hi just been given a old sky receiver box and my house has the dish i can connect it all up, so what channels will i get for free? whats free sat also it has a card but scrammles a bit on some channels, would this be an old card and how can i get a new one???? any help please
sky box ??
- Thread starter deano1976
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ChrisFrost
Yes, you can hook up the box. As long as your dish is still pointing in the right direction and the LNB and cable are fine then you'll get a signal.
Sky do a card for £20 that enables the Sky version of the freeview channels. You can get it by going to the Sky web site. You could probably do the same by phoning Sky - get the number from the web site.
Freesat is something else. The signal is transmitted via the same satellite as the Sky signal, but you need a different receiver for that - i.e. not a Sky box. Some TV's have a freesat receiver built in, or you can get a freesat tuner box.
Sky do a card for £20 that enables the Sky version of the freeview channels. You can get it by going to the Sky web site. You could probably do the same by phoning Sky - get the number from the web site.
Freesat is something else. The signal is transmitted via the same satellite as the Sky signal, but you need a different receiver for that - i.e. not a Sky box. Some TV's have a freesat receiver built in, or you can get a freesat tuner box.
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ChrisFrost
You could get a "satellite finder" meter (cheap & easy to use) or use a compass and angle finder and get the azimuth, elevation and LNB offset from one of the web sites that have info for this according to your postcode.
Oh, you do realise that you'll be trying to align your dish to a satellite about the size of a Ford Mondeo that's 24,000 miles away. Spend some cash. A meter really is the quickest and easiest tool for the job.
Oh, you do realise that you'll be trying to align your dish to a satellite about the size of a Ford Mondeo that's 24,000 miles away. Spend some cash. A meter really is the quickest and easiest tool for the job.
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A Sky box with no card will pick up nearly as many channels as a free-to-air box using a small dish aimed as Astra satellite. There are a few odd channels like the Elvis one which plays Elvis records 24/7 which old Sky boxes can't get. Also channel 5 has to be added and is not auto found. The Sky program guide is better than many of the free-to-air boxes (Not all) but you can't remove the non free channels from list. With a free-to-air box you can normally select free only on program guide but many only show now and next. The free-to-air boxes use that little power on standby you can't measure it and use about 1/2 power needed with simple Sky box to run. Sky boxes still use a fair bit of power well over 1W limit even on standby.
The FreeSat is similar to free-to-air but will also allow you to receive some extra programs although these seem to be getting less and less. Channel 5US and Fiver are two which to date have not gone free-to-air but Channel 4, More 4 etc have all changed. The card for free-sat was to have been one off payment to Sky or BBC but with so many now going free to air BBC stopped doing the card. The receivers designed for freesat use same program guide as Sky so full 7 day. Not sure if you have to wade through all the channels you can't get? Also not sure if you can use on different satellites? The Sky box has a limit of about 30 extra channels not on Sky list so aiming dish at another satellite like Eurobird is pointless. Free-to-air boxes work fine on other satellites my son-in-law tunes into turksat. (Needs 90 inch dish). The better free-to-air boxes even have an output to rotator so you can move dish remotely to each satellite again not sure if freesat boxes do this.
The program guides on free-to-air boxes varies a lot. One from Turkey we use does have 7 day guide but for each program at a time not in the way Sky boxes work. The cheap one from Lidi only has now and next.
Personally I would not buy the freesat card as 95% of programs can be viewed without it and those you can't get are on terrestrial freeview. However I have got Sky as this gives programs like UKGold, Hallmark, etc which are to me programs worth paying for.
As to aiming dish my free-to-air box has built in finder and can be used to find satellite with out buying extra unit. I have a unit cheap Lidi one which is OK for Astra but useless for Turksat etc. For them I need to have TV where I can see TV while turning dish. There are finders which can be set to satellite your looking for but these are very expensive. There are around 4 or 5 satellites in the Astra group this is why the dish is oval and it is easy without expensive set-up box to get it working on one edge to expense of other edge. Dishes don't often move. More likely cable gets a little water in it and degrades. So often it needs new cable rather than dish aiming.
However most the free-to-air boxes are more sensitive than Sky boxes and will continue to work long after the Sky box has failed.
The FreeSat is similar to free-to-air but will also allow you to receive some extra programs although these seem to be getting less and less. Channel 5US and Fiver are two which to date have not gone free-to-air but Channel 4, More 4 etc have all changed. The card for free-sat was to have been one off payment to Sky or BBC but with so many now going free to air BBC stopped doing the card. The receivers designed for freesat use same program guide as Sky so full 7 day. Not sure if you have to wade through all the channels you can't get? Also not sure if you can use on different satellites? The Sky box has a limit of about 30 extra channels not on Sky list so aiming dish at another satellite like Eurobird is pointless. Free-to-air boxes work fine on other satellites my son-in-law tunes into turksat. (Needs 90 inch dish). The better free-to-air boxes even have an output to rotator so you can move dish remotely to each satellite again not sure if freesat boxes do this.
The program guides on free-to-air boxes varies a lot. One from Turkey we use does have 7 day guide but for each program at a time not in the way Sky boxes work. The cheap one from Lidi only has now and next.
Personally I would not buy the freesat card as 95% of programs can be viewed without it and those you can't get are on terrestrial freeview. However I have got Sky as this gives programs like UKGold, Hallmark, etc which are to me programs worth paying for.
As to aiming dish my free-to-air box has built in finder and can be used to find satellite with out buying extra unit. I have a unit cheap Lidi one which is OK for Astra but useless for Turksat etc. For them I need to have TV where I can see TV while turning dish. There are finders which can be set to satellite your looking for but these are very expensive. There are around 4 or 5 satellites in the Astra group this is why the dish is oval and it is easy without expensive set-up box to get it working on one edge to expense of other edge. Dishes don't often move. More likely cable gets a little water in it and degrades. So often it needs new cable rather than dish aiming.
However most the free-to-air boxes are more sensitive than Sky boxes and will continue to work long after the Sky box has failed.
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Unless you have paid for the card that is correct. And even when you pay very few extra channels and most of extras are on freeview
Yes will not work without a dish.
Terrestrial use aerials
Satellite use LMB and dish
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