Sky Card

[Babnik]

I have a sky card (blue with yellow house) with a sky box that doesn't work (the box that is) Is it possible to get another box and use the same card, or are they twinned? I have never seen this card working as the box never worked. (don't ask...bad deal!!)

Steve

[Ron Avery]

If is any help I have taken my out of contract sky card aligned to Scottish TV and put it in my other digi box which does not have a card.  It does picks up the same channels and the Scottish settings of the original box, however I have never left it the second box for a long time in case it loses ITV Ch 4 &5  when it is returned to the first box as I was told this could happen if it was left out for too long.  Might be a myth but I don't want to risk it.

[Robbie34]

You can use a free to view card in any Sky box.  The card is only matched to the box for premium channels.

If you have left your card out of the box, or the box switched off, for any length of time, you will find that the card no longer works for ITV etc.  Just re-insert your card and put on Sky News; leave the box switched on and your card will update again.  It may take as long as twenty-four hours so don't get concerned if it hasn't done so in a couple of hours.

I don't use Sky at home, and the box is not used for about five months, so I activate the card a week or so before leaving for France.

[Babnik]

Thanks Robbie,

that means I can get myself a receiver without a card (usually quite cheaper) If the card doesn't work for some reason, I can always get the new ftv card.

Steve

[Dianes]

I think Robbie may have answered the question I was about to post, but can someone confirm anyway please.

We have just got a Sky digibox in France, and a separate ITV card. When we left the house we shut off all the electricity as usual ( we wouldn't like to leave it on in an empty house for a couple of months). But someone has just told us that the ITV card may not work when we turn it on again. Is this true? We don't really want to phone up Sky, pretending to be in England.

We are going to be renting the house out this summer, but there may be some weeks between rentals when the house is empty. People may not be impressed with having to wait for 24 hours for the TV to work. This is a bit of a dilemma for us. Any answers?

Thanks,

Diane

[derf]

You will have to do as Robbie says, put the card in the box when you arrive in France, it may take some time for all channels to come through, depending on how long the Sky box has been disconnected, but eventually you should get all the channels  available to that card.

At least you can watch the BBC programs whilst you are waiting for the card to update.

[Robbie34]

Yes, your card will update.  Leave your box switched on and set to Sky News.  I've often had to leave it overnight before it cleared all of the channels.

[Dave&Olive]

you can force the sky box to update its software . i.e. turn off sky at mains, hold the backup button in on the sky box {not the re-mote this will not work} still pressing the backup button turn back on at mains and wait for a message on the tv telling you sky is updating its software you can now let the backup button go , it could take as long as an hour although it says 10min on the screen.

             Dave

 

[Robbie34]

[quote]you can force the sky box to update its software . i.e. turn off sky at mains, hold the backup button in on the sky box {not the re-mote this will not work} still pressing the backup button turn back ...[/quote]

That will not update the card.  It updates the firmware in the Sky box. All you can do is wait for the card to be updated.

If you get a new FTV card, apparently, you will have to get them switched on by Sky initially.  Once that's been done they will auto-update if you have left the Sky box disconnected.

[Baz]

[quote]you can force the sky box to update its software . i.e. turn off sky at mains, hold the backup button in on the sky box {not the re-mote this will not work} still pressing the backup button turn back ...[/quote]

I agree totally with Robbie's reply and would further add that there are only very few occassions when a forced update should be considered. As a further word of warning, when carrying out forced updates and not following the instructions to the letter, can result in completely ruining your digibox.

Baz

[Gus]

I am looking to get sky boxes in both London and france and take the card between the places (and boxes), My main interest is getting the subscriber sports channels (with the card in both locations.). Is this possible? if the card is tied to the box is it possible to get cloned boxes (ie same electronic id)?

 

 

[Baz]

[quote]I am looking to get sky boxes in both London and france and take the card between the places (and boxes), My main interest is getting the subscriber sports channels (with the card in both locations.)....[/quote]

The simple answer is no, you cannot use the same card between two different boxes to get any subscription channels. The only way round this problem would be to take your box with you each time you go to France.

Baz

[Mazan]

The simple answer is no, you cannot use the same card between two different boxes to get any subscription channels.

This is incorrect. All the subscription channels will work in any box except for the premium sport and film channels.
But this will be of no comfort to the original poster who specifically mentioned the sport channels. He can watch UKGold and Sky One and dozens of other channels but not the ones he wants.

[Gyn_Paul]

[quote]The simple answer is no, you cannot use the same card between two different boxes to get any subscription channels. This is incorrect. All the subscription channels will work in any box except fo...[/quote]

>"....All the subscription channels will work in any box except for the premium sport and film channels..."

But if they are old boxes, be prepared for them to be a bit 'flaky'.

I swop a sky (subscription channels but no premium) card between boxes and find that in the original 'matched' box it unlocks all appropriate channels immediately, but in the 'foreign' box it need anything from 30 minutes to an hour to unlock everything. And not just when the card has been a stranger to it for a few weeks: we had an electricity blip the other evening and it took 10 minutes to get E4, and 30 minutes to get C5 back.