Anyone taken their SKY box abroad?

[Kibosh]

We've bought a place in Italy where the telly is truly dreadful.

Was wondering if anyone on PH has set up their UK Sky Box in a property in Europe? I've heard of it being done and SKY not having a clue about it . I'm assuming it means buying another box for here in the UK (was going to go HD anyhoo). Any advice much appreciated!

Also....can I combine such with sattelite broadband as it looks like landline broadband is some years away for the location..

[cjs]

Yes, you just take the Sky Box and the Card that is assigned to it, you will need to keep the subscription going in the UK though, or you can just take it for the free to air channels. You will need to get a dish installed and this is where it may get tricky, you may well need a 1 meter dish or bigger to get a signal. Also some channel footprints only cover UK and northern Europe, you can check Satellite footprints at

www.satcodx.com

You need to look at Astra 2, 28.2deg east. Unless you are going to the very north of Italy I don't think you will get much coverage.


And yes Italian TV is trully shite!

[Kibosh]

Thank-you very much!!

[chris watton]

We are moving to Italy, and we have been pondering what to do about SKY - as we really enjoy BG/Boston Legal and the History Channel.
We have been told the same regarding dishes, they need to be HUGE!

(We are moving to Northern Italy, Turin)

[Kibosh]

We're heading to North Lake Como. Don't fancy the idea of a huge dish however.

[cjs]

Really anything that is on Astra 2D will be difficult/impossible to get. Unfortunately thats all your main free to air stuff like BBC and ITV :-( You will easily get stuff thats on Astra 2A with a 1m dish, thats all your Sky stuff like sports and films, basically anything you have to pay for!

[GreenV8S]

I've seen satellite footprint pictures that seem to suggest you should be able to get the Astra2 South Beam pretty well throughout Italy, have any of you tried that?

[Balmoral Green]

Had it in the motorhome for four years travelling all over Europe, just needed a 1m dish as we went further south & east. Very quick & easy to find the signal with a compass and you get a feel for the right inclination. We had the dish on a wheeled trolley for ease of movement and set up.

[cjs]

Balmoral Green said:

Had it in the motorhome for four years travelling all over Europe, just needed a 1m dish as we went further south & east. Very quick & easy to find the signal with a compass and you get a feel for the right inclination. We had the dish on a wheeled trolley for ease of movement and set up.

It all changed a few years back when they moved the BBC & ITV channels onto a different transponder, I understand European broadcasters were not happy that adverts from ITV were being broadcast Free to Air across Europe. Pissed off all the ex-pats in the south of spain at the time!

If you check out www.satcodx.com its shows footprints for all Satellites and all available channels, also shows if they are FTA or encrypted.

[Chalky White]

Try Slingbox. Connected one to my mums sky receiver so my brother can watch sky on his PC in New York.

http://uk.slingmedia.com/page/home

[cjs]

Chalky White said:

Try Slingbox. Connected one to my mums sky receiver so my brother can watch sky on his PC in New York.

http://uk.slingmedia.com/page/home

Excellent bit of Kit!

[VEX]

Yep works fine as long as you don't have a sky + or HD box, although technically illegal as theft of signal!. All to do with transmission and viewing rights.

Just keep your subscription here at a UK address, my box has been in Budapest for the past 5 years!!!!!!!

[chris watton]

VEX said:

Yep works fine as long as you don't have a sky + or HD box, although technically illegal as theft of signal!. All to do with transmission and viewing rights.

Just keep your subscription here at a UK address, my box has been in Budapest for the past 5 years!!!!!!!

Cool, although I have a SKY+ box!, will that make a difference? We have a UK address in mind, for when we move....

[Robin Hood]

We've got a Sky box here and another in Spain (Costa Blanca) which needs a 2 metre dish to get decent reception well into the evenings. Had a 1.2 metre dish for a start but BBC and some Sky channels fade away around 8pm. Can get ITV by switching the box to Channel Islands ITV but not otherwise because the box/card is set up for the subscribers address, in our case Central ITV

Also some digi-boxes are better at handling a weak signal than others. The best is allegedly a Pace DS430N which i have in Spain and is very good. The Sony one I have here was crap when I took it to Spain so the Pace one lives in Spain and the Sony one in the UK now

Edited by Robin Hood on Sunday 10th June 10:33

[VEX]

chris watton said:

Cool, although I have a SKY+ box!, will that make a difference? We have a UK address in mind, for when we move....

I need to check, there was (and may still be) a time when Sky+ did actually call your sky box (polling) to check it was at the address your where subscribed to.

As the HD box is basically the same that is why I included it.

[K77-widow maker]

My folks in france took a decoder over there a few years ago.
They had ITV removed from the free to view line up last year.

If you take a box abroad, and you have premium channels, i would imagine that you could get the usual snotty letters from Sky every month, threatening this that and the other, for not having the decoder on the phone.

[Robin Hood]

K77-widow maker said:

My folks in france took a decoder over there a few years ago.
They had ITV removed from the free to view line up last year.

If you take a box abroad, and you have premium channels, i would imagine that you could get the usual snotty letters from Sky every month, threatening this that and the other, for not having the decoder on the phone.

Sky contract is to have box connected to phone line for 12 months from set up. After that there's no problem, do as you like

Updates, subscription checks etc. are done by satellite not the phone line which is only necessary to watch 'Box Office' films and the like which require a PIN

[K77-widow maker]

Robin Hood said:

K77-widow maker said:

My folks in france took a decoder over there a few years ago.
They had ITV removed from the free to view line up last year.

If you take a box abroad, and you have premium channels, i would imagine that you could get the usual snotty letters from Sky every month, threatening this that and the other, for not having the decoder on the phone.

Sky contract is to have box connected to phone line for 12 months from set up. After that there's no problem, do as you like

Updates, subscription checks etc. are done by satellite not the phone line which is only necessary to watch 'Box Office' films and the like which require a PIN

True, however if you have a 2nd or 3rd room subscription, they hound you forever!
They are paranoid that you have given you "premium" subscription to someone else, for the cost of the extra room subscription.

[Robin Hood]

K77-widow maker said:

Robin Hood said:

K77-widow maker said:

My folks in france took a decoder over there a few years ago.
They had ITV removed from the free to view line up last year.

If you take a box abroad, and you have premium channels, i would imagine that you could get the usual snotty letters from Sky every month, threatening this that and the other, for not having the decoder on the phone.

Sky contract is to have box connected to phone line for 12 months from set up. After that there's no problem, do as you like

Updates, subscription checks etc. are done by satellite not the phone line which is only necessary to watch 'Box Office' films and the like which require a PIN

True, however if you have a 2nd or 3rd room subscription, they hound you forever!
They are paranoid that you have given you "premium" subscription to someone else, for the cost of the extra room subscription.

I've got 2 seperate subscriptions for the same UK address (although one is used in Spain). Told them the 2nd subscription was for a part of the house nowhere near a phone line. Took the box over the 12 month limit to Spain, never had any letters at all. Just get earache from the postman about having to deliver 2 Sky magazines every month