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Sky+ With Normal Sky Viewing Card - HELP!!

Please help - 1 hour to go until Man Utd V Chelsea kicks off on Sky Sports 1!

My girlfriend "cleverly" bought a Sky Plus box off eBay and it arrived yesterday. We have swapped the boxes over but we can only get the "freeview" type channels. I understand that we only have 1 cable from the dish, and therefore can only watch the channel that is recording (the first major drawback of not buying a box through Sky) but I don't see why we can't access the Sky channels?

We contacted Sky yesterday and they said they have linked the viewing card to the Sky Plus box and it would be ok within a couple of hours. Still doesn't work today and just rung again - the guy on the phone sounded absolutely clueless but said he was sending something down the signal and to wait up to 4 hours! Seemed like a fob off.

Does anyone know if a normal viewing card will actually work with a Sky Plus box? Has anyone else had a similar problem? If it was up to me we'd have just bought it through Sky.....
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Comments

  • mymatebob
    mymatebob Posts: 2,199 Forumite
    cwcw wrote: »
    Please help - 1 hour to go until Man Utd V Chelsea kicks off on Sky Sports 1!

    My girlfriend "cleverly" bought a Sky Plus box off eBay and it arrived yesterday. We have swapped the boxes over but we can only get the "freeview" type channels. I understand that we only have 1 cable from the dish, and therefore can only watch the channel that is recording (the first major drawback of not buying a box through Sky) but I don't see why we can't access the Sky channels?

    We contacted Sky yesterday and they said they have linked the viewing card to the Sky Plus box and it would be ok within a couple of hours. Still doesn't work today and just rung again - the guy on the phone sounded absolutely clueless but said he was sending something down the signal and to wait up to 4 hours! Seemed like a fob off.

    Does anyone know if a normal viewing card will actually work with a Sky Plus box? Has anyone else had a similar problem? If it was up to me we'd have just bought it through Sky.....


    My old standard viewing card works fine on my Sky+ box.

    I assume you are subscribed to the sports packages (silly question I know)
  • cwcw
    cwcw Posts: 928 Forumite
    mymatebob wrote: »
    My old standard viewing card works fine on my Sky+ box.

    I assume you are subscribed to the sports packages (silly question I know)

    Lol yeah! Been on the Sports package for 18+ months. It's not just sports that isn't working either - it's even the basic entertainment stuff like Sky One and Living. :-(
  • Inactive
    Inactive Posts: 14,509 Forumite
    Card will work fine, you just need to wait for Sky to switch the card over to your new box, it usually only takes a few minutes.
  • Inactive
    Inactive Posts: 14,509 Forumite
    cwcw wrote: »
    Lol yeah! Been on the Sports package for 18+ months. It's not just sports that isn't working either - it's even the basic entertainment stuff like Sky One and Living. :-(


    I am fairly sure they should work with any subscription card, are you 100% sure that you have the card in the correct slot and the correct way up?

    Your Sky+ Box may have a faulty card reader.
  • sco0ter
    sco0ter Posts: 2,476 Forumite
    Have you cycled the power on the sky+ box..??
  • cwcw
    cwcw Posts: 928 Forumite
    Inactive wrote: »
    I am fairly sure they should work with any subscription card, are you 100% sure that you have the card in the correct slot and the correct way up?

    Your Sky+ Box may have a faulty card reader.

    The card is in so that the chip is facing down and the blue sky side is facing up. It has arrows to put it in, but not to say which side is the top, although we have tested it various ways too. Could indeed be faulty.... bloody eBay!
  • cwcw
    cwcw Posts: 928 Forumite
    sco0ter wrote: »
    Have you cycled the power on the sky+ box..??


    Sorry? :confused:
  • cwcw
    cwcw Posts: 928 Forumite
    Ah well, at least there's MOTD tonight. Shame I'm paying nearly £50 a month for something I can't watch any more.
  • Inactive
    Inactive Posts: 14,509 Forumite
    Put your card back in your old box, see if it works in that one, if it does, it is down to Sky not changing it over.
  • cwcw
    cwcw Posts: 928 Forumite
    Inactive wrote: »
    Put your card back in your old box, see if it works in that one, if it does, it is down to Sky not changing it over.

    Tried that but got the problem with card error. Sky have done their part it seems. 1 hour 15 mins to go until this "signal" thing should definitely have worked by, but I don't hold much hope of that really. I think it's down to the box being faulty as you suggested earlier. :(
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