Do i keep old Sky Box, and will i get free HD?

[Cookie Monster]

Hi,

If i was to purchase a new 1TB Sky HD box would i be able to keep my old Sky HD box?

I have another older dish attached to the house that i could use to feed the old box in another room or preferably once i have a conseravatory built to the tv in there. The new 1TB box would be in the lounge.

Also, would i be able to use this older Sky HD box for Freesat and if so what would i need to do and what HD channels would i get?

Lastly anybody know if the SD scaler is better in the new 1TB Sky Boxs?

Not sure why Sky haven't invested in better scaling bet theres loads of AVnuts who would happily pay for an Anchor Bay chip set or similar. Think of all the £50 extras we pay for improved cabling etc. when Sky could add £100 to a greater SD performer and save us trying everything else under the sun to improve performance.

Thanks for any responses.

Kind Regards,

Cookie Monster

 

[daveh75]

Cookie Monster:
Hi,

If i was to purchase a new 1TB Sky HD box would i be able to keep my old Sky HD box?Yes,it's your property...

I have another older dish attached to the house that i could use to feed the old box in another room or preferably once i have a conseravatory built to the tv in there. The new 1TB box would be in the lounge. Yes,provided it's aligned to Astra 2/Eurobird 1 and has an universal LNB fitted. If by "older dish" you mean one of the larger round dishes from the analogue days, then it's probably aligned to Astra 1 and probably wont have an universal LNB fitted....

Though as you already have Sky HD it's likely that your current Sky dish has an quad LNB fitted, so you could run cabling from the spare LNB port(s) to feed a STB in your second room/conservatory.

Also, would i be able to use this older Sky HD box for Freesat and if so what would i need to do and what HD channels would i get?

You'll be able to receive all the FTA(Free To Air) channels, provided it's connected to a properly aligned dish.Be warned though using an Sky HD box without subscription means you lose all the Sky+ features!

There's around 240 FTA SD channels,see Here and 3 HD channels(BBC HD,ITV HD and Luxe TV HD). Additional to that,there is a handful of FTV(Free To View) channels, 4HD,Five,Fiver,Five USA,Fiver+1,Five USA+1 and Viva and a few other shopping and "adult chat" channels.

As these channels are FTV as opposed to FTA, they are encryted, so to view them requires an viewing card. You can buy a "Freesat From Sky" viewing card direct from Sky @ £20 if you want access to these channels.

Lastly anybody know if the SD scaler is better in the new 1TB Sky Boxs?Noi,if anything the upscaling/de-interlacing capabilities of these boxes is actually worse,from what i've seen.

Not sure why Sky haven't invested in better scaling bet theres loads of AVnuts who would happily pay for an Anchor Bay chip set or similar. Think of all the £50 extras we pay for improved cabling etc. when Sky could add £100 to a greater SD performer and save us trying everything else under the sun to improve performance.

Thanks for any responses.

Kind Regards,

Cookie Monster When frequenting forums it easy to forget that A/V and Hi-Fi is very much a niche market! I really dont think the demand for a pimped Sky box is there TBH.

Personally, i wouldn't waste the money on one of the 1TB boxes!

I'd upgrade the drive in the current box( it's cheap,easy and if you're sure there's plenty of howto's online) and either source a S/H Sky HD box from ebay or buy a Freesat box for the second room.....

 

[Cookie Monster]

Hi Daveh75,

Thanks for the very fast and thorough response to my questions.

Didn't realise i lost the use of the Hard Drive ability without subscription.

Think i will just go for Freesat or Freeview HD on the set i purchase for the conservatory once it is built and upgrade hard drive if needed later on current box for lounge. Guess HD box is out of warranty anyway.

Big thanks for the help,

Kind Regards,

Cookie Monster