Take Sky+ HD for a year... then what happens?

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I don't have Sky.

Through work I've been offered free installation and HD+ box and half price on any package I want for a year, including the HD upgrade. I think I'd take the basic channels, Movies 1 and the HD upgrade.

Can anyone help me establish what happens when I cancel at the end of the year, as there's no way I'm paying full price? Freeview picture quality is rubbish for me, so I just want the basic channels in decent quality.

As I understand it, I'd still get any free to air channels (so the Freeview channels I currently get). Would I get them in HD though, where they're available, with no Sky subscription? And would I lose any other features, like the EPG, Sky+ recording, setting a programme to record via the iPhone app, etc? I assume I'd at least lose the latter, but is it possible to still use it as a basic PVR, perhaps with HD on free channels?

I'd look at Freesat HD but I can't install another satellite dish on the property, so would be sharing a neighbour's dish. I assume I can't share their Sky dish but receive Freesat instead of Sky through it, so Sky is the only option for decent picture quality.
 
You would get all the "freesat from sky" channels which are not exactly the same as the "freeview" channels, for instance you won't get dave, Channel1 (soon to be closing anyway) yesterday, viva, quest, 4 music, and possibly a few others I've forgotten.

You will get BBC1 HD, BBC HD, ITV1 HD, channel 4 HD, five HD, but NOT ITV2,3 and 4 HD

You will also lose the recording and playback functions.

EDIT didn't spot the bit about dishes.

Sky and Freesat use exactly the same signal from the same satellite dish.

If you cannot install your own dish, sky will probably refuse to connect you to a neighbours dish, and insist on you first getting a properly installed communal dish.
 
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I don't have Sky.

Through work I've been offered free installation and HD+ box and half price on any package I want for a year, including the HD upgrade. I think I'd take the basic channels, Movies 1 and the HD upgrade.

Can anyone help me establish what happens when I cancel at the end of the year, as there's no way I'm paying full price? Freeview picture quality is rubbish for me, so I just want the basic channels in decent quality.

As I understand it, I'd still get any free to air channels (so the Freeview channels I currently get). Would I get them in HD though, where they're available, with no Sky subscription? And would I lose any other features, like the EPG, Sky+ recording, setting a programme to record via the iPhone app, etc? I assume I'd at least lose the latter, but is it possible to still use it as a basic PVR, perhaps with HD on free channels?

I'd look at Freesat HD but I can't install another satellite dish on the property, so would be sharing a neighbour's dish. I assume I can't share their Sky dish but receive Freesat instead of Sky through it, so Sky is the only option for decent picture quality.

Basically you would get the FTA and FTV channels which are not the same as the Freeview channels some of which are subscription on satellite (e.g. Dave, channel1, yesterday). With your cancelled subsccription card you get only the following HD channels (may change over the next year) BBC1 HD, BBC HD, ITV1 HD, Channel 4HD, Five HD and Luxury Life HD. You would lose all PVR facilities including playback of any recordings on the box after cancelling.

Sharing satellite dishes between adjacent properties can be fatally dangerous if correct earth bonding is not fitted to the dish and lnb cabling which really needs a fully qualified satellite installer or preferably an electrician to install - unless an electrician can confirm both properties are on the same mains power phase. Otherwise there is nothing to stop freesat and Sky from the same dish. Sky would be extremely unlikely to install in this way unless it is group of flats and subject to the above limitations of sharing dishes.
 
Thanks very much guys - if it wasn't for losing the PVR functionality I'd go for it for sure. Oh well!
 
I can't install another satellite dish on the property, so would be sharing a neighbour's dish. I assume I can't share their Sky dish but receive Freesat instead of Sky through it
You can't share their dish at all, though if you could share it you could receive Freesat on it.
So, it's one :thumbsdow and one :smashin:.
 
Oh really? How come? I'm not really up on satellite TV but I thought this was a fairly standard thing.
 
Yet more proof that sky need to address that policy.

Or, from Sky's PoV more proof that should they ever stop the '£10 to record or a Sky sub' they'd lose many customers. You may not like it, but you now have the option of a freesat PVR if you don't!
 
You can't share their dish at all, though if you could share it you could receive Freesat on it.
So, it's one :thumbsdow and one :smashin:.

Forgive me, I'm not up on the freesat side of things at all, but I assumed a 'freesat' dish and a Sky dish were identical and were aligned identically? hence being able to use a Sky dish to feed a 'freesat' TV?
 
You assumed right - that's what I said - if you can get Sky on it you can get Freesat on it. The point is:
Oh really? How come?
You can't get Sky on it because you can't share dishes: "Sharing satellite dishes between adjacent properties can be fatally dangerous....Sky would be extremely unlikely to install in this way" from dm2, and "Sky will probably refuse to connect you to a neighbours dish" from PD.
 
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Aah, sorry, I mis-interpreted that, I won't explain how or I'll just sounds stupid. We are in the same block - a house converted into five flats - so perhaps it might still be an option?

Am I reading this right, Miss Chief. "£10 to record or a Sky sub." Can you cancel all your Sky channels but still pay £10/month just to use the PVR functionality?
 
If there's one dish with a quad LNB that will feed up to four separate receivers; if it's an octo LNB then up to eight.
Sky+ costs £10+ a month which is waived to subscribers, so you MAY be able to pay that on its own.
 
Thanks very much. I might ring to see if they'd do it, and take it from there. Based on PD's post about sharing a dish and using it for Freesat, it sounds like I might be able to get Sky for a year to get my installation sorted, then switch to a Freesat box in a year's time and use the same connection?

Do they fit the Quad LNB dishes as standard or only by request? Whatever the neighbours will have will be the default dish I'd expect.
 
You said in the first post you'd look at Freesat but thought you couldn't - you now know you could so why not look into it now?
If you do go for Sky then after the 12 months you can either carry on using the receiver for free channels but not recording, or get a Freesat then.
A Sky installation does usually include a quad LNB.
Just look at the neighbour's and see how many connections it has and if any are not in use.
 
If there's one dish with a quad LNB that will feed up to four separate receivers; if it's an octo LNB then up to eight.

To clarify, a quad LNB feeds two separate receivers, as Sky+ and HD have two feeds per receiver for normal operation including recording (view one, record another, or record two simultaneously). Single feed per receiver means limiting the functionality.
 
Thanks very much. I suppose the appeal of Sky is that I can have it cheap for a year and try it, have the movies for a year and be able to host my group of friends' annual Oscars party, and have the installation handled, all for about £150.

If it's then as easy as switching to a Freesat box, I'll do that in a year's time :)
 
I'd check the arithmetic on that 150. :D
 
£15 a month for 12 months with a £25 M+S voucher. £4 extra for my movies if I go for that. I'm trying to convince myself here though, so a bit of figure-fiddling is necessary, no?
 
Don't forget as well if, at the end of the year, you change for a freesat box, then you will get at least £50 possible more for selling your sky HD box, so that would make your years worth of sky and dish install not much more than £100. Pretty good value.

It all depends on whether sky are happy with your dish situation and happy to install you.
 
With only the one entertainment pack the HD pack isn't going to be much use so that's another £5 you could save.
 

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