Cancelling sky, will sky box receive free stations?

BishopBrennen

I have Sky and 2 multirooms, 3 sky boxes in total in 3 rooms. 2 boxes are sky+ with 2 sky cables plugged in the plus boxes.

I've cancelled the multiroom with the sky+ box as I don't think it's worth the money, half thinking of cancelling the whole lot but just did 1 for now with the plan of seeing how I get on without it.

My questions are as follows:

Can I just leave the cancelled sky+ box plugged in as it is and use it to receive the free to air (freesat?) stations through it? Will it do this automatically? Or will the box be useless without a Sky multiroom subscription on it and will I have to buy a new free sat box? If I've to buy a new free sat box will my existing 2 sky cables just plug in and work or will the cables be different? Will the Sky dish work with a non-sky free sat box if a new box is needed?

I'd appreciate some answers to the above and also perhaps a recommendation on a good plug and play Sat box to purchase if needed, I assume my 2 sky+ cables will allow me get a free sat box that will record, live pause, rewind, etc? I also have an external aeriel cable at this tv point so will plugging that into my TV automatically get me the Irish stations through Saorview?

decor58

BishopBrennen wrote:

I've cancelled the multiroom with the sky+ box as I don't think it's worth the money, half thinking of cancelling the whole lot but just did 1 for now with the plan of seeing how I get on without it.

If they are just sky+boxes rather than sky HD boxes, then just switch off the box, remote your sub card, switch back on and you will get the English free to air channels, no RTE or tv3. Save the fta channels on a favourites list for convenience.

ShaneOC

BishopBrennen wrote: »

Can I just leave the cancelled sky+ box plugged in as it is and use it to receive the free to air (freesat?) stations through it?

Yes, it will work for the free channels. However, a sky box is really hobbled once the subscription is removed. The BBC channels will work as they do today on your box (without pause or record). The Channel 4 channels will not work from the EPG - you will need to tune them in via other channels (or get the UK version of the EPG **)

BishopBrennen wrote: »

Will it do this automatically? Or will the box be useless without a Sky multiroom subscription on it and will I have to buy a new free sat box?

As above, the sky box is not useless but it is severely limited.

BishopBrennen wrote: »

If I've to buy a new free sat box will my existing 2 sky cables just plug in and work or will the cables be different? Will the Sky dish work with a non-sky free sat box if a new box is needed?

The existing cables and dish will work perfectly with a new non-sky box. Just unscrew the cables from the sky box and connect them to the new box.

BishopBrennen wrote: »

I'd appreciate some answers to the above and also perhaps a recommendation on a good plug and play Sat box to purchase if needed, I assume my 2 sky+ cables will allow me get a free sat box that will record, live pause, rewind, etc? I also have an external aeriel cable at this tv point so will plugging that into my TV automatically get me the Irish stations through Saorview?

There are numerous types of box you can get depending on your needs. A FreeSat box will give you an almost Sky like experience but does not have the Irish channels. A standard combi box will get all the channels (sat & saorview) but the interface is not brilliant (no series link, guide, etc). A linux combi box can be set up to give the best option but it can be a bit hit or miss getting it set up right. Loads of threads here on those boxes.

The 2 sky+ cables will allow you to view / record, pause, etc.

Whether or not your TV will pick up Saorview depends on the age of the TV. Most TVs from the last 2 or 3 years should have a digital tuner built in ready for Irish TV.

** Depending on your Sky box you might be able to force it to the UK EPG or you may need to get a UK FTV Card.

BishopBrennen

decor58 wrote: »

If they are just sky+boxes rather than sky HD boxes, then just switch off the box, remote your sub card, switch back on and you will get the English free to air channels, no RTE or tv3. Save the fta channels on a favourites list for convenience.

The 3 of them are Hd boxes, I think i'm missing the significance of whether they are Hd or not Hd?

@ShaneOC - Thanks for the very helpful replies there

icdg

The significance is that it doesn't work on Sky+HD boxes. Once they have the Irish EPG it is, well, more difficult to get them to go back to the default UK EPG. They would need a UK viewing card to do that.

decor58

If they are sd boxes they will default to a uk epg, BBC 1 on 101. An Irish hd box doesn't reset, RTE 1 stays on 101 etc, bbc stays way down the list, itv is not available. Try Adverts for a uk sky card, it will give all the UK fta channels.

BishopBrennen

Ok, I have made some progress thanks to the helpful replies and info in this thread.

So, I bought a Uk freeSat card off of Adverts as recommended here. This is working fine My sky multiroom subscription cut off there this morning. So I just put in the new Uk FreeSat card now and that's all working, the Epg menu seems the same as before regards visually and layout but the stations start at 101 BBC's, etc which I believe is correct for the Uk card.

The only thing I'm trying to sort out now is the Irish Rte channels. I have a normal Antenna Tv cable at this Tv, when I had the skp box switched off when changing the sky cards there now, I plugged this Tv Antenna cable directly into my Tv (It previously wasn't plugged into anything, just hanging loosely but did work before I ever had the Sky) and I selected the TV Input from HDMI to Antenna and the Tv ran its Autotune feature but no stations loaded. I thought this would get me the Irish Rte channels.

Something I did notice which I thought strange, when I press my Input button to give me the options of HDMI / AV1 / Antenna / etc... the AV1 has my dvd player plugged in and the HDMI has the sky box plugged in, these options are in colour to select but the "Antenna" option is greyed out despite my Tv cable being plugged into the TV. All the other options in this menu "Usb" etc... are all greyed out too. Even though "Antenna" is greyed out I can still select it and the Tv goes black screen with message "Not Programmed", but it then gives me Autotune option but it didn't display stations after reaching 100%. Just to add, I disconnected the Dvd AV scart and the AV scart option is then greyed out in the Tv Input option, so it seems the TV can't see the TV Antenna is plugged into the TV and thats why AV is greyed out. I unplugged / plugged the antenna cable back in but no joy, the Autotune still can't find any channels and asks me to re-check the antenna cable.

Can someone explain how I go about getting the Irish channels using my existing Tv Antenna cable please? Do I need a separate Saorview box or should the Tv Antenna be enough. The Tv is an LG probably about 5 years old, not sure how to check if it has Saorview tuner built in but do I actually "need" a saorview feature at all?

I also still have the 2 sky dish cables still plugged in to the back of the sky box, the dish input 1 and the dish input 2 cables, will I just leave them plugged in as they are?

Cheers for

John mac

question ,, is there an aerial on the other end of the aerial connection .
what is the model number of the tv, ?
are there any Saorview logos on the tv manual ? or any info as to how to tune in the tv to terrestrial channels

but do I actually "need" a saorview feature at all

to watch rte channels,

BishopBrennen

John mac wrote: »

question ,, is there an aerial on the other end of the aerial connection .
what is the model number of the tv, ?
are there any Saorview logos on the tv manual ? or any info as to how to tune in the tv to terrestrial channels

to watch rte channels,

Yeah, to answer them questions, yeah there definitely is a proper Tv Antenna physically connected to the other end of the cable and it has worked before when I didn't have Sky.
Here's some more info from the back of the TV:
LG 29MT 45D-PZ
Model no. 29MT 45D
Manufactured December 2014 in Poland

There is no mention of Saorview labels or otherwise on the Tv itself or on the remote, so it seems its not got a Saorview tuner? If it doesn't have a Saorview tuner, will plugging in the Tv Antenna cable give the situation I'm havingf where it won't be able to get any Irish tv channels at all? I thought it would still get stations, maybe just not the Rte +1 stations or such but you're telling me my understanding is wrong and I will need either a Saorview tuner Tv or a Saorview box, yeah?

I have a saorview box somewhere in the attic, I'll have to dig it out then so, more feckin boxes / remotes but better than paying Sky multiroom rip off :P

dxhound2005

Is there some menu where you need to select Ireland as the country?

BishopBrennen

sugarman wrote: »

Had a similar LG and you needed to select between Analogue and Digital tuner

I seen a Cable and Antenna option I can pick before it tries to tune. It was defaulted on Antenna which I assumed is correct as its an aerial, should I be picking Cable? Is that because the Tv has a digital tuner?

Ok, when I select cable instead of Antenna, i then get the option "UPC Digital" or "Other Operators".

Will I pick other operators and carry on? I have the sky box switched off by the way when trying to tune the stations with the Antenna, is that correct or do I need to have the sky box switched on?

John mac

sugarman wrote: »

Had a similar LG and you needed to select between Analogue and Digital tuner

yea from the manual looks like you have to change input mode .

BishopBrennen

John mac wrote: »

yea from the manual looks like you have to change input mode .

I'm confused, change Input mode from what to what?

I played around with the menu's there and the "Program" option gives me "cable" or "antenna". Its already on Antenna, but "Antenna" is greyed out in the Input menu but I can still select it.

Are ye saying the Antenna is greyed out because theres a deeper setting somewhere set to digital and I need to find it and change it to analogue?

Which setting do I need it to be on, analogue or digital?

Charles Babbage

For Saorview you need it to be digital.

BishopBrennen

Charles Babbage wrote: »

For Saorview you need it to be digital.

Thanks for confirming I need to pick digital.
Any idea's where I can find that setting to see what its actually set to?

So, where i see the option of picking "Antenna" or "Cable" is cable another term for digital and so do I pick cable and try let the TV tune from there? Or, is this digital setting ye speak of completely different to the setting "antenna" and "cable" I found?

BishopBrennen

I went ahead and selected "cable", then "other operators" and then it gave me option of picking search "Full" search for every signal possible, it went through this to 100% and didn't find any stations.

Is it possible the TV doesn't have any tuner built in to it at all, and simply plugging the TV antenna cable into it will never find stations? Maybe a box such as a saorview box needs to be plugged inbetween the tv and aerial.

But then what's the point of the aerial cable connector on the back of the TV?

Just to answer a question above, the TV is set to Ireland, just seen that in 1 of the settings there.

BishopBrennen

I got my old Saor view box down from the attic, have it connected to my TV via the Scart cable, and have taken the TV aerial cable from the back of the TV and now plugged it into the Saor View box via the "Antenna In" connector.

When I power up the Saor view box, and select station 1 or 2 etc etc on the remote it just gives me the station menu thingy saying Rte 1 etc,,, but TV screen just then says "No Signal" and nothing is displayed.

Have I got it connected properly, do I need to have something connected to the "Antenna Out" connector on the Saor view box?

Or do I have it connected properly and is it now looking like the Tv antenna cable is the problem and isn't connected to the aerial? I don't know why it wouldn't be, always was and worked before I had Sky, it worked with the same Saor view box I'm using just now and it worked when I had a Free sat box.

Would the Sky lads have had any reason to disconnect my aerial when installing Sky+, I've 2 cables in my sky box for sky+ but I believe both these come from the Sky dish and is completely separate to the actual aerial antenna.

BishopBrennen

Ok, as suggested, I'm currently doing an "Automatic channel scan" via the Saor View box. Had a quick look through the settings of the Saor view menus and they all seem ok, I just changed "Active Antenna" to "on" as it was off, haven't a clue what that is but I switched it on anyway in case it helps.

The Saor view box channel scan is saying its scanning "UHF" channels if thats correct or not.

Its finished scanning here now and saying No channels found, please check your Antenna connection. :mad:

Ten Pin

Assuming that the aerial is still connected outside, then plug the connector into the TV.
Select "antenna" (not "cable")
Select "digital" (not "analogue")
Then scan and see if anything tunes in.

If you get nothing, then check the aerial is connected all the way from aerial to the TV to be sure it hasn't been disconnected. Or it might have moved in a storm since it was last used.

If you want to try tuning the box while it's connected to TV and aerial then antenna power is usually set to off for a standard roof mounted UHF aerial.

decor58

BishopBrennen wrote:

I seen a Cable and Antenna option I can pick before it tries to tune. It was defaulted on Antenna which I assumed is correct as its an aerial, should I be picking Cable? Is that because the Tv has a digital tuner?

No you should stick with antenna, is there a choice between anologue or digital, pick digital. Surprised at the UPC option, is there another box connected.

Thurston?

BishopBrennen wrote: »

... I just changed "Active Antenna" to "on" as it was off, haven't a clue what that is but I switched it on anyway in case it helps.

The Saor view box channel scan is saying its scanning "UHF" channels if thats correct or not.

'Active Antenna' switched on, puts 5 volts DC on the aerial cable, to power an amplifier. Not sure how many amplifiers will happily work on 5 volts, so if there is one in your setup (the 'masthead' type, usually in a small plastic box outside near the aerial), it more than likely had a separate power supply unit, & this might have been removed at some stage.

UHF is the right band for Saorview. Looks like you'll just have to check through the aerial installation, & see if you can spot anything damaged, disconnected or missing.

BishopBrennen

decor58 wrote: »

No you should stick with antenna, is there a choice between anologue or digital, pick digital. Surprised at the UPC option, is there another box connected.

Yeah, I was thinking I should be selecting Antenna.

I can't find any option in the menu's to let me select digital or analogue, so I don't know which it is even currently set at. I think this is the key to the problem, if I could find that option in the menu's it'd be great, I don't see it either in the LG TV menus or within the Saor view box Menus.

I don't know why it had UPC as the main prompt option to pick, I never had any UPC products at my house. All that's connected is the Sky box and the Saor view box, no other boxes. There used to be some other free sat box conencted before the Sky but that wasn't anything to do with UPC either.

BishopBrennen

Thurston? wrote: »

'Active Antenna' switched on, puts 5 volts DC on the aerial cable, to power an amplifier. Not sure how many amplifiers will happily work on 5 volts, so if there is one in your setup (the 'masthead' type, usually in a small plastic box outside near the aerial), it more than likely had a separate power supply unit, & this might have been removed at some stage.

UHF is the right band for Saorview. Looks like you'll just have to check through the aerial installation, & see if you can spot anything damaged, disconnected or missing.

Cheers for explaining "active Antenna", I switched it back off, don't know if we had / have a powered amplifier on the antenna so switched it back off for time being.

From googling LG tv's, to find the digital / analogue option, some folks say their remotes have a DTV/ATV button they just press to switch beteeen digital / analogue but mine doesn't have that button.

Ten Pin

Manuals for your TV here might help

BishopBrennen

Ten Pin wrote: »

Manuals for your TV here might help

Cheers, I had a browse of the manual.

I actually found the option "digital only tuning (Antenna)" when I go through the auto tuning procedure, there's a box you can tick, which I ticked and re-scanned and it still says DTV 0 programmes found. "Check your antenna and try again".

Ok, maybe I'll check the Antenna, perhaps the storms did damage it, my Antenna is a massive aerial in the garden up its own pole and the sky dish is mounted to this same pole too, only further down but it's working fine. I may get a ladder and physically check the cable up at the aerial then so, that'll be a job for during the week though. I'll update then, cheers for the replies

Thurston?

BishopBrennen wrote: »

... my Antenna is a massive aerial in the garden up its own pole

That could be just the kind of setup that would also feature a masthead amplifier, so your problem might just be a missing or unpowered PSU.

Johnboy1951

BishopBrennen wrote: »

I got my old Saor view box down from the attic, have it connected to my TV via the Scart cable, and have taken the TV aerial cable from the back of the TV and now plugged it into the Saor View box via the "Antenna In" connector.

When I power up the Saor view box, and select station 1 or 2 etc etc on the remote it just gives me the station menu thingy saying Rte 1 etc,,, but TV screen just then says "No Signal" and nothing is displayed.

Have I got it connected properly, do I need to have something connected to the "Antenna Out" connector on the Saor view box?

Or do I have it connected properly and is it now looking like the Tv antenna cable is the problem and isn't connected to the aerial? I don't know why it wouldn't be, always was and worked before I had Sky, it worked with the same Saor view box I'm using just now and it worked when I had a Free sat box.

Would the Sky lads have had any reason to disconnect my aerial when installing Sky+, I've 2 cables in my sky box for sky+ but I believe both these come from the Sky dish and is completely separate to the actual aerial antenna.

It is not unknown for Sky installers to interfere with previous set ups and even disconnect and use (for Sky) existing coax cable.

Check the connections to the aerial and dish.