New Sky freesat Cards

[joddle]

New white card arrived yesterday but I could not actiate it on my Pace 2600 with EPG 3.4.4b. Was able to use my old Amstrad running EPG 3.7.6. and all worked fine. Card now also works in Pace.

Have been waiting almost a month now for Pace EPG to update and tried forced updataes but all to no avail - will just have to wait I suppose but it does not seem to affect the freeview service so am not too bothered anyway.

Still thinking of a new non sky freesat box to compare with my Humax Foxstat HD - any suggestions for a good box for Spain?

 

[woborny]

i have had a 2600 on for over 4 weeks now and no update..but I know that they can take some time to update...someone said it took 7 weeks for their to update!

the Humax Freesat boxes are really good in our area...
as are manhatten plazas...I have seen mine perform as good (if not slightly better) than a pace 2600!

 

[joddle]

the Humax Freesat boxes are really good in our area... as are manhatten plazas...I have seen mine perform as good (if not slightly better) than a pace 2600!

I agree and I find the Humax just as sensitive as the Pace 2600 but it is a little unselective compared with Pace - e.g. on some strong transponders on my 2.4 dish the Humax cannot (as cannot the Page D430), resolve some channels without an attenuator in line but the Pace has no such problems yet still gets all the channels.

 

[woborny]

on some strong transponders on my 2.4 dish the Humax (as does the Page d430) cannot resolve some channels without an attenuator in line but the Pace has no such problems yet still gets all the channels.

can find no such issues with or without an attenuator on my humax on my 1.8 in gandia
but on my 430n an attenuator does help a bit with the astra 2north beams (especially in the afternoon weak period for north beams), but found that it looses bbc2 about 1/2 hour earlier than without an attenuator!!!

 

[joddle]

Maybe it is the large dish which provides too strong a signal for the Humax! - its really only on one transponder and the only thing the missus watches on that is Zone Thriller so no real loss anyway!!! - The 430 does the same but the 2600 is perfect - I don't lose BBC2 on either the Humax or the Pace - the only chananel that goes down is ITV2+1 which breaks up a bit on some evenings after 8:30ish

 

[jasmine1]

I think five is now free on sky no card needed.Yes just double checked b4 posting.

 

[joddle]

I think five is now free on sky no card needed.Yes just double checked b4 posting.

Yes that's right - but no Five US or Fiver yet - Its slowly getting there with Freesat and I hope soon there will be no need for any Sky card for anything - and then I can stop giving Mr Murdoch even more money!! Roll on the day

 

[Lazarus]

Yes that's right - but no Five US or Fiver yet - Its slowly getting there with Freesat and I hope soon there will be no need for any Sky card for anything - and then I can stop giving Mr Murdoch even more money!! Roll on the day

The trouble is, 2D is crammed to the gunwhales: It was enough of a struggle finding a slot for Five itself last May, when Freesat launched.

IIRC they shifted BBC News off to make space.

Gawd knows how anything else can go FTA on 2D unless Sky can be persuaded to relinquish one or more of the five (I think) TPs they still have populated by Subscription stuff on there.

Any good Arm-Twisters out there?

 

[joddle]

Another problem is that the so called freesat card from Sky is not very good value for money as it was before as more channels can be received using a freesat box ie are not encrypted. The "extras" supplied from the sky card are pretty limited and for many people not really worth having - the exceptions used to be Ch4 and Ch5 but now both of these are freely available. I can see that many people won't bother renewing their sky freesat cards next time they do a card swap which may please Sky as they lose money on it and anyway if you are content with the basic channels then at least you will get a handful of HD channels as well by usng a freesat box!

 

[Lazarus]

Well I have one which isn't due to be replaced for free by Sky and I certainly see no need to shell out any of SWMBOs hard-earned cash for a White one.


FTA lures, ko ?

 

[fenster]

Hello from germany, reading through the lines Five is free watchable I'm confused because here I even did not get Five and all related five*** channels decoded anymore with an blue yellow card that actual shows freesat entitlements til 2012 2

You may admit that's not a great loss, but I watched the channels sometimes and as I can't receive the astra 2A beam... so I prolly need a new freesat card.

Where to get one ebay uk was my 1st starting point, either prices are O-no or people have none experience.
Got one from there to an fair price, unfortunately as she never was in use before digibox gave me these annoying "... not authorised" msg, card had none entitlements on it and also IRD serial was missing. Contacting the seller about these "phone to sky - to get activation via sat" dunno the reason(s) why he avoid these way, so I hope his "refund on return" will work at least


So let's say I've an friendly person in the UK that own a sky subscription (like HD or whatever) that buys one freesat/viewing card, put it into his digibox and activate them either via attached phone line or calling sky for activation signal via satellite and after all thats done ship it to me - will that work without any trouble for both sides, did the card then contains only the freesat entitlements or the full package

 

[joddle]

Well first you do have to activate the sky cards (unless someone has already done that for you) and you have to do this by phoning Sky using a UK telephone line and you need to have a sky box handy to pair the card with although that part becomes irrelevant later as once activated the freesat cards can be use in any sky box. So if you don't live in the UK there are only three options.

The first and most simple way is to buy a card ready activated from one of the many dealers who do that in Spain - they will supply an activated card for a suitable fee - but as you have already found out there are sharks around so beware and check all the details before buying and check for which UK area the card is activated as it makes a huge difference to the channels you can get in fringe areas. Go for Tyne Tees South if you can choose.

The second most simple way is to get someone in the UK to do it for you and once the card is activated it will work in any Sky box (ONLY FREESAT CARDS DO THIS - SUB CARDS WILL NOT PASS FROM BOX TO BOX)) The conditions are that they must have a sky box and dish to be able to do this.

A third and more complex way is to lie - IE phone Sky using a system like Voip Discount or Skype which are capable of being configured to show a registered UK telephone number which will show to the sky operator so they will believe you are in the UK. You then need to be able to quote a valid UK address and postcode (so they can configure the card) so need someone in the UK to agree to give you such information. You also need to have a sky box and dish capable of getting a reasonable signal so they can sent the activation to the card. You have to plan all this carefully before calling IE have the address, postcode and the UK telephone number and details all prepared. Its all a bit risky and if you are found out they will turn off the card.

 

[fenster]

thanks for your complex answering joddle, meanwhile I got an card for an reasonable price

 

[Zorba]

thanks for your complex answering joddle, meanwhile I got an card for an reasonable price

How much and where from ?

 

[fenster]

around 36 Euro (well not really cheap but ok) and from e b a y

btw as I got the card she had full access to all channels expect premium ones due missing boxkey, meanwhile after renewing the entitlements she's working like purchased - as FSFS-card

 

[PaulR]

fenster

I hesitate to ask this but what colour is the card?

 

[Lazarus]

fenster

I hesitate to ask this but what colour is the card?

I was thinking the same myself when I first saw this earlier today - but didn't dare ask!

It just seems a little early for White Cards to be surplus to requirements and made available by other means ................

 

[Pheeny]

Yes that's right - but no Five US or Fiver yet - Its slowly getting there with Freesat and I hope soon there will be no need for any Sky card for anything - and then I can stop giving Mr Murdoch even more money!! Roll on the day

according to Sky they are FTA

_http://packages.sky.com/see/FreeAirChannels.aspx

 

[fenster]

of course a white card and why it's too early
... if you calculate an FSFS-card £20 that's around 22.10 Euro actual + postage for an letter to europe - so not a real bad deal for both sides, the seller makes some xtra cash and if you see what those in-official "resellers" like insatinternational "devours" for such FSFS-card

 

[Lazarus]

of course a white card and why it's too early
... if you calculate an FSFS-card £20 that's around 22.10 Euro actual + postage for an letter to europe - so not a real bad deal for both sides, the seller makes some xtra cash and if you see what those in-official "resellers" like insatinternational "devours" for such FSFS-card

Chiefly because folk usually bung their expired Subs Cards on eBay and the White ones have only been out a maximum of a few months.

Anyway, good that you've got one