second hand sky box ?

byteagig · 13 Apr 2008 at 23:25

im thinking of getting a used sky box for the kids bedroom, i already have a dish and there is a cable in the bedroom already. we used to have sky in that bedroom but got rid of it.
now i was just wondering if i will be able to just plug it in and expect it to work or will i need to do a full system reset or adjust transponder settings ect?
also will i need to have a sky card to just get the free to air channels??
any ideas??

Ricochet J · 13 Apr 2008 at 23:31

If you want them to watch what you watch, you need to also buy a reciever splitter. Costs around £15, one of payment.
If you want them to independantly watch what ever they want to without effecting what you watch, you need a seperate subscription Sky multiroom.

byteagig · 13 Apr 2008 at 23:46

yes its to let them watch what they want but just the free view channels. i was going to buy a freeview box but i thought because we already have the cable there for sky i might as well get a sky box. it would cost me more to get a regular freeview box because the tv ariel cable is kaput so i would have to pay to get that sorted as well

Darey · 13 Apr 2008 at 23:47

I cancelled Sky over 18 months ago, and my Sky card still works to receive free to air channels except Dave, E4, More4 plus few others, so if you kept your old Sky card, you could use that. Otherwise look on the some auction sites, they will have used cards. But to be honest, Freeview boxes are cheap as chips now-a-days and small. Edit : yes you would need a Sky card which works, also assuming the Sky dish hasn't moved, it should work again, although it might need slight ajustment due to weather etc.

Dandle · 14 Apr 2008 at 00:25

I read some time ago that either Sky or the BBC(can't remember which one) will sell you a freeview card to use in a SKY box. The normal SKY card has to be synced with the box at some point for it to work I think.

Gaygle · 14 Apr 2008 at 00:28

Look up something called "FreeSat" from sky. This is sky's free package that will give you some more clues

Sonea Fifer · 14 Apr 2008 at 01:23

Am sure Begbie will be along shortly to keep us all right

Begbie · 14 Apr 2008 at 01:45

Haha just in time,

You can either use your old card as a freesat card, altough E4 and a few others won't work, as you have to pay for these within a package so won't work with a freesat card with sky.

If you don't have your old card, phone up sky and they will sell you one for £20. You'll be very lucky to get one from auction sites as its illegal to sell them on as they are property of sky, Ebay can be very quick at taken these off auctions.

The box should work straight away, but do a software download on it anyway. Unplug from the mains, hold in the backup button on the front of the box and plug it back in whilist holding it in.

http://www.lyngsat.com/freetv/United-Kingdom.html list of extra channels.