Just want to say Hello

freddyfocus

Hi All - Just wanted to say hello

I am new to this forum business so go easy on me guys. My Satellite knowledge is about as good as my nuclear physics knowledge :-)

I was a pioneer of the early Astra days (1990 or so ) whereby walked into Dicksons bought a system over the counter and bolted it to the house. Alignment was done up a ladder looking at a portable tv through the window but hey it worked.

Since then I havent really done much. My daughter has sky in her room on a flat screen tv ( when I was young you were rich if you had a black & White portable ) so times have changed.

Now I have been given a Sky + box by a colleague and are wondering what I should look out for installing it to get freesat.
I have the box and a 4 output LNB on order.
If i wire it up and switch it on what can I expect. Do i need a card to start the system up...will it even work without a card and will the sky+ box record the programmes.
Any thoughts tips or knowledge shared would be greatly appreciated.

thanks and again Hi to all.

irart

Hi freddyfocus, you will need a Sky freesat card, cost £20 as a one off payment which will get you most of the popular programmes. I notice that you are getting a four outlet LNB. Were you intending to have TV in several rooms? In which case you will need extra Sky boxes and freesat cards for them. Alternatively, there is Freesat from the BBC, ITV etc available from the same satellite that is free of charge - no card necessary. These boxes are fairly cheaply priced and available from Argos, Currys etc.
I expect you will get further messages from other more knowledgeable members in due course.

compufunk

Welcome Freddy,
You've come to the right place ,

Irart has covered most of your questions in his post. Personally, I'd be more inclined to fork out for a Freesat box and ditch the Dodgybox, Its up to you,

I dont have Sly, but my understanding is that you need to subscribe if you want to use the recording functions on the box,
C

Analoguesat

You dont need the 20 quid fsfs card - the box will work just dandy without it. HOWEVER, you wont get C5, 5US, Fiver, Setanta Sports News, or Sky 3 without it, and you will probably end up with the wrong regional BBC & ITV channels.

The recording function wont work UNLESS you subscribe to Sky pay tv OR pay a tenner a month to enable the recording function.

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freddyfocus

Thanks to all who have replied.

I already have a TV Package for my daughters room which is 4 entertainment mixes from SKY.

My plan was to change the LNB add the SKY + box and into my daughters room replacing the original box . She has a card giving her the mixes.
Then put her box in the lounge ( running cables ) with a freesat card and if I wanted to watch something from the package I would simply swap the cards from upstairs to downstairs.
One benefit is our terrestial TV Freeview signal is very poor and at least i would get a good picture.

Do you think this is possible?

bigtee

Yes, if the current LNB is a single LNB you only need to swap it for a Quad LNB and run an extra cable to the other receiver or two extra cables for the Sky+ receiver.

Your daughter's card should work with your Sky+ box; they only need to be paired if the subscription includes premium channels like sports and movies. Thus, I would be minded to use the card in the Sky+ Box because that way you should then have the Sky+ and recording facilities - though it might be that you need to notify Sky before the Sky+ facilities start to work. However, you should not have to pay any more money to Sky beyond the current subscription.

irart

The Sky freesat cards are interchangeable between boxes, but I think the package cards are matched to indivdual boxes but not entirely sure. I expect a member that has one will advise you.

PaulR

A $ly subscription card will work in any Digibox for the standard packages ($ly 1, UK Gold, Discoery, MTV, etc) but not for the premium channels (Sport and Movies)

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