[gilzeans head]

Hi everyone,can u help! I recently bought a thomson sky hd box from ebay and have set it up to my old dish,i cant get any bbc,itv,ch4 hd channels!
Only sbo hd1 and sbo2 are showing up. I havent had a sky subcription for about 2 yrs and have no viewing card(does this make a difference)
Sorry if this has been discussed before but any help would be appreciated.
Dont know anything about satellite! Cheers in advance.

[logiciel]

Hi - you should be seeing all the free HD channels, without a card, though there aren't many of them.
Are you seeing the free SD channels? Logi

[Digicon]

CH143 BBC one HD , CH169 BBC HD , CH140 CH4 HD, CH178 ITV1 HD.

You should be getting the above for free without a viewing card

[logiciel]

And NHK. The two that are on 1N might be a problem with unusual parameters on an old machine.

[Ghostleader]

Forced software download is a really good bet here, if this box has been siting in a cupboard for ever how long then its a good bet the EPG version & the rest is way to out of whack to right itself.

[ProDave]

When you say you "can't get them" what do you mean?

Are they listed on the EPG or not at the channel numbers already posted?

If they are listed but you "can't get them" you must get an error message on the screen, what does it say?

If it says "no satellite signal" it's very likely to be the well known problem of failed PSU capacitors on the thomson boxes. In which case your options are to repair it, or return it to the seller for a refund because it's faulty.

[gilzeans head]

Not listed on the EPG,when i put in the channel numbers it says Unavailable.

[Digicon]

Originally Posted by gilzeans head

Not listed on the EPG,when i put in the channel numbers it says Unavailable.

Better off doing a forced software update to the box, unplug power cord hold the Power button in on the top of the box keep pressed down and put the power cord back in and wait until you see all four coloured lights on the front display then you can let go of the power button.

It should also say on screen about updating Blah Blah will take 10 minutes.

[ProDave]

Did the box come from the Republic of Ireland? Some of those channels are not included in the ROI EPG and perhaps the box is remembering it's ROI EPG line up?

Can you borrow ANY sky card, even the old blue ones will regionalise the EPG and get your channel list back as it should be for a UK box.

Also try the installers menu (services 0 0 1 Select) and try a "new installation" from there.

[winston2010]

Thompson box; ebay; chances are its 'ucked. Send it back as faulty

[gilzeans head]

pro dave i have just discovered a blue sky viewing card in the box,doesnt seem to have any effect,also noticed the epg is the old listings,not the newish one i had when i subscriped to sky a couple of years ago! bought the box from e bay and the guy lived in northern ireland so you could be right.

[ProDave]

Originally Posted by gilzeans head

pro dave i have just discovered a blue sky viewing card in the box,doesnt seem to have any effect,also noticed the epg is the old listings,not the newish one i had when i subscriped to sky a couple of years ago! bought the box from e bay and the guy lived in northern ireland so you could be right.

Right, the box has been out of use for a LONG time.

Ignore the card for now, it may or may not be of use. Take it out of the box for now.

You need to do a forced software update to get the "new" EPG.

Unplug the box from the mains, press and hold the backup button on the top, keep holding the button and plug the mains in. Keep holding it until all 4 lights on the front come on and a message appears on the tv "updating software....."

Go and have a cup of tea and come back in 15 minutes and it should have updated and should have the new EPG.

Then see what channels you have.

Then put the card back in and see how it changes (BBC1 and ITV regions will change) then decide if you prefer it with or without the card.

You just may be very lucky and find the card enables recording, certainly worth a try to see.

[Digicon]

The blue card wont enable recording on a HD box it will on a standard Sky+ box but not on the HD

[ProDave]

Originally Posted by Digicon

The blue card wont enable recording on a HD box it will on a standard Sky+ box but not on the HD

If the blue card was left with it's sky+ functions enabled (i.e it was removed or the box turned off before the subscription ended) then it might. Mine certainly works in my HD box

It's a bit of a lottery which boxes will still recognise the blue cards to enable recording, some will some won't and it seems to depend if they have been used with a white card or not in some cases. My own box has never seen a white card and never will. I used to repair a lot of boxes, and found soon after the card swap that many boxes would not recognise my blue card so I was unable to test the recording functions.

ALL the blue cards that had sky+ enabled at the last card swap were left with sky+ enabled. So if you still have one of those, give it a try, it might work, it might not.

That loophole was closed with the white cards and I've not seen a single report of any white card continuing to enable recording after the subscription ends.

[logiciel]

Mine has a white card but still works with a blue house card for recording from free channels.

[gilzeans head]

Nice one guys,working a treat,thanks.