SkyBox Replacement

[AndyZ900RS]

Hello Forum

I recently closed my SkyTV membership and returned the Skybox etc however the dish remains. On starting my membership the fitter of course removed my own Sat Dish and put theirs up, now I have Sky dish and a poor TV aerial reception, can someone please recommend a freeview box that will work with the Sky wire connections as I have a few old freeview boxes but none work with the two Sky fittings?

Thank you

Andy

[Annie+UK]

You would need a FreeSAT box and the correct one depends on what type of LNB your dish has

BTW, FreeVIEW is delivered via an aerial and not via a satellite dish

[AndyZ900RS]

Thank you Annie, of course it's Freesat, sorry I knew whilst typing I was wrong but couldn't think of the correct term, I think I'll make life easy and bin the Sky dish and replace the one they took down. Thanks again for the quick reply 

Andy

[Annie+UK]

Just a heads up that satellite TV has a limited lifespan, at the moment it will be around until ~2029 but after then is anyones guess, streaming TV is the long term aim for broadcasters/content providers

[Mark39]

@AndyZ900RS was your dish installed for Sky Q? If so you would need the latest Freesat box - one compatible with a wide band LNB.

[nigea99]

hi @AndyZ900RS 

if you have & wish to use more than one box it may be better to get the LNB (the electronic bit changed) on the dish as the wideband LNBs as used by SKY Q typically only have one (twin) output. 

Older style 'Universal' LNBs  as used by older Freesat boxes and TVs can have multiple outputs - although you would need cables to each box location

BTW  There are Hybrid LNBs - although I suspect you don't have oned these - that has both wideband and 'Universal' outputs 

[AndyZ900RS]

Hi Mark39, to be honest I don't know, we just had SkyTV with a box I could record on, beginning to realise it may be a little more complicated than an old man can get a hold of. I was hoping to just plug another freesat box in using the dish they left behind as the reason for SkyTV was our tv aerial is all but useless and my darling wife thought we could enjoy the extra channels. I am surprised though that the dish they left behind is of no use to me being the one they took down was at the time working fine, all good though, it's an easy fix now I know the dish won't work without the LMB being of a certain type. 

thank you for responding 

Andy

[AndyZ900RS]

Hi Nigea99

i think that was the issue I was having, all of the old freesat boxes I have do not have a twin wire connection so when the Skybox was returned I tried to chuck an old box on and of course neither of the twin connectors gave me a picture, as mentioned, I'm an old boy and thought it would work but it was not to be.

Andy

[nigea99]

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@AndyZ900RS wrote:

Hi Nigea99

i think that was the issue I was having, all of the old freesat boxes I have do not have a twin wire connection so when the Skybox was returned I tried to chuck an old box on and of course neither of the twin connectors gave me a picture, as mentioned, I'm an old boy and thought it would work but it was not to be.

Andy

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@AndyZ900RS 

It is not quite the twin vs single - although that is part of it.

The older SKY HD, &  Freesat boxes and TVs use what is called a Universal LNB which can work off a single cable and use a combination of LNB voltage change (13v/18v) & the precence or not of a 22KHz tone to select approx 1/4 of the channels at any one time from Horixontal & Vertical polorisations and High / Low Bands of  frequencies.

SKY Q uses a 'wideband' LNB that provides the full wideband (i..e. High & low bands) and splits the polrisations down each of two cables (i.e. one for Horizontal & the other for Vertical) - thus allowing all channels to be available all of the time which allows multiple tuners to be used to watch/record

These differences mean that older SKY HD boxes won't work with the SKY Q 'Wideband' LNB (although a very few frequencies can overlap & might work)

The newer Freesat 4K boxes work with both types of LNB 

EDIT : Note if old SKY boxes only had one input I think there is a chance they are SKY SD (i.e. non HD) boxes which are very little use now even for Freesat as channels move to HD or change their transmission method (technically from DVB-S to DVB-S2)  which the old SD boxes cannot decode

[AndyZ900RS]

Thank you Nigea99, I really appreciate your time and explanation.

thank you everyone also for your input.

regards

Andy

[Exiled-in-HH]

@AndyZ900RS  did Sky request return of the Sky box ... if so it would have been a Sky Q box🤔

What you need is a current NEW Freesat box for connection to you dishes current LNB😉

[AndyZ900RS]

Hi HH, yes they requested the return of their box. I'm right this minute browsing for a box, thankfully armed with the information gained on here, to which I thank everyone for sharing their knowledge and experience. 

[Annie+UK]

Sky Plus boxes don't need returning to Sky

[AndyZ900RS]

Hi Annie, sorry must disagree, they were quite insistent that the box was returned along with power supply and wires. Email also listed the cost of unreturned items and the fact I was responsible for the package until they had received it which was quite concerning lol.

[Annie+UK]

Sky Q and Sky Stream boxes are owned by Sky and need returning but Sky Plus boxes belong to the customer and can be retained for use as a Freesat reciever

Also Sky Plus boxes all have internal power supplies which make me think you have other equiptment that needs returning like a broadband router perhaps