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Can I use Freesat and Sky TV at the same time?

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Hi all, could you help me with this question?

I have used Freesat for a long time, so a satelitte dish is installed at the rear extension of my house. My Freesat box is used to get both Astra and Hotbird.

Now I want to subscribe to Sky as well. I suppose another dish will have to be installed.

But I cannot imagine how I can control these two systems on my LCD TV. I mean, is it easy to change from a Freesat channel to a Sky channel?

My sincere thanks,

Comments

  • jaydeeuk1
    jaydeeuk1 Posts: 7,714 Forumite
    Debt-free and Proud!
    Won't need another dish, just another LNB feed (or two). Sky will / should check the dish to make sure its in working order, and replace or recrimp the current cable depending on age and condition.
    Uusally to change from sky to freesat/freeview is just pressing AV on your TV remote and selecting the hdmi port number (or scart etc), much like you would select your blu ray/dvd/PS3.
  • spike7451
    spike7451 Posts: 6,944 Forumite
    Depends on what type of dish is currently installed,be it an onl Analogue dish or the Lidl's 'special'.Also Hotbird is on a different skew than the Astra used by Sky currently so you may be picking up the old Astra satalite (Astra 1 @19.2degrees East) & not Astra 2d (28.2degrees East)
    If that's the case Sky wont touch it & will fit a new install.
  • macman
    macman Posts: 53,129 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 13 June 2010 at 12:44PM
    Hotbird is on 13.0 degrees east, so whatever the OP is getting it is not Freesat, which is on 28.2. I think he/she means that they receive other satellite(non-Sky) programming on a generic satellite receiver?
    Is it possible to fit a twin LNB on the dish to switch between 13.0 and the 28.2 required for Sky, or is a motorised dish required?
    No free lunch, and no free laptop ;)
  • bonzer
    bonzer Posts: 399 Forumite
    Do you mean Freesat as in the free BBC/ITV satellite TV service? You said you have been using it for a long time, however Freesat has only been going since 2008 which makes me think you mean something different?

    Do you mean you get Eurobird 1 (which should be visible to a Freesat dish)? Hotbird is in a different location and would not be visible to a Freesat dish I would think.

    If you are correctly picking up BBC/ITV Freesat with no problems, your dish is pointing to the right place - 28.2E. You will pick up Sky with the same dish.

    If you intend to subscribe to Sky, you will probably not get anything much different from Freesat so I would just use the one box (or you could put your Freesat box in a different room with an LNB upgrade).
  • scotsbob
    scotsbob Posts: 4,632 Forumite
    edited 13 June 2010 at 12:46PM
    If you are already receiving the Atra 28.2 satellite and your receiver accepts cards then the easiest option would be to see if Sky have a card that you can use. I don't know if they have but if they do that is the easy option.

    Spike7451 mentions an analogue dish, there is no such thing as an analogue dish, Bonzer mentions a Freesat dish, there is no such thing as a Freesat dish, a dish is a dish. It depends on your LNB and your receiver. As you get Hotbird and an Astra satellite then you must have a dual LNB or a motor as those two satellites are 9 degrees apart.

    I suggest phoning Sky and see what they suggest. It's either just add a card to provide subscription channels or the option Jadeeuk1 suggests
  • spike7451
    spike7451 Posts: 6,944 Forumite
    scotsbob wrote: »
    If you are already receiving the Atra 28.2 satellite and your receiver accepts cards then the easiest option would be to see if Sky have a card that you can use. I don't know if they have but if they do that is the easy option.

    Spike7451 mentions an analogue dish, there is no such thing as an analogue dish, Bonzer mentions a Freesat dish, there is no such thing as a Freesat dish, a dish is a dish. It depends on your LNB and your receiver. As you get Hotbird and an Astra satellite then you must have a dual LNB or a motor as those two satellites are 9 degrees apart.

    I suggest phoning Sky and see what they suggest. It's either just add a card to provide subscription channels or the option Jadeeuk1 suggests

    I meant the old mahoosive dishes that were in use before Sky Digital.I know the is no such thing as a Analogue or Digital dish & the differences.I did work for Sky albeit not for very long.
  • bonzer
    bonzer Posts: 399 Forumite
    scotsbob wrote: »
    Bonzer mentions a Freesat dish, there is no such thing as a Freesat dish, a dish is a dish

    My post was meant to imply that Eurobird 1 should in many cases be visible to an antenna set-up that was intended for Freesat. It was not meaning anything to do with the reflector type.

    There are many reflector sizes (and some shapes) available, intended for different satellites. It is true that more than one type of reflector can be used to receive Freesat. However a dish is most certainly not a dish.
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