Setting up a second Sky box upstairs

nickcc

mwddrwg wrote: »

Didn't know Freesat could be picked up from the same direction as the Sky signal comes in! Will save up for a Freesat box but in the meantime I'm going to pick up some cables, connectors and a very cheap 2nd hand Sky box. Any advice on the best website for cables etc?

All you need is a Sky box and their free sat card and you can watch the freesat channels. Old sky boxes are very cheap on fleabay, no need to pay for a new freesat box.

macman

nickcc wrote: »

All you need is a Sky box and their free sat card and you can watch the freesat channels. Old sky boxes are very cheap on fleabay, no need to pay for a new freesat box.

No, you can only watch the Freesat From Sky (not Freesat) channels using an old Sky box. A viewing card is not necessary, it only loses you about 5 channels.
Without a pukka Freesat box you cannot use the PVR facilities without paying Sky £10pm.

prowla

mwddrwg wrote: »

Hi all,

Quick Sky installation question....

We have a dish with a Sky+ LNB with four outputs on the wall outside our bedroom. Two outputs are currently being used for our main Sky box but I want to install a box in the bedroom due to the signal from Freeview being rubbish in our area.

My thinking is that all I need is a second hand Sky box with a cable running to the dish through the wall, connected to one (or both if I want Sky+) spare outputs on the dish. Would this work to pick up basic channels or do I need another viewing card?

Any advice appreciated. Cheers.

We have this setup.

We originally had a "magic eye" and feed from our main box up to our bedroom, but never used that; the last time we had Sky around I got their engineer to change the connection, and we've got an older plain Sky receiver box (not plus) fed from an LNB on the dish, and with no viewing card - it gets the basic free channels.

nickcc

macman wrote: »

No, you can only watch the Freesat From Sky (not Freesat) channels using an old Sky box. A viewing card is not necessary, it only loses you about 5 channels.
Without a pukka Freesat box you cannot use the PVR facilities without paying Sky £10pm.

When I put freesat I was referring to Sky, without the viewing card (one off payment to Sky) you are unable to get the local program's (news weather etc). If you have the card and move to a different region Sky will send you a new card FOC that covers the new region. When my Daughter moved to the South West from the North West she could only get Granada news and weather so Sky sent her a new card.

almillar

nickcc - it's a minefield and it's confusing, so you need to be careful how you refer to the different platforms. Let's stick with:
FreeSat - a box that has the Freesat logo, and may have HD, recording, networking (iPlayer etc). freesat.co.uk
freesatfromsky - This is a Sky box with either a card you buy for £25, or what your subscriber card will revert to if you cancel your sub.
Free Satellite - this is a Sky box without a card inserted, or those boxes and dishes you see in B&Q and Lidl.