Re: [Hampshire] [Way OT] FreeSat

----- Original Message -----
From: "James Courtier-Dutton" <james.dutton@???>
To: "Hampshire LUG Discussion List" <hampshire@???>
Sent: Thursday, May 22, 2008 5:13 PM
Subject: Re: [Hampshire] [Way OT] FreeSat


2008/5/22 Rob Malpass <lug@???>:
>
> Thanks Hugo. So the big question is - can I just plug the spare
> connection
> from my Sky dish into a box (say Humax) I buy myself? According to
> freesatfromsky - I need this £20 card or the only things I'll get are BBC1
> regions. I'm wondering whether that's true.
>
> Interestingly enough - freesat themselves (not freesatfromsky) told me
> that
> before connecting my own box to a Sky dish that I'd need to check with Sky
> that doing so didn't affect my warranty - but
> a) my Sky box is now beyond warranty
> b) I don't think the dish ever had a warranty - and I'm pretty sure the
> dish
> is mine, not theirs.
> c) I'm not sure how Sky would / could ever know I'd hooked something up to
> an already existing connection to the dish ghe only way I "communicate"
> with
> Sky is the monthly callback thing that handles the purchase of ppv events.
>
> All very odd - and as you say - seemingly devised specifically to confuse.
>
> Cheers
> Rob
>

One easy way to tell what you will get from FreeSky, is to just remove
the smart card from a normal sky box, and reboot the box and see which
channels appear.
You will not even get ITV or Channel4 because they are encrypted. Only
BBC and lots of sales channels are left. You therefore need a special
sky card to decrypt the ITV and Channel4 which involves a one off
payment cost of about £20.
Until one can get a Software CAM that is compatible with Sky allowing
one to view ITV and Channel4 on a linux computer, I prefer not to
touch SKY at all.

--


OK - if that's the case, then it looks like £150 to Comet, £20 to Sky and I
can connect my own HD Freesat box to my Sky dish (I believe they do use the
same satellite so no dish fiddling required) and I should be up and running.

What irks me most is I'd be prepared to "throw away" 50 odd quid for a
standard def freesat box - but if I found it worked perfectly with the £20
Sky card - then I'd then need to find another £150 for HD - which I guess is
better than chucking £150 away to find it won't work at all.

Most irritating all this - particularly as nobody's ever been too clear how
/ when / if HD over freeview (not freesat) is going to happen.

Cheers
Rob