Sky Q

Dave..M

winston_1 wrote: »

Not recommended. Powerline causes interference to other users of the radio spectrum, i.e your neighbours.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/04/13/bbc_plt/

Careful now! Down with this sort of thing....

winston_1

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

I read sufficient of the PDF to know that the two 'typical' houses got completely different results.
That some other cause, such as faulty wiring was not eliminated.
That there was no known interference outside of the house in which they were used.
That for some reason there seemed to be a bias towards Wifi without mentioning how that can be interfered with by other household appliances.

A study of two, regardless the results, is not in any way sufficiently wide to draw any conclusions from.

It might well be that all, or some, of these devices should be taken off the market, but this 'study' does not provide any compelling evidence either way.

As I said there is plenty of evidence available on the web showing that PLT does cause interference. You seem to think the BBC engineers didn't know what they were doing.

Capt'n Midnight

Galway wrote: »

Fibre to the home (FTTH) will be faster than VM coax system

Only if you choose the most expensive plans. AFAIK Eir are also offering 150 and 300 and Siro 200 and upwards.

Virgin really annoy me by advertising 360 as the 'fastest' when people are already on gigabit packages. Not so long ago Virgin had the fastest, cheapest BB so was a complete no-brainer. But now that there is realistic competition they've upped the prices for those on the lower packages. If upload speed is critical then non-Virgin packages start looking attractive. Also is 120Mb/s on Virgin fast enough for Netflix , because if you have to go 240 or 360 then you might even be better off on a lower fibre to the cab package.
/RANT


One of Virgin's 'killer apps' is that you could watch the analog channels in multiroom without an extra sub but if SKY Q means you can do that with more channels for a one off cost ? When Virgin turn off the analog this may provide another reason for people to consider churning.


My concern with SKY Q is vendor lock-in on the LNB. If you ever think you'd be cancelling SKY or moving to Freesat then what are the options ? Leaving up the old dish , getting an adaptor to split the band ( like the B Band things) , putting up a second dish. Unfortunately normal tuners would only see the top of the combined band and most of the good channels are down there. ?
OK looks like there are workarounds esp if you get a full band tuner.

Johnboy1951

winston_1 wrote: »

As I said there is plenty of evidence available on the web showing that PLT does cause interference. You seem to think the BBC engineers didn't know what they were doing.

I neither said nor implied that.

A survey of two premises, measuring internal interference only, without determining what caused the completely different results from them, cannot inform sufficiently well to draw conclusions. Remember these were allegedly two 'typical' households.

If there were substantiated problems with these devices interfering with neighbours etc, then Ofcom would have to take legal action.

I have not seen any report that they have done this as yet.

Johnboy1951

If you ever think you'd be cancelling SKY or moving to Freesat then what are the options ?

One of the options would be a SAT>IP dish with 8 tuners built in.
Distribute everything within the home via LAN.

Marcusm

I've had Sky Q for a week now; Sky have been useless through the whole process which started in early February and has only now resulted in a successful install by an indy who had never installed Sky Q before. Overall, I'm pleased with the system. I have a 3 storey granite/brick house with an existing dish. Ran 2 new cable to a room on the middle floor with the fibre modem at this level as well. The set up of the Q silver plus 3 mini boxes took approx 30 minutes. One of them has had to be plugged in using a 4 strip extension cable. That's the only one which has had any significant interference issues and then only when a printer was plugged in and used. Introducing the new power drain interfered with the signal (ie it disconnected) but it took 15 seconds to reconnect it.

Transition between channels is different from existing Sky system and initially I found it a problem. Once I realised that now/next was accessed through the i button, I realised it was as good/better than the prior system.

Going forward, main usage will be via minibox but I do not see this as being a problem whatsoever.

If there was one improvement I would make would be to give access to 4 tuners to miniboxes or tablets rather than a rigid 2/2 split. That being said, as there are only 2 of us in the house I don't really see it as a problem.

An added bonus is that the fibre broadband is great. I have experience of VM/UPC 240Mb broadband in Ireland before but I've just moved over from central London where the best I could obtain was 6Mb ADSL (down from 13Mb) in a prior property. It means that I don't need to spend as much time preplanning my catch up/boxset viewing. On the flipside, the catchup service is so much more restricted.

winston_1

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

I neither said nor implied that.

A survey of two premises, measuring internal interference only, without determining what caused the completely different results from them, cannot inform sufficiently well to draw conclusions. Remember these were allegedly two 'typical' households.

If there were substantiated problems with these devices interfering with neighbours etc, then Ofcom would have to take legal action.

I have not seen any report that they have done this as yet.

Ofcom have had hundreds of complaints and generally have solved them without taking legal action. Just telling people to stop using the devices is enough.

ffocused

Can you take this powerline argument elsewhere please and get back on topic?

Powerline tech is built into every piece of Sky Q equipment so telling a Sky Q customer to not use powerline is pointless.

winston_1

The powerline built into Sky Q has not been activated. Perhaps that is because Sky know of the interference problems and are being cautious.

Sky recommend using the in built wi fI only.

TCP/IP

irishgirl19 wrote: »

The boosters are only available for sky broadband customers.

This is an incorrect statement. I am on Virgin Media and one of the mini boxs upstairs kept losing connection, installer came back and installed a booster in our playroom and since then mini boxes upstairs has been perfect.

The boosters are nothing to do with what broadband provider you have.

Johnboy1951

winston_1 wrote: »

Ofcom have had hundreds of complaints and generally have solved them without taking legal action. Just telling people to stop using the devices is enough.

Ofcom, if they found the devices at fault, would be obliged to take steps to have them removed from the market.

winston_1

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

Ofcom, if they found the devices at fault, would be obliged to take steps to have them removed from the market.

You'd think so wouldn't you? But Ofcom are hopeless, probably under staffed, and don't do their job properly. If they did plasma TV's, many LEDs, and lots of other stuff would have been removed from the market.

lertsnim

winston_1 wrote: »

Not recommended.

All of my neighbours use them and nobody has complained.

galtee boy

Vodafone are offering the basic Vodafone TV service plus multi room, unlimited broadband ( up to 100mb), unlimited ROI landline & mobile calls and unlimited International landline calls for €52.50 monthly for the first 6 months, then €82.50 monthly after that. Can anyone work out for me, what the equivalent package from Sky would be, including SkyQ ? I've tried looking at Sky's website, but can't figure it out, Vodafone to be fair, make their pricing very easy to work out. I think the Vodafone package seems excellent value for money, only drawback I can see, is no TV3 or UTV Ireland in HD, but most programming on these two channels can be got in HD via ITV on Freesat. SkyQ would be a more high end product with more channels I know, but I fear the cost of it, will be far greater, unless someone can enlighten me otherwise. Also, Vodafone will throw in the multiroom box for free ( normally one off fee of €99 ) if you opt for the Plus TV package ( extra 27 channels ),which is an extra €10 per month .

winston_1

Just because no one has complained (as far as you know) means nothing. Perhaps they don't know who to complain to. Perhaps they think they are in a poor reception area rather than suffering interference. Perhaps they put up with it thinking they will be charged a large fee.

MarkAnthony

galtee boy wrote: »

Vodafone are offering the basic Vodafone TV service plus multi room, unlimited broadband ( up to 100mb), unlimited ROI landline & mobile calls and unlimited International landline calls for €52.50 monthly for the first 6 months, then €82.50 monthly after that. Can anyone work out for me, what the equivalent package from Sky would be, including SkyQ ? I've tried looking at Sky's website, but can't figure it out, Vodafone to be fair, make their pricing very easy to work out. I think the Vodafone package seems excellent value for money, only drawback I can see, is no TV3 or UTV Ireland in HD, but most programming on these two channels can be got in HD via ITV on Freesat. SkyQ would be a more high end product with more channels I know, but I fear the cost of it, will be far greater, unless someone can enlighten me otherwise. Also, Vodafone will throw in the multiroom box for free ( normally one off fee of €99 ) if you opt for the Plus TV package ( extra 27 channels ),which is an extra €10 per month .

There isn't a SkyQ package equivalent. Without wanting to sound like it's not for the peasants :pac: it's designed as a premium solution for people who want multiple rooms and lots of wifi coverage without any hassle. It's a 'don't really care about the price solution'.

The very minimum SkyQ pack it €105 odd per month and to be fair I wouldn't buy that one it would have to be the SkyQ Silver which is €117 per month with €99 'install'. You do get two boxes for that.

Sky's calling packages are the worst in the business. You'd have to add another €7.50 to that for unlimited calls and it wouldn't include mobiles. I'd still have Sky over Voda any day of the week for TV though. You'll get a Sky+HD pack very cheaply and then just go for the cheapest broadband provider - probably Voda or Pure telecom. Bundling is false economy usually unless you've very limited use for the TV, which everyone seems to always claim and yet the average is still 3+ hours a day.

notmyusername

winston_1 wrote: »

Just because no one has complained (as far as you know) means nothing. Perhaps they don't know who to complain to. Perhaps they think they are in a poor reception area rather than suffering interference. Perhaps they put up with it thinking they will be charged a large fee.

Or....perhaps nobody is suffering interference :rolleyes:

galtee boy

MarkAnthony wrote: »

There isn't a SkyQ package equivalent. Without wanting to sound like it's not for the peasants :pac: it's designed as a premium solution for people who want multiple rooms and lots of wifi coverage without any hassle. It's a 'don't really care about the price solution'.

The very minimum SkyQ pack it €105 odd per month and to be fair I wouldn't buy that one it would have to be the SkyQ Silver which is €117 per month with €99 'install'. You do get two boxes for that.

Sky's calling packages are the worst in the business. You'd have to add another €7.50 to that for unlimited calls and it wouldn't include mobiles. I'd still have Sky over Voda any day of the week for TV though. You'll get a Sky+HD pack very cheaply and then just go for the cheapest broadband provider - probably Voda or Pure telecom. Bundling is false economy usually unless you've very limited use for the TV, which everyone seems to always claim and yet the average is still 3+ hours a day.

Thanks for the advice, I though bundling would be cheaper and on the surface it does look cheaper, but when you look closely, something usually has to give way. In Vodafones case, it's TV is no match for Sky and in Sky's case, as you said, it's phone/ broadband is no match for Vodafone. I thought putting SkYQ into the frame might make a bundle from Sky good value, but obviously not. SkyQ does look a fantastic product and maybe in time it might lose its premium status and premium price, but I suspect that is quite a long way off.

tricky2beat

I think everyone here has this assumption that Vodafone TV is like a cheap eVision type service. It's completely the opposite and out performs Horizion and Sky + easily. I've had it for months now and can't believe more people haven't heard how great it is. I think they must of done a bad job marketing it but it's actually unbelievable powerful. Not sure how it is against Sky Q (haven't used it yet) but the features and experience are the best I've ever used. I would highly recommend getting it at least trying it out first hand.

galtee boy

tricky2beat wrote: »

I think everyone here has this assumption that Vodafone TV is like a cheap eVision type service. It's completely the opposite and out performs Horizion and Sky + easily. I've had it for months now and can't believe more people haven't heard how great it is. I think they must of done a bad job marketing it but it's actually unbelievable powerful. Not sure how it is against Sky Q (haven't used it yet) but the features and experience are the best I've ever used. I would highly recommend getting it at least trying it out first hand.

Is it still the case, that you can't watch or record the Sky channels on the multiroom box ? I know the only Sky channels on it are the Sports and Movies, which are extra, but if eventually Sky One or Sky Living come on it, this would be a major disadvantage.

icdg

tricky2beat wrote: »

I think everyone here has this assumption that Vodafone TV is like a cheap eVision type service. It's completely the opposite and out performs Horizion and Sky + easily. I've had it for months now and can't believe more people haven't heard how great it is. I think they must of done a bad job marketing it but it's actually unbelievable powerful. Not sure how it is against Sky Q (haven't used it yet) but the features and experience are the best I've ever used. I would highly recommend getting it at least trying it out first hand.

Oddly enough I think the Vodafone TV marketing campaign (starring Piggy Sue!) has been one of the more talked about advertising campaigns of the last year. Despite this, both they and Eir are effectively trying to start new TV platforms from zero subscribers and that's a tall order no matter how good the campaign. You have to remember that whatever the technical merits of Vodafone TV, content is king and no other TV platform rivals Sky on that front.

As far as Sky Q is concerned, right now price is the biggest barrier, though if you absolutely need multi room and can't avail of a discount, the difference is minimal.

bk

galtee boy wrote: »

Thanks for the advice, I though bundling would be cheaper and on the surface it does look cheaper, but when you look closely, something usually has to give way. In Vodafones case, it's TV is no match for Sky and in Sky's case, as you said, it's phone/ broadband is no match for Vodafone. I thought putting SkYQ into the frame might make a bundle from Sky good value, but obviously not. SkyQ does look a fantastic product and maybe in time it might lose its premium status and premium price, but I suspect that is quite a long way off.

Most normal people would think that and you would think it is the logical assumption. In reality, in almost every market I've looked at, bundling almost never gives you the best or cheapest option.

Bundle your electricity and gas, nope cheapest deal is Energia for electricity, Flogas for gas.

Bundle TV + Broadband + Mobile, nope almost always cheaper and better to get them separate.

Buy a double pack of Coca Cola, nope almost always cheaper to buy them separately.

My theory on this is these companies are playing on peoples logical assumption that if you bundle things it should be cheaper and they are instead taking advantage of people and maximising their profitability by fooling them.

tricky2beat wrote: »

I think everyone here has this assumption that Vodafone TV is like a cheap eVision type service. It's completely the opposite and out performs Horizion and Sky + easily. I've had it for months now and can't believe more people haven't heard how great it is. I think they must of done a bad job marketing it but it's actually unbelievable powerful. Not sure how it is against Sky Q (haven't used it yet) but the features and experience are the best I've ever used. I would highly recommend getting it at least trying it out first hand.

The issue that Eir and Vodafone face is that they are entering a very mature market where people are already largely very happy with the service they have.

When you enter such a mature market, you have to be disruptive in order to win customers away from the existing companies.

Eir and Vodafones products simply aren't disruptive. They are basically the same as Sky/Virgin for roughly the same money. That is bound to fail.

If they want to succeed they really need to do something different and upset the market. I think they need to follow Free's example in France of offering a very cheap bundle of 1Gb/s broadband + phone + tv all for just €30!

Anything less and they just won't make any headway against Sky.

lertsnim

winston_1 wrote: »

Just because no one has complained (as far as you know) means nothing. Perhaps they don't know who to complain to. Perhaps they think they are in a poor reception area rather than suffering interference. Perhaps they put up with it thinking they will be charged a large fee.

Or perhaps nobody is experiencing any of this phantom interference you are on about. The devices are legal and it's time to get over it.

dubsaab

Hi,

I had my Sky Q installation appointment this morning. I have a dish with four Quattro LNB's and have a Triax TMDS 54C in the attic.

http://www.triax.uk/FindProduct/ProductDetails.asp​x?product=c3f7cad4-f5aa-47e2-8984-4479ecc5486f

The four cables from the appropriate LNB are connected to the TMDS 54C and there are two cables from this to my living room where the Sky Q Silver box is to be installed. The technician would not do the install because he said my system is not compatible to Sky Q, he did not even take the Sky Q boxes out of his van.

Has anyone had Sky Q installed with a TMDS 54C?

Thanks,

dubsaab

Johnboy1951

dubsaab wrote: »

The four cables from the appropriate LNB are connected to the TMDS 54C and there are two cables from this to my living room where the Sky Q Silver box is to be installed. The technician would not do the install because he said my system is not compatible to Sky Q, he did not even take the Sky Q boxes out of his van.

TRIAX range of Sky approved dSCR (digital Satellite Cable Router) multiswitches for Sky Q include TMDS 54C, 4-way and TMDS 58C, 8-way switches powered by an external power supply (sold separately).

http://www.satelliteandaerialsupplies.com/product/?s=triax-307370-tmds-5-x-4-dscr-digital-scr-multiswitch-for-skyq

helimachoptor

Post your experience on the sky talk to forum. Someone will get it sorted Monday

Digifriendly

Today would have been a good day to try recording 4 programmes if you were a rugby fanatic - Connacht vs Glasgow (TG4); Munster vs Scarlets (S4C); Ospreys vs Ulster (Sky Sports/BBC NI) and Edinburgh vs Cardiff (BBC2W). Of course BT Sport had 2 Aviva Premiership matches live so you could have watched one of these live while recording the 4 Pro 12 matches or even recorded 2 Pro 12 matches on TG4 and Saorview red button with a terrestrial PVR and the remainder with SKY Q!

The Cush

dubsaab wrote: »

I had my Sky Q installation appointment this morning. I have a dish with four Quattro LNB's and have a Triax TMDS 54C in the attic.

http://www.triax.uk/FindProduct/ProductDetails.asp​x?product=c3f7cad4-f5aa-47e2-8984-4479ecc5486f

The four cables from the appropriate LNB are connected to the TMDS 54C and there are two cables from this to my living room where the Sky Q Silver box is to be installed. The technician would not do the install because he said my system is not compatible to Sky Q, he did not even take the Sky Q boxes out of his van. Has anyone had Sky Q installed with a TMDS 54C?

Are you sure it's a TMDS 54C multiswitch you have?
The TMDS 54C is a new type of dSCR multiswitch compatible with SkyQ.

The new SkyQ receiver cannot use the legacy sat signal output by older, non-dSCR multiswitches or any standard universal LNB. The box now requires either a twin cable feed from a new wideband LNB on the dish or a single cable SCR feed from a new type of multiswitch, a dSCR multiswitch like the one Johnboy1951 links to above.

Sky supply dSCR multiswitches to apartment installations with a single communal dish and Quattro LNB setups. Each output on the dSCR multiswitch can feed the existing legacy signal to the previous Sky boxes or the new SCR signal used by SkyQ boxes together with the terrestrial signal combined. Each SCR single cable feed can supply 16 tuners, SkyQ silver has 12.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=98625856
http://www.alltrade.co.uk/irs/sky-q-dscr-switches

The Cush

dubsaab wrote: »

I had my Sky Q installation appointment this morning. I have a dish with four Quattro LNB's and have a Triax TMDS 54C in the attic.

http://www.triax.uk/FindProduct/ProductDetails.asp​x?product=c3f7cad4-f5aa-47e2-8984-4479ecc5486f

The four cables from the appropriate LNB are connected to the TMDS 54C and there are two cables from this to my living room where the Sky Q Silver box is to be installed. The technician would not do the install because he said my system is not compatible to Sky Q, he did not even take the Sky Q boxes out of his van.

The Cush wrote: »

Are you sure it's a TMDS 54C multiswitch you have?
The [URL="[url]http://www.triax.uk/News/SingleNews.aspx?newsid={2C3CFFF6-B5A9-47F4-94B8-90E2E14C8132}[/url]"]TMDS 54C[/URL] is a new type of dSCR multiswitch compatible with SkyQ.

Just found your previous post on this which I replied to - http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=99231258

Either the installer assumed you had an old multiswitch setup or he's never setup a SkyQ on a dSCR multiswitch before.

As posted above by helimachoptor above go to the Sky talk to forum and point out that you have a compatible dSCR multiswitch.

dubsaab

The Cush wrote: »

Just found your previous post on this which I replied to - http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=99231258

Either the installer assumed you had an old multiswitch setup or he's never setup a SkyQ on a dSCR multiswitch before.

As posted above by helimachoptor above go to the Sky talk to forum and point out that you have a compatible dSCR multiswitch.

I am 100% sure that I have 54C in the attic, I showed him the handbook I got with the switch and he even went to the attic and took photo's. When I told him on his arrival I had a dSCR multiswitch and he made a phone call to confirm his initial view that Sky Q does not work with a multiswitch. He said a separate company go to apartments and fit some equipment to make the system compatible with Sky Q, I assume this is a dSCR multiswitch. What really got me was he would not connect a Sky Q box to the system to see if it would work.

I am off to the Sky talk to forum now.