Extra LNB

Gargled

Hi all. This may be a silly question and answered before (I have done a quick search) but anyways:

I have a spare lnb on my sky dish which is outside my bedroom window. Would the best idea for getting tv in the room to get an old sky box and does it work without any card? Lots of threads with old boxes with cards in em

Or would a freeview type box work better?

Cheers!

swoofer

yes an old box would work without a card and you get a uk default FREE TO AIR epg, ie bbc1 london etc and an old sky box would be dirt cheap, no rte though. why not get a cheap combo box gets sat and IRISH DTT saorview if you have a good tv arial feed and then you get saorview as well in one box, its about 80-90 euro..

freeview is the uk version of SAORVIEW and hence my mention of combo box

Gerry Wicklow

First off, be careful with the terminology. FreeView refers to the UK terrestrial system available through an ordinary roof aerial in or near the UK and has nothing to do with satellites. FreeSat is a branded UK satellite version.
An old sky box without a card will get you a certain number of free channels but has some technical limits too.
Standard Free-To-Air (FTA) boxes are the most flexible and give the best choice of channels but don't have a 7 day guide and very occasionally need manual retuning.
Branded FreeSat or FreeSat HD boxes have a 7 day guide and retune automatically but obviously cost more to buy.

Gargled

Cheers for the info lads! Might give it a go with a 'free sat/view/tv' type box.

Not really fussed for the quality of the epg etc, just looking for something quick and cheap.

wil

For ease and convenience I would say an old sky box is the easiest and cheapest way to go.
You can pick them up for next to nothing, cheaper than a FTA box, no retuning, full epg - not to be sniffed at once you start using.
Just stick your 50 favourite channels on Favs and they are there listed with 7 days of channels.

Channels are too regularly moved so FTA box, unless you are using for other sats is a bit more hassle.

I think you actually get more worthwhile channels listed on FTA sky box epg than on the basic Sky sub -

Finne1993

wil wrote: »

For ease and convenience I would say an old sky box is the easiest and cheapest way to go.
You can pick them up for next to nothing, cheaper than a FTA box, no retuning, full epg - not to be sniffed at once you start using.
Just stick your 50 favourite channels on Favs and they are there listed with 7 days of channels.

Channels are too regularly moved so FTA box, unless you are using for other sats is a bit more hassle.

I think you actually get more worthwhile channels listed on FTA sky box epg than on the basic Sky sub -

+1

FTA boxes are a pain, this year alone there were 3 retunes needed on them, no problem for someone who's technically minded and does'nt mind sitting down for an hour sorting out all the channels after the retune is completed, but the vast majority of people just want something simple and reliable and it does'nt get much simpler and reliable than a sky box.

You'll also have access to all the interactive red button features and your Sky remote can be programmed to work your tv so no need for 2 remotes and there is a powered RF modulator on them which can be handy if you want to watch and control the box in a different room. None of those features are available on a FTA box.

I would never recommend a FTA box to anyone if all they want is the freesat channels

Gerry Wicklow

Sky boxes are handy for anyone who just wants a plug and play solution. However, from reading other sites and threads, it seems not all support DVB-S2 and don't allow you to set the different symbol rates in use now. This means that many don't hve the full choice of good FTA channels, especially the HD variants.
As for retuning FTA boxes after a change, it is a simple process to look up the specific channel on KingOfSat or Lyngsat or whoever and only enter the new values. Rescanning the whole box and spending hours sorting them is masochistic.