Old Sky Box Free to Air - HD message on BBC channels

I have one of the old white sky box receivers.
Its connected to the Sky dish that was there from when I had a subscription a good few years ago.
I dont have a Sky contract, I only watch the FTA channels via this box, I also have Saorview..

I am now occasionally seeing a message while watching BBC that says:

"BBC TV and radio services on satellite will soon only be available on HD capable receivers. You now need to upgrade. ........"

Do I need upgrade my existing box somehow?
If so, how?
Or is my box maybe 10 years old, not going to be capable of receiving BBC at some point soon?.
Is it only BBC 1?
Will BBC2/3/4 ITV1/2/3/4 snd others follow?
I dont watch much tv and would not pay for Sky but am I in a position where I will have to?

What make and model is the box?
Does it support HD?

Is it an Amstrad DRX280?
I don't think that that model supports HD so wouldn't be able to get the BBC HD broadcasts.

Does your TV have a satellite tuner? I got rid of Sky before the summer. I plugged the satellite cable into the back of my TV and tuned in the FreeSAT channels. There are about 170 of them.

You could also get a cheap satellite box for around €99 if your TV doesn't have a satellite tuner.


These are the channels

Páid said:

Does your TV have a satellite tuner? I got rid of Sky before the summer. I plugged the satellite cable into the back of my TV and tuned in the FreeSAT channels. There are about 170 of them.

You could also get a cheap satellite box for around €99 if your TV doesn't have a satellite tuner.

Irish & UK Combo Boxes

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These are the channels

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That worked.. Thanks, I did not realise my TV had that capability.
Only problem is channel navigation is tedious as I need to hop channel to channel and the tv guide only shows the next programme.

I will stick to the sky box for now and get a splitter so the satellite feeds into the TV and Sky box should I end up losing BBC, I am sure others will follow!

You can pick up a second hand HD+ box from adverts or Facebook. You can update the box. Sky site shows you how to do this. You may need to re tune the channels as they have moved the channels to different frequencies. You put your card in and you are sorted.
I contacted sky and they were only interested in me moving to sky q which I am not interested in.

I picked up a HD+ box and got a satellite guy to update the box for us. I also got a serview box as well so that is why I got the satellite guy in.

AndroidMan said:

Only problem is channel navigation is tedious as I need to hop channel to channel and the tv guide only shows the next programme.

Click to expand...

Yeah, most TV manufacturers aren't bothering with satellite program guides any more. Sony tells people to download the FreeSat app but that's region locked so no good on Irish TVs.

AndroidMan said:

That worked.. Thanks, I did not realise my TV had that capability.
Only problem is channel navigation is tedious as I need to hop channel to channel and the tv guide only shows the next programme.

I will stick to the sky box for now and get a splitter so the satellite feeds into the TV and Sky box should I end up losing BBC, I am sure others will follow!

Click to expand...

You should be able to sort the channels on most TVs using the menu option "Manage Channels" or something similar, and move them all down so they're grouped together. So for instance when tuned in first, they'll have channel numbers that could be three digits long. You can add the channels to a list of favourites, or simply shift them downwards. I have BBC 1 as 1, BBC 2 as 2, BBC as 3, BBC4 as 4, then the four ITV channels next followed by the Channel 4 group, Channel 5, then all the news channels. After that a lot of them are rubbishy.

Leo said:

Yeah, most TV manufacturers aren't bothering with satellite program guides any more. Sony tells people to download the FreeSat app but that's region locked so no good on Irish TVs.

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My Sony TV from 2014 has the standard satellite guide that shows now and next programs. However it also has an alternative enhanced guide that can be displayed by default. That pulls in information about programs, cast etc from the Internet and displays a guide for the week.

Eugbug said:

My Sony TV from 2014 has the standard satellite guide that shows now and next programs.

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Yeah, shame the stopped doing that on the modern ones, but most brands have gone the same way.