# Sky box help pls



## Kagee (May 4, 2013)

Hi. Just moved to Estepona, into a small complex already with communal sky dish and communal wifi. We are renting. We brought our tv and sky+ box from UK. Plugged it all in and it worked just like it did in UK. We cancelled our basic sky account from 14 April. But it was all working as normal when we arrived. 
This morning I decided to tune the tv to get Spanish tv. I plugged in an antenna cable to a spare slot in the wall and to the back of the tv. Changed the setting on the tv to Spain and tuned it beautifully. 
Went to switch back to to watch sky and suddenly I couldn't get most of the channels or any of my recordings. Devastated. I realise it may have just been 'luck' to have had all the same access. And maybe sky just decided today to cancel our access fully. But I did try to reverse everything I had done to see if I could get access back and it won't work. I cannot even see the programs that I had recorded in the past. 
Any thoughts on if this can be rectified without taking out a new subs? Thanks.


----------



## VFR (Dec 23, 2009)

Kagee said:


> Hi. Just moved to Estepona, into a small complex already with communal sky dish and communal wifi. We are renting. We brought our tv and sky+ box from UK. Plugged it all in and it worked just like it did in UK. We cancelled our basic sky account from 14 April. But it was all working as normal when we arrived.
> This morning I decided to tune the tv to get Spanish tv. I plugged in an antenna cable to a spare slot in the wall and to the back of the tv. Changed the setting on the tv to Spain and tuned it beautifully.
> Went to switch back to to watch sky and suddenly I couldn't get most of the channels or any of my recordings. Devastated. I realise it may have just been 'luck' to have had all the same access. And maybe sky just decided today to cancel our access fully. But I did try to reverse everything I had done to see if I could get access back and it won't work. I cannot even see the programs that I had recorded in the past.
> Any thoughts on if this can be rectified without taking out a new subs? Thanks.


New contract is needed IMO.


----------



## sat (Jul 20, 2008)

Recording features on a Sky box need a sky subscription.
So if you have cancelled a that subscription you will no longer have access tot he recording functions, or those recordings in your planner.

Also, you can still get access to about 200 plus channels without a Sky card - including BBC ITV C4 and Five channels. 

When you cancel with Sky, your account will be closed 30 days after you call - so that your account and payments are all OK.

Sometimes, if your card is not in the box, or the box is not powered on, you can continue to get channels and recordings for a few days after your cancellation, as the card can miss the "kill me" signal.


----------



## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

You cancelled your contract so of course you would lose the service...you are no longer paying!

You have two choices: you can begin a new subscription using a UK address of friend, family, anyone who doesn't already have Sky, or you can buy Sky access through one of the companies offering this service locally. This will usually cost a 'maintenance' fee on top of the Sky subscription.

You should really have kept your subscription and not cancelled.


----------



## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

mrypg9 said:


> You cancelled your contract so of course you would lose the service...you are no longer paying!
> 
> You have two choices: you can begin a new subscription using a UK address of friend, family, anyone who doesn't already have Sky, or you can buy Sky access through one of the companies offering this service locally. This will usually cost a 'maintenance' fee on top of the Sky subscription.
> 
> You should really have kept your subscription and not cancelled.


If all the OP wants is the myriad of freesat channels, then they won't need a contract.

Obviously, they'll loose the SKY + advantages (recording & play back etc.).


----------



## sat (Jul 20, 2008)

In which case, if you only want "free to air" channels, and recording with no subscription, look at a Freesat+HD box - from Humax or Manhatten.

There are "non sky " and "non freesat" boxes that also allow access to the free UK TV channels, most of these allow recording onto a USB stick or drive, and do not allow for the "watch one channel and record another" at the same time.


----------



## Kagee (May 4, 2013)

Thanks everyone. Yes, it appears we still had some service for a coup,e of weeks after cancelling the service. We'll stick with the free view channels until we can justify paying for Sky agin. It might help my Spanish if I watch Spanish tv in the meantime.


----------



## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Most of those free channels are crap, though.


----------



## Aron (Apr 30, 2013)

Kagee said:


> Hi. Just moved to Estepona, into a small complex already with communal sky dish and communal wifi. We are renting. We brought our tv and sky+ box from UK. Plugged it all in and it worked just like it did in UK. We cancelled our basic sky account from 14 April. But it was all working as normal when we arrived.
> This morning I decided to tune the tv to get Spanish tv. I plugged in an antenna cable to a spare slot in the wall and to the back of the tv. Changed the setting on the tv to Spain and tuned it beautifully.
> Went to switch back to to watch sky and suddenly I couldn't get most of the channels or any of my recordings. Devastated. I realise it may have just been 'luck' to have had all the same access. And maybe sky just decided today to cancel our access fully. But I did try to reverse everything I had done to see if I could get access back and it won't work. I cannot even see the programs that I had recorded in the past.
> Any thoughts on if this can be rectified without taking out a new subs? Thanks.


Phone Satellite world, they operate in your area and they are very good at anything to do with TV's


----------



## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

mrypg9 said:


> Most of those free channels are crap, though.


BBC1, BBC2, ITV, Channel 4 Channel 5 ........


?????


----------



## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

snikpoh said:


> BBC1, BBC2, ITV, Channel 4 Channel 5 ........
> 
> 
> ?????


Well, I'd include Channel 5 and sadly much of Channel 4 nowadays as crap. Don't watch ITV either apart from football when it's on that channel.
So I'd say two and a half out of hundreds of channels aren't crap...BBC 2 and BBC 4 are great, BBC 1 not that interesting. We watch mainly football on Sky, documentaries and Saturday foreign stuff like 'Borgen' and 'THe Killing' on BBC 4, Newsnight and some documentaries on BBC 2......and BBC Radio 4 via the Skybox. We'd hate to lose that.

The nation is dumbing down...


----------



## Kagee (May 4, 2013)

I just came back from Estepona where I went in to a shop called PC-MACS.es Informatica (to buy printer inks and a wireless network card for PC). The nice guy there, Ben, recommended that I do not sign up with Sky just yet because we may lose all the channels anyway and it wont be worth it, when the satellite move/change takes place. 
He is building a box (one off fee, no subscription) that will allow full access to all the freeview channels and also all the major tv series and movies (via the USA). He said it is different to the various subscription services that use a VPN to a UK host server. He suggested that we come in next week when it's done to have a look and see a demo of it. Seems very genuine, but we'll see next week. I'll let you all know when I've seen it.


----------



## sat (Jul 20, 2008)

Kagee said:


> recommended that I do not sign up with Sky just yet because we may lose all the channels anyway and it wont be worth it, when the satellite move/change takes place.


You will not lose all channels, maybe some, but not all.
And it is expected that the majority of Sky pay channels will be on the "European beam" and so should be available as they are today.

Of course it all depends where you are in Spain, and what sized dish you have, and what signal footprint the next satellite has (which may or may not be similar tot he first new satellite - no-one will know until it is operational!)




Kagee said:


> He is building a box (one off fee, no subscription) that will allow full access to all the freeview channels and also all the major tv series and movies (via the USA). He said it is different to the various subscription services that use a VPN to a UK host server. He suggested that we come in next week when it's done to have a look and see a demo of it. Seems very genuine, but we'll see next week. I'll let you all know when I've seen it.


Boxes (smart tv / android boxes running xbmc - which can also be installed on PCs) are already available - as are internet streaming sites like filmon for free uk tv access. But then the picture quality on internet streaming is simply not as good as a direct from satellite system - why have a 40" HD TV and use it for sub SD quality internet streams when (again depending where you are) BBC1HD, BBC2HD, ITV1HD C4HD and FiveHD are all available via satellite in HD for free!


----------



## el pescador (Mar 14, 2013)

*But then the picture quality on internet streaming is simply not as good as a direct from satellite system*

true with "live" events but lovefilms streaming service is top notch now since the upgrade.
cant tell the difference between sky hd


----------

