Cancelling Sky and looking into getting one of those Combi boxes?

Pukwudgie

Hi everyone,

We're going to cancel Sky TV as it doesn't seem to get the usage it once did, and frankly, the price is outright sickening for what you get. I am decent enough with tech stuff, but this is a whole new world for me. I have ZERO knowledge of what I'm looking for. I believe we had Sky Q installed over 2 years ago. There are two cables running into the Sky box along with the power and HDMI.

Does anyone have any suggestions on where I should begin? I've heard of skins you can apply, and I've seen ones that look like Sky. Are there any well-written, detailed guides out there for a literal newbie like me? Maybe someone here could help me out as well. Is it even possible to record like you can on Sky with those satellite boxes?

Thanks in advance.

andy1249

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058360500/cancelling-sky-and-looking-into-getting-one-of-those-combi-boxes

There is only one box that will work with the Sky Q LNB and that is the Arris Freesat box.

I wouldn't recommend it , its awful rubbish.

You are going to have to change the LNB.

There are plenty of choices , but the best boxes run some version of Enigma2 , I prefer openvix as it has a full manual. You can start reading there for some tips.

https://www.openvix.co.uk/openvix-builds/Guides%20and%20Tutorials/VIX%20Manual%20Vs%201.1.pdf

Most on here are looking for bang for buck , and go for cheap boxes like the Zgemma H7s , this is a twin tuner box for satellite and a single tuner for terrestrial ( saorview ).

These cheaper boxes would be the equivalent of SkyHD

You will need both a dish and an aerial for the saorview stations , as the saorview stations are not free to view on Satellite.

I got the VU+ Duo 4K SE , with a Unicable II LNB , this has twin FBC tuners and twin Terrestrial tuners. It can record 8 or more Satellite channels at the same time , or serve multiple clients at the same time ( what sky call multiroom , except the clients can be any device running an enigma2 client app , ipads , phones , PCs , laptops , …..etc. )

This would be the equivalent of Sky Q ( Better as recordings are not encrypted and can be watched on anything anywhere)

I wouldn't bother with the sky skins , they usually cause trouble. Just use the default skin , its just as good and people wont break it by trying " Sky Codes " on the remote.

So depending on budget , you can get the equivalent or better than sky for approx 200 ( Zgemma ) to 550 ( VU+ ) for a once off cost , and no monthly bills to pay afterwards.

There are cheaper boxes with FBC tuners fall in between the price of the Zgemma and the VU+ like Gigablue etc.