Connecting sky dish to freesat TV

Mr321

Hi I unplugged the coaxial cable from the Sky box and connected it to the TV which has freesat in it. Done the automatic installation and when it was done it said over 300 channels was found and it lists them all on the TV but no signal comes up.? No picture. Why would that be?

Signal quality and strength are both good when it's tuning

dmeehan

What make/model is the TV?

Mr321

2014 panasonic

Atlantic Dawn

Do you know if the previous installation was using Sky Q? If it was using Sky Q the LNB on the dish will need to be changed to a hybrid one to allow the tv to pick up the signal as Sky Q uses a wideband LNB. An alternative would be to purchase one of the new official Freesat boxes which are compatible with the Sky Q wideband lnb. The cost of the hybrid LNB is about €50 and replaces the one currently on the dish, relatively easy to do if you have easy access to the dish.

Here's the cheapest Freesat official box that supports it...

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/2075679?clickSR=slp:term:freesat:5:12:1

Mr321

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119044066#Comment_119044066

Thank you for the info. Only last week was the sky dish and box changed to that bloody Sky Q, before that (since 2014) I had the sky + box and dish but it blew up the other week.

A brand new sky q box and it's stuck on standby mode /won't switch on. So said I'd watch freesat TV through the TV tonight and it wouldn't work. At least now I know why.

swoofer

Can you reach dish and have a good look it may have more than 2 outputs and the others will work but if only 2 you need a hybrid lnb with legacy ports. You would think sky would explain.

Did you try all the usual on that Sky q box, unplug form wall socket, in fact if box has a plug in cable for power pull that out as well, wait for half an hour etc. They are giving sky q boxes away for free now, apparently a new box is on the way, now we know why.

There is a sky forum as well and last time I looked it was full of bits about sky q. Are sky going to call out? You could have got a sceond hand box for peanuts and ignored Sky q, it is not as good as they advertise.

Mr321

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119045940#Comment_119045940

Yea sky man calling out end of the week just over a week since he was here and installed it.

Absolute crap these new sky q boxes like you said seen nothing but problems with them stuck on standby and won't fire up. Tried all the usual and they went through it on the phone also, said if they have to replace the box they will. (a box that was turned on about 3 times since new)

I'm told it's a sky TV next the boxes will be no more.

Pretty sure only 2 connections on the sat receiver but I'll not go near it until I'm cancelling sky at this stage

swoofer

Ooops I should said LNB but I think you got my drift. I wonder could you get sky to give you a legacy LNB and did he take away old lnb!!

I got this on the sky community but it may be yourself.!!!

https://www.sky.com/help/articles/using-the-standby-settings

mackersdublin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119044058#Comment_119044058

Country must be set to UK on your TV for Freesat to work, then do a Satellite scan which takes a few seconds as it's only searching the Freesat transponder

Mr321

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119047072#Comment_119047072

New LBN is 2 isn't it?

This is the old. LBN it seemed to have been 4 way? Would it work so or be like this hybrid type talked about in the forum?

Nah from my experience you can't really talk to sky about anything. Sure look the old dish there, the lad installing it flattened it after taking it down lol like I paid for it years ago.

Mr321

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119047420#Comment_119047420

Thanks. Think it is already set that way but I'll check again

The Cush

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119047588#Comment_119047588

The new LNBs are a slightly different technology to the older LNBs. They are referred to as wideband LNBs while the old ones are referred to as legacy LNBs.

Wideband LNBs have 2 outputs and are fitted as standard during a SkyQ install.

Hybrid LNBs are combination of both, 2 wideband outputs and either 2 or 4 legacy outputs. They can be used with both SkyQ and older Sky/Freesat/FTA satellite receivers.

Sky will fit a hybrid LNB instead of a standard wideband LNB during a SkyQ install if the subscriber already has a FTA satellite receiver attached to the dish.

Mr321

Well that's Sky Q I've now so I should be getting the Freesat stations you think if it's hybrid ?

It tells me Astra 2 network found, finds all the channels but no signal.

Only 1 connection on the TV though for the Freesat would that matter? I've tried both cables and nothing.

TV is set on UK and all.

Mr321

Messing about with the TV here and done an other channel setup in freesat where I made it search for stations and its pulled in some freesat ones like music stations and ITV HD but none of the bbcs, channel 5s etc?

swoofer

No, all this jargon can be confusing and even I get lost these days. The first picture is the old type lnb and will work for freesat but the new lnb you have on that new dish is for sky q and you wont get freesat.

You need an lnb that can be used both sky q and freesat and it will have, usually, 6 outputs, 2 that are different coloured so you know they are for sky q and the other 4 are for Freesat. Sky HD is old hence the reference legacy.

So if you want both sky q and freesat you need an lnb called hybrid.

If I was you I would get the hybrid lnb and when the sky guy calls get him to fit it and either run another cable for your tv or better still 2 cables, then if sky q goes belly up you will have the tv as fallback.

You can get it here and they do quick delivery

https://www.satworld.ie/sky-freesat-hybrid.html

Or if you want to ditch sky q, get him to fit old lnb but as you have new dish sky will charge you something.

You can get hybrid here as well and I think they give boards a discount and they are quick

https://www.freetv.ie/sky-q-hybrid-lnb/

Are you getting a pic with those channels? Its possible you can get a few but only on a certain frequency range.

The Cush

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119048999#Comment_119048999

The new SkyQ wideband LNBs spread the channels across a wider frequency range compared to the old LNBs, hence wideband LNB. SkyQ can "see" this wider spread of channels but the older non-SkyQ receivers only "see" a narrow range of these channels from a wideband LNBs, hence the reason you only see a few channels.

The technical part, intermediate frequency range (I.F.) & Polarisation

• Wideband SkyQ LNB - 290–2340 MHz I.F., Horizontal & Vertical polarised channels down separate cables
• Legacy (universal) LNB - 950–2150 MHz I.F., Horizontal & Vertical polarised channels down a single cable

Mr321

Thanks for all info yes yous are correct and I understand the system.

As said above when I get this stupid sky q box sorted I'll change out that to the hybrid and have it to fall back on as the next sky q box won't last long either.

It was on standby last night for 30 mins as I was tuning about with the TV and when switching all off I happened just to put my hand on the top of the sky q box. The heat off it was absolutely rediculas. From what I see online they must be burning themselves out or something