Skybox F5 & Sky Subscriber - General Query

[porkloin]

Hi All,

Recently purchased a Skybox F5 which arrived today. I've downloaded the latest firmware onto a USB along with AJ's Channel List. All good in that regard and I believe it's working fine without me having to do very much at all other than plug it all in (not complaining!) as the likes of YouTube is appearing in the network apps section.

My general query is I'm a Sky subscriber with Sky Broadband. The new Skybox F5 I am going to use in my home office with a new TV but to check everything was in order and working I un-plugged my current Sky+ box, and plugged the two satellite cables into my new Skybox F5.

When I do this and scroll through the channel list on my F5, the channels I can access are exactly the same as my sky subscription - I'm new to this game, but if I haven't put my sky card into the new F5 box, how is it recognising the channels I'm currently subscribed to - for example ESPN - I was expecting it to be scrambled, but wasn't (I have an ESPN subscription) but the ones I'm not subscribed too (Racing UK for example) is scrambled so as far as I can tell I don't have a 'gift' (and nor am I asking for one :-) )

To get to the point, basically want to know why/how my own sky subscription appears to be available on the new box? Where is this information recorded? and can the information be cleared so that it effectively resorts to a default, e.g. free to air channels?

Cheers,
Porkloin

[mahrkpat]

How much did you pay for your F5, for a brand new one you should pay about ?50, if you paid anything in excess of this you have bought your F5 with a little bit extra x factor therefore for the moment you will see all channels,

[mdt]

some are being sold with a weeks "free gift" onboard as a taster. we cant discuss the workings of it as its against the rules on here but rest assured it will go off,regards mdt

[porkloin]

some are being sold with a weeks "free gift" onboard as a taster. we cant discuss the workings of it as its against the rules on here but rest assured it will go off,regards mdt

Thanks guys for the quick reply. Having previously looked at the multiroom option with 'Sly' - is it possible that because I've plugged an active phone-line into the box, it's picking up my sky subscription from that rather than any sort of gift being in place? Again, hopefully I'm posting within the rules here, not looking to discuss gifts as such! Standard price paid for F5, as far as I'm aware it's the box alone I've purchased, i.e. ?50.

[Nutty34]

Also mate you only need one of the cables from your official box, do not plug anything in to the loop connected at the bottom of the F5.


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[Hadron]

Thanks guys for the quick reply. Having previously looked at the multiroom option with 'Sly' - is it possible that because I've plugged an active phone-line into the box, it's picking up my sky subscription from that rather than any sort of gift being in place? Again, hopefully I'm posting within the rules here, not looking to discuss gifts as such! Standard price paid for F5, as far as I'm aware it's the box alone I've purchased, i.e. ?50.

There's no way your F5 can "pick up" your subscription package from your original box. They are physically disconnected from eachother, so as suggested above, it's probably a taster of what you can do with these boxes.

Did you buy the box from Ebay? Was there any hint of a "gift"?

I assume that you had your network cable plugged in when you watched the $ channels?

As Nutty34 says, you only need 1 cable from the dish plugged into the F5. It only has 1 tuner.

[porkloin]

Thanks guys again for the updated feedback.

Hadron - Yes, the F5 was purchased from ebay and ethernet cable was plugged in, I guess there must be a taster on there. I'll have a read through some further guides to see if I can locate where it is recorded in the system - seems to be countless posts on here asking quite similar questions so won't clog up the system.

Nutty34/Hadron - wasn't aware that only one cable was required, good to know. Again, will have a google of what the loop actually does! Still very much in my satellite infancy but we all got to start somewhere.

I'm self-employed and working from home - without going into too much detail, I get paid to watch TV effectively, and getting two TV screens set-up in my home office to watch simultaneous tv events. Using my existing sky subscription for one of the feeds, while I plan to use the F5 for the second screen.

Another technical question - can the one satellite dish receive for both TVs at the same time if they are working off two different subscriptions - for example, I'm watching ESPN on one screen via my sky subscription and box - on the other screen I'm using the F5 with a new Irish subscription to watch Setanta Sports or RTE (based in NI so this one avenue I'm exploring). Is that possible, or is a second dish required?

[Hadron]

To see if you have a gift press the "menu" button. Select "network setup" (if you don't see this option - it's a World symbol - press either 6666 or 8888). Select "C C c a m client setup", then "manage config files", then C C c a m.cfg. If there is a line of text in there with a tick next to it & it says "online" then you have a gift.

If it's not there, it may be in "network setup > M G C a m d plug setup > manage config files > n e w c a m d.list.

The s k y boxes/openboxes only need one cable because they only have a single tuner.

Providing you have enough sockets on your LNB, you can connect as many satellite boxes as you wish. The most common S l y setup is a quad LNB with 4 sockets. So you could connect 2 S l y subscription boxes (2 feeds each), or 4 openboxes (1 feed each) or a combination of both. You can, of course, only watch programmes from the same satellite at 28.2e.

[porkloin]

Great thanks again Hadron - and you're thinking was right, reference to my ebay username in there alongside a nice green tick so quite evident it's been 'tweaked' before it arrived with me. Will enjoy it while I can.

[Barnzey81]

Thanks guys again for the updated feedback.

Hadron - Yes, the F5 was purchased from ebay and ethernet cable was plugged in, I guess there must be a taster on there. I'll have a read through some further guides to see if I can locate where it is recorded in the system - seems to be countless posts on here asking quite similar questions so won't clog up the system.

Nutty34/Hadron - wasn't aware that only one cable was required, good to know. Again, will have a google of what the loop actually does! Still very much in my satellite infancy but we all got to start somewhere.

I'm self-employed and working from home - without going into too much detail, I get paid to watch TV effectively, and getting two TV screens set-up in my home office to watch simultaneous tv events. Using my existing sky subscription for one of the feeds, while I plan to use the F5 for the second screen.

Another technical question - can the one satellite dish receive for both TVs at the same time if they are working off two different subscriptions - for example, I'm watching ESPN on one screen via my sky subscription and box - on the other screen I'm using the F5 with a new Irish subscription to watch Setanta Sports or RTE (based in NI so this one avenue I'm exploring). Is that possible, or is a second dish required?

Porkloin, PLEASE tell me how I can get a TV-watching job!!!!! It sounds infinitely better than my office-based bore-fest...

[porkloin]

Porkloin, PLEASE tell me how I can get a TV-watching job!!!!! It sounds infinitely better than my office-based bore-fest...

Work within the gambling industry as an adviser primarily on football and other 'in-running' sports - as for getting the job, right place at the right time i.e. luck!

[Barnzey81]

Work within the gambling industry as an adviser primarily on football and other 'in-running' sports - as for getting the job, right place at the right time i.e. luck!
Great stuff.
With regard to your F5, I've only just got one too, seem decent enough. Though I wouldn't mind upgrading to a better recordable one (where I don't have to record what I'm watching). I don't know if there's such a thing out there? <if anyone can advise? Cheers> I'm just spoilt really, coming straight from a Sky+HD box to this. It's sad the way you get so dependable on technology!!!!

[KJ1Pete]

Great stuff.
With regard to your F5, I've only just got one too, seem decent enough. Though I wouldn't mind upgrading to a better recordable one (where I don't have to record what I'm watching). I don't know if there's such a thing out there? <if anyone can advise? Cheers> I'm just spoilt really, coming straight from a Sky+HD box to this. It's sad the way you get so dependable on technology!!!!

I thought the same as you a few months ago, I got an F3 for the bedroom, I got a Vu+ Duo box for the main downstairs receiver and its great - very much like the Sky HD box, it has twin tuners and I installed a hard drive in it for recording, pausing live TV etc. The channel lists are better than slys in my opinion because you have more options but it was a lot harder to set up than the skybox, the F3/F5 is very simple and a great starter box but if you go down the Vu+, dreambox etc route, if it doesn't work how you want it straight away be prepared for a bit of tweaking - I was pulling my hair out for a couple of days until I got it sorted, but you can get loads of help on here if you get stuck :-)

[Barnzey81]

I thought the same as you a few months ago, I got an F3 for the bedroom, I got a Vu+ Duo box for the main downstairs receiver and its great - very much like the Sky HD box, it has twin tuners and I installed a hard drive in it for recording, pausing live TV etc. The channel lists are better than slys in my opinion because you have more options but it was a lot harder to set up than the skybox, the F3/F5 is very simple and a great starter box but if you go down the Vu+, dreambox etc route, if it doesn't work how you want it straight away be prepared for a bit of tweaking - I was pulling my hair out for a couple of days until I got it sorted, but you can get loads of help on here if you get stuck :-)
I'll definitely look more into this, cheers. I struggled setting my F5 up though so I'd be on here by the minutes bugging people if I had to do anything more complex! :0) How much more difficult was it?