Using Sky Plus Box without subscribing?

A question about : Using Sky Plus Box without subscribing?

Hi,

Please can anyone tell me if I could use a Sky Plus Box to watch and to record programmes without subscribing to Sky?

Even if I can't record with it, will it work just to play programmes, using my existing dish/cable and Sky card?

The reason I ask is I have a chance of being given a Sky Plus Box but I've heard you have to have a new cable from the dish for a Sky Plus box to work but am not sure if this would be needed only if are subscribing and wanting to record or whether it would work with the existing dish/cable/card set up without subscription just to watch TV normally.

Also are the remote controls for Sky universal and do they work both on Sky boxes and Sky Plus boxes?

Many thanks in advance for any advice.

Regards,

Best answers:

• For Sky Plus you need two feeds as this allows you to record one channel while watching another. The asy way to tell if you have to lines is to look at the end of your dish and count the number of wires coming from it.
• That's the phrase I was struggling for
• Standard Sky remotes won't work with Sky Plus. You also need the Sky+ remote for a second set fed by a magic eye.
  The Sky + remote has extra buttons for the recording function
• Hi,
  Thanks for the above replies.
  Okay this is going to sound very stupid - so apologies!! I'm not there at the moment but from memory there are two cables running from the dish - I had assumed that one goes to the front room and on to a room at the back of the house (where there is another sky point wire thing - I haven't tested that yet).
  However, in the front room there are two of the brown sky cables coming through the wall, both with the ends with a bit of copper wire sticking out. I had wondered why the last owners of the house would have had two identical cables coming through at exactly the same point - could I be in luck and could this by the two "feeds" I need referred to above?
  Does anyone know whether I'd also need to subscribe?
  And if I don't have the feeds required, can I still use a Sky Plus Box just to get a signal to watch channels without recording?
  Sorry to bombard with questions!
  Regards
• You can only record if you subscribe, it's not a free function.
  You can watch Sky with only one feed, you just cant record (even if you did subscribe).
  You can get (some) free channels just by connecting the box, you don't need to subscribe.
  I remember seeing a free channel list somewhere, I'll have a look and post it if I find it again.
  This isn't the one I was thinking about but it'll give an idea...
  https://www.sjstv.co.uk/FreeSky.txt
• You would probably be as well getting a standard Sky Receiver, it only needs a single feed cable, you will get all free to view channels without a card, to get CH4, Ch5's and Sky 3, you will need a Freesat Card, or an expired subscription card.
• You have 2 options if you want to use the Personal Video Recorder features.
  1. Subscribe to the cheapest Sky package at Ј16/month
  2. Don't subscribe, but pay Sky Ј10/month.
  From the Sky+ T&C's
  Quote:
• hi everyone
  just wondering if anyone knows if i can carry on using my sky+ if i cancel my subcription!! ive been with sky for over a year so can cancel,but dont know if i can get freeview once i cancel!! and still record!!!! would be very grateful if anyone has the answer.
  thanks
  christine
• hi Dave
  thanks for that,someone had said this before but wanted to check..
  so this freesat+ i can use with my sky dish!!
  will i need to do anything else of is it just plug it in and go!! not very up with all this tecnical stuff!!
  any ideas the best place to get one !!
  thanks
  christine
• One thing you should ask the previous owner
  did the cancel the account before or after they unplugged the sky+ box?
  if it was unplugged then you might be lucky and still have SKY+ function active on the box.
  if not then you're out of luck....
  I had a sky+ box that I thought was not working and sat unpowered for 6 months (it was unplugged a week before i cancelled my Sky subscription) and I got a Humax FreesatHD box instead...
  I plugged the Sky box back in with the cancelled card last week and I've got the free unencrypted channels (except five)
  AND SKY+ function!!!! I can still record for free!!!!!! ^__^
  Wooo!!!!!
  They only send the "cancel SKY+" signal to the card for 2 months or so after you cancel the contract, if you can wait you're in luck ^_^
• I wonder if there is any way to "unlock" a sky plus box so that it can record freesat channels?
  It certainly seems a bit "mean" if Sky make unlocking impossible as anyone who gets a subsidised sky box is already locked in paying sky for a full year, during which time sky would have made enough profit to pay for the cost of the subsidised box.
  This would be a bit like buying a mobile phone and then not being able to unlock it, even though the subsidised handset is paid for via by being commited to a fixed term of line rental.
• If you still have the dish on the wall with wires connected you can -
  1 - Pay Sky Ј20 for a card that will give you all the free channels (slightly more channels than freeview) but you need to use your old sky or sky plus box. And cannot record.
  2 - Just get one of these and get the same channels as option 1 BUT be able to record - johnlewis.com/230556784/Product.aspx
  3 - just get a freeview recorder if you can receive it in your area.
  Matt
• Care to share this, my sky got cut off today trying to charge me Ј400 pfft.
• bah i love the look of this. but i only got a SKY+HD amstrad.
  And im not paying Ј250 for a freesatHD recorder nooooo way.