Changing from Sky to Sky+HD

D

DJP

Regular Member
My Satellite Setup
Sharp Aquos
Panasonic HD DVD recorder
Sky+HD receiver
Humax Icord receiver FTA DigitalSD with hard drive
Topfield TF 4000 PVR
My Location
Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset
Hi there,

friends of mine in Bristol have been Sky subscribers for many years.
The pay for a 2nd Box & Card which I use here.
They are now planning to go to Sky+HD which I would also like to do at the same time.
My friends seem to think that this may present a problem.
Apparently Sky insist that they carry out the installation of Sky+HD Boxes & my friends feel certain that Sky will insist upon installing both if they order 2.
That would not be possible due to the Geographic location of the 2nd Box.
Surely the Sky+HD Box is "plug & play" and all that will be needed for the upgrade is a dual or quad LNB & Antenna Cable.
My questions are:-
1. Is my assumption on the "plug & play" correct?
2. If not how complicated is the installation?
3. What are the reasons for Sky insisting on doing the installation themselves?
4. How can this be best overcome?

PS neither of the present Sky Boxes are or will be connected to a Telephone line & I already have a quad LNB which I use on for my Sky Box & Humax FTA ICord HD.

Thanks in advance for any help/advice anyone can offer.
Cheers
John
 
Plug and Play yes.

Two feeds per PVR box required, as you know.

BSkyB Terms and Conditions preclude supply of service outside the UK/RoI so you are obliged to be resourceful.

AFAIK, there is no reason why you cannot privately source a suitable Box and simply advise Sky that all you need is to upgrade the relevant Sub (using whatever means you use to maintain it right now). I've never heard of it being compulsory to have them provide and install your kit - but you will need to source your Boxes "on the market".

Telephone line is for Multiroom only (in reality) to prevent fraudulent use of mirror Subs.
 
Hi Tivu,

many thanks for you answers.
As you my imagine we have been careful & resourceful with the 2 Subscriptions until now.
My friends don't have a dual room subscription because of the possible complications of having a Telephone line connection, A Geographical problem from my end of things.
They pay for 2 separate subscriptions
I have checked the Sky website & they have varying charges for upgrades to Sky+.
From memory I think their standard charge for existing Sky customers is +10 GBP/Month for Subscription; 49GBP for a Sky+Box & 30GBP installation charge.
That all seems much cheaper than buying a Sky+Box from an independent source.
My friends will need help with the fitting of a multi feed LNB so the 30GBP charge which seems to be mandatory will be no real hardship for them.
If & when they get a 2nd Sky+ box they can post it to me.

Does all of this sound ok to you?
What about initialising the the Sky+ Card with the Sky+ box, does this need to be done on the Phone or is that "plug & play"?
If not maybe they could ask the installer to initialise the 2nd Card & Box whilst he's there so that they could then take the 2nd Card & Box to "their Holiday Caravan on the South Coast on their next visit"

I look forward to your or anyone else's comments/advice
Cheers
John
 
both boxes must be plugged into a phone line and activated through these lines , they then must stay connected to the phone lines so you cannot do what you want as in taking 1 to a caravan or house down the road m8
 
Sorry m8 but I find that extremely difficult to believe.
I know that Sky try their damnedest to get you to use the Telephone connection but it is not compulsory.
It may be compulsory for new Customers who get free installation & Box as part of the deal.
The present pair of Boxes are not connected & are owned by a long standing existing customer.
That's why 2 full subscriptions are being paid for & not a Dual Room subscription
 
Well things are on the move now.
My friends have had an official Sky+HD digibox installed by a a licenced installer. A new Dish was also fitted along with Quad LNB.
The Box is presently connected to their existing CRT TV via Scart & up & running. The new HDTV is due to be delivered next week.
They phoned Sky to ask when the new Card would arrive & were informed that no new Card is required, the present one will be working as soon as the HDTV is connected.
No Phone call to Sky was made by the Installer so I assume that as soon as a Subscription is upgraded to Sky+HD that the upgrade occurs via Satellite download & Sky automatically does the initialisation.
Can someone please confirm that this is the case.
I have purchased a Sky+HD Digibox on the open market & when it arrives I will ask my friends to upgrade the subscription for the Card that I use to Sky+HD & hope that no initialisation Phone Call will be required.

Cheers
John
 
The installer doesn't make phone calls if he is employed by Sky, he has a small terminal which sends the details to Sky via GPRS.

You or your friends will have to phone Sky to pair the new box to the card and activate the HD part of the subscription.
 
Many thanks,
It'll be interesting to see what my friends will have to do as soon as their new HDTV is delivered & plugged in.

Cheers
John
 
Hi,

I'm back again with another question.
My Sky HD+ Digibox has arrived but it will be a while before the Sky upgrade is applied for.
Can I replace my existing Digibox with the HD+ Box, run it using my existing Card & receive the Sky package that I do with the existing Box until the upgrade takes place?

Thanks
John
 
Only if your package is for Mixes alone: If you have Sports and/or Films (I refuse absolutely to use the term "Movies"!) then those Channels will only work in the "paired" box.

Of course, you could ask Sky to pair the existing Card to your new Box.
 
I only have the basic Sky package so I assume everything will work normally.
I now just have to wire in the 2nd Feed & I'll give the new Box a try with the existing card/package & will be ready when the upgraded subscription comes through.
Thanks for your help.
John
 
That should be ok ..............
 
Well, so far so good.
The Sky+HD Box is installed & running well with the original Card, I'm now just awaiting the Subscription update which is being worked on.
Rather going off topic but I have an associated problem.
My Sharp LC-42XL2E TV does not automatically switch input sources with HDMI inputs.
My previous Digibox connected via Scart did this but my Humax ICord & Panasonic DVD Recorder both with HDMI connection did not.
So now I have 3 HDMI Sources that don't automatically switch the TV input source.
I'm sure that there must be a simple adjustment that can be made to provide this facility but having gone through most of the User Manuals & On Screen Menus the way to do this is evading me.
Can someone help please?
 
Sounds like you're a member of the "Flat Earth Society" Dale.
I have been informed that the HDMI connection does not offer the switching facility that Scart has.
That's progress for you.
 
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