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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.

David
Saturday 17 July 2010 7:43AM
Yes Phil, a freesat will work.
Briantist
Wednesday 21 July 2010 8:33AM
David DL: Yes. Three if you use both SCARTS and one on HDMI.
Briantist
Wednesday 21 July 2010 8:36AM
Karen: The only real option is to get a second connection to the dish, as all recording devices require the two connections.

You can build a single tuner satellite recorder using Windows 7 Media Center with a suitable DVB-S receiver card. You will need to set up a suitable PC and attach it to your TV set.
Jon
Wednesday 21 July 2010 11:51AM
Hi

I've notoiced the Foxsat HD box I looked at in Comet has an 'LNB out' on the back which I assume means I can daisy chain a signal from this output to a second TV. Are there any issues with doing this? My second TV is in a kitchen about 20 feet away -will it need some kind of signal boost to make it work?

Thanks

Jon
Briantist
Wednesday 21 July 2010 3:58PM
Jon: You can only use a daily chain when you have a certain type of SMARTV installation, under normal circumstances you can't do that as the second box will not be able to change the polarization.
brainyliz
Friday 23 July 2010 1:58PM
WE have a new Sky + and our old box is on Sky multiroom. Both are connected to the same land line phone. I have just rung Sky (honest idiot that I am) to find out if I can take the old multiroom box in our motorhome. I was told no because it has to be connected to the phoneline. Is this true? And can they tell if we do so anyway?
Briantist
Friday 23 July 2010 2:00PM
brainyliz: Unless you use the pay-per-view facilities on a box, there is no reason whatsoever for the box to be connected to the telephone line.

So, if you want you can disconnect both boxes from your telephone line.
Les Nicol
Sunday 25 July 2010 8:47AM
Brian - It's many a long year since I was with SKY, however in Brainyliz's case will her new SKY + receiver not be the subject of a new 12month contract therefore requiring her to connect this box to the telephone line? The fact now that SKY are offering the receiver for "Free" rather clounds this 12 months contract as my understanding was the 12month contract was tied in with the requirement to have ones phone line connected to the receiver and the fact that same was subsidised. If the receiver is now been pushed in SKY's advertising as being "Free" then it's not subsidised. My neighbour unplugged his telephone and was soon getting an on screen message cautioning him to re-connect same. Time for some real clarity on this one.
Briantist
Sunday 25 July 2010 8:51AM
Les Nicol: The terms and conditions still say "General: Your Sky box(es) must be connected to a fixed telephone line for 12 months." www.sky.com link icon Offers Terms and Conditions - but as we all know the box won't stop working if you disconnect it.

If you have been a Sky customer for 12 months, then even if you "upgrade" this does not restart the contract and you can "legally" disconnect.
Les Nicol
Sunday 25 July 2010 3:39PM
Sky+HD: Excludes existing Sky+HD households. £10 pm for the HD Pack. HD channels received depend on your Sky TV package. Free Sky+HD box when you join Sky TV with the HD Pack and pay for set-up (£30 for standard set-up, free if joining online). One free box per household. Existing customers must agree to new 12 month minimum term for Sky TV. Sky+HD box up to £199 if you are not eligible for discounted price (Sky TV subscription required). A Sky+HD box can store an average of 60 hours of HD or 185 hours of standard definition programmes. HD ready TV required. Luxe TV HD, Channel 4 HD and BBC HD are available without subscription. Channel 4 HD requires a viewing card.
Brian-If I am interpreting this correctly this doesn't seem to apply if your an existing customer upgrading to HD.
Briantist
Sunday 25 July 2010 3:43PM
Les Nicol: I think you're right. I've never heard of Sky cancelling a contract because the customer has disconnected from the phone line.

You also used to have to pay an extra £10 if you had no phone line.
Kim Prichard
Monday 26 July 2010 11:23AM
Hi I have sky in portugal at the moment, but in the evening at around 6ish we lose ITV and Channel 4, we are considering changing to Humax free sat... can anyone tell me if this will work ?
brainyliz
Monday 26 July 2010 2:42PM
Thank you Brian and Les for your advice and interest.
Briantist
Monday 26 July 2010 3:57PM
Kim Prichard: Yes, it will work. It will also allow you to enter any UK postcode when you set it up, which may deal with your ITV/C4 problem.

Many people report that using a Channel Islands postcode results in the best signals in your area.
Briantist
Monday 26 July 2010 4:02PM
brainyliz: Always a pleasure.
Peter
Tuesday 27 July 2010 6:17PM
Hi everyone, can I have some help please? There is an existing satellite connection in my house that the previous owners used, and I have an old Panasonic standard Sky Box about 6 years old. I haven't used it since I moved from my old house. The Sky box has its old Sky viewing card (not used for 4 years, but when I connect it says no satellite signal is being received. When I go through the Sky menu to the signal test, the signal strength is indicated at 90-100%, the signal quality 75%, lock indicator OK, network id and transport stream both "0000". The previous occupants were chinese, and had cable as well as satellite. I think the sateliite may be pointed at a different (chinese)satellite from the sky one. Would that explain the signal strength and quality readings? Without wasting money on a sky frfs card before I discover that is not the problem, does anyone have any idea on how I can (DIY) find out what the issue is? None of my friends and neighbours round here have sky. All virgin!
Briantist
Wednesday 28 July 2010 7:39AM
Peter: Showing network id and transport stream both "0000" does indicate that you are not getting a signal from the 28.2 East cluster.

Having a card won't change this, you will need to have the dish correctly aligned.
PAUL WILLIAMS
Monday 2 August 2010 5:43PM
From Paul Frederick i am dissabled and have freesat up stairs iam know downstairs where i have a TV with built in free view i wish to upgrade to freesat can asecond cable run from the freesat dish to the TV and connect to the free sat box thanks p f
Briantist
Monday 2 August 2010 5:51PM
PAUL WILLIAMS: Yes, but the dish will need a quad-LNB (four outputs) to connect to the cable at the dish.

You must also use satellite-grade coaxial cable.

There's more at www.ukfree.tv link icon Freesat reception - all about dishes | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice .
Les Nicol
Monday 2 August 2010 5:55PM
Paul - Yes this is possible without much additional cost to you, Unless of course you decide to go for another receiver rather than simply utilising the box you have upstairs.
PAUL WILLIAMS
Monday 2 August 2010 9:37PM
A big thank you to les and brianist for your prompt answers Paul
Peter
Wednesday 4 August 2010 9:34AM
Thanks Briantist. I will try that.
Les Nicol
Thursday 5 August 2010 11:14AM
Brian - Seems to me that given the"Freeview"and "Freesat" platforms then a continued carriage deal with SKY - given economic constraints for the BBC makes a continuing deal with SKY questionable use of the licence fee?
Briantist
Thursday 5 August 2010 11:24AM
Les Nicol: the BBC services are covered by "must carry" rules, the BBC pays Sky only for EPG listing at published rates.

The BBC rents transponder capacity from SES Astra directly, nothing to do with Sky at all.

If Sky went bust, the BBC would still be there, as would ITV and others.
Les Nicol
Thursday 5 August 2010 11:30AM
Brian - sorry this should have been posted to BBC/ITV Fresat - perhaps you can move the above post - Thanks - cataracts are giving me more and more of a headache hope soon to have the op.
Les Nicol
Thursday 5 August 2010 5:26PM
Brian - Thanks for that, It's somewhat re-assuring that arrangements are not a total sub-contracting and where finances could be channelled more appropriately to programming and or HD content.
Briantist
Thursday 5 August 2010 5:38PM
Les Nicol: Sky have done quite a good job in convincing everyone in the UK that they are some kind of satellite-Goliath, but they don't actually own a single satellite.

If you look at the international market in satellite TV for DTH and for distribution, Sky is just a subcontractor.

It's just these weird, artificial local markets that the encryption system have been able to create.
Les Nicol
Thursday 5 August 2010 8:39PM
Brian - I was aware that Sky didn't own satellites, but I certainly was very much unsure about how far the"Murdoch" arm stretched when it came to shareholdings and any influences that may have engendered. eg: Astra - Eutelsat - Intelsat - perhaps I' getting Paranoid!!
Briantist
Thursday 5 August 2010 9:27PM
Les Nicol: SES is a listed company - SES - Share Information as is Eutelsat - Eutelsat Communications :: Investor Relations but Intelsat "is a privately-held company. It does not have publicly-traded common stock" - Intelsat FAQs for Investors .
akadingbat
Saturday 7 August 2010 9:44PM
My mother has had Freesat installed and it works fine for the standard box. We want to put in a Sagem Freesat HD box and when it did not work we checked the box in another house and it worked fine. We therefore upgraded the cable to a better quality one but the HD box still says it is not getting a signal. The SD box works fine on the new cable. Any thoughts would be most welcome. Thank you.
Les Nicol
Sunday 8 August 2010 4:35PM
akadingbat - If the Sagem receiver is working OK in another setting then this has to be down to a connection/signal reception issue. If you can't fix yourself then best to get in a local rigger or where you purchased the box from who will configure this for you.
James Godfrey
Wednesday 11 August 2010 12:30PM
hi all,

newbie question here. I want to watch tonight's england game in HD if possible.

Our flat used to have sky+ from previous tenants so I know that this gives me some choice for freesat.

Is it best for me to buy a cheap £70 Bush HD box from Argos OR grab a 2nd hand Sky HD box from someone who lives near me.

I am confused as to whether I would need a Freesat for sky card or not, just to watch BBC HD or ITV HD (think Match is on this channel)

What do people recommend I do?
LutonFan
Wednesday 11 August 2010 2:30PM Bristol
James Godfrey- I am unsure whether you will recieve ITV1 without a viewing card.

Can the person from whom you will borrow the Skybox remove the card(best to unplug the box first). If they receive the channel, it should work. If not, take the former option.
JG
Wednesday 11 August 2010 3:02PM
Hi LutonFan,

Shame I can't borrow it, it is being sold as current owners have moved house and gone with Virgin instead. Cost is just under 50 quid. I don't mind buying a Freesat card from sky for 20/25 but was still hoping I can watch the match tonight.

Cheers,

JG
Briantist
Wednesday 11 August 2010 3:05PM
ITV1 HD is free-to-air, no card is required. Freesat+ boxes can eaily be fitted when Sky+ have been left.
Mike Dimmick
Wednesday 11 August 2010 7:16PM
James Godfrey: as I understand it, for Freesat from Sky (fSfS), you require a viewing card so the box can decrypt the Electronic Programme Guide. If you don't have one, you have to use Other Channels and manually add channels by specifying the frequency and polarization that the channel is broadcast on. You can't just punch in 101 for BBC One and 103 for ITV1.

The actual transmissions are not encrypted, but it's a pain to find them. You can find a relatively current list at www.lyngsat.com link icon http://www.lyngsat.com/28east.html.

For tonight you can probably just go to Other Channels and pick 10832 MHz (10.832 GHz), H or Horizontal. If it asks for a stream number use 10000. That's ITV1 HD (shown on Lyngsat as ITV1 London MPEG-4/HD). (RG47SH)
Briantist
Wednesday 11 August 2010 7:19PM
Mike Dimmick: That's not right. The boxes work perfectly well for fSfS without any card. The card just gives the correct ITV and BBC regions, plus Sky 3, Fiver and 5USA.

If the box isn't providing access, you reset it with one of the three methods at the top of the page.
Roger Paterson
Wednesday 11 August 2010 10:12PM
Just tried replacing a panasonic sky box with a bush HD freesat one. Sound comes through clearly but picture faint series of 6-8 vertical repetitive panels moving slowly across screen. Checked signal by putting sky box back and picture is clear. Only thing I can think of is TV is Optoma projector which requires RGB not PAL signal - how can I check bush box output is RGB?
Briantist
Wednesday 11 August 2010 10:55PM
Roger Paterson: RGB (from the SCART) is usually enabled, but you can change it sometimes to S-Video, which might be the case here.

Does the projector not support HDMI?
Tez
Thursday 12 August 2010 4:47PM
I tried to have a SKY plus box paired with a card, but SKY say it cannot be done, as the receiver is still 'in contract'? Is this the case, and how can you get around it. I have bought the box, and essentially cannot use it!
Briantist
Thursday 12 August 2010 5:09PM
Tez: You can only use a Sky+ box to record and play if you have a current Sky subscription. Without one, the box works as a normal Sky box.
Ravi
Monday 16 August 2010 10:56AM
Hello all

I have an existing Sky+ installation and want to add another TV into another room. Is it possible to wire a new freesat set top box from the dish into a new room? Even if it is a sky dish? I remember the installer telling me it was HD ready...I see all this stuff about LNB and dont really know what its all about!

Any help gratefully received...
Briantist
Monday 16 August 2010 11:05AM
Ravi: Yes, the QuadLNB on the dish has four outputs, you just need to use one of the two free ones.

You just need to have a run of satellite-grade coaxial cable from the dish to the point where the "other TV" is.

If you want to use Freesat+ you will need two cables, but one is necessary for a non-recording box.

Please see www.ukfree.tv link icon Freesat reception - all about dishes | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice .
Les Nicol
Tuesday 17 August 2010 8:34AM
Ravi - Just to add to Brian's post. You can get a Freesat HD receiver that will record using a single cable but the receiver has only the one tuner. So recording is more limited than one with two tuners. Nevertheless the "Technisat HDFS "Freesat" receiver has other goodies in terms of it's capability and price wise it's a bargain buy at the moment at around £127.00 and carries a 3year warranty. Handy if you've got a problem with your SKY+ box.
Laura
Saturday 21 August 2010 4:07PM
We are in france, have sky+ which has perfect signal strenghth, but when we swapped the box for a new grundig HD freesat recorder, the screen showed 0% signal strength on the install menu. After rebooting the box powers up without lights (ie I can hear the fan whirring) and nothing appears on the screen. So we unplugged the freesat box and plugged our sky box back in again to check we hadnt damaged cables and Sky works perfectly. Does anyone have a similar story, and how it was resolved. I have read all sorts of things on forums about software updates to swap out of units!!
Briantist
Monday 23 August 2010 6:34AM
Laura: Sounds like you have a faulty box, I would return it to the store for a replacement.
Laura
Monday 23 August 2010 9:43AM
thanks Briantist, we will call Comets helpline today, its bit of a pain to return it as we bought it during a visit to the UK, although the service agreement/warrenty is registered to our french address! Is there a more reliable alternative to the Grundig? I keep hearing good things about Humax..?
Briantist
Monday 23 August 2010 1:49PM
Laura: Humax seem to make equipment that you don't hear too many complaints about.
Laura
Monday 23 August 2010 6:15PM
thanks for your help Briantist, we posted the grundig back to my Dad in the uk to get a refund direct from the store...I dont want to get a replacement after reading some very bad reviews, even the Comet website reviews gives it a rating of 1.5/5
We cancelled our Sky subscription , so in a month we will not be able to record etc, but as the sky box seems to have a faulty input2 , recording has been an issue for ages! Maybe when the new series of Spooks starts again we will think about buying a humax freesat with a series link!
Briantist
Monday 23 August 2010 9:17PM
Laura: It is always annoying when that happens. I that most people are very happy with both the features and quality of Humax boxes.

Their technical support does get there eventually, I understand. Which is the best you get these days.
Therese
Thursday 26 August 2010 11:05AM
Hi, Briantist,
I had heard from other people that it was possible to continue to receive free channles after finishing with Sky. I had been with Sky for about ten years when I stopped subscribing recently but my new Samsung full HD (with Freeview) tv is not picking up any Freeview or other non-subscription channels at all now - even when we try and locate channels manually, it will not find any other than the standard terrestrial channels, so we only have 4 channels now. What do you think is wrong? I can't actually find an aerial of any sort in or on the house, so that might explain the lack of Freeview channels
Briantist
Thursday 26 August 2010 12:52PM
Therese: Just keep using your Sky box to view the free channels. You don't need to do anything to do this but keep using the Sky box.

If you want to use Freeview you need a rooftop aerial pointing at a Freeview transmitter.



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