How to record FTA channels on your Sky+/Sky+HD box.

IrishHomer

bromley52 wrote: »

If you want to record FTA channels (BBC/ITV/CH4/CH5 ... etc) as well as RTE1,2 and TG4.

a) get your hands on a NI freeview card.
this has RTE1 on 161, RTE 2 on 162 and TG4 on 163
there is a thread somewhere on boards on how to get this and activate it.

b) With the ROI sky card in the Sky+ box go to 501(Skynews) and press the red button. Wait for active to load.
Remove the ROI card and insert the NI freeview card. Close out of active.
"Searching for listings appears.
Once finished the NI EPG will be on your Sky+ box.

c) How to keep the NI EPG and record as well as RTE1,2 and TG4

go back to 501 (Sky news).

You need to do the next steps quickly

Insert the ROI sub card in to the Sky+ box and press record. Make sure the "R" appears.
Immediately once the "R" appears press the red button to enter Active.
Wait for it to load. Once loaded, close it to return to Sky New and there you go the NI EPG remains.

You can now record all FTV channels(CH5 105) as well as RTE1,2 and TG4.
Unfortunately using this method the only way to watch TV3 and 3e is via other channels. No recording. Also the extra CH5 channels will not work.

Sky seems to reset the box about every 4-5 days so you may need to repeat this if you want to keep the NI EPG.

Few questions about this:

My NI card does not allow for recording feature and it does not give me the Irish channels they are listed but not viewable.

I never heard of tuning in TV3 and 3E in "other channels" before and i read these forums every day?

Not having any joy with this on my sky+ SD box.

I presume when you mention an Irish Card it has to be an active card with a paid sub on it?

bromley52

greendom wrote: »

so you are saying that RTE and TG4 are available on free to air satellite in NI but not in the Republic. I'm pretty sure that's incorrect. Just like in the ROI you need a paid for subscription to receive these channels

No sorry I should have stated that with the NI card they are just on the EPG and encrypted. I just use the card to get them on the EPG and then the paid ROI card to watch them(using my instructions).

bromley52

JDxtra wrote: »

Thanks. I will try this later. Did you test this with the Sky+ or Sky+ HD EPG?

Sky+, I can see no reason why it wouldn't work with Sky+HD.

bromley52

micratoyota wrote: »

I have an old sky+ box and just receive fta ( no subscription paid) would this apply to me

If you have your old sky card which had sky+ active on it, it is possible it could work. I have heard that sky+ recording remains active even on cancelled cards. There is a thread here somewhere on it. Not sure if it works though

bromley52

IrishHomer wrote: »

Few questions about this:

My NI card does not allow for recording feature and it does not give me the Irish channels they are listed but not viewable.

I never heard of tuning in TV3 and 3E in "other channels" before and i read these forums every day?

Not having any joy with this on my sky+ SD box.

I presume when you mention an Irish Card it has to be an active card with a paid sub on it?

On point 1: With NI card, they are only listed and not viewable.
On point 2: TV3 10.744 H 22.0 5/6, 3e 11.261 H 27.5 2/3
On point 3. It works for me with a paid ROI card

IrishHomer

Am i missing something here?

I don't see the whole point in this if you need a "paid" "active" Irish sub card anyway?

lgs 4

if you had roi sub but cancalled the full hd package is it possible to do your trick or has the card to be active and if not, will it work uk old blue card and the white roi card that is now dead

greendom

IrishHomer wrote: »

Am i missing something here?

I don't see the whole point in this if you need a "paid" "active" Irish sub card anyway?

So that the likes of ITV, BBC 3 and 4 appear on the EPG and you are therefore able to record them; something you can't do, when you access them in the normal way in Ireland, through Other Channels.

lgs 4

thats it in a nut shell, but what i wanted to know will it work with deactived roi white card from the guy that discoverd the trick to get other channels to record

bromley52

lgs 4 wrote: »

thats it in a nut shell, but what i wanted to know will it work with deactived roi white card from the guy that discoverd the trick to get other channels to record

Dont know. Why not try it? As I said previously, I have heard that even cancelled sky white cards still have the sky+ recording active on them. Not sure if its true.

IrishHomer

Actually i have an old blue UK sky FTV card and we all know if a sky box is left on with no card or else with the UK card in the box you automatically have the UK EPG without hassle of "other channesl option".

So my old UK Blue FTV card will actually record the FTA channels.

If i try viewing a FTV channel however the channels dissapear and a banner comes up saying no signal and that i must call sky to get a replacement card.

I then have to reboot the box and stay away from FTV and also pay channels and just fiew and record FTA

ZOLTAN28

Maybe I'm mental but this does not work for me - when Sky box comes back on all it displays is either 'there is an error with your Sky card' or 'please inser your sky card' so I cannot record anything that is not on the EPG.

norbert64

bromley52 wrote: »

Dont know. Why not try it? As I said previously, I have heard that even cancelled sky white cards still have the sky+ recording active on them. Not sure if its true.

An old wives' tale perhaps, lol.

Tried this myself with 2 cancelled white cards. No joy.
Says initialising card first and then
sky+ recording/playback facility not available
Please call sky
as soon as I hit record.

It does look like you need an active recording/playback enabled sub.

JDxtra

This worked perfectly for me on a Pace Sky plus box. Have an active Irish sub and an active UK White card. No issues with recording from the planner either.

Apogee

norbert64 wrote: »

An old wives' tale perhaps, lol.

Tried this myself with 2 cancelled white cards. No joy.

It's not an old wives' tale but it only works on a very small number of cancelled cards. See here:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=64053565

ZOLTAN28

ZOLTAN28 wrote: »

Maybe I'm mental but this does not work for me - when Sky box comes back on all it displays is either 'there is an error with your Sky card' or 'please inser your sky card' so I cannot record anything that is not on the EPG.

Anyone know why it wouldn't work for me?

Dman001

Just an update on this, using my Sky HD box:

I only have one feed in my box. I seem to have difficulties loading the EPG on my box. So once I power on my box, I load the UK EPG (by putting the card upside down in the box) but no program information will load, as in the BBC 1 and 2 and ITV etc will appear but no information on the TV Programmes will load. Instead it says searching for information.

To over come this, I move my feed from Input 1 to Input 2. This loads all of the EPG instantly but I cannot watch anything. So once the EPG loads, I switch the feed back into Input 1 so I can watch TV and have a full EPG.

As I switch the feed, I also switch the card the right way around. This then gives me the Sky+ function. By switching the card at the very same time as switching the feed also overcomes the problem where the Irish EPG loads once the card is placed the right way around.

I am also using the Blue Sky Card. Everything records perfectly, including future recordings in the Planner.

Now would someone be able to tell me if it is normal that the EPG will only load in one of the Inputs, and I can only watch TV if the feed is in the other Input?

cartman51773

i used to be able to do this with my sky+ box but with the HD the channels are cached on the hard drive so the uk epg wont load since the last sky software update

Robbieol

Hi was looking at this post and tried to to this on my Sky HD box but when the box powered up, it just loaded the irish epg. Was wondering as this forum is a few years old, does this method not work anymore? Thanks:)

paulboland

Robbieol wrote: »

Hi was looking at this post and tried to to this on my Sky HD box but when the box powered up, it just loaded the irish epg. Was wondering as this forum is a few years old, does this method not work anymore? Thanks:)

Sky HD boxes are now locked to Irish Epg if box originaly had Irish sky card

You will only get UK epg on a Sky HD box if its new and never had a sky card activated

Older sky boxes still can have epg changed
The boxes from about 2 year ago won't work if already have been activated

micratoyota

paulboland wrote: »

Sky HD boxes are now locked to Irish Epg if box originaly had Irish sky card

You will only get UK epg on a Sky HD box if its new and never had a sky card activated

Older sky boxes still can have epg changed
The boxes from about 2 year ago won't work if already have been activated

Does this mean that my friend who signed up to sky about a year and a bit ago with sport recording etc is now thinking of going free to air and cancelling sky will not be able to use the sky box to pick up the FTA programmes I know he will have to get an Aerial for saorview.

bromley52

Irish and UK channels on same EPG and recordable.

1) You need a FTV UK sky card. I imagine that this can also be a deactivated UK card.

2) Add the UK channels you want to other channels.
NB. Ensure they are of the same region as the card. eg NI card, add the NI BBC, UTV etc. For a NI card you will also be able to add the London versions as well. These will appear at +950.
The channels you add to other channels need to be of the same region as the card you have or they will not appear on the EPG once you complete this guide. So if you have an NI card, add BBC NI, UTV, CH4 NI etc to other channels. Some channels may not have variants.

3) Power off the HD box at the mains and insert the UK card. Power it back on.

4) As you would expect the EPG is now set to the UK.

5) Navgate to Add Channels in settings.

6) Leaving the box powered on remove the UK card and insert your Irish card.

7) You may be asked for your PIN.

8) Navigate to Other Channels and select ITV2. ( I can't remember why and others may work)

9) Wait a few seconds and the EPG should now have all the channels.
You will notice that there may be 2 x 101, 2 x 102 etc.

For example an NI card will have 2 x 103 with UTV and TV3 on the same channel. The NI card will not have BBC on 101 but on 141 as that is set by the irish card. The same applies for some other channels.

All channels are fully recordable even if you are recording from the sample channel number.

If you power off the box you will have to repeat.

Robbieol

Managed to get this to work on my old Sky+ box in another room. Have got Big Brother on Channel 5 recording and on series link in my planner

paulboland

Robbieol wrote: »

Managed to get this to work on my old Sky+ box in another room. Have got Big Brother on Channel 5 recording and on series link in my planner

old sky+ box yes will work and standard box you can change the epg to uk

recent Sky HD + Box and new Sky HD Multi room Box (no Hard Drive)
are locked to irish epg

It will work on older Sky HD Box depends on how old the older the better

I tried getting UK epg on my Sky Hd 1 TB and Sky Hd multi room box did not work

paulboland

Note you can use the Forced Update method no card in box to change to a UK Epg

kooga

bromley52 wrote: »

Irish and UK channels on same EPG and recordable.

1) You need a FTV UK sky card. I imagine that this can also be a deactivated UK card.

2) Add the UK channels you want to other channels.
NB. Ensure they are of the same region as the card. eg NI card, add the NI BBC, UTV etc. For a NI card you will also be able to add the London versions as well. These will appear at +950.

3) Power off the HD box and insert the UK card.

4) As you would expect the EPG is now set to the UK.

5) Navgate to Add Channels in settings.

6) Remove the UK card and insert your Irish card.

7) You may be asked for your PIN.

8) Navigate to Other Channels and select ITV2. ( I can't remember why and others may work)

9) Wait a few seconds and the EPG should now have all the channels.
You will notice that there may be 2 x 101, 2 x 102 etc.

For example an NI card will have 2 x 103 with UTV and TV3 on the same channel.

All channels are fully recordable even if you are recording from the sample channel number.

If you power off the box you will have to repeat.

Hi Bromley

NB.[/B] Ensure they are of the same region as the card. I don't follow this bit? i have a uk ftv card and so have only stv and UTV in my other channels. in fact with a uk card there are very channels you need in other channels, am i right apart from utv?

between points 3 and 4 insert turn back on hd box

at point 6 when you swap cards you leave on the box?


will try this later as i have uk FTV Card and a card i received from Setanta, but when setanta card in all my itvs are in other channels plus i have no E4 or More 4.

Tks

paulboland

micratoyota wrote: »

Does this mean that my friend who signed up to sky about a year and a bit ago with sport recording etc is now thinking of going free to air and cancelling sky will not be able to use the sky box to pick up the FTA programmes I know he will have to get an Aerial for saorview.

Free to Air channels will always work with no card you can add missing free to air channels to box also

if methods do not work you see mentioned in this thread
you can force the epg on the recent new Sky hd box to a uk epg with no card

use the Forced software Update method no card in box to change to a UK Epg

kooga

just to clarify
1. will this only work if the sky box is being used only as a fta box, that is no current subscription
2. if you have a new sky hd box with a uk ftv card will it work

Will try later

Tks

bromley52

kooga wrote: »

Hi Bromley

NB.[/B] Ensure they are of the same region as the card. I don't follow this bit? i have a uk ftv card and so have only stv and UTV in my other channels. in fact with a uk card there are very channels you need in other channels, am i right apart from utv?

between points 3 and 4 insert turn back on hd box

at point 6 when you swap cards you leave on the box?


will try this later as i have uk FTV Card and a card i received from Setanta, but when setanta card in all my itvs are in other channels plus i have no E4 or More 4.

Tks

Thanks for that. I have added more detail so I hope it is a bit clearer.

kooga

paulboland wrote: »

Note you can use the Forced Update method no card in box to change to a UK Epg

paul does that work on a new hd box?

the card swap with the uk ftv card and method didn't work.

paulboland

kooga wrote: »

paul does that work on a new hd box?

the card swap with the uk ftv card and method didn't work.

Should do as long as there is no card in the box

2 Years ago Sky locked new Sky 1 TB HD boxes and New Multi Room HD Box
to cards epg

By doing a forced software update with no card it sets it back to default uk epg

If you put a UK Card in it will lock it to uk epg
If you put a Irish Card in it will lock it to Irish epg

Only the White Sky cards work not the older blue cards

It all depends on what card you have

This only happened about 1 year ago with a software update to the boxes


The older White sky+ box and Sky HD + not affected by the update you can change Epg to uk with either of them by just removing card and power off/on

Woodie40

paulboland wrote: »

Should do as long as there is no card in the box

2 Years ago Sky locked new Sky 1 TB HD boxes and New Multi Room HD Box
to cards epg

By doing a forced software update with no card it sets it back to default uk epg

If you put a UK Card in it will lock it to uk epg
If you put a Irish Card in it will lock it to Irish epg

Only the White Sky cards work not the older blue cards

It all depends on what card you have

This only happened about 1 year ago with a software update to the boxes


The older White sky+ box and Sky HD + not affected by the update you can change Epg to uk with either of them by just removing card and power off/on

Is this what you're talking about? Will the Sky box record with no subscription.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056353483

muffler

Woodie40 wrote: »

Is this what you're talking about? Will the Sky box record with no subscription.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056353483

That thread was all about getting the FTA channels on the EPG for Sky subscribers.

No Sky sub = no recording on Sky box

Woodie40

muffler wrote: »

That thread was all about getting the FTA channels on the EPG for Sky subscribers.

No Sky sub = no recording on Sky box

Yeah I thought that alright, so what's the benefit of this in regards to the other trick? Thank You.

muffler

Woodie40 wrote: »

Yeah I thought that alright, so what's the benefit of this in regards to the other trick? Thank You.

Basically the same as the other "trick" in a way for non sky subscribers but without being able to record.

For example if you have a Sky HD box it will default to the Irish EPG but if you have a ftv card and boot up with that the EPG will show all the UK FTA channels. Its just less time consuming than having to go to "other channels" plus you get the benefit of a 7 day EPG

kooga

totally confused now , in front of my skybox with two cards some people saying favourites some other channels etc...............

muffler

kooga wrote: »

totally confused now , in front of my skybox with two cards some people saying favourites some other channels etc...............

You will have to add the BBCs and ITVs, Channel 5 etc to the "other channels" first

kooga

all done! and folowed steps

jgbyr

Does it work for an old sky + box or does it have to be a hd box?

Cantona's Collars

jgbyr wrote: »

Does it work for an old sky + box or does it have to be a hd box?

Has to be a HD box,although an old Sky box automatically reverts to the UK EPG without a card after you plug it out and in again.

kooga

kooga wrote: »

followed steps

still no joy!