New Apartment - Sky Dish Left - What Are These Cables?

Paully D

Hi all,

I’m hoping someone will be able to give me some guidance here.

I’ve just moved into a new apartment and the previous tenants left a Sky dish up. With this, there are two cables running from the dish to the living room, best described as the below:

https://www.radioandtelly.co.uk/images/skypluscable.jpg

I initially thought they were coaxial cables of some sort that may slot into the back of a TV, similar to an old school ariel connection, but they don’t fit.

A couple of questions:

1) What are they? :pac: From my own research I’m lead to believe they may be connections for the back of a Sky box.

2) If they are as above, if I were to purchase a cheap second hand Sky box, would it work with those cables and if so, would it give me the general Freesat channels (your BBC’s, ITV’s, your numerous music channels etc)?

I was going to pay someone to come in and install a combo box to get the Irish and UK channels, but this might end up being a savior (or something completely different! :pac:)

Thanks all.

colm_mcm

Those are standard satellite connections. They will fit a sky box or a tv that has a satellite tuner built in.
You can receive uk satellite channels. You won’t get Irish channels on it.
If they had sky Q you will need to swap the LNB if you’re using non Sky Q equipment. I think I paid €12 delivered for mine.

Johnboy1951

You can use those two on a combo box, one for each satellite tuner in the box.
You will need an aerial to receive the Saorview channels.
Saorview channels are only available from satellite if you pay a Sky subscription or point the satellite dish at the Saorsat satellite..

There is no advantage in getting a used Sky box for the purpose, and quite a number of disadvantages.

You are better getting a combo box and fitting an aerial in addition to the existing satellite.

Paully D

colm_mcm wrote: »

Those are standard satellite connections. They will fit a sky box or a tv that has a satellite tuner built in.
You can receive uk satellite channels. You won’t get Irish channels on it.
If they had sky Q you will need to swap the LNB if you’re using non Sky Q equipment. I think I paid €12 delivered for mine.

Thanks Colm, very much appreciated.

Is there any noticeable way of telling if the previous tenants had Sky Q or not?

colm_mcm

Paully D wrote: »

Thanks Colm, very much appreciated.

Is there any noticeable way of telling if the previous tenants had Sky Q or not?

I don’t know if your dish is on the balcony or otherwise accessible, but it should say ‘wideband LNB’ on a sticker on the LNB (the bit on the end of the arm) if it is Sky Q

Paully D

colm_mcm wrote: »

I don’t know if your dish is on the balcony or otherwise accessible, but it should say ‘wideband LNB’ on a sticker on the LNB (the bit on the end of the arm) if it is Sky Q

It’s on the balcony, so easily accessible. I’ll check that out in the morning and go from there.

Many thanks Colm.

Paully D

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

You can use those two on a combo box, one for each satellite tuner in the box.
You will need an aerial to receive the Saorview channels.
Saorview channels are only available from satellite if you pay a Sky subscription or point the satellite dish at the Saorsat satellite..

There is no advantage in getting a used Sky box for the purpose, and quite a number of disadvantages.

You are better getting a combo box and fitting an aerial in addition to the existing satellite.

Thanks John, I appreciate the reply.

What would the main disadvantages be that you would see?

My thinking is admittedly mainly financial. I could get a second hand Sky box for about €30, have the freesat stations (which I tend to use 95% of the time) and use the RTÉ Player if anything comes up that I’d like to catch on there, whereas it would maybe cost me about 10 times that for the ariel, box and professional installation?

TherapyBoy

Paully, if you’re in Dublin I have a Sky box I’m not using anymore. Yours if you want it.

Johnboy1951

Paully D wrote: »

Thanks John, I appreciate the reply.

What would the main disadvantages be that you would see?

My thinking is admittedly mainly financial. I could get a second hand Sky box for about €30, have the freesat stations (which I tend to use 95% of the time) and use the RTÉ/TV3 Player if anything comes up that I’d like to catch on there, whereas it would maybe cost me about 10 times that for the ariel, box and professional installation?

First off the Skybox will be severely limited in function without a subscription .... not surprising as it is designed to work with a current card.
It will not record nor play back previously recorded programmes.
Only one of the tuners is used.
The channel list is fixed with channels all over the place. You can set up a favourites list, but not order the list as you wish.
Some channels are not available without manual tuning.

You can buy a new combi receiver with one tuner for Sat and another for Saorview for about €65, with manufacturers guarantee, and without the limitations outlined above.
You can buy a single tuner Sat box and receive Saorview through the players as you mentioned.
There are a wide range of STBs available some with dual Satellite tuners if you want to watch one channels while recording another.

IMO, it is one thing making use of a non-sub Sky box that might be lying about, but a completely different matter to go and buy a used one. Others might well have a different opinion.

EDIT:
I see there is a triple tuner (2 x Sat; 1 x Terrestrial) STB on the satworld.ie site for €61.50, which seems to be a very good price for a triple tuner device.

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

Paully D

TherapyBoy wrote: »

Paully, if you’re in Dublin I have a Sky box I’m not using anymore. Yours if you want it.

That's extremely kind. I'm a long distance away but I really appreciate the offer, thank you.