Page 1 of sky digibox for freeview?
Hardware Forum
is it possible to use a sky digibox to pick up freeview (or `normal`) channels without having to have a card and lead from mini dish?
Don`t know about a sky digibox, but I`m using an old ITV digital subscription box, which picks up freeview with no probs :D
Freeview from an old Sky box - not to my knowledge
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RE: sky digibox for freeview?
thanks for your help.
done some research and another receiver lead has to be connected from dish to box.
oh well, guess thats another item for ebay then
For freeview you need to have a Digital Terrestrial box. The old ITV-digital boxes and the new Freeview boxes are that type, along with those Integrated Digital tv`s that some places sell. A Sky Digibox is Digital Satellite. It will receive the old Analogue Terrestrial channels through the ariel but for any digital channels it needs a mini dish connected and pointed at the satellite. The Sky Digibox has no Digital Terrestrial tuner.
It`s also worth noting that even with a mini dish, the Freeview channels aren`t fully available without a Sky subscription (ITV2 is on one of the Sky packages), although ITV1, C4 and 5 are available Free To View (requires a FTV card which they`ve stopped selling as of 31st January). The BBC channels are all Free To Air and don`t require a card at all anymore. Basically, for Freeview through the ariel you will need either a Freeview or old ITV-Digital box. I`m sure someone on here will be able to give a more detailed explanation but hopefully that`ll help to answer your question for you.
And ITV pictures through Sky are pretty poor compared to their Freeview alternative.