Can I use my Sky Box as an arial for Freeview?

[kevceltic]

I have just purchased a Sony 32inch LCD which has Freeview built in. I dont really need it as I have Sky but I am curious to know whether or not I can use my Sky Box as an arial to pick up Freeview.
Anybody tried and succeeded this or is it no possible?
Thanks in advance.
Kev

 

[Abbeygoo]

Your sky box can be used for this but you need to purchase a freesat card (widely available) or the box will only show a limited number of channels such as BBC1, CBBC etc.

The card should cost about £10/£15.

 

[fernandez]

What's connected to your Sky box?
If there is a terrestrial aerial connected to the RF IN socket then a lead can be taken from the RF OUT to the AERIAL IN socket on the TV
OR
simply connect the aerial direct to the TV unless you're using the Sky RF OUT to distribute signals around the house

If all you have is a dish then NO you cannot connect the Sky receiver to the TV and get Freeview - there MUST be an aerial somewhere in the equation


@ Abbeygoo
The OP already has Sky so why would he need a Freesat card which incidentally costs £20

 

[LV426]

OK a couple of different answers there to an unclear question. Let me try.

1) Freeview is a term used for digital TV coming from ground-based transmitters. Also known as DVB-T. Your tuner in your TV can receive this, from a suitable UHF aerial installation for your location.

2) A satellite receiver (such as a Sky box) receives digital TV from a satellite (also known as DVB-S) and produces a video and audio signal from it. The "free" programmes you can get by this method are most commonly known collectively as "Freesat". Your TV's tuner cannot receive DVB-S.

3) Freeview and Freesat are not the same thing, and the available programmes are no the same.

You can use a Sky box connected to any TV to receive Freesat. A SCART cable, set up for RGB, will typically offer the best picture quality. This does not make use of the TV's tuner and does not require an aerial.

 

[fernandez]

The OP's original question was..
"...whether or not I can use my Sky Box as an arial to pick up Freeview."

In which case I have explained the situation as clearly as I can and that, somewhere in the chain of things, a terrestrial aerial must be involved.
If what he is asking is that he can connect his Sky box to his Freeview enabled TV and receive the Freeview channels without an aerial being connected either to the Sky box and looped through, or connected directly to the TV,the answer is NO.

 

[Chris Muriel]

Indeed the original question as written doesn't make sense.
No set top box can itself be used as an aerial - a Freeview box requires a (preferably) roof top/chimney aerial whilst a $kybox requires a dish aerial and LNB.
That's in addition to the OP's likely confusion between Freeview (terrestrial DVB-T) and Freeesat (satellite DVB-S).

Chris Muriel, Manchester

 

[beerhunter]

I don't think that things were helped by the inaccurate second post.

 

[Abbeygoo]

I don't think that things were helped by the inaccurate second post.

Thanks for that! Sorry I misunderstood the OP's original post and tried to help. I have a Sky box upstairs that I use for just watching the free channels without a subscription and i thought that's what he meant.

Nice of you to post your thoughts though.

 

[Olias]

Yes !!

 

[KoThreads]

As a reply to the OP can someone then explain the following. I cancelled my sky sub a couple of years ago but continue to get the free channels. My Amstrad digibox (1999 vintage) is connected to my TV via scart and RF1. I have an aerial in the loft that is 3 years old.

RF2 is fed to my kitchen TV. I bought my parents a Freeview box last Christmas and first tried it in my kitchen and it would not pick up any signal. Thinking it was faulty I tried it in my front room via RF1, again nothing. For some reason I decided to pull the aerial out of my sky box RF in and connect it to the Freeview decoder where it then received loads of signals. It works round my parents fine to this day (They do not have sky) Why did this happen except that for some strange reason the signal never got through my sky box? I have never worked it out.

 

[961]

As a reply to the OP can someone then explain the following. I cancelled my sky sub a couple of years ago but continue to get the free channels. My Amstrad digibox (1999 vintage) is connected to my TV via scart and RF1. I have an aerial in the loft that is 3 years old.

RF2 is fed to my kitchen TV. I bought my parents a Freeview box last Christmas and first tried it in my kitchen and it would not pick up any signal. Thinking it was faulty I tried it in my front room via RF1, again nothing. For some reason I decided to pull the aerial out of my sky box RF in and connect it to the Freeview decoder where it then received loads of signals. It works round my parents fine to this day (They do not have sky) Why did this happen except that for some strange reason the signal never got through my sky box? I have never worked it out.

Perhaps because the freeview box, while having rf loopthrough, does not have rf output of its own. Many new dvd recorders work like this. You can loop the aerial output through the box to the tv or through the sky box and then to the tv using the co-ax cable all the time. However if you play a dvd on the recorder you cannot get that output via co ax but must use scart or other connector. This saves peanuts in manufacture but that is competition in the market these days