Chancer Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 After 9 years of French TV only I cracked and bought a skybox from E-bay, there was a viewing card Inside but the machine does not recognise it, the channels BBC ITV etc are set to the West country.All has been fine although I rarely get time to view it, I would like to watch Motors TV on channel 447 (Goodwood festival of speed) which is a free to view channel but the box asks me to insert my Skycard.Presumably I need to buy one of the cards that allows the extra Channel 5 channels etc but will it be recognised by my box or is it locked to the last correctly registered card? I dont want to waste money on something that doesnt work.If it will work what do I need to buy and from where? What other channels would it bring me? could I for instance then select the regional programs from my old area, the South east?Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyh4 Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 I am fairly certain that cards and boxes are matched by Sky - which may be why the card you have does not work.I suggest taking the ox back to the UK and contacting Sky (phone) from there to get a card for your box.Regarding getting local news now, if you do a factory reset, it should then ask you for your postcode. Job should then be done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pierre ZFP Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 Isn't it a lot of faff to take an ox back to the UK?He'll likely be given a load of bull [;-)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pickles Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 [quote user="Chancer"]After 9 years of French TV only I cracked and bought a skybox from E-bay, there was a viewing card Inside but the machine does not recognise it, the channels BBC ITV etc are set to the West country.All has been fine although I rarely get time to view it, I would like to watch Motors TV on channel 447 (Goodwood festival of speed) which is a free to view channel but the box asks me to insert my Skycard.Presumably I need to buy one of the cards that allows the extra Channel 5 channels etc but will it be recognised by my box or is it locked to the last correctly registered card? I dont want to waste money on something that doesnt work.If it will work what do I need to buy and from where? What other channels would it bring me? could I for instance then select the regional programs from my old area, the South east?Thank you.[/quote]Why not get a Freesat box (and not a "Freesat from Sky" box/card) rather than a Sky box if you don't want a subscription ...?To my simple way of thinking, there are basically 3 types of boxes (each of which will come in SD and HD flavours):Freesat boxes, which will put the UK-aimed channels into a sensible sequence.Generic satellite boxes, which will pick up all Free to Air/Free to View channels on the satellites aimed at, and will put their own (usually perverse) logic on the channel ordering in the Electronic Programme Guide. These may also have slots for certain types of subscription cards. You can get these from Aldi/Lidl when on offer (other suppliers are available)Sky boxes, which will tend to promote Sky channels in the channel list whether you are subscribed to them or not (this is based on my experience from a few years ago)In France, you can also get the Fransat boxes which need a card (once-off payment) to give you access to French channels. Useful if you are in an area of poor TNT coverage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted July 3, 2015 Author Share Posted July 3, 2015 [quote user="andyh4"]I am fairly certain that cards and boxes are matched by Sky - which may be why the card you have does not work. I suggest taking the ox back to the UK and contacting Sky (phone) from there to get a card for your box. Regarding getting local news now, if you do a factory reset, it should then ask you for your postcode. Job should then be done.[/quote]I suspect that I would need to connect the box to a parabole and a telephone line, neither of which do I have in the UK.Reset is a good idea but I might lose all the saved favorite channels, I rarely Watch TV anyway and the TV news even less so, regional news never so its no hardship for the time being.Maybe I need to get a card from a Sky specialist? I cant see Sky UK wanting to help someone who is not a subscriber and who has bought a second hand box from EBay to use in France. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted July 3, 2015 Author Share Posted July 3, 2015 Why not get a Freesat box (and not a "Freesat from Sky" box/card) rather than a Sky box if you don't want a subscription ...?Because I already have the Skybox, would never throw away something that works and dont like wasting money.I had a generic Freesat box a long time ago and it wasnt at all good, the worst was the EPG which took forever to load and didnt give any détails other than the program title, the skyboxes are excellent in that respect which is why I bought one and also it was a lot cheaper than a Freesat box, plus by mistake they sent me a second parcel with another Skybox HD [:D]There was never any question of me paying for a subscription, I was happy to miss out on Motors TV when it was a paid channel, now its FTA I would like to recieve it, dont mind the cost of a card but would never pay for a subscription. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 You don't need to have your SKY account connected to a phone line. We do not, we never have.Just say you only have a mobile, that is what so many have now....... just mobiles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quillan Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 You need a Sky Freeview card from Sky and it costs £25. You order it by calling them, it is not available via their 'shop'. To activate it you need to put it in the box. Go to the settings and find the serial number of the box. Phone Sky to get the card activated which will require you to give them the serial number of the box. Cards and boxes are 'linked' to each other so you can't take the card out of one and put it in another expecting to get all the default FTA channels. You will get some but not all. You will need to call them on an English phone bt they do have the number come up when you call. I don't have a clue what happens if you block your number form being displayed on a phone although i do know some systems will still dislay your number even if you have turned the feature off on the phone. You need to give them a UK post code as this is what is used to put the right regional channels on the right numbers. I think you may find it difficult unless you can post the box to a mate in the UK, give him/her some money and get them to activate the card for you then post it back. The person selling it might have done it for you if you had asked assuming it came from the UK, thats how I got mine years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted July 3, 2015 Author Share Posted July 3, 2015 Reading between the lines the activation of said card will require a comms link meaning a parabole and a telephone line so that is out.You have however stopped me from wasting £25 [:D]Its no loss really so I will let it drop for now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted July 3, 2015 Author Share Posted July 3, 2015 I can understand that the card is linked to a box but is the box linked to a card?This might be Worth a punt?http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FREESAT-UK-HD-VIEWING-CARD-ALL-FREE-CHANNELS-ON-SKY-BOX-/321797288027?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item4aec9cf05b Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 You really do not need a UK phone linked in to it, you never did and don't now. I'd give up if SKY insisted that they had to plug into my phone line. In my opinion, as you live on your own, you need to call them in the UK using a UK phone and have the box there linked to a tv. You just do as they say and it should work. I shall not say that all programs are great, but, there are some good programs never the less, probably more than there are on french tv, because, even french tv has some decent stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted July 3, 2015 Author Share Posted July 3, 2015 I had missed your fisrt post Idun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quillan Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 [quote user="Chancer"]Reading between the lines the activation of said card will require a comms link meaning a parabole and a telephone line so that is out.You have however stopped me from wasting £25 [:D]Its no loss really so I will let it drop for now.[/quote]No you don't need a phone connected but you do need one to give them a call which must 'appear' to be in the UK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted July 3, 2015 Author Share Posted July 3, 2015 So to recap, the card needs to be in a skybox, connected to a parabole, I need to call them from a UK mobile phone, hopefully from France and then it should work, do I have that right?I recall now about the phone line, Sky can communicate to a dish via the sattelite but the Customer cannot in the other direction hence the need for the phone line for interactive services, I disconnected mine like Idun, didnt like the big brother implications. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quillan Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 Correct. (do remeber even with an English mobile used abroad they can tell where you are). I got round it by saying I was callng on my wifes behalf as she was non techie and Iwas away on business. Don't know if they would fall for that one again but it workedThe only time the phone line has to be connected is if you have a Sky contract and then only for the length of the initial contract after which you can carry on with your Sky subscription but disconnect the phone. The reason for this is you get the Sky box for free as part of the initial contract and where Sky hope to reclaim some of their money is by you using the interactive channels to buy things which ned the phone line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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