Tv (Via an aerial) is:
Prime
TV One
TV Two
TV Three
C4
Maori TV
The Voice (Asian channel)
Visitor TV
Canterbury TV

To be honest, 6 nights out of 7 there is something to watch. Just the adverts are a pain, as the breaks are frequent, and sometimes longer than the actual program, but you soon get used to it.

Freeview is available and the same as in the UK (except it's high-def here). Again, via aerial, and you just buy a top box. At present, I think there are about 8-10 digital channels but not sure.

You can also get sky, but I refuse as it's soo expensive.

HTH,

Lou

[mylesdw]

I think it's terrestial only (aerial) but I'm not certain. I don't think you can get Prime on Freeview because it belongs to Sky, again my facts may be wrong.

As mentioned above, ad breaks are so long and frequent as to make off-air TV almost unwatchable. One of the best buys we ever made was one of those HDD DVD recorders that allow you to watch stuff while it is still recording. You set it going and then start watching 30 mins later or so. Then you can fast-forward through the ads and each hour's TV takes only 40 mins to watch!

[luckystar]

So if you get Freeview in the UK through a receiver built into the TV, does that mean it will work in NZ, picking up Freeview channels through the aerial?

[mylesdw]

No, I don't think they have anything in common except the name.

[dharder]

can you get freeview via a dish or is it always through the TV ariel?

You can get it through a dish. We had one when we moved in, and just hooked the box up to it. Worked fine. We now got sky, and we just change the plug in the back to watch one or the other (Prime is only on Sky, Kidzone is only on Freeview).

To be honest, I find it all pretty dire and when we just had Freeview, almost never watched anything at all. Slightly better with Sky as I like the History/Discovery channels.

Daniela

[Jon-and-Lou]

and just to clarify - nope, UK freeview box won't work here.

[Georgebulldog]

Some info on here http://www.freeviewshop.co.nz/freeview-faq-i-1.html

[victoria24]

and just to clarify - nope, UK freeview box won't work here.

are the leads that go into the back of the sky boxes the same as the UK ie: the ones from the dish?

[IanW99]

are the leads that go into the back of the sky boxes the same as the UK ie: the ones from the dish?

Yes the connector from the dish/LNB is usually the same ( but is sometimes different depending on who installed it - you can use an adapter anyway) but you do know that the UK sky box isn't compatible with NZ version.

Ian