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SKY Viewing Card


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I have recently been upgraded in UK to SKY+ box. My old SKY box is now in France where I can pick up all the free channels which is OK. However, could I bring the viewing card out to France and use it in the old box here when obviously it is not required back at home in the UK?

 

 

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[quote user="le rouge"]

Thanks WendyG - a friend of mine had said I could but I just wanted a second opinion!!!

[/quote]

Don't bank on it, unless you still have the old card and it is still valid, cards are paired to a particular box. I am sure that your Sky plus card will not work in your old box.

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I can't speak for Sky+ as I don't have it but I do have an ordinary Sky box and having bought a 'White' card off Ebay so I can watch FiveUS etc but NOT on subscription, it worked fine. Of course your statement might be right if your paying a subscription but if not the I can tell you that they don't need to be paired (or perhaps they pair themselves). The only 'negative' is that you get the regional news from the area to which the card was originally issued.
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I haven't paid Sky for quite a while, but, for what it's worth, I was under the impression that a Sky card does normally work in a different box, but not with the 'Premium' channels such as sports and movies.

I'm sure I've read somewhere that they're matched to the receiver for those channels.

I do stand corrected over this though.

Regards - Tim

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[quote user="Braco"]My UK Sky card did not work in my box in France.[/quote]

Was that the old 'blue' card or the new 'white' card?

Added - I had a look on Ebay to try and find out if there is a difference (like two different cards) but there is not information. Funny enough people are selling the old 'Blue' cards which of course don't work anymore and people are bidding on them! Having googled around a bit there does not seem to be any difference between Sky, Sky+ and Sky HD cards so thats one theory out the window.

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Do the blue cards no longer work then? I have only had French Tv for a few years but I am sure it worked before that, or does it/did it only work for a few extra BBC channels?

The reason why I am asking is that I am going to buy a reciever and set a system up for some French friends who want to encourage their childrens learning of English.

I dont know what channels there still are that would be of interest, carton channels, MTV etc perhaps so would my blue card work? Would they need a card at all?

Any other info regarding recievers to avoid (I know about Grundig) matching of cards to reciever etc will be welcome.

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Sky periodically change their cards, the last update was a year or so back and the new cards are white. I don't know if even the old blue ones work anymore but I kept getting messages displayed telling me to get a new card when I only had the old blue one.

Here is a couple of links which may help you re channels available. The first is if you have a Sky (white) card but don't pay subscription.

http://www.sky.com/shop/tv/free-to-air-channels?affiliate=true&DCMP=AFC-7018

The next list I believe is without a card at all, for most of us that means loosing Fiver and Five US plus a couple of others but I guess you need to print them off and compare them.

http://www.radioandtelly.co.uk/freesatchannels.html

Hope that helps

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Beware because some of the Pace boxes developed a bug which switched them off at the most bizarre and annoying times - I don't know if it's still a problem - although I doubt that's much of an issue if it's just for language learning.  I bought a recon Amstrad box from Amazon at a very reasonable price .

I'm pretty certain also that the "Freesat" Sky cards are not linked in to any boxes but I wasn't aware that this was true for the subscription cards, Dave, Wendy et al.  Good news if it is as it will certainly be easier to set them up from here if they are.

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When buying a box, don't forget freesat (not to be confused with Freesat from Sky). No cards, by entering a post code you can choose your regional channels, SD and HD (and recordable) versions available. As new boxes are available from the likes of Argos for about the same cost as a used Sky receiver it's well worth considering if you aren't interested in premium or subscription channels.

I can confirm that a Sky box with the 'wrong' (i.e. unmatched) white card works on all the free-to-view channels, but for some other channels, such as pay-per-view and some of the 'soft porn' and shopping/gaming channels should you require them, you have to use a card that has been matched to the box. And that the blue Sky cards are longer active - you will do better with no card at all.

I don't know whether a Sky+ card will give the subscription and premium channels in a standard Sky box. I rather suspect not, but may be wrong.

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Thanks for all the replies to my question.

I do actually own a French freesat box, own but not possess as I leant it to someone for a couple of weeks 4 years ago [:(]

My reasoning for the Skybox was that it is I hope more likely to be seen as cool, something foreign and different etc, if they used a French freesat box it wouldnt be long before some smart ar5ed Le Kevin worked out that it could be swung to Astra1 or Hotbird to get some proper porn or gangsta rap spoken in French not that foreign rubbish.

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