Satellite receiver box

It never rains but it pours. Having started watching TV again, the remote for the STB has died. The light on the remote shines when a button is pressed, but nothing happens. Cleaned card, rebooted box but not change. STB itself is working OK, but not receiving signal from remote. Pressing buttons on STB is tedious.

We bought the Sky Freesat service in August 2005. STB, card, dish and installation for £150, with countless free channels and nothing more to pay, so after ten years, probably shouldn't complain. My understanding is that if we buy a new STB, we just need to connect two cables (to dish and TV), use the existing Sky card and it will work.

But, which STB? Too much choice! One I saw has a wi-fi dongle to connect to home network, which I think makes it work like Google's Chromecast? That would be useful, as we were thinking of buying a TV Chromecast anyway, having had success with the audio version.

Is it possible to use a dish/STB to view Freeview as well as Sky channels? Reason for question is the Watch channel seems to be available via Freeview, but only as part of a Sky subscription, which we don't want.

To be honest, most of our viewing will be the basic four channels, and I don't imagine recording will be a high priority.

Anyway, you need to prove that the remote's infra red led is working. I use a little rnib light detector I bought many years ago for this task. It is very sensitive to all forms of light and if you hold it in front of the infra red window, you can hear the chirp as a button is pressed.

Brian

Alternatively, point the remote at a digital camera (switched on!) and watch the camera screen as someone presses buttons on the remote.

Point the remote at a digital camera/phone and you should be able to see the LED flashing if it is working. Often a non working remote is because "crud" has got between the rubber membrane and the circuit board. Most remote cases can be unclipped, the component parts washed in water under a running cold tap, thoroughly dried and then left in a warm place place for a while.

I believe that some Iphones have a filter that cuts off the IR from remote controls. The filter may only be on the main camera and not on the selfie sensors so try both.

Universal learning remote. If its a common box these usually have single code to program all the keys.

I have an Enigma 2 box (Extrend ET10000) that has 2 satellite and 2 terrestrial tuners and get both Freeview (aerial) and Freesat (dish) channels, both with a 7 day broadcast EPG. I don't have a card but the box does support one. The box can record 6+ TV channels at the same time to internal or external disks and it comes with 1 1G Ethernet connection for networking purposes (Wi-fi with a dongle)

In message , Chris Hogg writes

Brilliant! Yes, that has proved the remote is working. This is where it gets embarrassing ...

Took the remote back to the box. Nothing. Looked at the box a little more carefully, and found a little window which presumably receives the signal from the remote. Cleaned that, and we're back in business :-)

News scribbled

You may need to pay for a new viewing card for your Sky Freesat box. They cost £25.

Someone in your house really needs to give up smoking.

Unless I am missing something in the discussion. Any Sky satellite box can be used to receive the free channels without needing any viewing card. Recording is a different matter. You should be able to find a working SKY box for free, ask around try Freegle/Freeecycle. Our local charity shop sells tested units for £9.99 . SD freesat boxes ( Bush, Goodmans) are readily available 2nd hand for under £20 inc remote.

Aiming the remote transmitter at (e.g. a smartphone) camera while pre-viewing on the phones's screen will usually show-up the IR as a purplish spot ...

Robert scribbled

Specifically for Sky Freesat -

"For security reasons, Viewing Cards may be inactivated from time to time. In this situation, if you wish to continue to receive all encrypted Free to View channels, you will have to purchase a new viewing card at our then applicable standard charge."

If you buy a 2nd hand Sky box, it won't work without a viewing card. Those for sale on Ebay etc are useful if you want to upgrade or replace a broken box. It's a lot cheaper to replace a borked box than pay £100 a year for a Sky maintainance contract.

Don't sky do a one off repair for £69 any way?

dennis@home scribbled

No idea, but a 500Gb with a guarantee is under £40 on Ebay. Comes with a remote that will cost £25 new!

To clarify there are 2 types of Free channels on SKY: Free to Air - the vast majority of channels of interest here in the UK

- not encrypted - no SKY viewing card needed. Free to View - only a handful and nothing "mainstream" - encrypted - a "Freesat from SKY" viewing card required. So for most people a 2nd hand SKY box without a viewing card will provide all the channels they want for free; little difference to what is on Freesat.

Freesat ( from BBC & ITV) is a different service from "Freesat from SKY".

Isnt it simple !!!

Or about £15 if you buy it off sky or free if you are off contract and say you are going to leave as you can't use the box (as are repairs).

dennis@home scribbled

That's 2 statements you've made, neither with any proof.

In message , Robert writes

Robert, thank you. It had never occurred to me that the box would work without the card. Having just tried, I find it does but that begs the question, why do Sky bother to issue a card for a service which does not require a card?

Well I have done both but that isn't proof so you will have to go and find it yourself.

You do require a card if you want to view the few "Free to View" ( which will be encrypted) channels. The main commercial channels were gradually moved from FTV to unencrypted FTA status over several years - see Wiki. The nomenclature especially around the use of "freesat" seems designed for max confusion and of course SKY are probably happy to keep the myth of needing a card alive.

Personally I moved from 2nd hand SKY boxes to smaller more energy efficient "Freesat" boxes a couple of years ago when they became available for ~£25 2nd hand.