two sky freevies questions

[chrisarvor]

first i have an old Pace sky box but it has no chan5 or fiver plus or 5 usa....
Can i manually download theses channels.
I have athompson box in the next roon off the same dish and have all these.
I live in Bulgaria so i know about not getting all channels but from one box to the other ???? not sure.

Second
i received my new White freeview card and put it into my thompson box and after they turned it on i lost ITV an chan 5 etc??????????
So i put the blue card back in and eventually they all came back.
so 20 quid down the drain?//
i phoned sky back not telling them where i live and he said its abox fault but obviously it isnt as they all worked before and after
any answers please
Thanks Chris

[Kymmy]

I believe you can get into an engineers menu and manually tune in a channel as long as you know the PID/FREQ/POL/..etc... (see lyngsat.com). Just don;t ask me how to get into the engineers menu though as it changes from box to box...

You're better off with a FTA box as that'll pick up all of the sky channels and all of the freesat channels (though it will not decode sky channels unless you have an already activated card and then only what the card is registered for) but there's very little left that the sky FTV card decodes that isn't denoted as a freesat channel..

One note if you get a FTA box that has a card slot then you can NOT activate a sky FTV card in the slot but instead you need an official sky box as the firmware does the activation ;) After activation you can then use it for the same channels in the FTA box slot

[NoKnowledge]

FIVE and ITV1 use different satellites to broadcast their regional versions and they've asked Sky to encrypt the broadcast of some of these regions so they're only available to viewers with a valid viewing card. Usually the request to encrypt is because the satellite signal of that region can be widely received outside the UK and Ireland and the broadcaster doesn't own the rights to transmit some programmes to continental Europe. This decision to encrypt channels is down to the individual broadcaster and not Sky. https://mysky.sky.com/replacecard/

[Chris]

And yet, if you buy a Freesat box, you can get Five and ITV anywhere in the UK without any viewing card at all. :scratch:

[nodrogd]

ITV and Five are scrambled on Skys EPG locations so have to be tuned in manually. To do this go to Services, System Setup, Add Channels.

The current list of FTA UK channels & freqs can be found HERE (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_free-to-air_channels_in_the_UK) under Astra 2D.

If you need detailed instructions on adding channels you can find them HERE (http://www.vowles-home.demon.co.uk/Sat/SkyExtra.htm)

[Chris]

Can you impose manually-tuned channels on a preferred EPG location ... i.e. could manual-Five be placed in at 105, or would it have to go on some random number way up high?

I have a FSFS rig at home right now, but I'm saving for a Humax Freesat+HD box and in the meantime I resent being asked to fork out £20 for a piece of plastic just to keep watching stuff on my Sky box that I know is free-to-air in the UK, regardless of Sky's misleading FAQs.

[Kymmy]

Never used Sky myself (always stuck with FTA :) )

But does Sky have a favourites list? If so Chris then wherever Sky puts a newly tuned channel surely it can be added to a favourites list ;)

Please feel free to slap if I'm wrong :D

[Paul K]

And yet, if you buy a Freesat box, you can get Five and ITV anywhere in the UK without any viewing card at all. :scratch:

Think the biggest issue is non UK viewers getting channel access they shouldn't have.

[Chris]

Sky want you to think that's still an issue. But the fact is, you can use a Freesat box anywhere in the UK without a viewing card and be guaranteed to get ITV1 and Five. So Sky is being a little economical with the truth.

[nodrogd]

One good thing about EU law is that no country can stop you picking up satellite signals from any other. However they don't say the broadcasters should make it easy. The only real restriction on receiving UK channels abroad is the use of the Astra 2D beam, which is tightly focused on the UK, for the five main channels.

The following advice about using Freesat abroad is from Wikipedia:

It is possible to receive Freesat outside the UK and Ireland, although a larger dish may be required as the Astra 2D footprint is mainly focused on the UK and Republic of Ireland. Freesat receivers ask for a postcode during installation, but this is just to determine which regional services to select. Non-UK residents would be best to enter a London postcode, as the ITV HD channel is currently not made available to viewers in Scotland and Northern Ireland. In the weaker signal areas, C4 reception can be a problem, but by entering a Northern Ireland postcode into any freesat box, the strongest regional variant will be received.

[Kymmy]

The only real restriction on receiving UK channels abroad is the use of the Astra 2D beam, which is tightly focused on the UK, for the five main channels.

They used to say that about 1A/B/C/D but when I met a guy in South Africa who used to get Sky on a side lobe I..... :rolleyes:

The marvelous thing about Radio frequencies is that no matter how accurate the digital signals are the analogue RF itself is very unpredictable :D