[scotsfamily]

Ok here's my thinking,

Before leaving the UK I subscribe with Sky, via friends, then take the kit out and set it up. The theory is a signal is a signal, even if the dish needs to be bigger. Its too simple so there must be an expert who can enlighten me why this is a daft idea.

David & Janice

[CJ22]

It's a different satellite mate - unlocking the signal from one satellite doesn't neccesarily unlock the signal from another. They may have different encryption schemas. In any case, your card is unlikely to grant access, since Sky NZ will have no record of it.

[scotsfamily]

Yes that makes sense to a degree,
however i lived in SA for a while in the 90's and i remember a guy picking up sky, he explained that a satilite blurts out a signal the size of Africa and that countries that are not meant to recieve it do.
The encryption/decryption boxes are not meant to be moved between countries however needs must. :-) Also there are some blagards that sell boxes that can decrypt all the channels, tut tut, very naughty.

Thanks for input CJ

David

[StevieD]

yeah but that is still near the equator, you at the bottom of the world here and there is no way the signal from the astra satellites gets down here :laugh

[IanW99]

Ok here's my thinking,

Before leaving the UK I subscribe with Sky, via friends, then take the kit out and set it up. The theory is a signal is a signal, even if the dish needs to be bigger. Its too simple so there must be an expert who can enlighten me why this is a daft idea.

David & Janice

As others have already said, the satellite that you want to access is in the wrong hemisphere so no luck there. Unless of course you are talking about a dish so big that it covers most of the planet :D

A signal is still a signal is very simplistic indeed, even if the datastream is the same the actual type of data can be very different indeed.

Even if the datastream is the same type then each provider will likely have to protect their content and of course Sky do this by encrypting it. Where of course they encrypt different regions differently so you may be able to pick up the NZ signal but you would not be able to decode it with a UK decoder.

Not sure why you don't want to just get sky when you arrive in NZ?

Ian

[Steve+Dee]

Reading this thread got me thinking that although we no longer subscribe to Sky in the UK we still have the Sky+ box and dish so my question is would it be worth while taking these with us to NZ or should we just leave them for who ever buys our house?

[CJ22]

Leave them. They fall out of date eventually anyway. I have an older model skybox in the attic somewhere that won't work anymore.

David, the system works in such a way that your skycard is referenced against a live database of valid customers. If it gets a match, it 'allows' you to apply the decryption algorythm. Even if the two systems were identical, you wouldn't be on the NZ database, so it wouldn't grant you permission to access whatever datastream they use in NZ.

You're way outside the footprint of the Astra satellites:

European Astra:
http://www.selexmarine.com/products/seatel/images/Footprint_Astra_North.jpg

NZ Optus D1:
http://uplink.space.com/attachments//563871-FOOT.JPG

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SKY_Network_Television
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optus_fleet_of_satellites#Optus_D1

[nellyt]

When you sign up to even the cheapest SkyNZ package the STB and Smartcard comes in the price.

In the old days of analogue you could of pointed a dish and box at the sky and decoded things but Sky in UK and NZ is now a digital signal.
Smart cards will probably be incompatible, the EPG probably wouldn't work, you would never be able to receive the encrypted channels (which may well be all of them), you might blow the LNB on a dish plus a thousand other things.

Chances of it working are probably less than 1%.

[benandclare]

Reading this thread got me thinking that although we no longer subscribe to Sky in the UK we still have the Sky+ box and dish so my question is would it be worth while taking these with us to NZ or should we just leave them for who ever buys our house?

Wack it on e-bay thats what we did and recoped some of our money back :cheers

[scotsfamily]

That makes sense,
and like you say its all digital now.
Thanks for the feedback.

Good luck all

David

[Steve+Dee]

Wack it on e-bay thats what we did and recoped some of our money back :cheers

Good idea :nice1 did you just sell the sky+box or the box with dish, i'm thinking about the p&p here, collection only might be an option :D

[Snappy]

Don't leave the Sky+ box for someone else - recycle it!
Take the hard drive out of the box Sky+ box, pop it into a caddy (available from ebuyer for a fiver), plug it into your pc, and you've got yourself a 40gb external hard drive for under a fiver!
That's what I did with my old Sky+ box. It only takes a couple of minutes - and once you plug your "new" external hard drive into your pc, you can reformat it and use it so save all your fabby photos of NZ on!
The caddies are here: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/119509

You simply unplug the connectors in the Sky+ box, remove the hard drive, plug it into the connectors into the caddy and then plug the USB cable(s) into your pc.
Your PC should recognise it as a mass storage device and let you reformat it.

[Steve+Dee]

Don't leave the Sky+ box for someone else - recycle it!
Take the hard drive out of the box Sky+ box, pop it into a caddy (available from ebuyer for a fiver), plug it into your pc, and you've got yourself a 40gb external hard drive for under a fiver!
That's what I did with my old Sky+ box. It only takes a couple of minutes - and once you plug your "new" external hard drive into your pc, you can reformat it and use it so save all your fabby photos of NZ on!
The caddies are here: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/119509

You simply unplug the connectors in the Sky+ box, remove the hard drive, plug it into the connectors into the caddy and then plug the USB cable(s) into your pc.
Your PC should recognise it as a mass storage device and let you reformat it.

Thats a brilliant idea, i never thought of taking the hard drive out :clap
I've got 2 external hard drives already but hey another one won't go wrong.

Cheers:nice1

[AndyR]

what about sky pc? heard that if you have a subscription you can view it anywhere. not sure about outside eu etc

[benandclare]

Good idea :nice1 did you just sell the sky+box or the box with dish, i'm thinking about the p&p here, collection only might be an option :D

It was a just the box and stimulated buyer must collect :clap

[StevieD]

I thought the box belonged to Sky, or did you buy it yourself?? If this is the case it would be really naughty of you and poor Mr. Murdoch could find himeself destitute :laugh

[Steve+Dee]

It was a just the box and stimulated buyer must collect :clap

Was that part of the deal with the buyer and if so what method of stimulation did you use? :confused:

[Steve+Dee]

I thought the box belonged to Sky, or did you buy it yourself?? If this is the case it would be really naughty of you and poor Mr. Murdoch could find himeself destitute :laugh

After 12mths subscription to Sky the box belongs to you.

[benandclare]

Was that part of the deal with the buyer and if so what method of stimulation did you use? :confused:


Ah that would be telling :p should have read stipulation of course

[Steve+Dee]

Ah that would be telling :p should have read stipulation of course

Dam that's disappointing and here's us thinking we had unearthed somekind of sex scandal :laugh

[benandclare]

Dam that's disappointing and here's us thinking we had unearthed somekind of sex scandal :laugh


:D :D