Sky Digital vs. Chorus digital

Dr. Nick · 10-09-2004 3:45pm #1

I've had Sky since 1995 and am now considering moving to Chorus, primarily because I no longer reside on the east coast! (and the wife is giving me grief now that the ITV drama season is back :rolleyes: )

Some questions -

- Should I stay with ITV/C4-less Sky and just sit it out?
- Are Chorus as bad as they are made out to be?
- Is it worth the 'risk' of €50 (I assume there's no long contract with Chorus?)
- Can I run a coax to another room from the Chorus box?
- Will my digi-sender work with Chorus?
- Is there a combination of both that's worth considering?

Sorry if I'm going over old ground here, but I can't find definitive answers when I do a search.

Thanks in advance.

qBot · 10-09-2004 3:59pm

Well, i've been renting a house for the summer where chorus was installed and i've had loads of problems with it. For one it can take anywhere up to a minute to load a channel. Sometimes they won't load at all and I have to turn the decoder off and then back on which can take another minute. The TV guide feature doesn't tell u the right information sometimes. For instance when the O.C is actually on it can tell u that some other program is infact on.

When i asked the landlord about this he said it was the estate we were living in. Supposedly there is no decent line of site between the house and the chorus feed. Also, the decoder we have is a bit on the old side from what i can see so that could be part of our problem. Because of this though i wouldn't recomend chorus to anybody. Hope this helps.

Dr. Nick · 10-09-2004 4:08pm

Thanks for that. Line of sight shoudn't be a problem as we're on a height, I suppose it's best if I can find a neighbour with Chorus....

sceptre · 10-09-2004 5:07pm

Dr. Nick wrote:

Should I stay with ITV/C4-less Sky and just sit it out?

Depends on how happy your wife needs to be. I'd run with an FTV card myself if I needed ITV/C4 even if I had to pay for it (you'll have to pay for it)

- Are Chorus as bad as they are made out to be?

Only my opinion but I've never actually had to deal with a company as incompetent and unreliable.

- Is it worth the 'risk' of €50 (I assume there's no long contract with Chorus?)

AFAIK there's a 12 month contract but I'll happily be corrected on that one.

There's always the FTV card-switching option (I think they're about 90 euros on ebay these days). Or just taking out a UK subscription if you can use someone else's UK address, though you'll lose your digital Irish channels then. I wouldn't touch Chorus again with a 10 foot pole if you were holding it. TV3 is turning into ITV gradually at that so I doubt there's all that much to be missed (though I never watch ITV or TV3 drama anyway so I'm far from being an expert on that)

Dr. Nick · 10-09-2004 5:56pm

Thanks Sceptre. You've inspired more questions!

- Is ebay the only way to go with FTV cards/boxes now that they're not being issued? Like this one? http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=29784&item=5719071678&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW
- Would above work satisfactorily in ROI? I assume I'd need a 2nd lnb?
- Card switching? The ebay cards work in ANY box right?
- Are above cards likely to change?

jongore · 10-09-2004 6:00pm

I've SKY and my aunt had Curses and had problems all the time with it, outages, slow loads, and the customer service is non existent. She got fed up with it and got a SKY dish and no probs since.

sceptre · 10-09-2004 6:19pm

Dr. Nick wrote:

- Is ebay the only way to go with FTV cards/boxes now that they're not being issued?

Well, it's not the only way but for lots of people it's the easiest way. They're anything up to 250 euros in the buy and sell. That's just for the card. A few people have sold them on the For Sale board here for less. There are companies selling them too but they're still at the upper pricing end. It doesn't specifically have to be an FTV card, any of the newer UK Sky cards (like ours, the one with the house) will do as ex-sub cards in the UK can still receive ITV/C4/Five. The FTV cards are guaranteed (to work or be replaced)until December 2005 though whereas an ex-sub card isn't. Unlikely that the ex-sub cards will stop working though. And Sky may not change their encryption for a long time after 2005 - they've only done it once since they started the digital service.

Like this one? http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=29784&item=5719071678&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

Very much like that one yes. In fact, that's the digibox model I have and I reckon it's excellent - far better than my father's Grundig. You'll get the card on its own as well obviously. In the past the BBC channels were matched to the box (in other words, putting the card in another box would only give ITV/4/5) but now that the BBC has gone FTA that's not an issue.

I see that's the only listing for "FTV" so you could have a look here for a better idea of prices (I searched for "Sky card"). This one (for example) has a Buy-It-Now for £50 and the auctions are mostly currently lower than that. Just make sure the auction says it will receive ITV/C4/Five as there are some cards on that list that don't say that and probably aren't activated.

- Would above work satisfactorily in ROI?

Yup. No hassle. Better not connect the phone while the card is in just in case though. Do that and Sky can't tell what country you're using the card in.

I assume I'd need a 2nd lnb?

yeah, if you're running two boxes (see below)

- Card switching? Is that in the same box?

Yeah. That's what I do (I've a small flat, one TV and one occupant). I've had the TV card over a year and no big issues whatever.

The only thing that tends to happen is that when I switch cards, the box will dump personal reminders that are contained on channels that aren't on the inserted card. Badly explained, let's put it this way: if I#ve my Irish sub card in and there's a reminder set for during the week on RTE1 and I take out the card (reminder still there), then out in the BBC card (RTE isn't available on the BBC card so now the reminder's gone). Put the RTE card back in and the reminder's still gone. It's only happened since the last software update and it doesn't affect me that much. Wouldn't affect you at all if you used different boxes.

Mossy Monk · 10-09-2004 6:22pm

Dr. Nick wrote:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=29784&item=5719071678&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

this also includes "Post to: United Kingdom only "

sceptre · 10-09-2004 6:26pm

Mossy Monk wrote:

this also includes "Post to: United Kingdom only "

Some of those other auctions I've linked to do the same thing but list prices for European postage. It's a wacky place is ebay, especially if you're the type that can laugh at your own socks.

Dr. Nick · 10-09-2004 7:09pm

Sceptre - I did some searching later, thus the the edit of my post above, and found basically the same page as you did.
I'm starting to think that ebay card-only is the way to go in my certain circumstances. Her indoors sees the daytime shows and we can both watch the dramas at night, football allowing of course.......;)

I'm scared of Chorus. This time last year when I moved here first, I rang Chorus to ask if digital was available in my area. 'No it's not' i was told, then he hung up!

10-09-2004 8:26pm

jongore wrote:

and my aunt had Curses

Well I've heard it called a lot of things but never that...
Thanks you've made me laugh out loud.

I'm a former chorus customer and I'd never go back they were useless,always breaking down, always telling fibs when I'd ring their "care" team and sin of sins once they were down for 3 days on the trot.
I've a UK sky sub now(with Sky plus) curtesy of a friend in the UK and I have a FTV card on another box.

swoofer · 10-09-2004 9:19pm

just to say u dont need a 2nd lnb but the best thing to buy is a quad LNB for ur sky dish and these are about £18.00 on ebay. Then just run a 2nd lead from the quad lnb. Get that box u showed but may be a bit more than 26 at the end, now u can keep both boxes working and daisy chain the rf out, use 2 different rf channels and u can re-tune ur tv so that u can watch one box and the misssus can watch the other, need 2 tvs of course.

gb--

swoofer · 10-09-2004 9:20pm

by the way the new chours boxes do not have RF in or out, a right pain.

gb--

Dr. Nick · 10-09-2004 9:38pm

GBCULLEN wrote:

by the way the new chours boxes do not have RF in or out, a right pain.

gb--

vital info that this forum is renowned for - thanks. decision made - no chorttles in this house.

i need to read your previous post again, i may need clarification. thanks.

sceptre · 10-09-2004 10:23pm

GBCULLEN wrote:

just to say u dont need a 2nd lnb but the best thing to buy is a quad LNB for ur sky dish

Oops, sorry, I misread Dr Nick's question above and read "2nd LNB" as "quad LNB" for some reason.

Change my "yeah, if you're running two boxes (see below)" answer to "yeah, you'll need to do something to your dish if you're running two boxes - you can go for a second LNB (& run two cables from them) but it's rather simpler to change your existing LNB for a quad LNB (and run two cables from it). If you just run with one box your existing setup is fine"

Just as well GBCULLEN caught that one properly:)

/awards self sleepy dope award

Sky Digital vs. Chorus digital

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