Sky recall on Pace sky+HD boxes

Mor-Riomhaire

Has anybody been contacted by sky regarding a recall of a problem with Pace HD boxes? Digitalspy and AVforums have numerous threads on the subject. The latest information seems to suggest that it is a problem with the hard drive in the system. Link here. http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=988251

Version numbers that are affected are reported to be 9F3002 and 9F3003.
The forums suggest that these boxes are being replaced by second hand Thompson boxes, with a new 12 month warranty and 3 months free HD subscription. Also it is reported that about 90,000 boxes are faulty.

It would be interesting to see if this affects Irish customers. I only received my Pace HD version 9F3003 last Tuesday and so far have not been contacted by sky.

Mor-Riomhaire

No one is 100% sure. Reported to be a problem with the Seagate hardrive.

Kenno90

Haven't got a phone call yet! . and i don't want one , i get like two channels without it

Mor-Riomhaire

I agree. From what I can tell, the Pace box seems to be the best for fwd fasting and lip sync issues.

Mor-Riomhaire

Check out this story from Trusted Reviews
http://www.trustedreviews.com/tvs/news/2009/02/13/Exclusive--Sky-HD-Boxes-Failing-En-Mass/p1

fat-tony

It's a pity they didn't recall their Thomson HD boxes with the flaky power supply capacitors:rolleyes:
Mine went titsup over the Christmas period, but Sky were having none of my protests that this was a quality control problem and insisted that they would charge €100 for a service call. I subsequently got the PSU repaired through SatCure in the UK for €40, then cancelled most of my SKY subs (just left the basic €20 package for the older kids), got a Freesat HDR for the missus and me and haven't looked back!

Mor-Riomhaire

More info from a post on Trusted Reviews.

Sky+HD Team said on 13th February 2009

This article is wrong in many ways.

To clarify, Pace told us about a manufacturing fault that can affect around 90,000 of the first Sky+HD boxes that it supplied. The fault was resolved in Pace’s subsequent supplies of boxes.

To be 100% clear, it’s nothing to with a faulty component; the problem relates to the way that some of the boxes were assembled. It doesn’t raise a safety risk or prevent them from being used as normal until we exchange them, but in the longer term it could lead to the failure of the box.

We’re not happy about customers having boxes that don’t meet our quality standards. So we want to swap all of the boxes in this batch.

We started calling the affected customers earlier this week to fix an appointment for one of our engineers to come and install a free replacement box. Because of the number of boxes, it will take us about three months to contact everyone. The box can continue to be used as normal until we come to replace it.

Comments to Trusted Reviews are moderated before publication. Shame about the articles.

Mor-Riomhaire

After a few minutes on the phone to sky it would appear that customers with the faulty box should have been contacted by now.

The faulty batch appears to be two months prior to the 1st December 2008 and appears to only affect that batch. The fault was in the manufacturing process.
Boxes before and after that are ok.

von Smallhausen

Thats the first ive heard of it...and i sell the buggers!! Any who ill prob hear more 2moro im meeting the boss and saying it to her:D

redout

Sky to replace 90,000 HD boxes


Sky says affected boxes don't pose a safety risk to customers


Thousands of Sky+ HD customers are to have their boxes replaced after a fault was discovered by manufacturer Pace.

Ninety-thousand people, about one in 10 HD customers, will be affected.

Sky says the fault involves the internal cabling and the quality of the connections between components but is not a safety risk.

Anyone affected is also being given three months' free subscription to Sky's HD pack, worth £29.25, when they have their box replaced.

The 90,000 boxes in the first batch from Pace are model numbers 9F3001, 9F3002, 9F3003 and 9F3004.
Sky says the replacement programme will take about three months.

A statement on the Sky website said: "The assembly flaw does not involve a faulty component, such as a hard drive, or a software problem.

"Importantly, Pace has confirmed that the assembly flaw does not pose a safety risk. "The box can continue to be used in the normal way, as installed by a Sky engineer, until we come to replace it."


http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/technology/newsid_7894000/7894752.stm

byte

Would Sky not insist that the box be changed, otherwise they may disable your HD viewing?

Just a thought.

Think it might raise suspicions if the got forceful.

Hence why they are offering 3 months free HD viewing.

I think they are hoping people go for the offer or hope people will not realize or bother with it.

byte

Well, the film companies Sky buy movies, etc from won't be happy if they know that people would be able to continue using boxes that don't offer copy protection of any sort.

Zonda999

If someone has one of these boxes, and they have had it for a year, wouldn't they be able to tell sky to f**k off?? That person would be the owner of the box wouldnt they? They could then resign up for HD and say they already have the box;)

Tony

What a screw up

Tony

Zonda999 wrote: »

They could then resign up for HD and say they already have the box;)

Each box has a unique serial number which you need to match the box to the viewing card using an "over the air" signal

paddyb125

Thats crazy, I'm not sure if many people would have the box for over a year though

Zonda999

Tony wrote: »

Each box has a unique serial number which you need to match the box to the viewing card using an "over the air" signal

So you couldnt even do that?

FFS, I cant even see why Sky are making such a big deal about this. What does it matter if people are able to record HD content to an external disc or whatever. Whats the problem with that?

DFS UTD

Hey I've got one of these boxes. what can I do with it

Mossy Monk

cisk wrote: »

The only reason that componant was in the original spec was sly had a bunch on godawfull rebadged plasma panels under the sly brand

There seems to be a problem with your k key.

byte

Zonda999 wrote: »

So you couldnt even do that?

FFS, I cant even see why Sky are making such a big deal about this. What does it matter if people are able to record HD content to an external disc or whatever. Whats the problem with that?

I'd imagine it's part of the T&C of Sky getting HD films to broadcast.

Sqaull20

cisk wrote: »

Found by a clever lad on a UK forum i frequent

the 'fault' is that the receivers have component outputs as well as HDMI, and the component outputs are not HDCP copy protected, nor are they makrovision protected

its a perfect HD output that can be copied straight to DVD

ive repaired 6 of these exact units today, as theyre now worth a lot more money to those who know about this 'fault'

If i had a box with this 'Fault' i would keep it

Why would you copy hd to dvd though, its a bit pointless isnt it?

MrTrebus

he he he

I got one of these boxes and I havent had sky here for a long time !!!!

anyone wanna buy it

PS, note to Mods, this does NOT constitute an offer for sale
its a Joke

byte

Can we get back to the topic at hand please?

Kotek Besar

But in this case maybe Sky are sly? They certainly endeavour to be clever.

byte

Mod Edit:

Off topic posts have been removed. cisk has removed some of his own posts.

Last time I'll ask for thread to be kept on topic.

For the benefit of most members:



That 'Fault' Sky had which caused them to recall certain HD boxes has something to do with it, they claimed it had something to do with the hard drives.

Found by a clever lad on a UK forum i frequent

the 'fault' is that the receivers have component outputs as well as HDMI, and the component outputs are not HDCP copy protected, nor are they makrovision protected

its a perfect HD output that can be copied straight to DVD

ive repaired 6 of these exact units today, as theyre now worth a lot more money to those who know about this 'fault'

The actual fault with the pace boxes is that they are unable to disable the component outputs with a firmware update, the other models they can

kbell

That's a lot of service calls to be done.
Are ASA'S expected to cover the cost??

PaceMaker

"The actual fault with the pace boxes is that they are unable to disable the component outputs with a firmware update, the other models they can. ?"



This is very strange indeed as no Pace or Samsung Sky HD receivers have ever existed that featured component connections.

Please explain ? I'm confused. :rolleyes:

gtg60

PaceMaker wrote: »

This is very strange indeed as no Pace or Samsung Sky HD receivers have ever existed that featured component connections.

Please explain ? I'm confused. :rolleyes:

Damn it, you just beat me to it! You are exactly right, only the Thompson HD boxes ever had Component.

watty

No DVD recorder will record HD via component. Only SD. It may only affect Macrovision. Which can be done on Component.

I suspect this is nothing to do with Component.

von Smallhausen

TBH if it wasnt for this thread i wouldnt of known about this nor would my boss. We have sold quite a few of these and I dont know about wether the ASA's (ie me) would cover the cost. I think its Sky and Pace will have to cover it.

IrishHomer

I checked my HD box and it seems to be one that needs replacement.

Mine has no component sockets yet it has the serial number that is affected?

greenman09

So whats th story have we a problem or not. Got box 2days ago

gtg60

gtg60 wrote: »

Damn it, you just beat me to it! You are exactly right, only the Thompson HD boxes ever had Component.

Hmm you might be right.

Seems very odd, sky say it poses no danger, but they are being so urgent and tight lipped about it.

they were referring to it as "high priority secret project"
Which would seem to be in line with potential piracy implications.
Also seen that it may be a problem with the HDCP on HDMI.


The Thompson have had various faults with the PSUs ect but sky have never wanted to recall any of them.

watty

HDCP on HDMI is a redherring. 7Gbps raw data? You copy the BD or the MPEG4 on the transmission, not the raw data.

In the absence of *REAL* info I will assume the recall reason is exactly what Sky says it is. No need for tinfoil hats.

Mor-Riomhaire

When I spoke to sky a few days ago regarding this, they mentioned that this only affected a batch of Pace HD boxes manufactured between End September to Beginning of December 2008. As I only received my model two weeks ago, they stated that it was not in the affected batch, even though the model number is 9F3003. They also seemed to suggest that the customers who had affected boxes, would have already been contacted. This was last Friday.

Has anybody else who received a Pace HD box received a call outside of these dates?

Omnipresence

it looks like i have one of these boxes...

however today i came home and my box is locked in "no satellite signal is being received" mode

cant seem to fix it.. have done all the usual resets from lnb, soft even hard reset... and still stuck in this

Did sky remotely kill my box ? :cool:

Anyway.. now i need to know what my options are... as my box is out of warrenty...

any help/info appreciated.

byte

Omnipresence wrote: »

it looks like i have one of these boxes...

however today i came home and my box is locked in "no satellite signal is being received" mode

cant seem to fix it.. have done all the usual resets from lnb, soft even hard reset... and still stuck in this

Did sky remotely kill my box ? :cool:

Anyway.. now i need to know what my options are... as my box is out of warrenty...

any help/info appreciated.

None of the HD boxes made by Pace are near a year old yet, so you can't have one of those.

It's more than likely a Thomson box maybe? Known for PSU problems.

Omnipresence

sorry yeah its the thompson box...

i just saw the component out on the back!

so you reckon im suffering a PSU symptom ? some lack of power to get the signal ?

Any good sky service engineers in Dublin ?

fat-tony

Omnipresence wrote: »

sorry yeah its the thompson box...

i just saw the component out on the back!

so you reckon im suffering a PSU symptom ? some lack of power to get the signal ?

Any good sky service engineers in Dublin ?

Do you have a Thomson box?
Is it more than 12-18 months old? (Oh wait - you said it's out of warranty;))
Then it may be the dreaded PSU problem. If you take off the cover you will see the evidence of bulging capacitors in the power supply board. If that's the case, then you will need a replacement (or a set of capacitors if you fancy your hand at soldering!). SKY will not be interested in the slightest other than to offer you a service call at 100 euro. You can buy a set of replacement caps from SatCure at 20 euro or a full refurb at about 45 euro.

Omnipresence

sweet thanks .. don't mind a bit of soldering at all ! will see if it looks like that problem... its out of warranty now anyway so worth a shot..

Strange thing is though i have no signal strength on either of the indicators... bizzare...

Wiggy

Omnipresence wrote: »

Anyway.. now i need to know what my options are... as my box is out of warrenty...

any help/info appreciated.

Have you tried the option of telling Sky that you will cancel your subscription unless they provide you with a free replacement?

If that fails, cancel, and then get your other half to subscribe. I think there's a €49 offer at the moment.

Kotek Besar

cisk wrote: »

For the benefit of most members:



That 'Fault' Sky had which caused them to recall certain HD boxes has something to do with it, they claimed it had something to do with the hard drives.

Found by a clever lad on a UK forum i frequent





The actual fault with the pace boxes is that they are unable to disable the component outputs with a firmware update, the other models they can

Did we ever find out, is what's quoted the real reason, or a hoax?

Its no hoax, maybe a a miss Diagnosis, that issue may have been fixed already with the Thompsons.


but ace Paces don't have component it must be something else.


Thanks for being so courteous.

Kotek Besar

cisk wrote: »

Its no hoax, maybe a a miss Diagnosis, that issue may have been fixed already with the Thompsons.


but ace Paces don't have component it must be something else.

Ah right. Cheers.

cisk wrote: »

Thanks for being so courteous.

Err, you're welcome. (eh?)

Omnipresence

fat-tony wrote: »

Do you have a Thomson box?
Is it more than 12-18 months old? (Oh wait - you said it's out of warranty;))
Then it may be the dreaded PSU problem. If you take off the cover you will see the evidence of bulging capacitors in the power supply board. If that's the case, then you will need a replacement (or a set of capacitors if you fancy your hand at soldering!). SKY will not be interested in the slightest other than to offer you a service call at 100 euro. You can buy a set of replacement caps from SatCure at 20 euro or a full refurb at about 45 euro.

Hey just an FYI... I pushed Sky for a System Health check... got some speil that "we dont do that for SkyHD boxes" << wtf .. anyway pushed harder and got someone to go through it and after going through that procedure - it worked ! default transponder signal was off too... didnt have to do a hard reset after all.. ah well back to recording from scratch...

fat-tony

Good to know it was a soft problem. The symptom that my box had was that it would not come out of standby at all. That coupled with the "fizzing" noise from the power supply:eek:

jimrad

Hi guys...
Question: If I was to pick up one of those recalled boxes on either Adverts or Ebay and phoned SKY to activate it for my Sky+ package would they refuse as it had been recalled or would they still replace it..I'm not intentionally looking for one of these in particular but just in case.
cheers
jimrad

trueblood

My sky+ HD was instaaled only last Friday 20th Feb and has the serial 9F3003.
I rang Sky and they said boxes installed after Dec.11th are not affected although I wonder did they forget to tell the Irish installers because when I rang them they had not heard of any recall.

Has anyone had a call?

byte

I've merged the two threads on the same subject.