Freesat: Upgrading from Sky to Freesat | Freesat
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Upgrading from Sky to Freesat

It takes less than five minutes to replace an existing satellite box with a Freesat one.

It takes less than five minutes to replace an existing satellit
Published on by on UK Free TV

If you have an existing Sky or fSfS (Freesat from Sky) installation and want to go to upgrade to Freesat, it is a simple process.

First, buy the Freesat box from a Argos, Curry.digital, Comet, John Lewes or your local independent shop:



In the box you will find the Freesat box:



Also included will be a remote control, and this model also comes with a SCART cable, a HDMI cable and a stereo-with-composite cable. Unpack the ones you need:



You old Sky box looks like this:



Unplug the mains first from the Sky box, then pull out the SCART (or SCARTs) and then unscrew the connection to the satellite dish.



Remove the Sky box and fit the Freesat box. Reconnect the satellite cable (take care as to not damage the connection) and then the SCART and finally connect the mains power:



The box will look like this:



The box also contains the manual, which has full installation instructions. Finally fit the batteries into the remote control.



The TV screen first displays the box's logo



The first set-up screen allows you to select the TV type, widescreen mode and resolution:



Next the box checks for the satellite signal:



Then there is a check for updated software:



Then you enter your postcode and the box checks it:



The next step is a scan for channels. This takes about 30 seconds:



And that's it. You can now view channels, like 108 for BBC HD:



Or press the GUIDE button for the EPG:



(Apologies for the photos not being of the top quality)







Your comments: most recent posts are at the bottom

firstFirst comments prevEarlier comments  ◊  Later commentsnext Latest commentslast

Your comments are always welcome. Please use the form below to add your thoughts or questions to this page. We will get back to you as soon as we can.

Briantist
Thursday 6 August 2009 6:45PM
RONALD ELLIOTT: Yes, you can. There is a SCART socket for an analogue recorder.
Les Nicol
Saturday 8 August 2009 7:36PM
Brian - I think this might be the most appropriate thread for this:- I've seen a number of articles about increasing the HDD capacity on SKY boxes and I am going to lift the Humax Freesat HDD's capacity to 1TB. This appears to be an upgrade that whilst not "rubber stamped" by Humax is safely achievable. Whilst Humax sets its file structure labelling, it is in fact the Linux EXT3 structure. I've picked up elsewhere recommended partition allocation size so here goes!
Briantist
Monday 10 August 2009 8:51AM
Les Nicol: There should be no real problem with fitting large hard drives to existing systems, the software in the box will normally interrogate the drive's parameters and make use of the whole capacity. Drives are very, very standard devices. How about a SSD one, like this ... www.ebuyer.com link icon OCZ 250GB 2.5" SATAII Apex Series Solid State Drive - Ebuyer bit pricey, but very fast, silent and low power.
Les Nicol
Monday 10 August 2009 12:17PM
Brian - That drive sounds OK - Seems there is a problem if you exceed 1TB. I am told this can be overcome (although I'll stick to the 1TB). When using GParted a laptop and a Sharkoon HDD docking station.
Les Nicol
Monday 10 August 2009 10:19PM
Brian - Don't know of you are aware of this - If you format an external laptop or standard external drive with EXT3 Linux either using eg: UBUNTU or GParted (standalone CD),by archiving to the drive ( it's a slow process) the archive footage can then be run on either a Windows or Linux PC where you have downloaded VLC media Player which can handle the HUMAX Ts files.
Les Nicol
Monday 10 August 2009 10:23PM
P.S. The OCZ seems fine yet out of reach at even Ebuyers pricing point. I shall stick to a WD or Samsung Drive at around £40.00!
Briantist
Tuesday 11 August 2009 7:45AM
Les Nicol: The idea of a silent Freeview+ box sounds like a winner to me.
Briantist
Tuesday 11 August 2009 7:46AM
Les Nicol: Yes, I am aware, but you are right, an article about expanding a basic "plus" box would be a good idea.
Briantist
Tuesday 11 August 2009 8:07AM
Les Nicol: The maximum size of a ext3 partition is 8TB (or 16TB with 8k blocks).
Les Nicol
Thursday 20 August 2009 10:35AM
Brian thought these wiki links might interest you. I shall be following this in upgrading my Humax HDR/home/les/Desktop/The+HDR+filesystem/home/les/Desktop/eSATA+loop+mod
Les Nicol
Thursday 20 August 2009 10:38AM
Brian - sorry made a mess of this last post - Please remove - I will try and correct and re-post
Les Nicol
Thursday 20 August 2009 10:48AM
Brian - last post correction foxsatdisk - eSATA loop mod foxsatdisk - The HDR filesystem
D
Dina Bransby
Tuesday 8 September 2009 11:48AM
i presently have a sky standard box (have had for 18 months) and was thinking of upgrading to sky+ box so we can record programs. I was told I need an extra cable to the dish and together with the box this would cost £250. Instead of Sky, can I get a freesat box with harddrive connected to the dish? Do I need an extra cable?
Briantist
Tuesday 8 September 2009 12:32PM
Dina Bransby: You always need a quad-LNB (the bit on the end of the dish's arm) and two cables for any satellite box that has two tuners in it, such as Freesat+ and Sky+. Remember with Sky, you have to subscribe to use the record facilities with the Sky+, but no subscription is required for Freesat+.
K
kim
Wednesday 9 September 2009 1:06PM
hi bought freesat dish yesterday plugged all leads in got no boot up screen on my sharp hd tv any suggestions
Briantist
Wednesday 9 September 2009 1:15PM
kim: Hi. Can you tell me a little more about what you have done. Where is the dish mounted, who aligned it and which TV do you have to support Freesat directly?
N
NottsUK
Tuesday 29 September 2009 8:06AM
Briantist: Have you heard anything about the new service that is starting this Autumn. It is called Real Digital, (www.realdigitaltv.com). It will have the Freesat channels, many of the free-to-air channels, plus Pay TV. A viewing card will be needed for viewing the epg of the free-to-air and also the Pay TV channels. These will be Top Up type cards. The satellite receiver being shown on web site is the Fortec Star Innovation.
Briantist
Tuesday 29 September 2009 8:12AM
NottsUK: To be honest, it looks like a scam to me. It's just the way the site is made, it doesn't look like something created by a "big business", it looks very cheap.
N
NottsUK
Tuesday 29 September 2009 8:22AM
Briantist: This is a quote from the Fortec Star web site. "We are also working on a new 'TOP SECRET' project that when completed could see the launch of a new UK based platform". Anyway we will see what happens in the next few months.
Briantist
Tuesday 29 September 2009 8:25AM
NottsUK: Perhaps that is involvement in Project Canvas? There is little point in making a "competitor" to Freesat. Where are they going to find the promotions budget?
R
Roger Windmill
Monday 5 October 2009 3:32PM Milton Keynes
I have a Sky HD+ box in one room, and a Freesat Panasonic TV linked to the same dish in another. The Sky picture is reliable and good. The Freesat picture keeps breaking up on many channels, and is very unreliable. Why should this be if they are both running from the same dish?
Briantist
Tuesday 6 October 2009 6:50AM
Roger Windmill: It is probably the cable having a small amount of damage, or being poorly connected. Sometimes one of the LNB packages can get damaged.
D
David
Wednesday 7 October 2009 10:15PM
how can I connect my Freesat to a c/d player which has a 160gb Hard drive and tv. Please
Briantist
Thursday 8 October 2009 8:10AM
David: I'm not sure you will gain much connecting a Freesat box to a CD player with a hard drive.
M
M
Sunday 11 October 2009 8:56PM
My sister bought a new Freeview/Digital box she did not use it for about a month and when she did switch it on it asked for Tune-in so my sister followed the steps and she was left with no options as the messege popped up the chanels have been deleted. How is that possible???
B
Brian Virgin
Wednesday 14 October 2009 10:43PM Newton Abbot
question----can i connect a sky system from a sky minidish to a freesat receiver or recorder and receive all channels.
Les Nicol
Friday 16 October 2009 10:08AM
Brian Virgin - Provided that The SKY mini-dish has been fitted with a quad LNB and cabling this would be possible. Otherwise you would need to have the the dish upgraded with a new quad LNB and appropriate cabling to run both SKY and Freesat receivers. (Not an expensive upgrade).
N
Nicky
Sunday 8 November 2009 1:15PM
I currently have Sky + but want to cancel as I only watch the freeview channels, but I do use Sky + a lot. I have freeview built into my tv but no aerial in my living room. If I cancel Sky can I still receive Freeview? What if I want to pause/record... can I use a HD recorder as well?
Briantist
Sunday 8 November 2009 4:01PM
Nicky: You can use a Freesat+ box with your existing dish if you want to have the facilities without the subscription charge.
M
Michael
Tuesday 10 November 2009 1:07AM
The situation is.
I have written to OFCOM for over 1 year demanding to know why BskyB are charging people to use the recording facilities of their sky boxes.
About £800 per year to watch HD Channels
Why we have to pay for channels that do not belong to BskyB such as UKTV and Virgin etc?
Why all sports channels are encrypted etc.
OFCOM will not do nothing about it.
You will all be familiar with the MPs expenses scandal!
This is worse, OFCOM are being paid by the UK Tax Payer to regulate Pay TV and so far they have done absolutely nothing to address these issues.
Here is the reality:
You should only pay for live sports, Movie Channels and Box Office.
You should not have to pay for channels that do bot belong to BskyB, that screen programs that you have already paid for with your licence fees.
Take a look at Alibi, it screens repeat BBC programs, and many other channels are exactly the same.
These channels receive revenue from Adverts and expect you all to pay subscriptions ranging from £252 to about £800 per year to basically watch programs you have already paid for.
At the sametime you are paying for OFCOM to sit on their backsides and allow this to happen.
WE now have pornography channels charging people £2-50 per minute on the phones, yes it has gone up since i last wrote
By now, you are wondering what we can do.
I can tell you at first hand OFCOM don't careless and mainly write out reports that no one understands that fail to address these issues!
There are a lot of technical people on this site and i think it is time to take the law into our own hands, by openly finding away to bypass these security cards and sit back and watch it all for free.
I am against piracy, but not in this case. here i am all for it.
The pirates did it in the analogue days when it was nowhere near as bad as what we are seeing now.
Charging people around £252 to £800 per year to watch TV is taking the P--- and OFCOM must be laughing all the way to the Bank, they are being paid for doing nothing.
So lets get a thread together in order to find a technological way around this corrupt practice of overcharging people and fight back

J
JOHNNY TISINGER
Wednesday 25 November 2009 1:20AM
Ilive in Rex GA.30273 can get a freesat box.
Briantist
Thursday 26 November 2009 7:43AM
JOHNNY TISINGER: Yes, Freesat works anywhere in the UK.
M
michelle
Monday 7 December 2009 10:03AM
i have a sky+ box and only really watch the freeview channels but do love to record onto the sky planner.I dont like the idea of paying £10 a month just to record so i was thinking of getting a freesat box installed upstairs. Im thinking of getting a new box that records and provides freesat from the bbc. Then I can cancel sky and dont need a multiroom subscription. On the downside I bet theres an initial outlay of £300 but id be subscription fee. Does anyone know if freesat from sky and freesat from the bbc work ok together and how come sky can stop the recording facility if i dont have a subscription from them and would sky interfere by stoping the recording facility of a new bbc/itv freesat recorder that I would probably buy from argos.
Briantist
Tuesday 8 December 2009 12:18PM
michelle: Yes, you can just remove a Sky+ box and install a Freesat+ box, as per the instructions above.
K
keith Miller
Tuesday 15 December 2009 11:51PM
I've had a standard sky decoder and dish with Sky viewing card receiving Free to View from Sky for years. In the past few months I'm getting irritating 'pop-ups' on screen from Sky advising that my viewing card needs to be replaced, must contact them blah blah.... Why are they doing this? I've bought all my own equipment and the card and the last thing I want is to be drawn into some sales pitch with Sky on subscription services. What will happen if I just ignore their pop-ups and just keep hitting back-up button (annoying though it is)...Keith
L
Les Nicol
Wednesday 16 December 2009 5:23PM
Brian - Connecting a USB hub to the Humax DTR sees the receiver setup and manage multiple ports!
L
Les Nicol
Thursday 17 December 2009 7:36AM
I've tried connected as above (either front or back ports) The receiver sees these OK (maximum of 4) and you can use "Device Change" to switch between them. You can also move recordings on and off the HDD additionally have an external HDD which then can play back recordings as though it was an internal. - You need to use the cursor into the USB window and press "Opt" ro reveal the device list yo can also switch the pane to reveal the HDD. Additional possibilites with 1Player and ethernet connectivity??
M
mike
Wednesday 30 December 2009 10:40AM
can i recieve freesat with my old sky box in faringdon as they say hannington will not be running til 2012? this is for my daughter....thanks
L
Les Nicol
Wednesday 30 December 2009 11:43AM
Mike - On the assumption that your old Sky box is in working order then you can get a Freesat from Sky card for a one off payment of £20.00. The "Freesat" service from the BBC and ITV requires a receiver specifically designed for that service, but will work OK from an already installed satellite dish.
E
Elaine
Saturday 2 January 2010 3:36PM
hi - daughter lives in germany - can only get bfpo tv - about 4 channels - will a freesat box work in germany?
Les Nicol
Saturday 2 January 2010 8:14PM
Elaine - Works OK in France within 30 minutes of Geneva Switzerland. I think others have posted as being OK in Germany, both on this site and others.
J
J Briggs
Friday 15 January 2010 12:26PM
Brian,
I can recommend the Humax Foxsat box which came out in 2008 but is still popular in 2010. I have two of them (upstairs and downstairs) and neither of them has given a moment's trouble.

They are £150 just about everywhere and receive all of the free-to-air channels, including HD with a Sky dish or similar but do not record programmes. The box includes an HDMI cable so you don't have to buy one.

It is a very easy box to use and there are a lot of Freesat channels to choose from these days, as well as the other free-to-air channels.

It is also very easy to make it find the 'non-freesat' channels, by selecting the 'manual tune' mode and clicking on 'search'. After that has been done, the 'non-feesat' mode becomes available from the menu.

You might find that it reverts to Freesat mode overnight, when it updates the channels on standby, but it is easy to return to the other mode.

There are plenty of other Freesat boxes out there to work with an existing Sky dish but not all of them pick up the non-freesat channels quite so easily.

My only grumble with free-to-air satellite is the limited number of HD channels. Just now (Jan 2010) there is only BBC HD, Luxe TV and (occasionally) ITV HD.

Thanks for an excellent website. Always worth a visit.
J
janine
Sunday 24 January 2010 6:35PM
Hi, Im going on holiday to Cyprus,the Villa has a TV but no english channels - would my freeview box pick up English channels or should I but a cheap freeview box out in Cyprus.
Thanks
Janine
Briantist
Sunday 24 January 2010 7:06PM
janine: A Freeview (or DVB-T) box will pick up the local channels wherever you go with it. For UK channels you'd need Freesat and an enormous dish pointing at the Astra 2 satellites.

Many large bars show UK channels, often with the subtitles on.
G
gordon standen
Tuesday 2 February 2010 4:57PM
I have just replaced my old sky box with a humax foxsat hd receiver,connected it to a hitachi l42vpo1ua tv via scart to scart and hdmi cable.I have also used a scart to scart from the foxsat to my LG hdd/dvd 7500 recorder
but cannot get it to record. I would appreciate any help regarding interconnections and information on how to set up this configuration.
Briantist
Tuesday 2 February 2010 6:50PM
gordon standen: Only HDMI from the Humax to the TV, the SCART isn't needed and might cause a "loop".

A SCART from the Humax's SCART marked "VCR" to the HDD recover's first SCART, and you should be able to record from there.
B
Betty Farquhar
Tuesday 16 February 2010 10:02PM
Hi, I have Freesat and a DVD recorder. The channels on the recorder only go up to 805, so how do I record channel 956?
Briantist
Monday 22 February 2010 7:01AM
Betty Farquhar: You can only record using the "SCART" input on your DVD recorder, and then only the programme being shown by the Freesat box. Your recorder sounds like it is showing FreeVIEW channels.
G
geedee
Friday 26 March 2010 5:44PM
i have a sky box and want to watch bbc/itv in my apartment in Portugal, we have a dish set up but i dont want to have a subscription to sky what viewing card do i need if any?
Briantist
Monday 29 March 2010 7:56AM
geedee: No subscription or card is required, just a big dish, perhaps at least 2m.
A
Andy Ripley
Wednesday 31 March 2010 5:12PM
Having just replaced an FTA box with a Freesat HD one (Sagem) I've been surprised at how it's actually improved matters. It did take 15 mins to sort out the channels wanted that aren't on the Freesat list, but it does work. Most of the time spent on the Lyngsat site getting the settings. It shows just how awful my better half's Sky box is, my £30 FTA box has better picture quality. No doubt Sky will try and persuade folk to pay them lots to get HD and not let it be known that you can get some of them for nowt.
Briantist
Wednesday 31 March 2010 10:27PM
Andy Ripley: The picture quality though HDMI from Freesat HD is very good indeed, compared to Sky's decade-old technology.



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