Sky HD - My Installation and Opinion

digiking

Hi,

Well as you may already know i was fortunate enough to order sky hd on tuesday and have it up and running on thursday evening as i did a diy install.

1). Sky HD box retails for €449 + €5 enviromental charge - €454 total.

2). I was not given a new quad lnb as i was told i don't need one as there is one on my dish already and they are short of them

3). After paying the man in the shop he issued me with the phone number to ring to get my hd activated - he told me that its imperitive that i do a forced software upgrade as is mentioned on the big yellow sticker that is affixed to the box before i call them - number is 00448705959595

4). On arriving home i firstly wiped the hard disk drive clean in my modded sky+ box and removed it from the equipment rack - as the sky+ and Sky HD box share the same ports there is no need to swap out telephone wires etc - all that needs to be done is to remove the scart lead going from the box to the panel.

5). Finally once all the cabling is in place - plug in the box and wait for it to start up - once its done - do a new installation in the installer menu - enusre that phone line is operational for this part.

6). Once your ready call sky and ask them to enable sky hd on your card - you'll need your viewing card number to hand. they'll ask you all sorts of questions such as was it installed by a sky engineer - just say yes and tell them he was in a hurry and he didn't have time to activate it as it telling him that he would have to wait a long time on the phone..

7). Once hd is actived check that its functioning correctly - also check your sky+ is functioning.

8). Add the bbc hd channel to your epg for hd world cup - its not on irish epg as far as i know - if it is please correct me

10847 v 22.000 5/6

9). Your done - Enjoy the hd experience.

I have attached some images of what it looks like, sorry some of them are poor quality - taken at night

Before Hd Install
http://img161.imageshack.us/img161/9877/280420066io.jpg

HD Package
http://img161.imageshack.us/img161/1905/080620061742ip.jpg

HD box Close Up - very bad pic - will take new one when i go home later on
http://img161.imageshack.us/img161/4038/080620061753lz.jpg

New setup - will take new pic
http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/6017/080620061762kn.jpg

I hope people find this useful

Digiking

Tony

I'm wondering why you were charged for a quad lnb you did not get?

digiking

Was I???

he told me he didn't have any or he was short of them - or something lke that anyway

subfreq

DigiKing - Where did you buy your box from to do a self install?

byte

I'm pretty sure the Quad LNB comes supplied in the SkyHD box.
*shrug*

digiking

I bought it in HLM Television in Tralee in kerry

SKY HD package was sealed from sky when i opened it and there is no lnb

probally a seperate box

ozsat

I'm in the UK - when my installer arrived he handed be a still sealled SkyHD box - the LNB is not a part of the boxed equipment.

Sky provide an LNB as a part of their installation service - but what you get depends on the requirements.

watty

byte wrote:

I'm pretty sure the Quad LNB comes supplied in the SkyHD box.
*shrug*

Mayber in "RETAIL" pack not Wholesale pack, like Remote Control on SB Audigy cards is in "Retail pack" but not brown box OEM pack (Which is 20 Euro cheaper).

St Senan

byte wrote:

I'm pretty sure the Quad LNB comes supplied in the SkyHD box.
*shrug*

I have installed 5 sky hds in the last few weeks and the boxes did not come with quad lnbs. The lnbs came seperate.

Davexirl

Does anyone know any retailer in the Dublin area that you can just go in and buy the SKY HD box???

Thanks

St Senan

Davexirl wrote:

Does anyone know any retailer in the Dublin area that you can just go in and buy the SKY HD box???

Thanks

Try
Electroplus cable and satellite in Dublin 014199262
or
Armstrongs Electronics Unit 3 Bluebell Industrial Estate Dublin 12
Telephone: 01 450 9480

Tony

digiking wrote:

Was I???

he told me he didn't have any or he was short of them - or something lke that anyway

Yes 450 includes a quad lnb so if he did not have one you should have got a reduction

Tony

scaller wrote:

Try
Electroplus cable and satellite in Dublin 014199262
or
Armstrongs Electronics Unit 3 Bluebell Industrial Estate Dublin 12
Telephone: 01 450 9480

Armstrongs are wholesale not retail

St Senan

Tony wrote:

Armstrongs are wholesale not retail

Tony would Armstrongs not sell sky boxes etc to the public

byte

Ah, maybe you're right. One arrived at work for shop display purposes, though I dunno if LNB came in the box, I just know one came with it.

Must be in diff boxes, and either way, as Tony says 450eur includes an LNB, and the OP should have got one. It would make a handy spare for him.

scaller wrote:

I have installed 5 sky hds in the last few weeks and the boxes did not come with quad lnbs. The lnbs came seperate.

digiking

Thanks for all the info - i fell as though i was screwed by the shop:mad:

Should i call up the shop and ask them why i didn't get lnb in the package and try and get one or a refund or something???

It would make it alot easier for me to sell my sky+ box with 200gb drive installed if i had a lnb to sell with it.


Digiking

Davexirl

scaller wrote:

Try
Electroplus cable and satellite in Dublin 014199262
or
Armstrongs Electronics Unit 3 Bluebell Industrial Estate Dublin 12
Telephone: 01 450 9480

Thanks I'll give Electoplus a ring tomorrow and I'll let you know how I get on!!!

Tony are you doing any installations of Sky HD???

Strasser

So can I clarify
if you already have a sky + box you can get a hd box, follow the instructions as above which are very clearly written thank you and any idiot (i.e. me) can do a self install. Basically plug all the bits out of the sky + box and plug them back into the corresponding bits on the HD box?

digiking

yes, you hit the nail on the head.

Chong

I would also like to clarify this:

I am getting Sky HD next week, I have Multiroom and SKy + already installed.

I want to get rid of the sky + box and replace it with the HD box.

Reason being is I cant keep the Sky + box because It needs 2 wires aswell as the Sky HD box, because I have a free to air box in another room .


Is this possible is my question?

Also am I able to put a tv link on a HD box and watch its content on a non HDTV.

byte

If you mean just swapping the Sky+ box with SkyHD box, then yes that's fine.

A SkyHD box is basically an enhanced Sky+ box, with few extra features, like HD decoding hardware etc.

Chong

Thats exactly what I am trying to say byte, you see I can hopefully get me a HD box next week through a local retailer, and I am over the moon at this opportunity.

Thanks again for the reply byte.

byte

No problems.

Make sure to keep us posted on how you get on!

Chong

I will indeed .

Chong

Ok so I got the box today. I removed the old sky + box and replaced it with the new HD box. Did everything Digiking said, the problems began.

I did my installation and rang sky , all set up. I get off the phone to find none of my HD channels operate telling me " Me that this is the wrong set top box for this card".


I spent a record 45 mins on the phone to sky, to be informed that apparently because I didnt buy it off them, the sky HD isnt registered and needs to be paired up with my card to make it the main box.

Now they have told me that they will get back to me , and when asked will it be next week , I was told hopefully .


So pissed right now, my question has anyone heard of this.

Chong

I said I wud keep updated on my SKY HD install well here it is.


I bought my SKY HD box saturday lunch time in Urlan Tv Limerick and I installed soon after. I went thru all the instructions Digi King provided. I then rang sky , this is where the fun & games begun. They told me for some reason they cudnt pair the Sky HD box with my card from my existing Sky + Box. Apparently when you have multiroom your account contains 2 folders : "Primary for Main Box " and "Secondary for subsequent multiroom boxes". I made numerous phone calls Saturday trying to get somewhere, only to be fed tripe time and time again. For the next 2 days I was giving so many BS stories that it was sent off to their IT Department or "System Enquires" and they werent allowed talk to these ppl by phone only thru email.

On tuesday morning when I rang sky and told them if it werent fixed by Friday I would be cancelling my subscription, an hour later I had all my HD channels. This morning I had no SKY + still, so I rang them again and re-inforced my threat and told the person at SKY that I was told 24 hours and spoke to a Superuser*, he came back took a few details and said he spoke with that Superuser. Sure enough the problem was fixed within the hour.

It was a long ordeal but its done I am delighted. I comtemplated phoning them about compensation but I dont think I want to rock the boat. My advise to anyone having the same problem is keep ringing them, and threaten them with cancelling your subscription, mention trading standards and mention how pissed off you are because it seems to work.


The fact of the matter is Sky Systems are majorly screwed up and this is becoming quite a problem amongst new HD installs as I have learned from DigitalSpy.co.uk.


Well thats my story of having Sky HD installed, its been great. On the upside HD is excellent, all I can say is roll on HD footie.


Willem



* Superuser: someone at Sky customer services who has high rank that can delve further in to a persons account.

PoolDude

Can the old Sky+ box be used in another room (assuming it is wired for that)?

Chong

Yes it can.