Board logo

Sky help required
mad-butcher - 5/9/11 at 08:23 AM

Got a normal sky box and card hitched up to a HD ready tv and have just been given a sky + HD box.
I would like to use my normal box and dish with my trailer tent, and buy a new dish and use the HD box at home. question ( not arsed about the HD side of it ) but will my normal card work with the HD box, the intention is just to remove the card from home and plug it into the other box when we go away.

tony

stevebubs - 5/9/11 at 08:31 AM

most probably but the cards are paired with the boxes so you will need to ring Sky and ask them to pair the card with the new box.

[Edited on 5/9/11 by stevebubs]

stevebubs - 5/9/11 at 08:32 AM

PS if you do pair the card with the new box, I believe it will be disabled for the old box.

steve m - 5/9/11 at 09:20 AM

Hi

I went down the same process earlier in the year, and am now back on a digital ariel and tv with freeview
100's of free digital channels, and no setting a dish etc up

The sky option was getting very tedious, and sky were not helpful in anyway, as we are with Virgin, and have no plans to change

I still have the dish, a sky box, and a card that is paired to the box, but doesnt work, yet the box and ariel together did, and i could get some free channels, but not all (very weird) but with the card in nothing!

I got a sky engineer to set it all up for me (on my drive) for a few quid, and he left very baffled, and said he would be back,
well he hasnt, and that was about may this year!!

steve

jossey - 5/9/11 at 09:28 AM

NO sorry.....

mookaloid - 5/9/11 at 09:32 AM

Been down this road too. I have satellite tv in my caravan.

For the trailer tent you are better off getting a free sat box which doesn't need a card they only cost about £30 from argos or ebay.

for sky boxes as said above you need to register the viewing card in the box you are using - which takes up to 24 hours so really painful if you want to transfer to a different box just for a weekend. you can get a non subscription card for £20 for sky so that you can use it in your old box, however it stops working if the box is left unplugged for a while and needs reregistering as above - hence you are better off with a freesat box which will spend long periods of time unplugged.

I don't believe your normal card will work with the HD box - at least it won't enable the recording function on the HD box if the card wasn't out of a sky+ box.

Hope that helps

Mark

coozer - 5/9/11 at 09:35 AM

Get yourself along to Aldi....

http://www.aldi.co.uk/uk/html/offers/special_buys3_20473.htm

ChrisW - 5/9/11 at 09:47 AM

I've also been down this road before, several times in fact, and not all of the above is necessarily true.

I can tell you from experience that my Sky+ HD card works fine in any original Sky box I've tried it in. I have a couple that I use for 'mobile' TV and I just take the card with me when I go.

My advice would be to give it a go, but try it first before relying on it.

Chris

mookaloid - 5/9/11 at 10:33 AM

quote:
Originally posted by coozer
Get yourself along to Aldi....

http://www.aldi.co.uk/uk/html/offers/special_buys3_20473.htm


That's cheap

ChrisW - 5/9/11 at 11:48 AM

quote:
Originally posted by mookaloid
quote:
Originally posted by coozer
Get yourself along to Aldi....

http://www.aldi.co.uk/uk/html/offers/special_buys3_20473.htm


That's cheap


Note that that system is 'free to air' not 'Freesat'. You'll get all the same channels, but the EPG and other stuff - mainly usability functions provided by Freesat - won't work. If you're a techy, or on a very limited budget, it'll be fine. If you're installing it for SWMBO/parents/non-techy people/etc I'd recommend spending a bit more on a proper 'Freesat' system.

Chris

coozer - 5/9/11 at 11:57 AM

Another option...

Just remembered, I have one of these on the back of my Panasonic, so, if your thinking of upgrading look out for it!