Best Sky DigiBox??

SmashingPilot

I'm looking into expanding my FTA setup here in the house. I've decided that I want to try out a Sky box this time around and see what they're like.

There seems to be quite a lot of boxes available with the Sky Brand. Can anyone recommend to me which one in their opinion is the best version?

I just plan on watching channels from 28.2.

Thanks.

EDIT: Just out of interest is it possible to buy Sky Digiboxes from a shop?

stanley1

any receiver up to 2 years old should be ok, I have a Pace DS430N which has been rock solid for the last 18 months, lots of sky stuff on ebay.

SmashingPilot

stanley1 wrote:

any receiver up to 2 years old should be ok, I have a Pace DS430N which has been rock solid for the last 18 months, lots of sky stuff on ebay.

Yep, I've noticed that myself. Although I'd prefer not to go through the hassle of buying on Ebay, prefer doing things in person.

Is there anywhere you can buy second hand boxes cheaply?? I've checked Adverts.ie but there are none for sale.

Obviously, I understand if you can't post websites in this thread as that would probably be considered advertising. So if anyone knows a place to get cheap second hand boxes please let me know.

Thanks for the info Stanley. Just looking for reviews on different Sky boxes and boards.ie has always been a good place for me to check for info.

norbert64

you could always give buyandsell a whirl, marginally better than ebay in as far as you might get to deal with people instead of a faceless website, lol.

prices vary though & would prolly be ultimately dearer than ebay.

wil

adverts does regularly carry digiboxes, seen 3 over last week.
Tend to be a little overpriced though especially if they are with a ftv card.
FTV cards cost at most £20 in uk, then seem to treble when arriving here. Now they are only of use to decrypt c4/e4 which may be uncrypted when c4 renegotiates sky deal I think this year or next.
I have picked up several boxes free as people upgrade to Sky+, keep your eyes open.
Some of the sat shops do sell the odd sky box eg satworld, around 40 I think and probably a short warranty.
If you look up satcure you can find info on relative reliability of various models.

just to add the ftv boxes are more flexible than digibox in that they can be used for many satellites and possibly multisat reception. Digiboxes are only suitable for Sky and need to be connected permanently to receive s/w updates.
The only real advantage I can see over the average ftv box is the familiar Sky channel list / Epg to see whats on/planning which is updated so no need to rescan. Also the Favorites section has been improved so no need to trawl thru encrypted channels.

SmashingPilot

Thanks for that Wil. I have one other question to ask. I currently watch FTA television on my Monitor, e.g. have my current FTA receiver hooked up via the yellow video cable from a composite connection and then plug the red and white cables into my sound system.

Do Sky boxes have the ability to just connect up with the yellow video cable or do they only offer SCART connections??

wil

All the digiboxes I have seen seem to conform to a standard set of identical connections which include 2 scarts and a left and right audio out but no video out unfortunately.
This can be solved though with a scart to separate a/v in/outs cable which are available from most tv shops and even the odd pound shop so nothing particularly special.
Also could use a scart to a/v adapter more commonly available in switchable in/out very unreliable versions or separate in or out varieties.
This would allow you to connect one scart via adapter to a monitor and other to a video say. If you are using both scarts the other audio l/r outs can be connected to you hifi system.

To add another item to advantages of Digibox I just realised, you can view C4/E4 with a FTV card which is not an option available on most other sat boxes.
I put most as I am not familiar with a wide range of boxes, I am sure others more expert could clarify that.
It may not be legal to use a Sky card on anything other than a Sky digibox or it may be just technically not possible as the cam for using a Sky card may not be legally available, I dont know?

Apologies I stand corrected on E4 not available FTV, perhaps mixing it up with cable

djpaul

Best Sky Digibox????? A FREE ONE!!!!!!!:p

byte

wil wrote:

To add another item to advantages of Digibox I just realised, you can view C4/E4 with a FTV card which is not an option available on most other sat boxes.

E4 is not available with a FTV (Freesat from Sky) Card. With the card, you'll get five, five US, five Life, Channel 4 and Sky Three.

As for boxes, as already mentioned the Pace DS430N would be a good enough choice. Avoid the old Pace 2200/2500 boxes. Also avoid Amstrad.

Although there hasn't been a Panasonic box manufactured in years, there's still plenty still going strong. They were the best box of their era (along with the very rare Sony one)

SmashingPilot

Oh there is one other thing I've been looking to know. I have a non-sky dish but want to get a quad LNB for it. Is it possible to get the Sky ones which have been available on adverts.ie???

Can they be made to fit on a non-sky dish??

watty

Some Sky Quad will fit if the Minidish clip is removable. You are better to get a regular Quad.

stanley1

smart electronics titanium quad are excellent, I think satellite.ie have them.

wil

AFAIK it is not recommended to mix sky lnbs (designed for elliptical dish) with circular dishes and vice versa, the lnb is optimised for shape of dish.

Sam Radford

Wil is correct. LNBs are designed to "see" a specific dish shape. You shouldn't "mix 'n' match".

BTW, try Googling the phrase: Used Sky Digiboxes for sale
Comes up with lots of results!

The "best" Sky Digibx is undoubtedly the Grundig GDS3000. It was the last model they made and has an S-Video socket.

SmashingPilot

Well guys I picked up a Pace 2500b off adverts.ie

As I said previously, I have a monitor which I would like to use for viewing. The monitor has a VGA, DVI, S-Video and Composite connection on it.

The Digibox only has SCART connections. Is there anyway you can turn these SCART connections and seperate the video signal and the audio signal e.g. The video signal to monitor, the audio signal to surrouns sound system.

Can somebody give me an idiot's guide on how to get it working with the monitor, thats if it can work in the first place.

Thanks a lot.

Tony

You can get a scart adapter lead that will give you video and audio out separately

SmashingPilot

Tony wrote:

You can get a scart adapter lead that will give you video and audio out separately

What do these look like and where can I pick one up??

Gregor Samsa

SmashingPilot wrote:

What do these look like and where can I pick one up??

You could use one of these (with the appropriate RCA cables):

http://www.tvcables.co.uk/cgi-bin/tvcables/AD001.html

as wil above said, you'll get them in pretty much any electrical shop that sells TVs or Maplin, Argos, Homebase, B&Q...

SmashingPilot

That will definitely work, will it??

byte

Yes. That'll work

You can also get Scart to 3 Phono leads - Scart plug on one side, and the 3 phono's on other side. Scart plug usually has a IN/OUT switch on it.

SmashingPilot

byte wrote:

Yes. That'll work

You can also get Scart to 3 Phono leads - Scart plug on one side, and the 3 phono's on other side. Scart plug usually has a IN/OUT switch on it.

Thanks for the advice guys. Picked up one of those Scart to 3 phono connections in Power City this afternoon. It was only €4 so I'm happy.

inky1

I have a sky disk with single LNB which you can have if you want I upgraded to a quad for sky plus.

just out side D15 in co meath PM if interested

Hody

Hiya lads, I have some technical questions. I have a scenerio regarding the setup of Sky that I wanted to inquire about. I hope you could give me some technical / service information on this, before I decide wether to go with Sky or not.

I am currently running a 100cm dish, that points to ASTRA 19.2 / Astra 28.2. I am using digital twin/quad LNBs, so everything should be alright for Sky. I would have either have to take sky+ at the beginnng and upgrade later to Sky HD or get Sky HD from the start, depending on the installation, equipment price. I will have a no landline at the premises, but I am using a virtual landline over a permant voip connection - so that should be fine.

My problems are now to figure out wether it is possible to install Sky myself, what additional equipment I would need and what´s the policy of sky on this. I would for example prefer to buy a HD Sky Box from a third party rather than from Sky, as they get sold quit cheap at Ebay.co.uk

Anybody?!

byte

There is nothing to stop you buying a Sky box of any sort, and then subscribing to Sky. When you have your Sky hardware, you'll need to ring Sky, tell them you have equipment up and running already, and require what they call a "second hand" subscription. They should then send out a viewing card and a direct debit mandate, and probably a contract to sign. AFAIK, you'll still be tied to a minimum 12 month contract.

Hody

byte wrote:

There is nothing to stop you buying a Sky box of any sort, and then subscribing to Sky. When you have your Sky hardware, you'll need to ring Sky, tell them you have equipment up and running already, and require what they call a "second hand" subscription. They should then send out a viewing card and a direct debit mandate, and probably a contract to sign. AFAIK, you'll still be tied to a minimum 12 month contract.

That confirms what I have guessed myself, I am basically looking for a way to skip around buying a HD-box off sky, I would like to get is somewhere else and for less than 300 Euro.

Kotek Besar

Hody wrote:

That confirms what I have guessed myself, I am basically looking for a way to skip around buying a HD-box off sky, I would like to get is somewhere else and for less than 300 Euro.

What you've guessed or what you've been advised by others? Mate, you've posted on almost every thread in this section asking more or less the same thing! And I told you exactly as Byte did! :rolleyes:

watty

If you can afford a real HD TV, what is the problem about paying more than 300 Euro?

Hody

watty wrote:

If you can afford a real HD TV, what is the problem about paying more than 300 Euro?

For the same reason, why should I spent 549 on a sky box, that I can basically install myself when I can get it for 250 Euros less somewhere else...