Can I get HD on BBC etc without paying Sky extra

mcevoyd

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My Sky+ box died and Sky replaced it with a first generation HD Box. I don't want to pay any more to Sky so the engineer advised me to get an HDMI cable to run between Sky box & TV and to disconnect the TV to Box Scart cable. In that way I could get HD on BBC etc. Checked this info with a friend who used to install for Sky - he said if you don't pay for HD then you can't get it even on non-Sky channels. Before I buy an HDMI cable does anybody know which answer is correct. Thanks for any advice.

My Sky+ box died and Sky replaced it with a first generation HD Box. I don't want to pay any more to Sky so the engineer advised me to get an HDMI cable to run between Sky box & TV and to disconnect the TV to Box Scart cable. In that way I could get HD on BBC etc. Checked this info with a friend who used to install for Sky - he said if you don't pay for HD then you can't get it even on non-Sky channels. Before I buy an HDMI cable does anybody know which answer is correct. Thanks for any advice.
 
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You can get the BBC HD channels on 141 and 142, and any other free HD channels, now, with your existing connection - take a look!
If you replace the Scart cable with an HDMI cable for a couple of pounds then you will get them in better quality.
 
I have sky but not the hd package

I don't get sky 1 hd or any of the other sky hd channels

But I do get BBC1HD, BBC2HD, ITVHD, C4HD, C5HD etc

So buy your HDMI cable, but don't pay the earth.

High Quality HDMI Cable

Ditch the scart
 
Those are much too expensive - I stick with "a couple of pounds".;)
 
It does, and I was referring to the normal one metre.
I recently paid a shade under £10 for a 5 metre.
As the link says "does it make any difference which HDMI cable I buy? The answer, conclusively, was no".
Of course the stuff that Tesco tried on him was cheap and nasty compared to the notorious: top of the range.
 
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It does, and I was referring to the normal one metre.
I recently paid a shade under £10 for a 5 metre.
As the link says "does it make any difference which HDMI cable I buy? The answer, conclusively, was no".

Agree. The days of paying £100 plus are gone (But if you want one, I have one. Somewhere)

Equally, like toilet paper. Cheap. Very cheap. And too cheap

(Every little helps!)

But I've never found a metre was quite long enough :)
 
My Sky+ box died and Sky replaced it with a first generation HD Box.

First generation.... that means you got the Thomson with component out then... you could use component cables instead.

But I doubt you really got first gen box, they are notoriously good at destroying PSU's the component connections offer no copy protection, and the hardware isn't capable of all the sky go stuff the are rolling out.

OTOH, if you do have a HD capable TV, why not shell out a couple of quid on a cable that will improve your picture quality, an allow you to see HD programming that is free to air
 
Yes, that reference to a "first generation" machine can't be correct - Sky wouldn't supply one of those.
Thanks for your confirmation of "a couple of quid" for the cable, which OP is presumably now going for.
 
Firstly sorry for resubmitting the original question. I'm only going by what the Sky engineer told me re "it's lst Gen Sky box". Apparently they no longer replace Sky+ boxes like-for-like in view of major failures on these. Anyway I'll get myself a cable and try it out. Finally, I understand I have to change the TV setting to HDMI but in honesty I don't know how to do that, any help on that please?
 
That's OK about the double post,and I've merged them so that you can edit them into one.
Sky don't use engineers for domestic work so that was probably an installer, but he got it wrong on both points.
The first generation goes a long way back and if Sky still have any they won't be issuing them.
There haven't been any specific major failures on any Sky machines.
Have you actually checked that you're getting the channels now, with the Scart?
The new HDMI cable will be fine though, and you'll see a definite improvement in the picture.
If you currently select the Scart input by pressing a button called something such as Source or Input, you'll need to press that more or fewer times to select the HDMI input.
If it's by another method the TV's manual will tell you about it.
 
There haven't been any specific major failures on any Sky machines.

So all Thomson failures have been random? (albeit it was virtually always the power supply?)
 
Mine was fine.;)
 
:eek::laugh:
 
Thanks for your replies. I have checked out BBC1 & 2 HD and was very impressed - never looked at those channels before! Gonna get an HDMI lead and improve further. I understand the instructions for switching TV source. Again thanks for your assistance, much appreciated.
 
That's OK and look for the others - ITV1, C4, NHK, RT.
 

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