AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

Hi all,

Our house has a satellite dish - Sky digital, I think - left behind by the previous owners. It connects to a cable which emerges at the back of the TV next to the UHF aerial.

I have no desire to take out any sort of contract or subscription - I despise dealing with big companies and their call centres - but it would be nice to be able to view any free-to-air channels that might be available. There's plenty of satellite boxes on eBay.

- Can I just buy a box, connect it up and get anything useful out of it?

- I'd like to be able to control the box from my TiVo. Any idea which boxes to buy or avoid?

- Which channels could I expect to receive?

I have an NTL cable coming into the house too, and there's a little white NTL box on the wall behind the TV that has a couple of connectors on it. Can I get any free channels through this without having to deal with or pay NTL?

Thanks
Andy.

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

Wow, something that the Scoobynet gurus don't know about, that must be a first!

C'mon, someone must have figured out how a Sky system works...

bloke

Hello,

I'm sure if you've got a box you should be able to see the unencrypted channels.

Anyway, get in touch with these peeps, I have found them really helpful...

http://www.brymar.co.uk/

B

NACRO

If you have a Sky Digital box then you can pick up quite a few free to air channels. All the BBC stuff ie BBC 1,2,3,4,CBBC,News 24 and some others. Also realityTV,MotorsTV, GofTV, Turner Classic Movies, Sky News, The Vault (old music videos) and some other shopping/travel channels. All this is unecrypted and does not need a sky subscription.
Was the old installation for digital satellite?- if not you may need to replace the LNB on the dish and realign it.
All very easy to do, you should just be able to plug in and watch.

PG

there is one for sale in the "for sale" forum.
For the £30 it is worth a try ??

jbryant

My understanding is this, as I've recently spoken to Sky about the same thing (I have Sky but can't really justify >£30 per month).

You'll definitely need to get a digital tuner if you have a digital dish in order to receive anything. You will also need to have a Sky Card to enable viewing of the freeview channels as the tuner will not work without one.

So you'll have to speak to Sky as you would need to have a card delivered that is programmed to match the tuner serial number that you have bought on ebay. They want a one-off fee of £23.50 for doing this, and if you speak to Sky Customer Services on 08702 40 40 40 they can fix you up. I think if you already are a Sky subscriber there may not be a fee as they just downgrade your card (though I'm unsire about this).

If you are not subscribing to Sky then you will lose the feature of the EPG (Electronic Program Guide) and you will not be able to access box-office (Pay per view) either.

I don't know if the cable service would be much different, and it's probably easier just to buy a freeview box for c.£80 as you'll get all the same channels without the hassle. By the time you've got a box off ebay and bought a card, you won't be paying that much extra.

Hope this helps
Joolz

Distinguished Gentleman

I've spent the last week investigating just this subject and I reckon that I have the up to date info. It is as follows:

All BBC channels are unencrypted so you can watch them via satellite decoder etc without a card. Starting a week ago, ITV, Ch4 and Ch5 can be viewed by obtaining a "New Generation Card" for a one off payment of £23.50. This is a special offer with a limited life. To get this card phone 08700541800.

The situation has changed several times over the last few months so there is a lot of duff (out of date) info floating around. But this is, as far as I can be sure, the current state of play. So in my case, goodbye Sky. Infact I cancelled my contract with them 5 minutes ago.

all of this is assuming that the equipment at your house is OK.

NACRO

quote: "You will also need to have a Sky Card to enable viewing of the freeview channels as the tuner will not work without one."

That is a lie on the part of those nice people at Sky-you only need a card to view channels behind enryption- ITV 1+2, CH4, CH5- all the BBC channels and many others I listed are free to air.
Godamn sky liars-the fact is that they have a monopoly and there are suckers out there willing to let them get away with it by paying them. They will keep bending you over and b******ing you with more price rises until you stop subscribing- simple as.

NACRO

quote: "If you are not subscribing to Sky then you will lose the feature of the EPG (Electronic Program Guide) "

More lies from the nice people at Sky- the EPG functions fine in my £20 off Ebay secondhand box with no sky card outside the footprint of Astra 2D- these people are the worst kind of robbing shyster.
If you want any other info I'm only too happy to save you giving the dirty digger any more cash.

apples24

iTrader: (1)

just buy yaself a chipped analogue cable box for about £80 and plug into the ntl box

get all channels free with no subscription

NACRO

lol- you don't even need to chip the box, just get a Jerrold box de-encryption device for about £20. Wouldn't that be illegal though?
Ahh the days of analogue cable all the pay per view events for free and movies on demand. I'd imagine if you did that you'd realise that all this crap isn't worth paying for. You get sick of it all pretty quickly.