Sky Plus HD - Spain
 

Has anyone bought a new box recently either in Spain or had it delivered to Spain?

Re: Sky Plus HD - Spain
 

Yes.
I have one or two.
Best performing Sky HD+box is the Pace, followed closely by the Samsung, then the others.

The New EPG will be tricky to get used to at first, but it is much much better than the old style version.

Problem with delivery is how much it will get thrown around which may damage the internal hard drive - but then they are cheap enough to replace even by yourself...with much bigger hard drives...

Remember BBC HD, ITV HD and C4 HD are free and available with no subscription (ITVHD needs the new HD EPG and added manully, C4 HD needs a viewing card). All other HD channels are avauilable with a £10 per month HD sub, and then it depends on what package you subscribe to. Ie Sky Sports 1 HD will only be aviailable if you subscribe to Sky Sports and pay the extra £10 HD sub.

Re: Sky Plus HD - Spain
 

Sorry what is the new EPG? I have been looking at ebay there are new ones available there for about 135 GBP but with no guarantee. Is it worth risking?

Re: Sky Plus HD - Spain
 

The New EPG is the new style programme guide that is purely for HD receivers.

More functionality than the current one used on other basic and sky+ receivers, but takes a bit of time getting used to.

Be careful of buying Sky HD boxes from Ebay.
Many are being sold when they are still under the 12 month contract with Sky. People are getting a sky HD box for £50 as part of UK installation agreementand promotion, then putting it onto Ebay to sell at a higher price fr a quick profit.

Im many cases I know of where people have thought about a good deal HD box on ebay, Sky have refused to pair cards to HD boxes that are still under contract with another card number - they do check this rigourously now - especially when they are promoting free / £50 HD boxes....They will ask, whats happened to the card that this discounted hd box was installed for etc...and will refuse to pair another card to that box.

So if you do buy one from ebay, make sure it is still not under a contract

Re: Sky Plus HD - Spain
 

Thank you for that. That is such good advice. So it is either bite the bullet and pay 270 quid or just buy another sky plus box. It is the other half that wants the HD I am not bothered.

Perhaps you can answer something else. We have been loaned a sky plus box to which we have got Sky to activate. However we cannot get the sky plus to work saying the playback and recording are unavailable. Have phoned Sky twice now and still not working. Could it be the box and is there anyway of checking this?

Re: Sky Plus HD - Spain
 

Also is there such a thing as a Sky box blacklist?

Re: Sky Plus HD - Spain
 

Hi

Yes there is.

I see "ziggy" has had some good advice about the situation on another forum....

sometimes the channels on a card can be activated before the record and playback functions are...it can take 24 hours or so.
if it is not working after 24 hours, call sky again, and leave the box on a nice strong signal channel - like sky one...
and make sure they know it is a sky plus box - sometimes the muppets forget to check the little Sky+ tick box on their screen!

And it is always an idea to do it when the 11778 frequency is strong and you have back ground music on the sky menu screens.

If all things dont work try the old "help me with my card that is in spain" as suggested!

Re: Sky Plus HD - Spain
 

Mr Guy I am trying everything. How I miss my Sky Plus. What has happened now is that our old blue and yellow "Spanish" card seems to have been cancelled today. We have a loan sky plus box from our original installer and had our new "English" white card linked to it but the playback and recording are not working. I have phoned Sky twice now and they said they would send the signal to active it but nothing has happened. We could use our old box now as it seems to have been cleared but are worried that if we try to use our new white card in it they will scream "You are in Spain" and de-activate US.

Re: Sky Plus HD - Spain
 

have you got your pay channels back - ie Sky one (if you pay for that channel of course!)? If so the card has been activated and the record functions may pop in in a few hours time. they say 24 hours, it just depends where you are in the queue.

If you have not got Sky One (or another channel you pay for) then your card has not been activated at all....maybe the "replacement" sky boxes card reader is "gone", or faulty. Also are you sure the box actually works for playback and record - or is it loaned for watching only?

sometimes unplugging the box, wait for 30 seconds, reapply power, boot box, and then get them to resent the signal will work.

again, only when 11778 is strongest - in the am (usually before 2pm) - when BOTH signal bars in services 4 6 show signal.

or you could try a reformat of the disk - this will wipe all recordings off the drive, and may cause further problems if there is a disk issue (services, 4 0 1 select full system reset)

Re: Sky Plus HD - Spain
 

We have the full package and all working fine. Have tried to 4 01 8 but nothing. Have phoned Sky both times in the evening so perhaps will try again in the morning. Is there anyway to test if the box is faulty? What I don´t want is for Sky to say they will send an engineer out!

Re: Sky Plus HD - Spain
 

depends on what the on screen messages is exactly.

there are a few messages and "error codes" that mean your disk is knackered (system failure or unable to record), and there is one that states the card is not activated for sky+.

You can see if your card has been actiavted for sky+ recording by using it in ANY other sky+ box and trying recording and playback of non encrypted channels - like bbc or sky news for example - in many cases I have been able to do this even without pairing! (apparently pairing is required for recordand playback of "sky" encryted channels only) at least this will show if your card has been actiavted for recording or not, and may point to a faulty box...

Re: Sky Plus HD - Spain
 

You can get brand new SKY HD boxes like the PACE and Samsung for £180 delivered with full 12 month contract if you look hard enough. Ebay usually have good deals.

Re: Sky Plus HD - Spain
 

Where - I have looked on ebay and not found any.

As Guy suggested have tried the card in another sky plus box and the recording and play back facility worked so it is obviously a faulty box, which means we will have to get a new one.

Re: Sky Plus HD - Spain
 

So if your card is working in another sky+ box ok, then yes the "replacement" box you card is paired to is not working correctly.

Did you perform the full factroy reset - this basically reformats the hard drive and generally this clears the issue some of the time....

If it does not work after that then a new hard disk will be required for that box to function correctly - easy to do if you have a screwdriver and a new drive around - most drives between 160gig to 300 gig will do...

Re: Sky Plus HD - Spain
 

Tried that reset - 4 01 8. Didn´t work. Don´t have a new drive sitting around so will have to buy a new box. Do appreciate all your help.