Sky Box. Can I fix it or should I get a new one?

[Wisigoth]

Our trusty old Skybox (reconditioned when we got it in 2003) has started freezing up.  It was fine at Christmas but on our Easter visit to France, we had to keep unplugging it every couple of hours.  Sometimes when the picture freezes, we still get the sound.  Having searched the net, I’m guessing its something to do with a software update which we don’t receive as the box isn’t connected to the phone line.   Do we scrap it and get a new one?  We’re moving to France permanently soon and thinking of investing in a large flat screen (possibly HD) telly.  We don’t have Sky in England so I don’t know much about what’s available. Should we be looking for an HD Sky box?

[ChezShells]

Hi

Might just need a software upgrade.

Unplug it, hold the backup button (i think) and plug it back in, keep it pressed for a few secs and it should be okay after.

Lee

[Tim]

Sorry, I thought I had replied to this but I'm not sure where the message went - perhaps I PMd you?

Anyway, if you didn't get the message I'll repeat that you do not get your software upgrades through the telephone line. If your box has been plugged in most of the time, and not left off for several months, it should have received all the updates it needs.

What is more likely is that the box has developed a fault. What make is it? Some are prone to power supply faults.

[Tim]

Update :- At the moment, as far as I know, you cannot get an HD Sky box without a subscription. You can, however get an HD TV ready for when, or if, that situation changes.

You can buy a FTA box, i.e. not one from Sky and that will get the FTA BBC HD channel, but it's probably a bit early days for that as officially the BBC are only trialling HD.

[Wisigoth]

We always leave it on standby (red button, not green) when not in France. The engineer who fitted it for us said this would be enough to prevent us losing the card for CH4 & 5.  Perhaps we ought to leave it on the green button to get updates. We're going over to France in a couple of weeks.  If we leave it on green perhaps they will send us the update then. (If, of course, that was the problem and it wasn't caused by a technical fault.)  

It's an old Amstrad.

[AnOther]

[quote user="ChezShells"]Unplug it, hold the backup button (i think) and plug it back in, keep it pressed for a few secs and it should be okay after[/quote]CAUTION - This is the way to update the software but it could also be the best way of permanantly destroying your box it if you are having other problems.

To initiate an update you unplug the power then, whilst pressing the Backup Button, plug it back in. Continue holding it until all the front panel lights come on then release. The update takes about 10 minutes but it warns you in big letters on screen something like:

Do not switch off or lose satellite reception during the process

If the update is interrupted you could well end up with a doorstop.

It may be that your box has indeed gone fauly however I would suggest your best course of action right now would be to take it to a friend or neighbour with Sky and see if it performs properly hooked up to their dish, you'll know then exactly where the problem lies.

As for leaving it on Red, there should be no need for this. Your engineer could be partly right in what he says about losing your card but if you're going to lose it then whether it's on Red or Green isn't going to make much difference. If you are watching with an expired subscription card then it's possible that Sky could decide to turn it off and sooner or late or later the signal to kill it would arrive so by putting the box on Standby you would only be temporarily delaying the inevitable.

If you have the proper £20 "Freesat"card from Sky then it will never expire and you can, and should, unplug your box whilst you are away.

[Tim]

The box is designed to get it's updates whether it's switched on or in standby mode.

A 'Freesat' from Sky card will stop working if it's not able to receive it's 'stay alive' signal from the satellite, but only after leaving the box unplugged, or out of the box for quite some time, but it will normally 'come alive' again after 24-72 hours when left in a switched on box connected to a dish pointing at 28.2 east. I have had one of these cards given to me today for a friend's box - it didn't work because it had been packed away for quite some time. I put it in my box and it started working again after about three hours.

Tim

[AnOther]

True, it could stop working for a while, but as I said, it won't expire, not looking for a fight.........[:D]

If leaving a property unattended for a prolonged period personally I'd be happier to wait for my card to revive itself then come back to find my box blown up from a lightning strike, quite a common occurence in many areas, mine included [:(]

If you also had Sky in UK then I suppose you could take the card back with you and periodically put it in you home box to keep it alive. 

[Wisigoth]

What's a Freesat card?  How does it differ from the one supplied by my Englishman-in-France satellite engineer four years ago, which I had to inaugurate from my phone in the UK.  If I go for a new box I would much prefer to pay £20 for a card that wasn't going to be cancelled if I turned my set for a few weeks and which I didn't have to pretend I was in England for. I thought the problem with freeview Channel 4 & 5 cards was something to do with not being in the UK as we were told never to phone them from France.  However, a friend has a place in Devon and has just had Sky fitted.  Her engineer also told her to leave the set switched on to preserve the card. Does a £20 Freesat card mean no more cloak and dagger and can I ring from France to validate it?

[Tim]

As I understand it, the situation is this. To receive the Beeb and ITV channels, and loads of others of varying quality you do not need a viewing card, nor even a Sky box, almost any digital satellite receiver will do. These channels are free to air (FTA).

To get Channel 4,5 and the other 5 channels and Sky 3 you need a viewing card. These are available (at some difficulty in my case) from Sky for £20. They need to be sent to an English address, and put into a Sky box. Then a call has to be made to Sky to get the card activated. Once this is done the card can be removed and put into any Sky box, wherever it is. There are companies advertising these cards, but I would check that they have been activated before purchasing. These companies also sell Sky boxes complete with cards.

Once installed, these cards will enable the receiver to decode Channel 4 and the others. They do need to get a 'stay alive' signal from time to time to keep them working. I say this because I have recently been assisting someone with their installation who thought they had been sold a non working card, but leaving it in the box for a day or so normally brings them back to life.

You may be interested to know that there is a possibilty that Channel 4 will join the Beeb and others and go FTA in about one years time.

Incidentally, this is not Freeview, as you mentioned in your post, but Freesat - they are quite different.

Hope this helps - regards - Tim

[ChezShells]

You still have to ring from France with a UK mobile.

Freesat is the same as your blue / yellow house card without a subscription, just gives you CH4 and 5, all other channels are available without the card.

If the box is left switched off for some months when its back on it might need to be left on for a while for all channels to re-appear (ch4 and 5).

Lee

[Martin963]

to be pedantic,  it's actually freesatfromsky I believe,

Freeview - terrestrial UHF digital TV in the UK.   The French equivalent is TNT.

Freesatfromsky - free-to-view (was known as Solus) - no ongoing subscription payable but encryption in use and a card is required (C4, C5, etc via satellite)

Freesat - I think is the working title for the BBC and ITV's fledgling FTA satellite service (in practice for people in France no different to the current situation)

FTA - free to air - no encryption at all.

I'm not trying to be awkward here,  but the terminology in use is both confusing and inconsistent!

[ChezShells]

[quote user="Martinwatkins"]to be pedantic,  it's actually freesatfromsky I believe,

Freeview - terrestrial UHF digital TV in the UK.   The French equivalent is TNT.
Freesatfromsky - free-to-view (was known as Solus) - no ongoing subscription payable but encryption in use and a card is required (C4, C5, etc via satellite)
Freesat - I think is the working title for the BBC and ITV's fledgling FTA satellite service (in practice for people in France no different to the current situation)
FTA - free to air - no encryption at all.

I'm not trying to be awkward here,  but the terminology in use is both confusing and inconsistent!
[/quote]

True, but only confusing to those who know all the terminology, not to Joe Bloggs who just wants to know the best way to watch TV.

You could also have said it was illegal!

[Tim]

You're right, of course,Freesat from Sky is the full expression, but I normally leave out the Sky bit as most people automatically think thet you need a Sky box to get UK TV, which, of course, you don't - unless you specifically want Channel 4, 5 etc.

[AnOther]

You can get secondhand Sky boxes complete with "Freesat" cards on eBay UK although you have to read between the lines sometimes.

eBay have banned the sale of cards but sellers get round this with creative descriptions and pictures. I bought a box recently and the picture showed the box with card inserted with the seller stating "What you see is what you get". I sent him an email just to ensure it was enabled for CH4, 5 etc. which it was, so I bought it and it's now installed in my French house.

I have a proper subscription in UK (not Sky+) which I will keep up after I move but this second box will stay because it's handy if we maybe wanted to watch different things or perhaps to put in the guest room.

I've installed an 8 way LNB so I might be keeping an eye out for some more chreap boxes....[;-)]

 

[Chancer]

My Sky box has died after returning from a 3 day trip over the water, it had been getting temperamental and often needed switching off then on and waiting for the channel search.

Now I am getting a no signal message on the TV, not the Sky message but the TV saying it is not getting a signal through the scart socket, it is recognising something though because if I unplug the scart lead or switch off the Sky box it reverts to channel one, when I switch back on or reinsert the lead it switches to the AV channel but gives me the no signal message.

I am going to check the continuity across all the scart wires from end to end and also reboot again (using the procedure mentioned earlier)after leaving it off for a while, other than that does anyone have any ideas?

I have a CPC catalogue which lists lots of repair kits for various sky boxes, nearly all are concerned with the power supply circuit, do my problems ring any bells with anyone?

It's probably a blessing in disguise as I was soon to change to Free.fr and start watching only French TV but it is a bit boring in the meantime, ironically I recently gave on permanent loan (and installed) my first FTA digital receiver to a friend and don't have the heart to ask for it back.

[Chancer]

Now I am even more confused!

The sky box refuses to reboot (only the red light comes on) and the TV screen still says no signal, when I checked the scart plugs for continuity I found that 5 or 6 cores were wired to different pin numbers on each plug, predominately at the end of the connector. As there are only 3 or 4 different colours perhaps it doesnt matter as they are paired up?

At one time I had all this information together with all my electronic repair/construction tools to hand in my UK workshop, now it is all packed away in boxes and the workshop converted to living accomadation for when I return.

[AnOther]

It does sound like your box has died and it's quite possible it is the power supply, unfortunately you'll only find out by using one of the CPC kits unless you can get it fixed locally that is.

Don't get yourself into a tizzy with the SCART lead though, some of the wires are crossed over.

[IMG]http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p123/biskitboyo/200102_scart_1.gif[/IMG]

Note that some SCART leads may not have all the connections.

Other than physically damaged or a wire broken of at a solder joint in the plug I've yet to see a SCART lead fail but if your box is now stuck on Red then the lead is irrelevent !

[Tim]

Not wishing to suggest the obvious, but have you tried just swapping the suspect scart lead for another? I say this because I think it's always best to look for the simple solution first. A friend recently was about to pull his system apart because he had lost the sound from his equipment - I suggested swapping the scart - he got hold of another one and it cured the problem.

From your overall description of the problem, it does, however sound as if you may have a more serious issue.

[Ron Avery]

With my French PSB box, I don't get all the channels that I can with a cardless sky box.  I cannot get ITV 2 or 4 and Sky 3,  Film 4, True movies etc and a lot of the FTA  music channels, it just does not pick them up because I believe Martin once posted, it thinks that they are scrambled.  A sattelite scan of all channel;s revealed 1804 channels but although it lists ITV 4 it says that it is scrambled, I can get all the all sorts of car advert channels and all the ITV regions and at least 200 different BBC 3 and BBC 4 channels.

Not sure what the solution is to getting all the same channels as on a cardless Skybox, I realise that some of the "free" channels need the sky card to get them, but if the others are there but the box says that they are scrambled, what can you do?   Any suggestions welcome apart from get a skybox from the UK.

[Chancer]

Thanks Ernie

It was so frustrating knowing that before I had the information to hand!

None of the soldered joints have failed so if it was working before I dont think it is the scart lead, I will however check the pinouts of the composite video outputs.

I can get the green light to come on but following the reboot procedure mentioned earlier I only get the red light, not "all the front panel lights" as mentioned, I can then get the green light by pessing the on switch on the unit or the front panel but still no signal to the TV, or at least that is what it is telling me.

I will also cart the unit and box and try them on the system that I "lent" someone else and now havn't the heart to ask for it back.

[Tim]

I've played with quite a few different types of these French boxes and some do behave in a slightly peculiar manner, but without knowing or actually seeing what responses you are getting Ron it's a bit difficult to suggest what you should try.

However, can you tell me - how are you looking for these channels? Are you just letting the box do a scan, or are you inputting the frequencies manually? If manually, does the box show the signal strength of the frequency you are looking at?

I'm not quite sure, at the moment, what I might be able to suggest but it'll get me thinking and the info may be of use to someone else on here.

 

Tim

[Ron Avery]

Doing a satellite scan Tim, there are two options, ALL or FTA.  I am not sure how you put in specific frequencies to get channels.  It was odd with this box that for quite a few weeks I had a channeld calleed MTV trax, this channel is not on Sky, but it is now showing up as a scrambled service.

[Tim]

Ok Ron, thanks for that. As far as MTV Trax is concerned, you're right, it doesn't appear on the Sky epg at the moment - there's one called MTV Flux. It may be a new channel testing 'in the clear' perhaps, although I've not found anything about it, so far.

Do you think you would have the confidence to manually input the frequency? If so, I can provided the parameters required.

Have you seen anything on the screen that may indicate the signal strength you are getting?

 

edit - just had a further look - MTV Trax is apparently some sort of MTV service for mobile 'phones. Don't ask me how - I'm not interested enough to find out.

[Chancer]

After taking the box and scart lead to try on another dish set up I found it to be working which just left my new LCD TV as the suspect.

As I felt that the problem was likely to be in the scart connection and not wanting to take it back all the way to the store where I bought it I decided to take it apart to try to fix it.

However common semse prevailed and before I dismantled it I thought I would try a reboot of the BRB (big red button), I turned it off, switched it back on again and all works fine again.

How silly do I feel! After years of giving customers common sense support (to avoid pointless call outs) I didn't follow my own advice!