A different Sky+ question

neilc

If I source a sky+ box in the north will it actually work in the south. Someone told me that the box is factory programmed different for the south with activation phone numbers etc... Is there any truth in this as I don't want to be left with a box I can't use.
neilc

johnnyq

From reading the SKY + IN DA NORTH THREAD it would appear that you could , I am not sure though

Originally posted by neilc
If I source a sky+ box in the north will it actually work in the south. Someone told me that the box is factory programmed different for the south with activation phone numbers etc... Is there any truth in this as I don't want to be left with a box I can't use.
neilc

whoever told you that is talking rubbish.
Your box does what it's card tells it to do.
As anyone with an ordinary digibox will tell you , if it has a bbc ftv card in it, it will display all the UK numbers.
And if you plug a phone line into it it will attempt to phone the UK numbers also eg if you order a box office or something.
Indeed if you plug a digibox in to your phone line and it's asked to phone home ( all boxes are asked from time to time, via a signal from Sky sent down to the card in the box ) the card may well be switched off.

Sky plus is not avilable yet here in ROI but when it is and if you have a box located in the UK that skyplus box will work perfectly with an Irish card once you have both LNB inputs hooked up to your quad LNB and you are paying the extra sub.
So buy your box , in the north if you want to, there'll be no problems
I got mine in a dixons in London by the way for £249.
Make sure that the quad lnb is included, indeed , insist on opening the box before you leave the store, to check that theres one in there as , they are up to €100 to buy and you will need one.

mm
*edit*
p.s my sky plus box is currently being used as a digibox with an Irish sub and it had Dolby 5.1 on the box office channels as well as some of the movie channels.

neilc

Cheers Man, thats what I thought but I just wanted to make sure. I should have known because I have a bbc card. The reason I want to get the box now is because I want to marry the new sky card (when it comes) to a different box than my current box thus hopefully saving my bbc card. By the way I've tried all the dixons and currys in the north but they are all out of stock. Anyone know of any other retailer.
neilc

Day trip to wales on the ferry or ryanair to stansted or summat...
Make a day out of it!
mm

robert muldoon

Originally posted by Man
whoever told you that is talking rubbish.
Your box does what it's card tells it to do.
As anyone with an ordinary digibox will tell you , if it has a bbc ftv card in it, it will display all the UK numbers.
And if you plug a phone line into it it will attempt to phone the UK numbers also eg if you order a box office or something.
Indeed if you plug a digibox in to your phone line and it's asked to phone home ( all boxes are asked from time to time, via a signal from Sky sent down to the card in the box ) the card may well be switched off.

Sky plus is not avilable yet here in ROI but when it is and if you have a box located in the UK that skyplus box will work perfectly with an Irish card once you have both LNB inputs hooked up to your quad LNB and you are paying the extra sub.
So buy your box , in the north if you want to, there'll be no problems
I got mine in a dixons in London by the way for £249.
Make sure that the quad lnb is included, indeed , insist on opening the box before you leave the store, to check that theres one in there as , they are up to €100 to buy and you will need one.

mm
*edit*
p.s my sky plus box is currently being used as a digibox with an Irish sub and it had Dolby 5.1 on the box office channels as well as some of the movie channels.

There seems to be a big shortage of Sky+ boxes,I am going to UK in 2 weeks and if I manage to pick up a box, I am NOT a technician, so whats involved in installing this myself, you mention LNB outputs and quad LNB's this sounds a bit complicated to me. Does SKy activate your present Irish card in the Sky+ box?also will I need to get a new FTV card, as I have just activated a new one the other day after getting a new sub card,(anyway I have a spare one). If the installation involves tampering with the dish, do you recommend I leave it to a technician?
Thanks for your help

Going from what you say, yeap, I'd reccommend getting a local installer to do it for you-But when you are in the U.K make sure you come home with the Quad LNB ( the yoke on your dish that the cable is connected to in laymans terms ) included with the Sky plus!!!
You cannot use the existing lnb as it will only take one cable, assuming you have only one digibox at the moment and you've never had a dual lnb fitted.

Sky will activate your current Irish card for you in the new sky plus box, it's just a matter of ringing them.
They won't yet activate the Sky plus features on it though, but will soon and probably insist on a phone line connection too.
You will need to keep your old digibox for to continue to use the ftv card thats paired to that as it will not work if it's an old generation card in the new Sky plus box, assuming the Irish card you get them to activate in it is already a new generation one.
If it's still the old card, your FTV card will stop working when you initialise the new one once they send it to you.
So best advice there is Just get the installer to do a third cable run from the quad lnb to your old digibox, wherever you want to put it.
Two cables will already be running from the dish to the Sky plus box.

and because theres a fourth output on your new lnb, you could hook up a third digibox if you wanted with a mirror sub or just FTA BBC etc ( when that happens) in another room.
hope that helps.
mm

robert muldoon

Originally posted by Man
Going from what you say, yeap, I'd reccommend getting a local installer to do it for you-But when you are in the U.K make sure you come home with the Quad LNB ( the yoke on your dish that the cable is connected to in laymans terms ) included with the Sky plus!!!
You cannot use the existing lnb as it will only take one cable, assuming you have only one digibox at the moment and you've never had a dual lnb fitted.

Sky will activate your current Irish card for you in the new sky plus box, it's just a matter of ringing them.
They won't yet activate the Sky plus features on it though, but will soon and probably insist on a phone line connection too.
You will need to keep your old digibox for to continue to use the ftv card thats paired to that as it will not work if it's an old generation card in the new Sky plus box, assuming the Irish card you get them to activate in it is already a new generation one.
If it's still the old card, your FTV card will stop working when you initialise the new one once they send it to you.
So best advice there is Just get the installer to do a third cable run from the quad lnb to your old digibox, wherever you want to put it.
Two cables will already be running from the dish to the Sky plus box.

and because theres a fourth output on your new lnb, you could hook up a third digibox if you wanted with a mirror sub or just FTA BBC etc ( when that happens) in another room.
hope that helps.
mm

Thanks Man
Yes, I do have two digi boxes connected to the one dish,one is with a different name and address etc, so I was going to 'ligitimise' my system with Sky, ie use my ligit sub card in the Sky+ box and they(Sky) give me a new sub card for the spare ligit box at a discounted price. I now have a spare box, unsub it, as its over a year old and hook it up for a FTV card in another room
Does all that make any sense to you?
Will I have any difficulty getting some one here to instal all that , since they wont be supplying the Sky+ box

Originally posted by robert muldoon
Thanks Man
Will I have any difficulty getting some one here to instal all that , since they wont be supplying the Sky+ box

A few wads of cash, should do, just offer at your local shop.
Otherwise try this guy, he's very good
mm

Tony

Originally posted by Man
A few wads of cash, should do, just offer at your local shop.
Otherwise try this guy, he's very good
mm

Thanks for the kind words:)

robert muldoon

Originally posted by Tony
Thanks for the kind words:)

Looking thru What Satellite mag, am I right in saying that Pace are the only model for Sky+. No Panosonic?

ShaneOC

Originally posted by robert muldoon
Looking thru What Satellite mag, am I right in saying that Pace are the only model for Sky+. No Panosonic?

Yes, it is only pace who make the Sky+ boxes. A new box was released recently. As far as I know the only difference is the physical size and a few other cosmetic changes (i.e. where the buttons are).