Switching from SKY + / SKY HD to SKY Q - some points to note

[Godfrey]

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@nick1403 wrote:....."For Communal Systems,  SKY may need to install an adapter to enable it to work with SKY Q (using a single cable in what is called dSCR mode)"

Spoke to the man whose firm had installed the fibre network and he told me those networks were not really suitable for Sky Q and we should go back to Sky +. The adapters had been developed in a hurry and some weren't great.

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Reading between the lines.............  If the satellite transponder signals emerging in Legacy Universal LNB format from your Fibre IRS Switchblade met the Confederation of Aerial Industries industry wide requirement for communal satellite signal distribution to achieve a minimum Modulation Error Ratio (MER) quality of at least 11 dB, for every transponder, then it would be very unlikely that a Sky adaptor would have any problems when feeding your Sky Q receiver. 

Thus, from what you report, it clearly leads me to think that the man whose firm had installed the fibre network knew that your communal Fibre IRS installation was not meeting the CAI Industry Standard requirement for a minimum 11 dB MER transponder signal quality. 

[best+of+the+best]

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@Robert.C wrote:

In terms of Sky+ HD boxes, we currently have 1 x 2TB and 1 x 1TB.

Order is for 1 x 1TB Sky Q box.

My wife has the Sky+ 1TB which is rammed full of recordings and always low on %.

Suppose I would be the same if mine was 1TB.

Is streaming meant to minimise the need to record ????

Are most programmes available to stream ?

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Fair comment @Robert.C 1TB Sky Q box has 700GB for customer use your wife's 1TB Sky+ HD box only has 500GB for personal storage 

So adding your current Sky Boxes together gives you 2TB of storage which is 300GB more than the 2TB Sky Q box which has 1.7TB for customer usage.

 

 

https://www.sky.com/help/articles/sky-q-box-specs

[Chodley]

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@Robert.C wrote:

If all the recordings are on the one box, does it allow the two of us to access the main and mini box at the same time and either search programmes or recordings without interfering with what each other is doing. If I go in would I see my wife scrolling through her lists ??

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Maybe this was alreafy answered but no, the two user interfaces are completely independent. But yes, there's one library and you'll have to navigate that garbage.

The search function is very good, fortunately.

also we find we use recordings from live Tv  much less than the old days and just grab stuff on-demand.

[nidash]

I wish i knew this when I got Sky Q installed, I feel a little misled - when the installer came to put the upgraded LNB they did not ask or mention this is not compatible with freesat on my TV If i ever go back to not having Sky.

I have decided to remove sky, but i now discovered I cant use freesat anymore because of the LNB upgrade. I feel the engineer should ask this question to anyone - or just install hybrid LNB by default. 

[nigea99]

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@nidash wrote:

I wish i knew this when I got Sky Q installed, I feel a little misled - when the installer came to put the upgraded LNB they did not ask or mention this is not compatible with freesat on my TV If i ever go back to not having Sky.

I have decided to remove sky, but i now discovered I cant use freesat anymore because of the LNB upgrade. I feel the engineer should ask this question to anyone - or just install hybrid LNB by default. 

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hi @nidash 

Sorry that you only found this discussion after having switched but we know most people don't look here until after.

Hybrid LNBs are specialist are not needed by most people  so they would never be standard - SKY now only fit them when people have Freesat already and insist on keeping it

You can use the replaced (Wideband) LNB with the newer Freesat 4K boxes (although they may need a few steps which we can point people at to get working) 

[mr.tickle]

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@nidash wrote:

I wish i knew this when I got Sky Q installed, I feel a little misled - when the installer came to put the upgraded LNB they did not ask or mention this is not compatible with freesat on my TV If i ever go back to not having Sky.

I have decided to remove sky, but i now discovered I cant use freesat anymore because of the LNB upgrade. I feel the engineer should ask this question to anyone - or just install hybrid LNB by default. 

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That's really, really shocking and I'm sorry to hear about it.

They should have established beyond all doubt that you didn't have, or want, Freesat before removing that functionality when moving to SkyQ.

It should never have been the case that an ordinary customer has to know all these technical details and "insist" on a Hybrid LNB on the day; that's unfair and unrealistic (IMHO). That technician (not engineer) was highly negligent in dealings with you, from the sound of things.

With the damage now done and the horse bolted, your options are limited. As @nigea99 says you could buy a newer Freesat box, at your own expense. Or buy and fit your own Hybrid LNB, again at your own expense. There used to be a network of independant non-Sky satellite shops around the UK with their own technicians who would help with this, but times have changed and you may struggle. The one near me has gone and has been replaced with a block of tiny flats, which is obviously the kind of housing we need (not).

[nigea99]

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@mr.tickle wrote:

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They should have established beyond all doubt that you didn't have, or want, Freesat before removing that functionality when moving to SkyQ.

It should never have been the case that an ordinary customer has to know all these technical details and "insist" on a Hybrid LNB on the day; that's unfair and unrealistic (IMHO). That technician (not engineer) was highly negligent in dealings with you, from the sound of things.

@mr.tickle  regardless of our views , from many posts we have seen over the years it seems all too frequent that Freesat was/is not considered and thus Hybrid LNBs  not offered. 

I think that many  advisers do not have a clue about Hybrid LNBs (know of them and/or what they do)  and often struggle to understand what customers are asking let alone ask about Freesat & offer one.

Unfortunately probably only  a few customers that come here will also have a clue about the difference of installing SKY Q  & not know to ask if there will be any problems or need anything special

I am not even sure that all Engineers know about them and again rarely seem to ask, even if an existing universal LNB had multiple cables

I am fairly confident that the policy at SKY tightened up a while ago so will  now only offer one if specifically asked to do so  before the install (i.e. the onus seems definitely on the customer to ask) & are less likely to fit one in retrospect after the initial install, like they sometimes would have done in the past - although I could be wrong.

All we can hope to do is to inform customers before they switch (hence my specific meniton and making  these notes) - although this, unfortunately, is often too late, as most customers do not come here before having some kind of query / problem. 

[mr.tickle]

Agreed. There are multiple points of failure and many chances for the mistake to have been avoided.

* The telephone advisors should never have been taking any SkyQ calls until and unless they have had the training and know all about Hybrid LNBs,

and,

* The installers (who are not engineers) shouldn't have been going on any SkyQ installs until and unless they had had the full training and knew all about Hybrid LNBs. btw It's a big insult to real engineers to call those people (who know so little and ask so little) "engineers" and the term has been under attack for a long time now.

and,

* This is the first time I'm aware of since the launch of satellite broadcasting that an "upgrade" to dish hardware can remove functionality and the user not realise, so no-one is expecting such a thing to be possible or happen.

As you say, we are where we are :(.

[UtaCat]

That is very helpful, as I have received a text message offering an upgared to Sky Q for no extra cost. If upgrading will you have to sign a new contract. I been out of contract for a number of years, and I understand you change to Sky Signature but we want to srop the Slky Kids feature from our existi gpackage as they have out grown it.

[Bill+Callow]

Thank you for the information. We will still be switching. Hoping we get used to it all. So bye bye Sky HD+ and hello Sky Q. Hope we do not regret it. Bill. 

[nigea99]

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@UtaCat wrote:

That is very helpful, as I have received a text message offering an upgared to Sky Q for no extra cost. If upgrading will you have to sign a new contract. I been out of contract for a number of years, and I understand you change to Sky Signature but we want to srop the Slky Kids feature from our existi gpackage as they have out grown it.

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Yes you start a new minimum contract.

Always best to re-contract & see what deals you can get unless you feel you are likely to want to quit or reduce part of the contract elements - being out of contract for any length of time usually costs a lot more

BTW Many people find costs under Signature are less 

[Stevie07]

We currently use our second (any room) sky hd +  box at our caravan, we obviously have the dish but no internet, it works perfectly for us. I ran a coaxial to the bedroom and use the rf out to use in the bedroom. So my question is  if we changed to Sky Q, would the sky Q box work at the caravan connected to the dish (is it the same dish) and can you connect a mini box by Ethernet  cable to the Q box so we could use that in our bedroom. Thanks 

[Laing1]

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@Stevie07 wrote:

We currently use our second (any room) sky hd +  box at our caravan, we obviously have the dish but no internet, it works perfectly for us. I ran a coaxial to the bedroom and use the rf out to use in the bedroom. So my question is  if we changed to Sky Q, would the sky Q box work at the caravan connected to the dish (is it the same dish) and can you connect a mini box by Ethernet  cable to the Q box so we could use that in our bedroom. Thanks 

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@Stevie07 Just so you know it is against Skys terms & conditions that you signed up to to use your viewing card outside of the address you registered with Sky so by using your Sky+HD box with viewing card in it is breaking their T&C's.

Sky Q if you tried the same thing would not work as you would have to change the LNB on the dish you have at your caravan and you would not be able to use the mini box as it would need an internet connetion to gert it up and running 

[Stevie07]

Many thanks for the reply, I've been a Sky customer for 22 years and I would say the most static caravan owners must be breaking the rules. When I recently upgraded our package, I discussed our requirements with the assistant who said it was common and no problem. Ah well, back to the drawing board. 

[Margni]

Hi all. I have two Sky HD boxes and in my latest bill I noticed that Sky Box Set package is costing me £51.50. I called Sky and was told that to drop this pacakge I would need to go back on a new contract (out of contract at the moment) and would have to take Sky Q. Is that the case? It seems harsh to insist that if I dont want Box Sets then I have to change to Sky Q. I am currently happy with our Sky HD boxes although I appreciate that sooner or later I will need to change to Sky Q if I stay with Sky at a supplier. Thanks.