Free to air with sky box

Threeofnine

Hi all. Ive just moved into an apartment in bohermore, galway and have no TV set up yet. I'm told there is a satellite dish for the whole block to share for sky and a connection on the wall that looks like a satellite lead thing. Would it be possible to get an old sky box to receive the free stations? Is there someone that fits those boxes at a price? I want to eventually pay for a subscription so I suppose I would need a new enough box?

I definitely can't get saorview or any aerial type things as there is simply no reception!

What's my best option for freeview?
Thanks in advance!

com1

Something like this should do the job


http://www.satworld.ie/golden-media-hypercube-triple-tuner-android.html


Might be a bit overkill but its only €40. They may have it configured already - maybe give them a ring and ask them to configure it then when you get it just plug it into the tv and satellite and you should be good to go.

Threeofnine

com1 wrote: »

Something like this should do the job


http://www.satworld.ie/golden-media-hypercube-triple-tuner-android.html


Might be a bit overkill but its only €40. They may have it configured already - maybe give them a ring and ask them to configure it then when you get it just plug it into the tv and satellite and you should be good to go.

Thanks for the reply! Would that work even though we all share one dish?

Threeofnine

Just looked and the only input coming in from the wall has NTL on it. I that's for connecting virgin if you have it. There are two outputs on the NTL thing on the wall. Could one of those be from the shared satellite dish? It was sky that told me about the shared dish when I went to inquire. They said it was so everyone could get sky. A freeview satelite box would be ideal if I knew it would work with that dish and if I have a connection to the dish on the wall.

GreeBo

com1 wrote: »

Something like this should do the job


http://www.satworld.ie/golden-media-hypercube-triple-tuner-android.html


Might be a bit overkill but its only €40. They may have it configured already - maybe give them a ring and ask them to configure it then when you get it just plug it into the tv and satellite and you should be good to go.

Down to €30 now

so If I hook that up to an old Sky dish it should work?

Cheers!

winston_1

Threeofnine wrote: »

Just looked and the only input coming in from the wall has NTL on it. I that's for connecting virgin if you have it. There are two outputs on the NTL thing on the wall. Could one of those be from the shared satellite dish? It was sky that told me about the shared dish when I went to inquire. They said it was so everyone could get sky. A freeview satelite box would be ideal if I knew it would work with that dish and if I have a connection to the dish on the wall.

Most like one for cable TV and one for FM radio from the cable. NTL/Virgin won't put a satellite feed on their plate.

STB.

winston_1 wrote: »

Most like one for cable TV and one for FM radio from the cable. NTL/Virgin won't put a satellite feed on their plate.

Its not their plate. Exclusive agreements do not exist in shared complexes anymore.

@ OP You will find that the shared dish is owned by the managment company which is made up of all the owners.

You should not have to subscribe to Sky to get access to a feed from it for FTA use.

Threeofnine

On the plate there are two connections. One is marked as "FM" (radio) and the other is marked as "TV".

So i'm guessing that the TV one is the cable from NTL(Virgin) since it has NTL written on the plate.

If this is the case, where would the satellite be coming in? There are no other connections anywhere. Would both the Virgin and the satellite come into the same connection?

There is definitely a dish up on the roof and i was definitely told by sky that it was put in to be shared by all the apartments so they could get sky.

Johnboy1951

Threeofnine wrote: »

On the plate there are two connections. One is marked as "FM" (radio) and the other is marked as "TV".

So i'm guessing that the TV one is the cable from NTL(Virgin) since it has NTL written on the plate.

If this is the case, where would the satellite be coming in? There are no other connections anywhere. Would both the Virgin and the satellite come into the same connection?

There is definitely a dish up on the roof and i was definitely told by sky that it was put in to be shared by all the apartments so they could get sky.

You need to get some answers from the management company.
They should be able to provide clarity for you.

Sideshow Mark

The NTL thing sounds like an analogue connection, which I think should still work, all you need is a regular coax cable to the tv and you can tune in about 14 or 15 channels. Had the same thing in my apartment but it was a year ago since I last used it.

There willl be satellite and cable connections separate to that, they will be covered up by a plastic faceplate. You’ll need to take up a subscription with the relevant tv provider to use those.

STB.

Threeofnine wrote: »

On the plate there are two connections. One is marked as "FM" (radio) and the other is marked as "TV".

So i'm guessing that the TV one is the cable from NTL(Virgin) since it has NTL written on the plate.

If this is the case, where would the satellite be coming in? There are no other connections anywhere. Would both the Virgin and the satellite come into the same connection?

There is definitely a dish up on the roof and i was definitely told by sky that it was put in to be shared by all the apartments so they could get sky.

They combine both on the one cable, the one marked TV.

To determine whether there is a satellite feed added for your apartment buy a UHF/Sat Splitter (about €5). Junction it with a few cables. You will need a few F connectors and a few cable connectors.



If your satellite device is working then you dont have to anything more.

Thurston?

STB. wrote: »

They combine both on the one cable, the one marked TV.

To determine whether there is a satellite feed added for your apartment buy a UHF/Sat Splitter (about €5) ...

Where have you seen cable & satellite TV combined like this?

And you wouldn't need the diplexer to test for a signal ...

STB.

Thurston? wrote: »

Where have you seen cable & satellite TV combined like this?

And you wouldn't need the diplexer to test for a signal ...

At least 2 apartment complexes. One involving a company called Sky Conway, the other was a UPC/aerial setup.

Most apartment complexes have a single cable into main room which is looped to the other rooms in the apartment.

"Diplexer". You would if you wanted to have both feeds.

Thurston?

STB. wrote: »

... "Diplexer". You would if you wanted to have both feeds.

Yeah, but not to test (or determine, if you like) if the feed even exists, is what I said ...

com1

GreeBo wrote: »

Down to €30 now

so If I hook that up to an old Sky dish it should work?

Cheers!

Sorry for the delay... Yes this should work with your old SKY setup. The same satellite carries both SKY premium and FTA.


If you can get the box configured in the shop first all the better though there are any number of forums (fora?) which provide good info, not least Boards.

com1

Threeofnine wrote: »

Thanks for the reply! Would that work even though we all share one dish?

Should do - there should be separate feeds to each apt.


Regarding the ntl box, as another poster suggested ask the management company about the dish. Though it might be quicker to ask a couple of neighbours to see what service they have... If it is Sky then the box should work.


Of course you will not get any Irish channels from the satellite feed (unless you buy Sky) you will most likely need an aerial for that (saorview)

GreeBo

com1 wrote: »

Sorry for the delay... Yes this should work with your old SKY setup. The same satellite carries both SKY premium and FTA.


If you can get the box configured in the shop first all the better though there are any number of forums (fora?) which provide good info, not least Boards.

Nice one, it just arrived today so will take a whack at it tonight, and then return my crappy horizon box back to the nice people in Virgin media.:cool:

Nemeses2050

com1 wrote: »

Something like this should do the job


http://www.satworld.ie/golden-media-hypercube-triple-tuner-android.html


Might be a bit overkill but its only €40. They may have it configured already - maybe give them a ring and ask them to configure it then when you get it just plug it into the tv and satellite and you should be good to go.

Is this any good, looking at it it has two Satellite and one Terrestrial tuners same as Formuler F1 and 40% cheaper at current price of 60 v 112 (including shipping for F1)

Gerry Wicklow

Not sure if it's the same thing but I tried an 'Android Hypercube' and it was a disaster. It used android for accessing media, recordings, web etc. BUT it used enigma for live Tv which meant you had to reboot between operating systems to go from one to the other. The Android part was in German with no way to change it. Also the software is closed so no upgrade options.

GreeBo

Gerry Wicklow wrote: »

Not sure if it's the same thing but I tried an 'Android Hypercube' and it was a disaster. It used android for accessing media, recordings, web etc. BUT it used enigma for live Tv which meant you had to reboot between operating systems to go from one to the other. The Android part was in German with no way to change it. Also the software is closed so no upgrade options.

I changed mine to English without any issues....

Gerry Wicklow

Is it still dual boot?

Nemeses2050

GreeBo wrote: »

I changed mine to English without any issues....

what version of Android does it have? On old ebay Ad it says 2.3 :eek: which would be obsolete by now...

Robert101

Hi I would recommend to get Freesat box one you get the box and satellite it's free there is a good few channel on it you can not get rte/ tv3 /be3 /tg4

Robert101

Do anyone know how much wood it cost to someone to put a satellite up

PacMan

Robert101 wrote: »

Do anyone know how much wood it cost to someone to put a satellite up

Do you mean a Satellite Dish ?

ShaneOC

Robert101 wrote: »

Do anyone know how much wood it cost to someone to put a satellite up

Somewhere in the region of €100 to €150.