SKY Digital (FTV) Free-To-View Cards

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Recently I was offered a used SKY+HD black set top box. It had been used in connection with an Irish Sky Subscription until fairly recently but I am really only interested in using the SKY+HD set top box for access to all the free-to-air tv channels. I'm not bothered about the SKY+ recording facility as I am not really into recording programmes. I know I will not be able to receive any of the main ROI terrestrial channels without an Irish sub but my Saorview TV reception is perfect however; I would like to view ALL of the UK Free-To-Air satellite channels including those that broadcast in HD format such as:

BBC One HD
BBC Two HD
BBC II! HD now Online only
itv London HD
UTV (N.I.) HD
Channel 4 HD
Channel 5 HD
BBC NEWS HD
BBC Four HD
CBeebies HD
CBBC HD
and any other HD channels available on a free-to-air basis

If I power up the box it will show the usual Republic of IRELAND channel listings on the electronic programme guide. Back around 2001 or 2002 I obtained a Free-To-View (FTV) Card from my brother's home in London and I was able to activate the UK>London postal code listings on a previous standard SKY Digibox I had used which has since become very unreliable.

My query is would an old light blue SKY Digital (FTV Card) issued around 2001/2002 come back to life if the card was completely inactive for many years as I already inserted the FTV smart card into the sky+hd box and while it does seem to register a change from ROI to UK epg as per the small preview listings on the TV Guide screenshot but the full TV Guide listings never fully initialised after system reboot of sky+hd box. It keeps giving me a code error 25 message if I leave old FTV card with no satellite signal received - IF I take it out and reboot without card and it goes back to Irish listings and the odd few channels will work but I really want BBC One at 101, BBC Two at 102 and so on etc; This old FTV Card was NOT ordered thru the Freesat from Sky option in the UK - It was in the days when all the UK terrestrial channels were originally encrypted on Sky Digital but BBC had an arrangement to distribute "Free-To-View" cards (before BBC went FTA in 2003) on digital satellite for those digital satellite viewers throughout the UK who were not interested in taking out a Sky TV subscription.

The card issued around 2001/2002 period looks exactly the same as below Web link (Please feel free to Copy & Paste the below link into your web browser)

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/39515000/jpg/_39515369_card203.jpg

Does anyone know if those early version FTV cards from the years: 2001/2002 should come alive again if left in the black Sky+HD box for a prolonged period of time? If so, how long should it typically take? Any advice from those in the industry or who are in the know would be appreciated..

steveon

The card you showed is an analog card and will not work, Some older blue digital cards will come back to life, however you can buy new versions from users on adverts.ie for €7 and they will also give you a cpl of extra channels such as sony tv, sony movies, motors tv etc..

winston_1

They won't come alive, but they will regionalise the box IF and only IF the box has never had a later card in it.

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steveon wrote: »

Some blue cards will come back to life, however you can buy new versions from users on adverts.ie for €7 and they will also give you a cpl of extra channels such as sony tv, sony movies, motors tv etc..

I came across the ad for these cards on Adverts.ie last night - I am just very curious if that old FTV card will come back to life if left in the SKY+hd box but if it fails to initialise after a prolonged period I will seriously consider obtaining a replacement card as I would like the box to load London, UK postcode listings.

steveon

AwaitYourReply wrote: »

I came across the ad for these cards on Adverts.ie last night - I am just very curious if that old FTV card will come back to life if left in the SKY+hd box but if it fails to initialise after a prolonged period I will seriously consider obtaining a replacement card as I would like the box to load London, UK postcode listings.

If it doesnt come on with 48 hrs it usually wont, I personally have found hd boxes will not re-initalise any old cards it needs to be in a std box ...

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winston_1 wrote: »

They won't come alive, but they will regionalise the box IF and only IF the box has never had a later card in it.

This sky+hd box definitely had the more recent version white viewing card as part of Irish Sky subscription. I'm not even bothered about the few extra FTV channels like 4Music, Sony Movie channels etc; not activating. I was just hoping the card would load the uk listings as per my older bog standard sky digibox so that i could access the UK free to air channels with BBC One on 101 etc;

steveon

AwaitYourReply wrote: »

This sky+hd box definitely had the more recent version white viewing card as part of Irish Sky subscription. I'm not even bothered about the few extra FTV channels like 4Music, Sony Movie channels etc; not activating. I was just hoping the card would load the uk listings as per my older bog standard sky digibox so that i could access the UK free to air channels with BBC One on 101 etc;

Try it you have nothing to loose...

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steveon wrote: »

If it doesnt come on with 48 hrs it usually wont, I personally have found hd boxes will not re-initalise any old cards it needs to be in a std box ...

It's just strange that it would still recognise BBC One at 101 with the old FTV card in (just spotted it in a small preview of SKY TV guide in miniature view mode on home page) but after almost 24hrs inserted in box the other day, it seems like there was no further access to the full guide listings. I am gonna try it once more and let it run for 48hrs as I'm curious if anything will update - failing that I will look at other options but it seems it would need to be a very recent white card given the box has been using a white Irish Sky sub until recently.

steveon

AwaitYourReply wrote: »

It's just strange that it would still recognise BBC One at 101 with the old FTV card in (just spotted it in a small preview of SKY TV guide in miniature view mode on home page) but after almost 24hrs inserted in box the other day, it seems like there was no further access to the full guide listings. I am gonna try it once more and let it run for 48hrs as I'm curious if anything will update - failing that I will look at other options but it seems it would need to be a very recent white card given the box has been using a white Irish Sky sub until recently.

Unplug the box, insert the card and leave it in...do not insert when the box is on...

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steveon wrote: »

Unplug the box, insert the card and leave it in...do not insert when the box is on...

Oh i would have tried this at various stages over last few days but sadly to no avail.

Incidentally, the card image referenced earlier is exactly the same as our 1st Sky Digital (Irish) subscription viewing card from around April, 2001. If you look very closely again at the image you can actually see sky digital on it and this card version was a pre-cursor of the dark blue yellow house which came afterwards. This same style viewing card was used for our satellite reception. We never took out a paid Sky subscription via analogue satellite prior to 2001 even though we had a satellite dish and analogue receiver installed in 1998 for those free to air European channels (prior to this it was analogue cable tv or UHF aerial for UK terrestrial channels beamed from Wales)

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/image...69_card203.jpg

The FTV card we obtained in 2002 looked no different from our Sky Digital subscription viewing card apart from specifics like a serial/issue number and the tel number did not have 0044 UK international dial code prefix shown on the reverse (side with chip) as intended for UK only. FTV cards were there to allow UK TV licence fee holders access to UK public service broadcasting channels namely BBC, itv, Channel 4, Channel 5 via digital satellite prior to them all going free-to-air in subsequent years after the BBC took the lead first.

icdg

Just to say, while we've historically been quite happy to allow discussion of the so-called "card trick", on the basis that it doesn't involving hacking the system and is just a bug, there is absolutely no discussion of buying and selling Sky viewing cards of any flavour. Thanks

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I'll keep ye posted IF the bug with the old FTV card takes effect as it's messy jumping in and out of the "Other Channels" menu as I have got used to a standard Triax SR110 set top box which is only capable of showing channels in SD format. Hopefully the Sky+hd box will eventually show BBC One London at channel 101, BBC Two England at 102, itv London at 103, Channel 4 at 104, Channel 5 at 105...BBC NEWS channel on 503 and so on etc; I still use Saorview for all the Irish terrestrial tv as my Samsung TV had a built-in digital tuner when we bought it in January 2010 and I am fortunate that the signal is strong enough in our geographic area that the standard One4All indoor antenna was sufficient.