Receive Freesat on a Skybox question
 

A friend is upgrading and has offered me his working Sky box.

Would I be able to use the Skybox to receive the non Sky Freesat service?

Thanks

Receive Freesat on a Skybox question
 

Alt Beer wrote:
A friend is upgrading and has offered me his working Sky box.

Would I be able to use the Skybox to receive the non Sky Freesat service?

You'd get quite a choice of free TV and radio channels on it, including the
main five TV ones.

Get him to pull out his viewing card, and you'll see what's available

The only problem would be the wrong regions for BBC 1, 2, and/or ITV.

Without a viewing card, and with a reboot, the box defaults to BBC 1 London,
BBC 2 England, and ITV Central West Midlands.

Your local BBC 1 (and if applicable BBC 2) can be found up in the 900s, but
not the other ITV regions (except for London), though the correct ITV region
can be added into the 'Other Channels' menu without too much fuss.


--
Mark
Please replace invalid and invalid with gmx and net to reply.

www.paras.org.uk

Receive Freesat on a Skybox question
 

Alt Beer wrote:
A friend is upgrading and has offered me his working Sky box.


As I understand it, FreeSat is an EPG. I would expect you to be able to
receive free to air channels, including some, or all, of those in
FreeSat, but not the actual FreeSat EPG.

Receive Freesat on a Skybox question
 

Mark Carver wrote:
Alt Beer wrote:
A friend is upgrading and has offered me his working Sky box.

Would I be able to use the Skybox to receive the non Sky Freesat service?

You'd get quite a choice of free TV and radio channels on it, including
the main five TV ones.

Get him to pull out his viewing card, and you'll see what's available

The only problem would be the wrong regions for BBC 1, 2, and/or ITV.

Without a viewing card, and with a reboot, the box defaults to BBC 1
London,
BBC 2 England, and ITV Central West Midlands.

Your local BBC 1 (and if applicable BBC 2) can be found up in the 900s,
but not the other ITV regions (except for London), though the correct
ITV region can be added into the 'Other Channels' menu without too much
fuss.


In other words it's a pain in the arse.

Bill

Receive Freesat on a Skybox question
 

Bill Wright wrote:

Your local BBC 1 (and if applicable BBC 2) can be found up in the
900s, but not the other ITV regions (except for London), though the
correct ITV region can be added into the 'Other Channels' menu without
too much fuss.


In other words it's a pain in the arse.

In other, other words, get a Freesat box, and if possible an HD one.

(The BBC/ITV regions are set by entering your (or whoever's you like) postcode
during the set up process.

--
Mark
Please replace invalid and invalid with gmx and net to reply.

www.paras.org.uk

Receive Freesat on a Skybox question
 

On Mon, 03 Dec 2012 19:22:06 +0000, David Woolley
wrote:

Alt Beer wrote:
A friend is upgrading and has offered me his working Sky box.


As I understand it, FreeSat is an EPG. I would expect you to be able to
receive free to air channels, including some, or all, of those in
FreeSat, but not the actual FreeSat EPG.

True, but don't forget that B Sky B's own subscriptionless service is
called Freesat (from Sky).

--
Graham.
%Profound_observation%

Receive Freesat on a Skybox question
 

"Alt Beer" wrote in message
...
A friend is upgrading and has offered me his working Sky box.

Would I be able to use the Skybox to receive the non Sky
Freesat service?
Thanks



As others have said it will work.

If your friend is getting HD it may be that his box comes with a
new card. If so then have the old box and his old viewing card
which will revert to the FTA and FTV channels only when it has
been deactivated.

[FTA=free to air - channels you can watch without a viewing card.
FTV=free to view for which you will need a card as it gives you
access to the otherwise free channels that are still encrypted
with Sky. FTA is BBC1/BBC2/ITV/Ch4/five, whereas FTV is such as
the siblings of five, Pick TV, Film 4 and a few others.]

Otherwise get yourself a freesat viewing card which is a once off
payment of £25. Then you will get the correct channels for your
region in the right slots.

Oh, and don't believe the pap that Sky will throw at you. The
card does NOT need to be registered to the box if you are not
watching premium channels. If the box is active then any card put
in it will work. It does not need to be connected to a telephone
line either, so long as the box is over a year old.


--
Woody

harrogate three at ntlworld dot com

Receive Freesat on a Skybox question
 

"Alt Beer" wrote in message ...

A friend is upgrading and has offered me his working Sky box.

Would I be able to use the Skybox to receive the non Sky Freesat service?

Thanks

*****


Yes.
Regards
David

Receive Freesat on a Skybox question
 

I think I read somewhere that if the Sky box is HD then the record capability is disabled unless you subscribe to Sky HD free to
view at subscription cost of £10 per month.

If this is true and the box is HD but I don't tune to HD channels would I be able to record without paying the £10 per month?

Thanks



"Alt Beer" wrote in message ...
A friend is upgrading and has offered me his working Sky box.

Would I be able to use the Skybox to receive the non Sky Freesat service?
Thanks

Receive Freesat on a Skybox question
 

Graham. wrote:

True, but don't forget that B Sky B's own subscriptionless service is
called Freesat (from Sky).

Strictly speaking, "Freesat from Sky" - no brackets.


--
SteveT

Receive Freesat on a Skybox question
 

Woody wrote:
whereas FTV is such as
the siblings of five, Pick TV, Film 4

None of those channels are FTV, they're all FTA now.



--
Mark
Please replace invalid and invalid with gmx and net to reply.

www.paras.org.uk

Receive Freesat on a Skybox question
 

Bill Wright wrote:
Mark Carver wrote:
Alt Beer wrote:
A friend is upgrading and has offered me his working Sky box.

Would I be able to use the Skybox to receive the non Sky Freesat
service?

You'd get quite a choice of free TV and radio channels on it,
including the main five TV ones.

Get him to pull out his viewing card, and you'll see what's available

The only problem would be the wrong regions for BBC 1, 2, and/or ITV.

Without a viewing card, and with a reboot, the box defaults to BBC 1
London, BBC 2 England, and ITV Central West Midlands.

Your local BBC 1 (and if applicable BBC 2) can be found up in the
900s, but not the other ITV regions (except for London), though the
correct ITV region can be added into the 'Other Channels' menu
without too much fuss.

In other words it's a pain in the arse.
Bill

Unless you get a "freesat from sky" card for a one off payment of around £25

Steve Terry
--
Get a free GiffGaff PAYG Sim and £5 bonus after activation at:
http://giffgaff.com/orders/affiliate/gfourwwk

Receive Freesat on a Skybox question
 

On 03/12/2012 21:30, Alt Beer wrote:
I think I read somewhere that if the Sky box is HD then the record
capability is disabled unless you subscribe to Sky HD free to view at
subscription cost of £10 per month.

If this is true and the box is HD but I don't tune to HD channels would
I be able to record without paying the £10 per month?

Thanks



it's not true.
i have a hd sky box, subscribe to sky but don't pay the HD subscription.
i can still record by virtue of bneing a subscriber though - including
the free hd stations.


--
Gareth.
That fly.... Is your magic wand.

Receive Freesat on a Skybox question
 

Mark Carver wrote:
Woody wrote:
whereas FTV is such as
the siblings of five, Pick TV, Film 4

None of those channels are FTV, they're all FTA now.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freesat...Extra_channels

Steve Terry
--
Get a free GiffGaff PAYG Sim and £5 bonus after activation at:
http://giffgaff.com/orders/affiliate/gfourwwk

Receive Freesat on a Skybox question
 

On Mon, 03 Dec 2012 16:02:22 -0600, "Steve Thackery"
wrote:

Graham. wrote:

True, but don't forget that B Sky B's own subscriptionless service is
called Freesat (from Sky).

Strictly speaking, "Freesat from Sky" - no brackets.

Strictly speaking a ploy to get their foot in your door and sell you a
subscription package.



--
Graham.
%Profound_observation%

Receive Freesat on a Skybox question
 

Graham. wrote:
On Mon, 03 Dec 2012 16:02:22 -0600, "Steve Thackery"
wrote:

Graham. wrote:

True, but don't forget that B Sky B's own subscriptionless service
is called Freesat (from Sky).

Strictly speaking, "Freesat from Sky" - no brackets.

Strictly speaking a ploy to get their foot in your door and sell you a
subscription package.

I've got Sky Broadband and phone without TV, i expected to be
snowed under with Sky TV upgrade offers, but pleased to have had only a few

Steve Terry
--
Get a free GiffGaff PAYG Sim and £5 bonus after activation at:
http://giffgaff.com/orders/affiliate/gfourwwk

Receive Freesat on a Skybox question
 

On 12/3/2012 5:33 PM, Graham. wrote:
On Mon, 03 Dec 2012 16:02:22 -0600, "Steve Thackery"
wrote:
Graham. wrote:
True, but don't forget that B Sky B's own subscriptionless service is
called Freesat (from Sky).

Strictly speaking, "Freesat from Sky" - no brackets.

Strictly speaking a ploy to get their foot in your door and sell you a
subscription package.

Didn't work with me!

I took advantage of their GBP 150 offer years ago - I don't do heights.
The viewing card has been replaced once (free).
At the time it was installed my area could receive 4 terrestrial
channels. After digital switchover, we can only receive 18 or so.

When the Sky box eventually dies, we'll probably buy a FreeSat one.

Receive Freesat on a Skybox question
 

Woody wrote:

Otherwise get yourself a freesat viewing card which is a once off
payment of £25. Then you will get the correct channels for your
region in the right slots.

No, put that £25 towards a proper Freesat box. Far better. Even a
non-Freesat free-to-air box is better than a Sky box.

Bill

Receive Freesat on a Skybox question
 

Bill Wright wrote:
Woody wrote:

Otherwise get yourself a freesat viewing card which is a once off
payment of £25. Then you will get the correct channels for your
region in the right slots.

No, put that £25 towards a proper Freesat box. Far better. Even a
non-Freesat free-to-air box is better than a Sky box.
Bill

Easier to use yes, more channels than freesat from sky no

But at the moment this is difficult to beat:
http://www.screwfix.com/p/hd-complet...lite-kit/98603

Into which you can plug an external USB hard drive turning it into a HD PVR

Steve Terry
--
Get a free GiffGaff PAYG Sim and £5 bonus after activation at:
http://giffgaff.com/orders/affiliate/gfourwwk

Receive Freesat on a Skybox question
 

"Steve Terry" wrote in message ...

Easier to use yes, more channels than freesat from sky no

But at the moment this is difficult to beat:
http://www.screwfix.com/p/hd-complet...lite-kit/98603

Into which you can plug an external USB hard drive turning it into a HD PVR

Steve Terry
--

FWIW We have a Freeview HD TV, Terrestrial Freeview recorder,
Satellite HD box (with USB record) similar to the Labgear one,
and a Sky box (no Sub),
The family use the Sky box exclusively, because its easier to use,
better EPG, and they don't care about the HD
Should have saved my money !

Receive Freesat on a Skybox question
 

Steve Terry wrote:
Bill Wright wrote:
Woody wrote:

Otherwise get yourself a freesat viewing card which is a once off
payment of £25. Then you will get the correct channels for your
region in the right slots.
No, put that £25 towards a proper Freesat box. Far better. Even a
non-Freesat free-to-air box is better than a Sky box.
Bill

Easier to use yes, more channels than freesat from sky no

Yes, true, but the remaining FTV 'Sky Freesat Only' channels, (with the
possible exception of C5-HD) are nothing more than flotsam and jetsam.

I refer you, to the link you provided up thread.

Receive Freesat on a Skybox question
 

Thanks for all of the very useful replies.

Are the BBC / ITV Freesat service and Sky service really the same transmission from the same satellite and frequency with the only
difference that some of the channels (Sky) are encrypted?

Or are they different satellite different frequencies?

Thanks

John G3UGY

Receive Freesat on a Skybox question
 

Alt Beer wrote:
Thanks for all of the very useful replies.

Are the BBC / ITV Freesat service and Sky service really the same
transmission from the same satellite and frequency with the only
difference that some of the channels (Sky) are encrypted?

That's exactly the case. Any encrypted channel either FTV, or 'subs
only' will only be present on Sky's system.

Receive Freesat on a Skybox question
 

"Alt Beer" wrote:
I think I read somewhere that if the Sky box is HD then the record
capability is disabled unless you subscribe to Sky HD free to view at
subscription cost of £10 per month.

If this is true and the box is HD but I don't tune to HD channels would I
be able to record without paying the £10 per month?

Thanks

No, if you want to record, or more accurately play back recordings, then
you must have a sky subscription or pay £10 per month.

--
Adrian

Receive Freesat on a Skybox question
 

Mark Carver wrote:
Alt Beer wrote:
Thanks for all of the very useful replies.

Are the BBC / ITV Freesat service and Sky service really the same
transmission from the same satellite and frequency with the only
difference that some of the channels (Sky) are encrypted?

That's exactly the case. Any encrypted channel either FTV, or 'subs
only' will only be present on Sky's system.

I would have thought that FTV was outside of Sky, as well (and, of
course, not all subscription channels are Sky). FTV is normally

Receive Freesat on a Skybox question
 

Mark Carver wrote:
Alt Beer wrote:
Thanks for all of the very useful replies.

Are the BBC / ITV Freesat service and Sky service really the same
transmission from the same satellite and frequency with the only
difference that some of the channels (Sky) are encrypted?

That's exactly the case. Any encrypted channel either FTV, or 'subs
only' will only be present on Sky's system.

FTV generally aren't that way because they want to be associated with
Sky but because they are on satellites/transponders that can be received
with normal domestic systems, well outside the UK, and have to have some
means to limit themselves to the UK to reduce the cost of obtaining
broadcasting rights for their contents.

I guess Sky may give them some discount over cost for Sky boxes being
the only ones that can decode them.

Not all subscription channels are Sky.

Receive Freesat on a Skybox question
 

On Tue, 4 Dec 2012 15:16:00 -0000, "Alt Beer"
wrote:

Thanks for all of the very useful replies.

Are the BBC / ITV Freesat service and Sky service really the same transmission from the same satellite and frequency with the only
difference that some of the channels (Sky) are encrypted?

Or are they different satellite different frequencies?

Thanks

John G3UGY

Sky News today is transmitted from the same satellite on the same
frequency as it was before it was added to the Freesat EPG. It was
unencrypted before and is still unencrypted.

It was and is an FTA (Free To Air) service.


--
Peter Duncanson
(in uk.tech.digital-tv)

Receive Freesat on a Skybox question
 

Alt Beer wrote:
Thanks for all of the very useful replies.
Are the BBC / ITV Freesat service and Sky service really the same
transmission from the same satellite and frequency with the only
difference that some of the channels (Sky) are encrypted?
Or are they different satellite different frequencies?
Thanks
John G3UGY

Yes, except they use different EPGs (electronic program guides),
a kind of channel index that the receiver uses to order the channels.

If a TV channel isn't in the EPG then to receive it you would have to
manually tune and save it.

Steve Terry
--
Get a free GiffGaff PAYG Sim and £5 bonus after activation at:
http://giffgaff.com/orders/affiliate/gfourwwk

Receive Freesat on a Skybox question
 

"cmwb" wrote in message om...
"Steve Terry" wrote in message ...

Easier to use yes, more channels than freesat from sky no

But at the moment this is difficult to beat:
http://www.screwfix.com/p/hd-complet...lite-kit/98603

Into which you can plug an external USB hard drive turning it into a HD PVR

Steve Terry


Great price but only one tuner in the box - cant have everything at that price I spose.

Receive Freesat on a Skybox question
 

Martin wrote:

On Wed, 5 Dec 2012 12:55:42 -0000, "Alt Beer"
wrote:


"cmwb" wrote in message
om... "Steve
Terry" wrote in message ...
Easier to use yes, more channels than freesat from sky no

But at the moment this is difficult to beat:
http://www.screwfix.com/p/hd-complet...lite-kit/98603

Into which you can plug an external USB hard drive turning it into
a HD PVR
Steve Terry


Great price but only one tuner in the box - cant have everything at
that price I spose.

You can buy several tuners and still save money :-)

Out of stock at all the stores I checked.

--

Receive Freesat on a Skybox question
 

Ashley Booth wrote:
Martin wrote:
On Wed, 5 Dec 2012 12:55:42 -0000, "Alt Beer"
wrote:
"cmwb" wrote in message
om... "Steve
Terry" wrote in message ...
Easier to use yes, more channels than freesat from sky no

But at the moment this is difficult to beat:
http://www.screwfix.com/p/hd-complet...lite-kit/98603
Into which you can plug an external USB hard drive turning it into
a HD PVR Steve Terry

Great price but only one tuner in the box - cant have everything at
that price I spose.

You can buy several tuners and still save money :-)

Out of stock at all the stores I checked.

Screwfix Tottenham had some left the last time i looked

Steve Terry
--
Get a free GiffGaff PAYG Sim and £5 bonus after activation at:
http://giffgaff.com/orders/affiliate/gfourwwk