Sky and Sky HD box? Help needed.

[Blunet600]

I just go a new HD ready TV. We have sky, not sky plus or anything like that just normal sky. Now the picture isnt great so i found out that to make full use of the TV i need a Sky HD box, can i just buy one off ebay and replace my current sky box without any problems or sky charging me for having a hd box? I know i need to buy an HD box but that will be a one off payment.
Cheers.
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Honda - Power of Dreams - NSR 125R - Hornet 600

[Darth]

Firstly you should get a pretty decent picture with a std sky box so i would be checking out things there first. Connections, cables, dodgy box, tv etc.

I am pretty sure, damn near positive in fact that you will still need to pay Sky to upgrade your package to HD. Tenner a month for the basic stuff i believe. You will also only get the HD hannels in the package you are subscribed too. For example if you dont have the sports channels then you wont get Sky sports HD, no film channels then no HD movies for you.

I will get round to upgrading one day but hacks me off so much that i could get it cheaper if i hadn't been a loyal customer of 5+ years and was just taking out my first Sky package instead!
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Harold_Shand wrote: I suppose it's like anything, you get your fingers burned when you start out, you learn from it and eventually become a complete arsehole about the whole thing.

[JonB]

Picture quality on a HDTV with standard sky is poor. The HD box helps purely at least because it uses a HDMI cable which improves quality.

I presume you can buy a HD box and it will work as normal, but obviously you won't be able to recieve the HD channels cause you won't have the subscription for it.
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Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it?s worth.

[Mr.Everready]

As said already, to get Sky HD it will cost you £9.75 a month. Without it you won't get any HD channels.

How much is the box on ebay ? £50 will get you a brand new one from Sky.
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the undemocratically unelected mod of the Scottish section

[lllN30lll]

Buying the box will not work if you have standard sky don't bother, you need the 2 x inputs that come from your sky dish, if you only have standard sky then you'll only have the 1 input from the dish.
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Turbo R1
CRF450R

[MonkeyKnuckle]

Like N30 said you'll have to get someone from Sky to come around and arse around with your dish to add another cable so you have two going into the box. This is so you can record one channel one watching another.

Then you'll have to phone Sky and ask them for the HD subscription.

Are Sky still selling the boxes for £45?
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MKGaming.com
2000 Honda CBR600F - Sold! 2003 Honda CBR600RR - Current!

[Blunet600]

Im dont mind not being able to record one channel and watch another, im happy to keep the way it is just with a better picture quality. My aunt has a Sky HD box but does not pay the monthly subscription but the quality is so apparantly better than what i have with the standard sky box with no hdmi cable.
She said she just swapped her old box for the hd one, but i think she already had sky+ before that.
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Honda - Power of Dreams - NSR 125R - Hornet 600

[lllN30lll]

[Blunet600]

yeh she doesnt get any of the hd channels. only the free ones. But even that setup would be fine. So would that work? if i got an hd sky box and replaced my old original sky box?
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Honda - Power of Dreams - NSR 125R - Hornet 600

[Banned]

Hier,

How is you Tv connected to the sky box.

What output do you have set on the sky box.

What TV is it ?


ta

[carvell]

If you just buy a Sky HD box off eBay you will get BBC HD and Channel 4 HD, with the possibility of manually tuning in ITV HD (depending on the Sky box software) just by sticking your current viewing card in.
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Yamaha TDM 850

[lllN30lll]

https://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=165973&highlight=sky+hd

Have a read in that thread about the LNB's.
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Turbo R1
CRF450R

[Blunet600]

The TV is a 40" Samsung Series 6. Dont know the exact model.
The cable from sky box to TV is just a scart cable. Which is probably why the picture is not great.
Im aware i could only get some hd channels but the normal channels will still be better quality that what i already view.
I think i will get me a sky hd box and hope. It seems i should be able to. Then just stick my sky card in the hd box. right?
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Honda - Power of Dreams - NSR 125R - Hornet 600

[Banned]

First try finding out which scart socket on TV is RGB enabled via the manual, or it may be written next the the said socket on the TV.

If you have an RGB scart socket then set the sky box to RGB output.

The same thing should be done for your dvd player.

I have never had sky but have read before on problem.

Also if your TV is an LCD and you had a CRT before, then you are likely to notice a poorer picture. you will notice different quality on channels aswell, but latest freeview update the other day was spose to help this issue.

Use a reasonable quality scart lead.

Hope these suggestions work.

[Kwaks]

[carvell]