sky q

bluesriff7

i have got sky hd tv box but i have to keep reinserting the view card. so i thought about changing to a sky q box, but sky want £199
for this. is that for installing the sky box ?

Neil_Jones

Do you mean Sky+HD?

Plenty of refurbished boxes around, you;d just need to pair the card with the new box.

The £199 would be for the setup which includes a new LNB and maybe new cables, but you may be able to blag this down if you phone up and ask and take a new contract, I believe if you have been with them long enough you can get it free through VIP either way.

Also if you ask the installer really nicely (and ply them with enough tea and biscuits to sink a battleship) they may fit a universal LNB as opposed to the Sky only one instead, which would save you hassle if you decide to leave SkyQ.

bluesriff7

Would that be a hybrid LNB because my tv is getting its signal from my
sat dish Freesat. ( unable to get a Freeview signal).
my cables are all new I replaced them last year.

Neil_Jones

The wideband LNB is the one that's unique to SkyQ and doesn't work with Freesat.   They only have two outputs.  Hybrid LNB's have 6 - two for SkyQ and four "normal" for Freesat.  Older non Sky Q LNBs tend to have four "normal" outputs, although really old ones may only have two.

The dish itself is irrelevant to an extent, all it has to do is bounce the signals from the satellite into the LNB, but an adaptor may be needed for the new LNB depending on the dish.

Represenative pictures here:

https://www.satshop.co.uk/sky-q-lnb

matelodave

Interesting - I told Sky that I was cheesed off with their price rises earlier this year (March) and advised them that I was cancelling.
We only have the basic package mainly coz SWMBO wants to watch Alibi. After some minor discussion my £23.50 which was due to increase to £25.50, suddenly plummeted to £17* for Sky Signature (which has more channels than we previously had) plus a new SKY Q box to replace our 10 year old HD+ box together wit SKY GO without any upfront or installation charge.We also get the box sets as through their VIP scheme ((*£25 less £8/mo discount for 18 months)

 Due to the restrictions the Q box and associated LNB was delivered and installed last Friday. We've also got a shiny new dish (the other one has been there for at least 10 years) and a hybrid LNB so we can still use our old HD+ box as a receiver if we want to.And to cap it all the Q box is 1TB UHD because the installer didn't have any of the others - we dont subcscribe or get UHD but the picture is pretty good on our 4k TV so I'm quite chuffed with the deal.

Perhaps you need to try and negotiate a bit - I was totally prepared to give up SKY and might still when out 18 months is up and they try cranking up the subs again.

cherry76

I have just spoken to sky as contract ends in tow months time.  I was offered signature at £17 and upgrade to sky q but have to pay £20 set up and £10 admin which I do not mind.  You have got yourself a good deal.  How is easy is sky q to use compared to sky hd+? Thanks

matelodave

It different but not difficult so you need a bit of practice - there are plenty of YouTube videos to show you how. The voice search is brilliant. the only thing I can see thats missing is the reminder facility. Haven't yet found out whether or what the coloured buttons do but on the whole we are more than happy with it

cherry76

matelodave said:

It different but not difficult so you need a bit of practice - there are plenty of YouTube videos to show you how. The voice search is brilliant. the only thing I can see thats missing is the reminder facility. Haven't yet found out whether or what the coloured buttons do but on the whole we are more than happy with it

You are only paying £17 a month that's all. It is a very good deal.When I phoned I was prepared to pay £21 a month.  Did not want to upgrade to sky Q but I think it is an offer too good to refuse as there is no charge if engineer needed and the sky hd+ is getting on,  How did it go with the engineer coming in your house?  Also I watch bt sports on sky platform, do you know if I need to swap the viewing card with new one?  Thanks

matelodave

cherry76 said:

matelodave said:

It different but not difficult so you need a bit of practice - there are plenty of YouTube videos to show you how. The voice search is brilliant. the only thing I can see thats missing is the reminder facility. Haven't yet found out whether or what the coloured buttons do but on the whole we are more than happy with it

You are only paying £17 a month that's all. It is a very good deal.When I phoned I was prepared to pay £21 a month.  Did not want to upgrade to sky Q but I think it is an offer too good to refuse as there is no charge if engineer needed and the sky hd+ is getting on,  How did it go with the engineer coming in your house?  Also I watch bt sports on sky platform, do you know if I need to swap the viewing card with new one?  Thanks

No problem - he came and did the outside work (dish & LNB and re-terminated the cables) and then came inside to set up the box ( he also reterminated the internal cables) .He could have just given it to me and I would have been able to do it but he was happy to come in - we do have plenty of room. he was masked and gloved and had his own sanitiser etc so there wasn't really a problem

Dont care about sports (except a bit of F1 but I wont pay extra for it) but we did get a new viewing card which is in the Q box (posted to us a day or so before the installation).

I haven't tried to see what the old HD+ box does (it's still got its old viewing card in it) but I'll have a faff around when I've got nothing better to do

bluesriff7

I just phoned sky, all I got was a automated voice Asking whats you’re reason
for calling. I said interested in sky Q. Automated voice said we are not
taking orders. Absolutely useless.
just had to reinsert my viewing card again, I am out contract 
so I might as well just cancel sky.

cherry76

I had no problems getting through sky.The reason I gave was bill and account.  I was asking for offers at end of contract.  Recontracted for 18  months and upgraded to SKY Q paying £20 installation, £10 admin fees for recontracting. Now paying £17 for signature instead of current £21.