I Have A Question About Freeview.

[ladybirder]

As I subscribe to Which, some friends have asked me to recommend a Best Buy TV. I have found some which might suit but the description says, "No Freeview Play", as a con. Then further down it says, "It has a Freeview HD tuner and a Freesat HD tuner for picking up regular broadcast TV."
So forgive my ignorance but does that mean it has Freeview or not?
Thank you.
Confused of Brighton & Hove

[douglas9401]

Yes, it's a Freeview tuner but without the catch-up services capability to access iPlayer, ITV Hub, All4 etc.

[bhg481]

Freeview Play is catch-up TV. Freeview and Freeview HD are live TV.

[Hopkirk]

Freeview Play is an additional service for watching catch up TV.

Normal Freeview is just for watching as it is broadcast.

[lindapalmara]

We have Freesat which we like because it has lots of +1channels. We have a Freesat Panasonic DVD recorder which records two channels at a time. We have a dish for this but it suits us. Also have Netflix with Roku which also gives Iplayer, ITV Player and YouTube or better still buy a smart TVs, which only came out after we bought our kit. I think the are all smart now.

[ladybirder]

Oh I see, thank you all. In that case I don't think any of Which's first five BB's will suit. They are all Samsung and Don't have Freeview Play. Number 6 in the list is an LG with Freeview so not so highly recommended but still a BB.
The TVs I am looking at are all SMART TVs Linda thanks.

[sunny-dave]

Freeview Play is simply one brand of catch-up TV - it tries to make itself seem 'official' by using the Freeview branding, but is actually very little different to other catch-up services.

The Samsung TVs you mention probably *do* have catch-up TV - but implemented through Samsungs own (excellent) interface.

[ladybirder]

Dave the one in particular I was looking at is the Samsung QE49Q7F. I think I'll ring Richer Sounds and check.

[sunny-dave]

Excellent TV - review here confirms details of what it can do :

https://www.stuff.tv/samsung/qe49q7f/review

"These days we expect every new TV to come packed to the rafters with streaming services, and the Q7F certainly doesn’t disappoint on that front, delivering, among others, Netflix and Amazon Instant Video (both with 4K and HDR), YouTube, BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub and Google Play Movies & TV."

[sunny-dave]

It was on my list until I got a great deal (from Richer Sounds) on the LG OLED55E7N - £1899 after cashback in January - it is an amazingly good TV.

One point - virtually all big TVs these days come with a ghastly 'ECO' mode enabled (it allows the manufacturer to comply with some EU energy saving nonsense) - the first thing to do is find this and turn it off, or you won't get the picture quality you are expecting

[ladybirder]

Yes it gets an excellent review in Which and at John Lewis but if it can't do "Catch Up" Dave then I don't think they'll want it. They are at work at the moment so I'll speak to them this evening.
Am I right in thinking that if say you are late in from work by 10mins and you've missed the start of the Men's Final at Wimbledon, if you don't have Freeview Play you couldn't go immediately to player and watch from the start of the match?
I'm out with the dog now while there's a gap in the rain. Back in a bit;-)

[sunny-dave]

It very much *can* do catchup - with all the usual players.

"Live Restart" is the function you need - it's part of iPlayer - it should work on all current Samsung TVs - but I'd still ask the question of Richer Sounds.

[Old_Geezer]

Want to watch :-) Samsung TVs. Their design has an idiotic joystick type switch on the back instead of a far less frustrating on/off switch.

[gingejbee]

^^re "joystick"....Yes, my Samsung has it and I've never needed to use it in over two years.

[ladybirder]

I have a Which Best Buy Samsung Smart 4k Ultra-HD with Freeview TV myself and I love it.
Dave I shall have a look for the ECO switch and do as you say.