Help! Reception problem - affects sky box office channels only

I have a digibox, all channels are fine until I use box office. After
I pay to watch a film and start watching the picture may flicker
slightly and the colour/brightness fades in and out during the whole
film making it difficult to watch. If I switch to any another
channel, including the other free film channels, there is never a
problem. Even the promotional stuff inbetween films seems to be okay.
Its after I pay that the problems start. This is very odd, can
anyody point me in the right direction please.

Puzzled wrote:

I have a digibox, all channels are fine until I use box office. After
I pay to watch a film and start watching the picture may flicker
slightly and the colour/brightness fades in and out during the whole
film making it difficult to watch

Macrovision. I bet your connections are wrong. See the FAQ for scart
connection details and set the digibox to RGB.

--
Digibox problem? : A reboot solves 90% of these.
The Sky Digital FAQ: http://tinyurl.com/guiv
How to get UK TV overseas: http://tinyurl.com/6p73
Fed up with logos / red buttons? : http://logofreetv.org/
BBC gone? : http://www.astra2d.co.uk/
----
Only the truth as I see it.
No monies return'd. ;-)

Puzzled wrote:
: I have a digibox, all channels are fine until I use box office. After
: I pay to watch a film and start watching the picture may flicker
: slightly and the colour/brightness fades in and out during the whole
: film making it difficult to watch.

You have described classic symptoms of Macrovision - this is the "copy
protection" system used (only!) on Sky Box Office movies. It is designed
to only affect VCRs and to be invisible on the majority of TV sets. If you
ARE seeing it on a TV there are plenty of inexpensive devices which will
remove it!

Puzzled said this:

I have a digibox, all channels are fine until I use box office. After
I pay to watch a film and start watching the picture may flicker
slightly and the colour/brightness fades in and out during the whole
film making it difficult to watch. If I switch to any another
channel, including the other free film channels, there is never a
problem. Even the promotional stuff inbetween films seems to be okay.
Its after I pay that the problems start. This is very odd, can
anyody point me in the right direction please.

This is because of Macrovision copy-protection. You almost certainly have
your Sky box connected to the TV via a VCR. For example:

Sky -- VCR -- TV

To fix this, correct the connections (i.e. connect the Sky box directly to
the TV). If you absolutely insist upon connecting through a VCR (bad idea,
for many reasons, one of which you've just discovered), you can buy a
special cable or box that removes the Macrovision signal. These are
generally pretty expensive for what they are, and in my experience don't
usually work very well, but your mileage may vary. You probably won't find
them at the more reputable AV shops, since they are most often used for
piracy, but some online stores will sell them to you.

The best solution is to connect your Sky digibox directly to the TV.

Jomtien wrote in message . ..
Puzzled wrote:

I have a digibox, all channels are fine until I use box office. After
I pay to watch a film and start watching the picture may flicker
slightly and the colour/brightness fades in and out during the whole
film making it difficult to watch

Macrovision. I bet your connections are wrong. See the FAQ for scart
connection details and set the digibox to RGB.

--
Digibox problem? : A reboot solves 90% of these.
The Sky Digital FAQ: http://tinyurl.com/guiv
How to get UK TV overseas: http://tinyurl.com/6p73
Fed up with logos / red buttons? : http://logofreetv.org/
BBC gone? : http://www.astra2d.co.uk/
----
Only the truth as I see it.
No monies return'd. ;-)

thanks, i'll follow that up

"Brian McIlwrath" wrote in message ...
Puzzled wrote:
: I have a digibox, all channels are fine until I use box office. After
: I pay to watch a film and start watching the picture may flicker
: slightly and the colour/brightness fades in and out during the whole
: film making it difficult to watch.

You have described classic symptoms of Macrovision - this is the "copy
protection" system used (only!) on Sky Box Office movies. It is designed
to only affect VCRs and to be invisible on the majority of TV sets. If you
ARE seeing it on a TV there are plenty of inexpensive devices which will
remove it!

Get a scart lead and connect your box to the TV direct, that should cure
the problem unless you have a really old TV.

Matt