Can I use sky+ box for freesat?

sparkthatbled

I had Sky Q until recently, now I need to send their box back. A friend gave me their old sky+ hd box so I could still get the freesat channels but when I hook it up it just says there is no satellite signal. Have they made it so you can't do this with the old boxes or is there some kind of compatibility issue at play? I'm confident the dish, cables and box are all in good shape.

gingernut79

The white one yes, don't think you'll have any luck with the newer HD boxes

MAJJ

I think the LNB for Sky Q is different unless they installed a hybrid one.

keepalive213

You probably have a wideband LNB on your dish which will only work with a sky q box.
You would need to swop the LNB for a regular universal one and it should work.
Also introducing an expired UK card to the sky+ box will make it better for free to air use, you can buy them on freetv website.

Hopeful19

Yeah u can. Add other channels using the codes

sparkthatbled

keepalive213 wrote: »

You probably have a wideband LNB on your dish which will only work with a sky q box.
You would need to swop the LNB for a regular universal one and it should work.
Also introducing an expired UK card to the sky+ box will make it better for free to air use, you can buy them on freetv website.

That makes sense, they put up a new lnb when they installed the q box. Will this also cause the same problem if I bought a freeview box from power city or wherever?

Irish Steve

sparkthatbled wrote: »

That makes sense, they put up a new lnb when they installed the q box. Will this also cause the same problem if I bought a freeview box from power city or wherever?

Yes, the Q LNB is specific to Sky, and causes problems with other boxes, unless you had other boxes, which means a different LNB that will work with the "standard" system as well.

sparkthatbled

Irish Steve wrote: »

Yes, the Q LNB is specific to Sky, and causes problems with other boxes, unless you had other boxes, which means a different LNB that will work with the "standard" system as well.

Thanks! I'll just wait for my new isp to kick in and reconnect the now tv stick, then.

keepalive213

A high spec freesat box would be a good replacement, 8 day epg, series link, recording etc, as close to sky as you can get without a bill.

Gerry Wicklow

sparkthatbled wrote: »

That makes sense, they put up a new lnb when they installed the q box. Will this also cause the same problem if I bought a freeview box from power city or wherever?

Be careful of the terminology. FreeView is the UK terrestrial service using an ordinary aerial and is only available near the border or parts of the east coast. FreeSat uses a satellite dish for some free to air UK channels. You will also need a terrestrial aerial for the Irish Saorview channels. They are not free on the Sky satellite.

J_V_C

keepalive213 wrote: »

A high spec freesat box would be a good replacement, 8 day epg, series link, recording etc, as close to sky as you can get without a bill.

I'm leaving Sky and this perfectly describes what I would like to do; does anyone have any suggestions for a device that meets the above criteria?

decor58

J_V_C wrote: »

I'm leaving Sky and this perfectly describes what I would like to do; does anyone have any suggestions for a device that meets the above criteria?

A Humax hdr1100s does all of the above, wifi, Netflix, YouTube, pretty much plug and play but no Saorview channels, they can be got through almost all recent tv's with an aerial.

J_V_C

decor58 wrote: »

A Humax hdr1100s does all of the above, wifi, Netflix, YouTube, pretty much plug and play but no Saorview channels, they can be got through almost all recent tv's with an aerial.

Thanks for that. Believe it or not I've got the Humax bookmarked: good to know I'm on the right track.
Pity about the saorview, do you know of a device that includes saorview?

Gerry Wicklow

There are several so called "combo" boxes that allow you to mix Saorview and FTA satellite in the same list in any order you like. They are not straight forward plug and play devices. They need a small bit of setup, a bit of tech know how helps and bit of a learning curve. That said you will get plenty of help here if you decide to take the plunge. Current favourites are the Tiviar Alpha and the Zgemma H7S Each has full 7 day EPG, series linking, stream live and recorded around your home, live pause etc etc. Like all things you get what you pay for. Sub 100€ will probably disappoint, beyond 200 might be overkill. These are incredibly powerful versatile devices. For the sake of a bit of effort now, the rewards are huge. Remembering too that you get all this for the equivalent of a months sub to Sky.

J_V_C

Gerry Wicklow wrote: »

There are several so called "combo" boxes that allow you to mix Saorview and FTA satellite in the same list in any order you like. They are not straight forward plug and play devices. They need a small bit of setup, a bit of tech know how helps and bit of a learning curve. That said you will get plenty of help here if you decide to take the plunge. Current favourites are the Tiviar Alpha and the Zgemma H7S Each has full 7 day EPG, series linking, stream live and recorded around your home, live pause etc etc. Like all things you get what you pay for. Sub 100€ will probably disappoint, beyond 200 might be overkill. These are incredibly powerful versatile devices. For the sake of a bit of effort now, the rewards are huge. Remembering too that you get all this for the equivalent of a months sub to Sky.

Thanks Gerry,
currently making my way through the Tiviar alpha thread. I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to this stuff so I kinda feel out of my depth, great to know there are people out there who know their stuff and are willing to lend their time to help the bewildered.
Thanks again, karma at you