Sky + Box

obi604

Hello

Im asking this on behalf of my parents.
They have sky installed for the last 3 years, all fine, no issues whatsoever. They just have the standard sky box

My q is, if they wanted a SKY + installed, , would any physical work have to be done for this with the wiring back to the dish ???

or is it just a matter of ordering the SKY + box and swapping it with the standard sky box they have now

Also, anyone know the cost of this upgrade to Sky + for existing cutsomers ?


Looks like there is no way of just ordering a sky + box, seems u can just order a sky+HD box ( even though they dont want the HD stuff at all )

John mac

another cable from the Dish to the box.

also will prob need the lnb (thing on the dish) changed to a quad, as its probably only a single.

a look at the sky site may give you costs of upgrade,

Skerries

yes as the sky+ needs 2 lines going into it so it would need to be wired back to the dish

kippy

obi604 wrote: »

Hello

Im asking this on behalf of my parents.
They have sky installed for the last 3 years, all fine, no issues whatsoever. They just have the standard sky box

My q is, if they wanted a SKY + installed, , would any physical work have to be done for this with the wiring back to the dish ???

or is it just a matter of ordering the SKY + box and swapping it with the standard sky box they have now

Also, anyone know the cost of this upgrade to Sky + for existing cutsomers ?


Looks like there is no way of just ordering a sky + box, seems u can just order a sky+HD box ( even though they dont want the HD stuff at all )

I gave my father in law my "old" sky+ HD box over the weekend (he was in similiar situation to yours.
You usually have to run a second cable from the LNB(dish) to the box, and you may also need to get an LNB with more connectors on it......depends on what is there and free at the moment.
After that I believe the change from Sky to Sky+ is free.
The father in law looked at this and sky wanted him to subscribe to the HD package to get the "free box". He worked out the figures and it didnt make sense to do that so he was holding out to buy a second hand HD or just + box.
If you get a second hand box you just need to call sky to "pair" his sky viewing card with the box.

obi604

thanks for quick replies

****e, thought it would be a simple thing of just swopping out the box

parents are excitable and if they heard that this work has to be done, they would get even more confused and excited as to what is going on

might try and do it for them when they are away : ))

obi604

kippy wrote: »

You usually have to run a second cable from the LNB(dish) to the box, and you may also need to get an LNB with more connectors on it......depends on what is there and free at the moment.

By this, do you mean that Sky would come in and usually do this for you. Is it a big job ??

Sounds like you did this job yourself ?

steveon

obi604 wrote: »

By this, do you mean that Sky would come in and usually do this for you. Is it a big job ??

Sounds like you did this job yourself ?

Sky installer or a local enginner who usally do a better job will come and do all the necessary work for you.

obi604

steveon wrote: »

Sky installer or a local enginner who usally do a better job will come and do all the necessary work for you.

How do sky feel about another lad other than themselves doing this work e..g I ring them up and say,

"hi, I got Seamus to install this cable for sky + and I also bought a 2nd hand sky + box , can you now activate from your end "

kippy

obi604 wrote: »

By this, do you mean that Sky would come in and usually do this for you. Is it a big job ??

Sounds like you did this job yourself ?

I didnt do it myself but a friend of mine did it. Its like any job really, if you've the tools, know how and time its not that big. If you dont have any of those then its better get a pro to do it.

I believe if you signed up to the HD package for the year sky would send out an engineer with the box and he would do the necessary work to get it going (usually set up a new LNB/run a cable) free of charge.

kippy

obi604 wrote: »

How do sky feel about another lad other than themselves doing this work e..g I ring them up and say,

"hi, I got Seamus to install this cable for sky + and I also got a 2nd sky + box , can you now activate from your end "

They don't usually have any issues with this from what I know.
They do ask whether you are planning on making the "pairing" permanent in case you are moving your viewing card between locations regularly.

obi604

kippy wrote: »

I didnt do it myself but a friend of mine did it. Its like any job really, if you've the tools, know how and time its not that big. If you dont have any of those then its better get a pro to do it.

I believe if you signed up to the HD package for the year sky would send out an engineer with the box and he would do the necessary work to get it going (usually set up a new LNB/run a cable) free of charge.

Thanks.
To ne honest, the parents dont want HD, they just like the idea of pausing and rewinding, thats all they want it for.

And they defo dont want to have to pay extra money a month for HD which I presume they wud have to pay

kippy

obi604 wrote: »

Thanks.
To ne honest, the parents dont want HD, they just like the idea of pausing and rewinding, thats all they want it for.

And they defo dont want to have to pay extra money a month for HD which I presume they wud have to pay

Yes, they would have to pay it, unless as I said, you get a second hand + or HD box, got someone to run the cable/lnb and rang sky just to pair the card and the box and enable the + feature (you dont have to get the HD even if you have a HD box UNLESS you are getting one of skys introductory deals.

steveon

Hd pack costs an extra €15 per month. If they take it upgrade will cost €30. That price includes installation.

Without the Hd pack box costs more not sure of current price as they change every second week, would be approx between €109-€149 Im sure somewhere here can confirm, your monthly bill will remain the same as before.

You will however be signing up for a further 12 months contract when adding sky+ to your account. I have to admit you would never look back 99% of tv I watch is now recordings so well worth the upgrade.

obi604

so more a less to sum up and if I were to go by the book and use sky technicians etc.

To install sky + only > would cost between 109 and 149 euro


to install sky + hd > upgrade and installation is 30 euro. And the 15 Euro a month extra = 210 in total for a year. So even though sounds like a good offer with free box and all, is actually dearer than above.....when all im loong for is sky +

steveon

obi604 wrote: »

so more a less to sum up and if I were to go by the book and use sky technicians etc.

To install sky + only > would cost between 109 and 149 euro

yup thats sky for you... I personally wouldnt take the hd pack unless you have sports...but as I said before sky+ is great. And regardless which option you take you will get a HD ready sky + box..so you can tune in BBC HD and ITV Hd to the other channels as well.

to install sky + hd > upgrade and installation is 30 euro. And the 15 Euro a month extra = 210 in total for a year. So even though sounds like a good offer with free box and all, is actually dearer than above.....when all im loong for is sky +

yup thats sky for you... I personally wouldnt take the hd pack unless you have sports...but as I said before sky+ is great. And regardless which option you take you will get a HD ready sky + box..so you can tune in BBC HD and ITV Hd to the other channels as well.

Kevin!

Ring sky and tell them that you are thinking of switching to UPC as there service is much cheaper and you really want to have the facility of being able to record.

If you're out of contract (the 12 months has exceeded) they will probably offer you a reduced cost sky+ box or free depending, which would have to come with an install as it's only wired for sky at the moment.

It's worth giving it a shot, go right up to cancelling and then if there not taking your bluff right up to the end just tell them you want to think about it - I did this with a broken sky + box and I also wanted them to run another wire, they caved and offered to do it gratis

John mac

obi604 wrote: »

How do sky feel about another lad other than themselves doing this work e..g I ring them up and say,

"hi, I got Seamus to install this cable for sky + and I also bought a 2nd hand sky + box , can you now activate from your end "

thats what i did. (but I did it myself)

jonnygee

If there is no other choice then you can use a sky hd box with only one cable connected, you can change the inputs setting in the installer menu to make it work.
What you will lose is the ability to record a different channel than the one you are watching. I havent tried it but i think everything else works ok eg:Timer recording and pause and rewind.

obi604

This is probably a really stoopid q and been answered already in this thread

**So all I want really is the ability to pause and rewind**, I dont really want recording

I have the standard sky box, about 4 years old

If I was to buy a remote control with the pause and rewind buttons on it, would this let me pause and rewind with the box I have now ?

OR

Would I need the specific sky+ box with the 2 cables run back to the dish to allow the pausing and recording ?

kbell

You'll need a Sky + box.

Kevin!

obi604 wrote: »

This is probably a really stoopid q and been answered already in this thread

**So all I want really is the ability to pause and rewind**, I dont really want recording

I have the standard sky box, about 4 years old

If I was to buy a remote control with the pause and rewind buttons on it, would this let me pause and rewind with the box I have now ?

OR

Would I need the specific sky+ box with the 2 cables run back to the dish to allow the pausing and recording ?

As pausing and rewinding requires the use of the hard drive, as it's temporarily storing the content - you'll need a Sky + box - but you won't need dual cables unless you want the ability to watch and record a different channel at the same time

obi604

Kevin! wrote: »

As pausing and rewinding requires the use of the hard drive, as it's temporarily storing the content - you'll need a Sky + box - but you won't need dual cables unless you want the ability to watch and record a different channel at the same time

kippy wrote: »

I gave my father in law my "old" sky+ HD box over the weekend (he was in similiar situation to yours.
You usually have to run a second cable from the LNB(dish) to the box, and you may also need to get an LNB with more connectors on it......depends on what is there and free at the moment.
After that I believe the change from Sky to Sky+ is free.
The father in law looked at this and sky wanted him to subscribe to the HD package to get the "free box". He worked out the figures and it didnt make sense to do that so he was holding out to buy a second hand HD or just + box.
If you get a second hand box you just need to call sky to "pair" his sky viewing card with the box.

Hello, Im attaching a few pics of the Dish at the parents house.

Can anyone tell me if this Dish would need to re replaced. I cant see offhand if it has enough connectors for the Sky + ( record, pause rewind )

jgbyr

It needs a quad lnb, that's only a single.

obi604

jgbyr wrote: »

It needs a quad lnb, that's only a single.

thanks, so does that mean to get recording, pausing and all that working that :

1. A totally new dish would need to be installed

2. and a new cable run from the dish to the sky plus box

Munstermac

Quick question on the Sky + HD box.

I'm a SKY subscriber for over 13 years now and consequently don't have to plug in a phone line. (Which is good as I don't have one.)

I'm thinking of buying a new Sky+ HD box as a present for the family at Xmas.

Do I have to or could Sky try to force me to plug in a phone line for the new box?

John mac

Munstermac wrote: »

Quick question on the Sky + HD box.

.

Do I have to or could Sky try to force me to plug in a phone line for the new box?

No.

Seamu$

obi604 wrote: »

thanks, so does that mean to get recording, pausing and all that working that :

1. A totally new dish would need to be installed

2. and a new cable run from the dish to the sky plus box

No, you do not need a new dish, you need to replace the current single lnb on that setup with a quad lnb e.g. http://www.satellite.ie/acatalog/LNB_Quad__for_Sky_Minidish.html

The lnb is the just the bit that faces the dish itself and to which the cable is attached.

jgbyr

obi604 wrote: »

thanks, so does that mean to get recording, pausing and all that working that :

1. A totally new dish would need to be installed

2. and a new cable run from the dish to the sky plus box

As Seamu$ said, you need the new lnb & then you run two cables to the box from it.

obi604

Hello so OP here.....................again ( sorry )


So as stated, I have the standard sky box with only one cable running to the dish.

If I was to get a setup working where I JUST required pause, rewind, fast forward ONLY, would the following work

1. I have already established that I only have one cable running from my current standard sky box to the Sky dish

2. I could buy a second hand sky+ box and remote

3. remove the viewing card from my current sky box

4. Install the new sky+ box where my current sky box is and insert the viewing card





Is that it ? anything else I would need ?

And would this definitely work for a pause , rewind setup ?

Ring sky to activate anything ?

John mac

obi604 wrote: »

Hello so OP here.....................again ( sorry )


So as stated, I have the standard sky box with only one cable running to the dish.

If I was to get a setup working where I JUST required pause, rewind, fast forward ONLY, would the following work

1. I have already established that I only have one cable running from my current standard sky box to the Sky dish

2. I could buy a second hand sky+ box and remote

3. remove the viewing card from my current sky box

4. Install the new sky+ box where my current sky box is and insert the viewing card





Is that it ? anything else I would need ?

And would this definitely work for a pause , rewind setup ?

Ring sky to activate anything ?

Yes that will work , You will have to Ring sky to enable recording though.

but you wont be able to watch one program and recording another.

obi604

John mac wrote: »

Yes that will work , You will have to Ring sky to enable recording though.

but you wont be able to watch one program and recording another.

Thanks John. Is that a definitive answer ??? as im going to buy a 2nd hand box now if it will definitely work for pause and rewind

To be honest I dont care about recording.

Does anything have to be done to enable pause and rewind ?

Or anything where I have to give sky the serial number of the 2nd hand sky plus box I buy ?

Cantona's Collars

obi604 wrote: »

Thanks John. Is that a definitive answer ??? as im going to buy a 2nd hand box now if it will definitely work for pause and rewind

To be honest I dont care about recording.

Does anything have to be done to enable pause and rewind ?

Or anything where I have to give sky the serial number of the 2nd hand sky plus box I buy ?

You'll need the serial number when you ring Sky to pair the card otherwise the record/pause/rewind functions won't work.

The easiest way to get one FREE is get your dad to ring Sky and say a UPC rep called and offered a free 'recording box' if he joined,however he would stick with Sky if they installed a free Sky+HD box at no extra cost per month;) That would solve all your problems and wouldn't cost anything.

obi604

zerks wrote: »

You'll need the serial number when you ring Sky to pair the card otherwise the record/pause/rewind functions won't work.

The easiest way to get one FREE is get your dad to ring Sky and say a UPC rep called and offered a free 'recording box' if he joined,however he would stick with Sky if they installed a free Sky+HD box at no extra cost per month;) That would solve all your problems and wouldn't cost anything.

So I get the 2nd hand sky box plus box, install it, then ring sky and say I acquired a sky plus box, can you activate the pause, rewind etc. Give them the serial number of this sky plus box and that is it.

Yeah, cud do other thing to I suppose