Wi-Fi Freesat receiver With BBC iPlayer integrated

iPlayer from the BBC is great. I don't think I've read a bad review yet. And having iPlayer built into your Freesat receiver or Freesat Box is even better, though I'm still waiting for the Bush BFSAT01SD to support BBC iPlayer, after all, it's sitting in my bedroom and it has an ethernet port on the back and everything. But anyway, I digress. Actually, I've recently read a report that says the SD boxes will never get iPlayer support, based on the recent Bush, Goodmans and Grundig support of iPlayer on their HD freesat receivers. This is a real shame, because it forces people into an upgrade path that they really shouldn't have to go down.

So, welcome to the Wi-Fi enabled Freesat digibox which will allow you to view iPlayer though it. Now that iPlayer is available on many HD freesat boxes, the next logical step is to have iPlayer and freesat over Wi-Fi. enter TechniSat HDFS which, unlike other freesat HD boxes such as the Goodmans GFSAT range or the Grundig GUFSAT, or even the much applauded Humax FOXSAT (which as we know was the first to include the iPlayer software), the TechniSat allows you to receive your iPlayer over Wi-Fi. Why is this a good thing? Well, for a lot of people, wiring up an ethernet connection to their freesat box is just not feasible. Maybe your wife doesn't want another bloody blue wire trailing around the living room, up through a shonky hole in the ceiling, around the loft and down into wherever your broadband router is. Maybe you don't want to go to PC world and fork over large amounts of money for another ethernet cable, or maybe you just plain hate wires and don't want to bother with them anymore. Wi-Fi is the obvious way to go - and all your other internet connected bits and bobs use it, so why not your freesat box as well?

At the end of the day, a freesat box is really just a little computer sitting there, decoding messages comming in, so adding in the Wi-Fi support is an obvious step. Connectivity on the TechniSat will be through USB antenna, and of course you will need to enter your wireless key to get online. Once that's done, you should be up and away. The other good thing about the TechniSat is that it allows you to add in an external hard drive via usb as well so you can use it to record to an external drive as well as watch movies and playback music and view photos from memory cards (it has built in support for compact flash and MS/SD/MMC memory cards) or just across your wireless network.

That kind of puts this box into more of a media centre realm than simply a freesat receiver, which means that we can get rid of one more box underneath our TVs - which is great for anyone who wants a minimal home entertainment setup like me.

Plus, given that this thing is going to work off Wi-Fi, it becomes ideal as a second box for bedrooms or kitchens.