Use a Sky box without card for freesat?

[NiceCupOfTea]

Hi folks,

Getting a bit cheesed off with less than great reception on freeview using a separate box.

The previous owner of our house had satellite TV - the dish is still there, and the Sky box (Pace 2500S5). Can I just plug it in and use it to receive freesat? There's no card in it and I obviously don't have a subscription (don't want one either!).

[Sheets Tabuer]

you need to phone sky and get them to send you a card to view freeview, I don't think they pick up freesat.

[GreenV8S]

I think you will need a freesat card, which costs £20 to buy (this is a one-off charge - there's no recurring subscription charge).

[eyebeebe]

Why not plug it in and try.

When we moved we cancelled Sky as we weren't using it, but as we'd bought the HD box for £299 when it first came out took it with us. I noticed that there were satellite leads at the new house so plugged it in, without a card, and we get a range of channels. I don't know if it is freesat or not, but we get all the terrestrial channels, plus the likes of E4.

[xrv]

You should be able to get all the BBC and ITV channels possibly a few more. You won't get the full rang from freesat though.

[BB-Q]

Before you buy a Freesat card beware- there's no Dave on Freesat!!!!!

I had less than Stella reception on Freeview for the bedroom telly, so I but up a standard external aeriel in the loft and all is good. The bonus of this is that you can put as many of those up in the rafters as you like without planning permission etc. Put them up high enough and they don't get in the way either!

[pikey]

I had an old Sky box for the free stuff (cancelled the subscription as not value for money for us). I was pissed off about how few channels would come through the free Sky service (about 8, and it's not clear which ones they are as you're still presented a list of all 160). Also the HD is not enabled on the free service.

I bought a freesat box, plugged it in and now get more channels than FreeView, including HD (which is so awsome I find myself watching whatever's on it!!) as the previous poster said, no 'Dave' but I'm sure that'll be resolved in time.

Sky+ box is going on eBay

[cjs]

Freesat from Sky, which has been around for years, is not the same as the newer Freesat service.

http://www.freesatfromsky.co.uk/default.aspx

You can get some channels on Sky box without a viewing card.

[NiceCupOfTea]

NO DAVE!?!?!?

I'll give it a go later on today. If it's a bit clunky I'll leave it until Dave is on Freesat and then buy a Freesat PVR. They seem to be about 300 quid at the moment though...

[cjs]

But you do get Men & Motors though, which is not on Freeview.

Also there are no Sky channels on regular Freesat, no Sky News, Sky Sports News, Sky 3. They are available on Freesat from Sky.

ETA. You will need a twin LNB and two cables drops for a Freesat PVR.

Edited by cjs on Sunday 18th January 11:19

[NiceCupOfTea]

Yeah, I know about the twin LNB.

Very confusing about all the different channels on different providers Sky 3 can be quite good...

[cjs]

NiceCupOfTea said:

Yeah, I know about the twin LNB.

Very confusing about all the different channels on different providers Sky 3 can be quite good...

The only way to get all FTA channels is to have all 3 services, Freeview, Freesat and Freesat from Sky.

You better install a quad LNB and drop 4 cables!

[NiceCupOfTea]

How do you get Freesat from Sky as opposed to Freesat - do you need a special box or is it a card?

[Puggit]

NiceCupOfTea said:

How do you get Freesat from Sky as opposed to Freesat - do you need a special box or is it a card?

Special card - which still needs to be activated in the box. One of fee of something like £20

http://www.freesatfromsky.co.uk/freesat.aspx

[cjs]

NiceCupOfTea said:

How do you get Freesat from Sky as opposed to Freesat - do you need a special box or is it a card?

I posted a link earlier. If you have a Sky box and dish they will send you a card for around £20. One off payment. Sky have been offering their Freesat service for years, they just don't really promote it.

I was very surprised when the new Freesat service came out using the same name, it is bound to confuse people.

[NiceCupOfTea]

Puggit said:

NiceCupOfTea said:

How do you get Freesat from Sky as opposed to Freesat - do you need a special box or is it a card?

Special card - which still needs to be activated in the box. One of fee of something like £20

http://www.freesatfromsky.co.uk/freesat.aspx

Hmmmm, no mention of the card that I can see there.

So in theory could I get the card, use it in my sky box for the freesat from sky stuff, then pull the card out and get the normal freesat stuff?

[Ellis456]

No you need to keep the card in it once activated, that card is assigned to that particular box. I have freesat from sky, just rang them payed them £20 now get all the free channels 1-5 etc, you wont get dave and dave+1 but get men and motors instead. You also get zone reality one of my most watched channels the rest are boring shopping etc.You get sop much more music channels on freeat though, but you wont get tmf and the hits.

If you can get both freesat and freeview do that(best of both worlds), I cant get a reception for freeview, as im upstairs and dad is using the ariel(we cant alter anyhting rented property), so that leaves with with sky(remot eye from downstairs).

[NiceCupOfTea]

OK that makes sense I think! Is there anything on Freesat that Freesat From Sky misses out? If not that FFS () and Freeview should cover it all.

[Ellis456]

TV & Radio Channel Lineups
http://www.uksatellitehelp.co.uk/2007/08/02/freesa...

Although Freesat offers more channels than Freeview, the main channels are available on both systems. The key difference is that on Freeview the following channels are available for free, but not on Freesat:

Sky Sports News
E4
E4 +1
More 4
More 4 +1
ftn
UKTV History
abc1
The Hits
TMF

Thats weried I have freesat and get E4, E4 +1, More 4, More 4 +1 and sky sports news for free:s

Edited by Ellis456 on Sunday 18th January 13:21

[cjs]

NiceCupOfTea said:

OK that makes sense I think! Is there anything on Freesat that Freesat From Sky misses out? If not that FFS () and Freeview should cover it all.

Look at the websites, they list all the channels available.