don't know if i'm the 1000th person to ask, can a sky+ box be used as a freeview box?

[throwit]

so i have a sky plus box, all the cables and the dish, but when we had it plugged in it was always wingeing that its phone connection was not plugged in (this was 'cause of a bad phoneline), i was wondering if i can now use either the dish or a standard tv aerial to receive signal and use box on a non - subscription basis, and without actually plugging the thing into the phone socket ?

any info will of course be much appreciated matt

[neilmcl]

Yes, as long as you're now out of contract. The "line not plugged in" warning is just that a warning and doesn't effect operation of the box.

[throwit]

thankyou neilmcl

do you know if it'll run off a coax input ?

[neilmcl]

Originally Posted by throwit

thankyou neilmcl

do you know if it'll run off a coax input ?

No, you still run it of the Sky sat feeds with your existing viewing card, you'll just get the FTA channels.

[throwit]

that's a shame, as i've moved, and i'll have to jig about with installing the dish diy style, a guess eastsoutheast and 10 degrees elevation to start and use the signal strength indicator to fine tune

thanks for the info

[xxxx]

Originally Posted by throwit

so i have a sky plus box, all the cables and the dish, but when we had it plugged in it was always wingeing that its phone connection was not plugged in (this was 'cause of a bad phoneline), i was wondering if i can now use either the dish or a standard tv aerial to receive signal and use box on a non - subscription basis, and without actually plugging the thing into the phone socket ?

Unless you have a "multiroom" subscription you never need to connect the phone line, no matter what Sky say. They only check for multiroom subscriptions.
I don't understand your comment about it wingeing as the Sky+, like all Sky boxes, only reminds you about the phone connection once when it is booted up. Perhaps you were often unplugging it?

[xxxx]

Originally Posted by neilmcl

No, you still run it of the Sky sat feeds with your existing viewing card, you'll just get the FTA channels.

And the 3 FTV channels: Channel 4, Five and Sky3. All the FTA channels are available without a card.

[Chris Muriel]

The thread title needs correcting.

Freeview is a terrestrial service.
Freesat is the close equivalent via satellite.

Chris Muriel, Manchester

[throwit]

thankyou neilmcl, xxxx and Chris Muriel

yes, the box would only ask about the phoneline upon switching on after overnight unplug (incidentally, doesn't the box use the phoneline to tell rupert what you like to watch ? )

our sky plus box hadn't had a card renewed for some time, and just seemed to work for sky automatically so it'll be interesting to see how many channels it displays

[throwit]

just had a thought...won't be able to put up dish for a while - renting flat - and i need to check that a) i've remembered the correct pin, and b) would like to watch some stuff on the hd

can anyone shed light on how to do these things without sat feed ? - never worked without as far as i know

[LV426]

Hang on a minute.

You can't, if I recall correctly, use any of the recording features of a Sky+ box unless you subscribe. You will only be able to use it as a basic receiver.

[throwit]

that's a big shame, i wish i got how all this works - i mean, the phoneline we used was dead: rat-modified (little buggers were everywhere - the house was totally f****d, i'll wager it fell down last week), our card was quite old. so it appeared as though the dish/two sat feeds/box/record/view functions were all fully functioning without rupert ever being able to check. the only explanation i can think of is that...

a) the card was set up to work for six or twelve months or similar,

b) the system was faulty in a good way or the original purchaser of the system (big earner) was given some A1 credit rating version -set to work forever (i know, it's wishful thinking)

if and when i'm able to provide answers i'll post them here

[xxxx]

I explained this earlier. The phone connection is pointless unless you have a multiroom sub. It doesn't make the box receive more or less channels or make the Sky+ recording functions work. Once your card and box are working normally they will continue to do so as long as they are regularly connected to a working dish.

If you cancel your sub your card will still decode the 3 FTV channels: Channel 4, Five and Sky3, and you will also receive some 200 other free channels. You will not be able to record or play back anything unless you continue to pay Sky £10 per month to do so.

All Sky boxes are designed to be left connected to the mains at all times. If you leave them like that you will almost never see the phone reminder.

[throwit]

thankyou xxxx for taking the time to explain all you have, i do understand about the phoneline, i never thought it related to signals, just thought it was to do with authorisation/activation or viewing research kinds of things

either way, it did ask about working telephone connections on startup, though it was never a real issue as everything would still work anyway

trust me, if you had lived in this house, with all the electric shocks, dry rot, woodworm, leaking roof, rats etc you would have felt inclined to kill the electricals for a safe nights sleep, and it wasn't cheap to rent either

that's a real bugger that it wont do the tivo thing without a subscription

[Cynthia 7]

Hi throwit,

We had a letter from Sky this morning, with our Account number on it so it wasn't just spam. It said they noticed that all the Sky boxes we have are not connected to the same telephone line. We have had Sky+ and multiroom for years and this is the first time we have been notified. The boxes have always been connected to a telephone line.

It mentions that perhaps we have ADSL/Broadband telephone line, and please ensure you have a filter connected between the set top box and the phone line. We have had Broadband for a few years and BT were meant to be sorting out the filters, and we mentioned Sky at the time. Perhaps this is why you've had complaints from Sky about your telephone line if you have Broadband/ADSL.

I wonder if these filters are obtainable from high street shops or would I need to go to PC World? Perhaps simplest to get it online.