Satellite TV

[shanagarry]

Hi Steve - I have the HD Box and that goes with it. When I upgraded they moved the Sky+ box upstairs - the total deal costs me £63 per month and would like to bring it with me - assuming it all works in Portugal.

[shanagarry]

Macassa - I may be misleading you.

I have a full SKY HD subscription.

Prior to having SKY HD I had SKY+. I also had another box in an upstairs bedroom which operated independently from SKY+ downstairs - it was the Multi-room deal

When I upgraded to SKY HD they threw away the upstairs box and replaced it with the SKY+ box from downstairs and it operates the same as the discarded box did - only quicker.

I pay for both of them on the deal they were offering when HD fist became available.

What I am trying to work out is:
- will my SKY HD system work in Portugal?
- will the SKY+ work in the same was as it does here?
- what do I bring with me from the UK?

I realise I will need a new dish and I have no intention of trying to install it and the system myself.

[steve]

I am a bit confused. Is Sky HD Sky+ with HD channels? I can't see why anyone would want to abandon the Sky+ features.

You are going to get the same signal here as you do in the UK and subject to any concessions based on multiroom and keeping a phone line connected you should therefore get the same services. You simply need a larger dish and a more sensitive LNB because we sit on the southern edge of the signal footprint.

[shanagarry]

Steve - technically it might be - but it is a different box - and has two wires going out to the dish/LNB when the SKY+ box only had one. You will gather from all this that my technical know-how is non existent - hence my inability to explain clearly.

We will be in town at the beginning of Feb and I need to speak to a professional installer (any suggestions?) to make sure we bring/pack the correct components in June.

[steve]

I think I understand now. Sky+ has the built in hard drive and needs two inputs from the LNB. Your second box with only one input is just a Sky box not Sky+.

I used a local installer for my new house and if you pm me I will give you details. He is English and has been around for ages. He is competitive on price and knows his stuff but can be hard to pin down. I have been waiting 4 years for a 1.6 dish to be fitted in place of my current 1.4! It won't fit in his truck.

[wolfie]

Go to RJ Technica on Rua do Farol - tell them what you need and they will sort it all out for you .They are in the underground shops .Did my satellite and lots of others around town - everyone seems happy with them

[maccasa]

Further to my earlier post - I have just tested a sky+ box which is non-subscribed - you can get all the channels same as freesat (and several more) but YOU CANNOT RECORD

Shana - whatever subscription you have on sky you can "transpose" to Portugal - HD works fine, but it is actually illegal and if they find out they will cut you off. Just ensure you keep a uk adress for correspondence (a relation?) and debit payments from a uk bank.

Also if you want sky+ in two rooms you will need a 4 way LNB ( 2 to each box)

[md 600 driver]

MULTIROOM
multiroom is a special subscription that allows you to have more than 1 satelitte reciever attached to your subscription , for a extra £10 per month per reciever you will get the same channels that you get on your main satelitte reciever

so if your main box is a sky hd with sport and movies that you pay £58 per month for ,if you wanted you could opt for muliroom subscription which would give you the same sky hd with sport and movies for addition £10 per month on a second sky reciever

the catch /smallprint is that you must have both sky boxes connected to the same UK phone line[this is to stop familys sharing lower subscription cost ]IT IS POLICED BY SKY
IF THEY FIND YOUR 2 BOXES NOT CONNECTED TO THE SAME UK PHONE LINE THEY WILL CHARGE YOU THE FULL £58 FOR EACH BOX

SKYPLUS/HD BOX
All skyplus and sky hd boxes have a hard disc recorder built into them however to use the recording function you need to have a valid subscription from sky you can only get this by using a uk address and telling sky this is where the box is
all skyplus and sky hd have 2 connections on the back for input cables from the dish to use a skyplus box with only one cable connected will work but can be very finicky however the hd box has special software which allows 1 cable to be connected which stops the annoying no signal banner showing

i hope this has explained
if anyone wants a telephone conversation about it send pm i will send my uk tel number as i only go to algarve for 10 weeks per year