How do I go about upgrading my rubbish Sky minibox?

I've recently bought a Sharp Aquos LC26GA4 and the picture quality isn't that good using our second room subscription Sky Minibox. I think this is mainly because it doesn't have RGB out so I' like to buy a box which does and was wondering the best way to do this. I'm on a fairly tight budget and don't want to spend more than £100 (£50 would be nice!), so I guess I'll have to purchase a second hand box on Ebay or from this forum.

A couple of questions then:

1) Which box should I be looking for?
2) What's the procedure to change to a different digibox? - do I just plug it in and insert my existing viewing card (currently in the Minibox) for it to function, or do I need to ring Sky for them to re-enable everything?

Thanks for any replies.

 

The minibox is a cheap solution for a multiroom setup but times are changing and more and more people have at least a RGB scart equipped second TV in the bedroom/kids room thesedays.

1) Amstrad DRX400, PACE DS430N, Thomson 4210/12 or Panasonic TU-DSB 40/50.
They are all the latest and not really a great difference between them.
Older (couple of years) PACE and Panasonic models should also be fine and should be much cheaper bought used.
2) Just ring SKY and they will marry the existing card to the new box and make sure it carries the proper channel lineup and your billing isn't changed.

 

Note that Panasonic stopped making Sky digiboxes quite a while ago. The Amstrad and Thomson boxes aren't very reliable. That leaves the Pace DS-430N. Seen them new for £130.

If buying used, try for a Panasonic TU-DSB40 or 50.


A. Dork