Old Sky Box

ice27

Hi all,

Just bought an amstrad 400 sky box with Sky card yellow house on ebay (€80 delivered from Uk) jope i wasnt shafted. I presume its a UK card since it says u can get 1,2,3,4,5 on it free. Anyway, anyone know whether this is a good box or not. I had a Grundig for last 4 years but recentely the picture has started to get disjointed, distorted and glitchy, it stops and starts. I will replace this with the amstrad 400 i got on ebay. Anyway does anyone fix these old silver grundig boxes or is best for the scap heap. Is it something that can be fixed easily. (in the Cork area)

Also I recentely ordered sky+ with multitroom. Is being installed next week. I have a quad lnb already with two inputs. 1) regular box 2) old Grundig with english FTA card. Anyway when Sky + is intalled my main box is being used as the multi room box. As far as i know Sky + needs 2 feeds so that means I will have 3 inputs. The forth input I am hoping to use the FTA card upstairs.

I will be left with a spare box and FTV card. Is there such a thing as a LNB that holds 5/6 inputs. If so will the installer charge much more. However isnt there a free quad lnb with SKY + anyway. Can they just give me a 5/6 lnb instead.

I would appreciate any advice.

P.S Sorry for the essay type question.

watty

www.satcure.co.uk for PSU repair kit for some Grundigs.
Soldering experience needed.
The Orignal PSU capacitors rated at too low a temperature, also sometimes box not enough ventillation.
Don't put anything on top or inside closed shelf. Open shelf at back & fron with good clearence above is best.

byte

For €80, that's not bad for a box and FTV card. The card alone is nearly worth that to some people! So yeah, good enough deal I reckon.

Capt'n Midnight

watty wrote:

www.satcure.co.uk for PSU repair kit for some Grundigs.
Soldering experience needed.
The Orignal PSU capacitors rated at too low a temperature, also sometimes box not enough ventillation.
Don't put anything on top or inside closed shelf. Open shelf at back & fron with good clearence above is best.

As I've posted before mine is vertical about 2" off the floor with the power supply (left side) at the top , so air can enter the bottom (right) and out the top like a chimmney.

Before it used to hang when it was too warm.

celica140bhp

I have a Grundig box that was acting up a bit recently also but after the latest software upgrade came through it's been stable again. It's nearly 6years old now so I presume it's going to die soon enough. Might be visting eBay myself....already have a UK card so just need a box.

ice27

Thanks all,

As I said had intended just to buy second hand box as I already have a UK Card but for €80 with card included & delivered it was too good a deal to miss, just hope the amstrad box is okay!!

Any one know anything about a lnb with 5/6 inputs?

Tony

ice27 wrote:

Any one know anything about a lnb with 5/6 inputs?

They dont exist for sky dishes but an 8 output is available for standard non sky dishes

ice27

Thanks for the info Tony!!

ice27

Last question!!!

Can you use a non sky dish to use with the Sky Digital System, and if so what spec would you need for a 8way lnb one, and what would be the best type, price, and best place to get one. Also do the more inputs into 1 dish reduce the quality and signal in any way.

Cheers!

Tony

ice27 wrote:

Last question!!!

Can you use a non sky dish to use with the Sky Digital System, and if so what spec would you need for a 8way lnb one, and what would be the best type, price, and best place to get one. Also do the more inputs into 1 dish reduce the quality and signal in any way.

Cheers!

Thought I answered this but yes you can use any dish with sky or sky+ . Generally I would recommend you go for a slightly bigger dish, IE 80cm as you are correct in your assumption that multiple output lnbs do drop signal level slightly. AFAIK a quad works fine for sky on a 60cm but for an octo output I would say an 80cm is a better bet. Look in the sticky for suppliers

ice27

Once more thanks for the help Tony!