Upgrading Sky Hd box to 2nd hand Plus box

BishopBrennen · 05-05-2014 01:11AM #1

Hey people, just looking for some info regards upgrading 1 of my Sky HD boxes to a Sky plus box and some info on buying a 2nd hand box.

My current setup is as follows, I have a Multiroom subscription which consists of 1 Sky Hd plus box in the main room and 2 standard Hd boxes in 2 other rooms. The Sky plus box in the main room also has a On Demand wifi adaptor plugged into it.

I wish to upgrade the standard hd box in 1 of the other rooms to a Sky plus box so it can record and use On Demand like the Plus box in the main room. Sky have given me a mad price to purchase another Plus box, €250 or something. €300 or more for a box with built in wifi if i remember correctly.

If I buy a 2nd hand Sky plus box, can I just swap it with the standard box, conenct it all up and then ring Sky and get them to pair the box. From searching posts on here, Ive read there can be issues with Sky refusing to pair a 2nd hand box if its still in the sellers 1st years contract. Is this correct and if i just buy an older box will this avoid this issue.

Also, from searching on here, ive read of needing other cables from the dish to be able to record and use the plus features, but because Ive got multiroom does this mean Ill have all the necessary cables from when everything was originally installed or will I need more cables? I have all 3 current boxes connected to the phoneline.

Also, is there any where else I can buy a brand new cheaper version of the Sky plus box that will work other than from Sky themselves to avoid the whole 2nd hand pairing issue, dont want to get stung with a box they wont pair. Can I walk into Harvey Norman and buy a box or whats the best thing to do here?

Appreciate some advice.

muffler · 05-05-2014 10:59AM

"Yes" will probably answer most of your questions.

The biggest issue you will probably have is getting the cabling sorted. To avail of the full functionality of Sky+ you need 2 cables going to each box. If Sky did the multiroom install then most likely you will have only a single cable feeding each multiroom box.

In total you will need 6 cables (for 3 boxes) but the chances are that the lnb (where cables connect to dish) is only capable of 4 so you will also need that changed to an octo lnb - takes 8 cables obviously. A quick look at the dish will tell you what type you have. You would need someone to possibly change the lnb and add additional cables and then you are ready for your boxes.

There are lots of boxes for sale on Adverts.ie and yes you just have to be careful where you buy and who you buy from. Buying from approved shop sellers like this guy (no connection) or someone with high feedback will practically ensure that the box is fine.

You cant buy Sky boxes in ordinary shops. You can of course buy other sat boxes and go the freesat route free from Sky charges but they wont have the same functionality though. But thats a different matter.

BishopBrennen · 05-05-2014 01:07PM

Thanks for clearing that up. I had a quick look at the back of the boxes and you are indeed correct, the sky+ box has 2 cables whereas each of the multiroom boxes has just a single cable. So Ill need to get that sorted out before buying a box but at least I know what to do now.

Upgrading Sky Hd box to 2nd hand Plus box

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