Topic: Sky box

[Clive]

I think my Sky box is on the blink.  I suppose I should be thankful this has happened at Christmas time which is the worst time of the year to find anything worth watching on the telly.  The symptoms are channels momentarily freezing, strange "clicks" on the sound and error messages such as "searching for listings" or "program not available".  Rebooting the system jolts it back into action again.  The box is a Panasonic which I've had quite a few years so I suppose I've had my money's worth out of it.  But where do I buy a new box?  Is it simply a visit to Curry's or do I have to (gulp) contact Sky.

[Simon]

It might be worth just hanging on a day or two, to make sure it's not a signal strength issue, which could be rectified, Clive.  The symptoms you describe are exactly that of my Freeview boxes, if the signal is compromised for any reason, but this is usually only temporary.  Maybe it's just atmospherics, or could something have caused your dish to be misaligned?

I was under the impression that Sky boxes came with the contract, in which case, you should be able to contact Sky for a replacement, but I could well be wrong on that, as I've never had dealings with Sky.  Obviously, if you were to contact them, they would try to sell you something else as well!

[Clive]

Yes, Sky are like a terrier with a bone.  During the past 2 weeks I've received junk mail, junk phone calls from them asking me to insure my Sky box and on Friday two "heavies" from Sky were knocking on my door to try and get me to take an upgraded package.  I've had the problem for some time so I'm confident it's not atmospherics.  The signal strength is good.  I had a feeling that it's a contract thing because you just don't see them advertised do you?  Maybe I will have to contact my local Sky engineer.

[Simon]

I don't think you can buy a box in your local Currys, but you can get them NEW on eBay, Clive, with hard drives included.  Not sure if the subscription is 'married' to the box, but I'm sure Sandra would know the answer to that.  In the meantime, I know you don't like eBay, but check this out, which, by the way, is just an example, not a personal recommendation.

[Lona]

I bought a sky+ box for my son on Ebay, Clive.  It cost me £90. We installed it ourselves and then I phoned sky for a card.

The card cost nothing but had to pay an extra £10 for multi room addition.

The box is like brand new as lots of folks are upgrading to HD boxes so you should be able to pick one up no problem.

Just be careful which one you bid on and that it's not a a really old box

The one I got had a 160 HD and the make was Pace, which I hear are the best boxes.

If you don't want to venture into ebay, you can go here.  Prices are very good.


http://www.simplydigital.co.uk/acatalog/Sky_Plus_Receivers.html?gclid=CPmzgbPcn4kCFQJPQgodnHkoUQ

[Clive]

Oh that's great news!  With sky+ do you have to pay an additional monthly subscription though?  I really don't want to go down that road because I feel they are getting enough out of me as it is.

[Delgado]

Im sure that what Im about to say will cause some of you to cry "Rubbish", but here is my experience of Sky.

 A few years ago my Business Partner and I were bombarded with requests to upgrade our packages, and allsorts of options were offered on new boxes etc. We both declined, as we felt we were paying enough all ready. Our boxes were a couple of years old, and as you know, updates are made during the night to software etc, and funny enough both our boxes went awol a few days later, with freezing and blocking, and then nothing on screen!

 We both lived in different areas, and Im convinced it was dirty work done by Sky transmitting some kind of bug to our boxes to balls them up!!

 I now use Freeview, and Sky can go and jump off a cliff!!!!

[Simon]

Strangely enough, I had the same suspicions, DG,

[Clive]

I can believe that Delgado.  This morning, I called into my friendly Sky shop who told me that the problem is probably the LNB needs replacing which will cost £40 inc fitting.  Less likely is that it could be the box and a replacement Pace is £130.  She said that Sky + costs an additional £10 a month if your monthly package comes to less than £30.  I only have the basic package so I would have to pay the extra.  I have no intention of doing that!  They will come out to test the system for me just after Christmas.

[Sandra]

To check that the LNB and cable is ok Clive can you not borrow a box from a neighbour ?

Its a simple job to just swap them over for a few minutes as a test.

If its still faulty then if your dish is reasonably accessable its quite an easy job to replace the LNB yourself and you can pick up a quad LNB, so that you can run more boxes or sky plus, off ebay for under £15.

Lonas hubby recently fitted one and found it quite easy to do according to Lona and hed not done anything with satellites before.

[Clive]

Isn't the LNB the bit that fits into the dish Sandra?  It's quite high up and not something I would tackle.  If it was at ground level then I would!  It's probably rusted on anyway as the dish is 17 years old.  Good idea about borrowing a box though! 

[Sandra]

Yes its the bit at the end of the arm where the cable attaches.
The sky ones usually just clip in place inside a plastic holder and as long as you dont move the dish its simply a case of making sure the LNB is roughly vertical in the holder befor you push it into position, then screw the cable connector onto it and tape it up.

If its too high up and if you do have to pay for one to be fitted you may as well ask for a twin or a quad LNB, they shouldnt cost more than a couple of pounds extra to a single one and will to some extent future prooof you if you do get sky plus eventually or another box in another room.
You would only need to attach extra cables to it instead of replacing the LNB again.

[Clive]

Very good point Sandra.

[Lona]

You can pick up panasonic sky boxes really cheaply on ebay Clive. 

Think Sandra's idea is a good one though to try first with a neighbour's box.