Sky HD box for Freesat confusion

galwayguy85

Hey Guys.

Sorry off this kinda Q+A has been done before!

Have successfully been using an ancient(!) Grundig Sky SD box to receive UK Freesat channels. Chanel 5 etc also. No cards whatsoever inserted into it.

Today bought myself a standalone Sky HD box (has no HD, single LNB in etc), thought it was a bargain at €40. Was told by the shop that sold it I didn't need any white cards to get BBC, C4 and HD variants out-of-the-box. Pun intended.

Imagine my upset when I got home and plugged it in. Channel 101 was set to RTE 1 etc. not watchable etc, which I understand. BBC 1 etc do play at ch 141 but Channel 4 etc does not. Error message on screen about the wrong type of card being inserted.

Took out the white card from the box that was concealed under a flap.

Tried switching the box off, leaving the card out, switching back on etc. No avail.

Tried also reset from the hidden menu. No avail.

Do I really need to get one of those white Freesat cards from eBay etc, even though the much older box doesn't demand one?

Thanks for any feedback.

PogMoThoin

HD boxes are stuck with Irish layout unless you get a free to view card from the UK.

galwayguy85

Great thanks for clearing that up! Do u know if the ones for sale one aBay.ie from sellers in NI okay to use?

muffler

galwayguy85 wrote: »

Great thanks for clearing that up! Do u know if the ones for sale one aBay.ie from sellers in NI okay to use?

Id be surprised if you get a NI card.

alfreg

muffler wrote: »

Id be surprised if you get a NI card.

Yes you will get one theres always a few on there. I got one last mont for £5. Search for people selling them in NI. Message them first to be sure.

galwayguy85

Received a white viewing card today from a UK seller on eBay. Removed the existing card that came with it. Shut it down for about 30 seconds. Then put in the white viewing card that I received from the UK... channels such as RTE 1 etc are still at the top of the channels list, unviewable etc. The likes of Channel 4 can be viewed, but involve going into the other channels list every time - just like it was when the original irish card was sitting in the box.


Are the newer Sky+ box locked to a particular region even if the card inside is changed?

See for picture of the sky box in question.

Look on the bottom of the card and there should be a letter underneath the card number and skyviewinghelp.com URL. Is it S or E? If it's E then it's an Irish card, S is a UK card.

galwayguy85

Thanks Karsini. Will take a look the moment I get the chance and post the result up here.

galwayguy85

And am I also correct in saying that you don't have to ring sky to 'marry' up the number on the Freesat card with that of the serial number of the Sky box?

galwayguy85

galwayguy85 wrote: »

And am I also correct in saying that you don't have to ring sky to 'marry' up the number on the Freesat card with that of the serial number of the Sky box?

No, you don't have to.

galwayguy85

That was quick! Again, thanks for helping me out here!

snaps

Sky boxes really are no good for Freesat. A real freesat box for an extra 30€ that you spent would have done the job. Freesat SD boxes can be brought for as low as 29£, HD boxes for as low as 49£ (Ebay, Amazon)