Possible to have Freesat + existing TV aerial?

[Harbottle]

Pondering putting in Freesat but I'd like to keep hold of Ceefax until the plug is pulled I was wondering whether I can keep my TV aerial connected to the TV as I believe Freesat is connected via a HDMI input. Keeping them both attached I'm hoping that if I press the 'TV' button it will switch between the two, much as it does now between Freeview and the analogue source? Anyone got both attached to their telly box?

[Steve Crook]

Pondering putting in Freesat but I'd like to keep hold of Ceefax until the plug is pulled I was wondering whether I can keep my TV aerial connected to the TV as I believe Freesat is connected via a HDMI input. Keeping them both attached I'm hoping that if I press the 'TV' button it will switch between the two, much as it does now between Freeview and the analogue source? Anyone got both attached to their telly box?

I've got cable and an aerial attached. I use a signal splitter in reverse to join the signals. Then I can tune the TV to the cable channel (I can then select the channel to watch on the cable box) or to all the channels that come down the aerial. It means that I can record on the cable channel or any number of broadcast channels at the same time and then watch on another channel

Signal splitter:


Steve

[Harbottle]

Many thanks for the suggestion Steve :)

[MikeB]

Freesat is certainly possible to run with freeview/analogue - in fact some Panasonic TV's have Freesat, Freeview and analogue all built into them.

Depending on whether your TV has freeview built in (if its HD ready and its 3-4 years old or less, it will have), simply hook up Freesat to one of the Scart connections or an HDMI (which will give you HD and upscaling). Since all the TV is doing is showing an incoming signal (in exactly the same way your video/DVD is), just flick the 'TV', 'AV' or 'Source' button to scroll through the inputs.
You should have a look at the TV's manual (or just play around with the connections) to find which ones come up first. If your using Freesat as your main receiver, then that should come up first, but remember that the TV will normally start with the internal freeview tuner first (if it has one).
If you are thinking of Freesat, bear in mind that you will need to put up a twin LNB (at least) dish in order to watch and record, using something like the Humax Foxsat box. If your reception is pretty good on digital (and Wales seems to have gone over completely), then go for a Freeview HD box instead (again Humax). You'll get HD, can watch and record (and you've possibly got a freeview tuner anyway), for around the same price, but no need for a dish, just the standard ariel. Freesat has more bandwidth...but slightly different channels in HD.

[Harbottle]

Many thanks Mike