Fitting your own HD box?

gethinceri

Lance Stroll Fan. Alfa Romeo Fan.
Contributor
I've got Sky+ and I'll be getting an HD box for the new season. I won't be paying Sky to fit it as I can follow the following steps:



1. Watch or back up your existing planner because once you've replaced the box you will no longer be able to access the stuff on the old box unless you subscribe to Multiroom or re-pair your card with the old box at a later date. You can also copy your stuff to a VHS, DVD-R or DVD-HDD. You may choose to perform a system reset if you're planning to pass the old box on or sell it on eBay or something. But I would hold on to it just incase the new box fails some months down the line, it's always handy to be able to just swap them over, besides you'll be extremely lucky if the old Sky+ Box fetches more than £50.

2. Shutdown your old box, wait for the Hard Disk to park & spin down before switching it off or unplugging at the mains. Carefully unplug all the cables at the rear of the old box (you may choose to leave all the cables in situ' as you can use them again on the new box). This guide is assuming you already have Sky+ so you will already have the correct LNB & cabling to the back of the Box. Carefully unscew the F-Connectors attaching the Coax to the rear of your old box. Remove the box. It doesn't matter which way round the coax cables reconnect to the new terminals each one carries the same signal.

3. Unpack your new SkyHD box & offer it up to the space you've just made, (clean dust & dirt away first!). Slide it into place & reconnect cables at the back DO NOT POWER UP YET. Be careful not to connect the telephone line into the RJ-45 Ethernet socket by mistake, when fiddling around at the back in badly lit conditions it's easy to make that mistake! Reconnect the Coax, you may choose to use long nosed pliers to tighten the connection but usually finger tight will suffice.

4. This is the important part. This is the SOFTWARE UPDATE.
BEFORE you power up the unit hold down the 'BACK UP' button on the top of the unit. (Forget about the remote for now) This is the button on the box itself. Whilst pressing & holding the button power up the unit by plugging it in or switching it on from the socket. 4 little lights should light up on the front of the unit. Some say the TV displays a message but in some cases it doesn't (it didn't for me). After approx 30 secs you can release. It might look as if nothing is happening but the box is dowloading the Software Update. After approx 10 mins (sometimes longer) the lights go out & the Box goes into 'Stand-By' (Single Red Light). Leave the box for 2 mins.

5. If you have an HD Ready TV then ensure the HDMI cable is connected. You may also choose to connect in the conventional way via SCART just incase your TV needs its HDMI input to be enabled. Some TV's come out the factory wih the Digital connection disabled. At this point remove your viewing card from the old box & place it in your new box. (It doesn't go into the intercative card slot) You'll need to 'flip down' the cover on the righthand side you will see a slot for your card in there.

6. Take your box out of stand-by. You should see the Sky+/HD demo screen. If not try scrolling through your input options & double checking your connections. If you can see the screen you are now ready for the tricky bit!

7. Put the new batteries in the Remote Control & press:

SERVICES=>
4, 0, 1, Then hit select (you have to type these in quick succession, this will take you to the technicians menu).

Scroll down to INSTALLER SETUP=> SELECT
Scroll down to NEW INSTALLATION=> SELECT

This will initiate a scan for the channels available.
This takes approx 30 secs.

You'll get a screen(s) saying channel line up or channel ok &/or screen showing you satellite signal strength. click ok, or select continue after 2 or 3 continues the callback process begins. Ensuring your box is connected to the phone line the details of your box will be sent to Sky.
If the Callback FAILS don't worry it could be something to do with the viewing card not being valid in that box or a problem at Sky's end.

8. Pairing your card to the new box.
In order for you to see your subscription channels or use the Sky+ facility you will need to tell Sky you have a new box. You will notice some FTA channels are working & Indeed BBC HD should be on as well. But on your subscription channels it's telling you to upgrade... This is what you need to do:

Call: 08702404040

Option 2 (for Sky HD)
Option 2 (for Sky HD activation)
After activating your card the signal can take anything up to 4 hours to get to your Box/Card.. It usually takes a few minutes. After which you can enjoy glorious HD.

If this doesn't work for you please let me know, it'll be a while before I give it a go!
 
Do I need to follow the above steps or is it plug and play? Did they charge you £15.00 for delivering the box?
 
You need to follow those instructions as the box needs to be updated, "installed" and paired.

I was an early adopter so I don't think I paid a delivery fee, I did however pay a fortune for the box...
 
My old HD box went phut recently so I rang Sky for a new one

"Certainly sir, that will be £200"
:o
"Please put me through to cancellations"
"And why do you want to cancel your subscription?"
"Because you won't give me a new HD box."
"Don't worry sir, we'll have an engineer with you next week and it's all for free..."

Play the game guys, Sky never wants to lose a customer.
 
I've used that tactic for discounts twice with them, it works. I'm going to do the same in a month or so re the delivery charge bullshit for an HD box.
 
I've used that tactic for discounts twice with them, it works. I'm going to do the same in a month or so re the delivery charge bullshit for an HD box.

We're thinking that too, since a few hog the Sky+ box and delete my and my friends programmed :angry:
plus there's a good HD box offer on at the moment.

But because we're getting another + type box, it's going to cot £60 as you need to get another feed thing installed :(
 
We've had an HD plasma since 2003.
I can't imagine watching SD TV now, any more than I could watching black and white or listening to AM radio.

If you really want to see what HD is capable of, watch Jools Holland.
The quality and resolution is breathtaking.
 
The thing about HD though, I that it ruins movies. I was watching Iron Man 2 at my friends on HD, it just looked totally weird, you could tell easily what was fake and what was real, the special effects somewhat ruined. :/
 
The thing about HD though, I that it ruins movies. I was watching Iron Man 2 at my friends on HD, it just looked totally weird, you could tell easily what was fake and what was real, the special effects somewhat ruined. :/

I think you're in the minority with that, you must be super-observant. Blu-ray is pretty much the only way to get full 1080p and the picture is amazing but what also struck me was just how great the audio is as well (if you have a half decent speaker setup, i.e. not the tin cans they fit in flat screen TVs).
 
Back
Top Bottom