UPC box and SKY Magic eye

bobrien1974

Hi All,
I'm a long term SKY customer, my sky box is the old type, around 8 years old.
I have two tv's and just one sky box. I currently use the sky magic eye to change the channel on the sky box from the other room. I works fine as we don't need to watch two separate Channels at the same time.
I'm thinking of either upgrading to Sky + or getting UPC tv in as I currently have a home phone and Broadband from UPC.

My question is, will the sky magic eye work with the latest UPC tv box? Is there a co-ax output as well as hdmi/scart etc. output on the upc box?

Thanks for your input..

B

djimi

Nope the Sky magic eye is not compatible with any UPC box unfortunately.

There are signal senders available for UPC; Im not all that familiar with them but have a look on this forum as I believe they have been discussed a few times in the past.

zg3409

There is a Sky eye type adapter that can be used with the UPC box. It is called the "triax tri link". However on the UPC box you can only use HDMI or SCART meaning you will no longer get a high definition picture on the main TV. This is a limitation of the UPC box.

However with UPC multiroom it is only 5 per month (compared to Sky's 15 per month)

Regarding Sky+ it's just a once off cost, it costs no extra per month. You need two cables between the dish and the box so some work involved in installing it. They may also lock you in for another year.

Beware of the channels you would lose and gain by switching from one provider to another. It is nearly impossible to compare one package to another package. Be aware you may lose channels you have had for years yet gain different ones.

Most people say the UPC box features and usability is worse than Sky. You should try out someone elses box before switching.

If you threathen to leave Sky for UPC they may install the plus box for free.

bobrien1974

Thanks guys...

zg3409, sky have indeed offered to supply and fit the new box and dish for free...and have offered to reduce from €32 to €25 for the 12 months. Sleems like a good deal. However I was also thinking about upgrading to HD, sky charge an extra €15pm, UPC HD upgrade is only€5.

If I go with UPC multiroom, what type of cable is used to link the UPC box (where it comes from the cable outside)to the TV top box? My second TV room is wired for TV coax. Is this what is required?

Thanks,
B

zg3409

UPC will run high quality coax themselves. They normally drop cables from the eves to each room. They may use existing cables if good enough quality.

There may be less HD channels on UPC but it depends on what channels you want.