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Upgrading from Sky to Freesat

It takes less than five minutes to replace an existing satellite box with a Freesat one.

It takes less than five minutes to replace an existing satellit
published on UK Free TV

If you have an existing Sky or fSfS (Freesat from Sky) installation and want to go to upgrade to Freesat, it is a simple process.

First, buy the Freesat box from a Argos, Curry.digital, Comet, John Lewes or your local independent shop:



In the box you will find the Freesat box:



Also included will be a remote control, and this model also comes with a SCART cable, a HDMI cable and a stereo-with-composite cable. Unpack the ones you need:



You old Sky box looks like this:



Unplug the mains first from the Sky box, then pull out the SCART (or SCARTs) and then unscrew the connection to the satellite dish.



Remove the Sky box and fit the Freesat box. Reconnect the satellite cable (take care as to not damage the connection) and then the SCART and finally connect the mains power:



The box will look like this:



The box also contains the manual, which has full installation instructions. Finally fit the batteries into the remote control.



The TV screen first displays the box's logo



The first set-up screen allows you to select the TV type, widescreen mode and resolution:



Next the box checks for the satellite signal:



Then there is a check for updated software:



Then you enter your postcode and the box checks it:



The next step is a scan for channels. This takes about 30 seconds:



And that's it. You can now view channels, like 108 for BBC HD:



Or press the GUIDE button for the EPG:



(Apologies for the photos not being of the top quality)



Help with Free satellite?
What can I do when my Sky Digibox says 'No Signal' or 'Technical fau1
Can I receive UK TV in Ghana?2
What is a CA module?3
My box says "No Satellite signal being received"4
Is there any way I can get free channels via satellite and have the kind of hard5
In this section
Freesat adds a plethora of new channels in time for Christmas including channel 1
A tale of a two Freesat boxes2
Yesterday, Drama and Really joining Freesat this month3
PBS America joins Freesat for Halloween4
Fixing the Freesat Freetime internet connection problem5
Satellite TV operators FRANSAT, TIVUSAT and our Freesat launch FreeTV Alliance 6

Comments
Wednesday, 4 January 2012
S
Scott Paterson
4:30 PM

Actually just followed the wires and the dish is just near a window attached to the side of the house (rather than the roof, must be someone else!) but theres still some scaffolding right next/infront of the dish - could this be causing issue?

Previous to this I had a good 80% signal with perfect picture quality, now I get zero signal.


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Scott Paterson's 2 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 10 January 2012
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

6:49 AM

Scott Paterson: Yes, scaffolding will prevent the dish from receiving a signal from the satellite.

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Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
Friday, 27 January 2012
M
mumzey
10:39 PM

Mark Aberfan Aerials: can i watch tv in a different room and if so how thanks

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mumzey's 1 post GB flag
Saturday, 28 January 2012
Mark Aberfan Aerials
sentiment_satisfiedGold

5:39 PM

Hi mumzey, Yes if you have freesat you can either fit a Triax trilink kit to watch & control the same channel from a second location or you can fit a extra freesat box (they start around £30 in argos) & quad lnb & you can watch a different channel at the same time in the second room which is ideal if you dont want to watch the football or kids progs that others in your house may be watching.

Mark Aberfan Aerials

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Mark Aberfan Aerials's 1,059 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 1 February 2012
J
Janie
8:59 AM

I had a freesat box in my lounge and had my bungalow refurbished. My son orgainised sky subscription SKY+ HD box in my lounge and a sky box in my bedroom. We don,t use the sky programmes in the bedroom and want to stop subscription for this box so that we can save £10 per month. Is it possible to keep the television in our bedroom and just but a freesat box or do we have to keep the sky box?

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Janie's 1 post GB flag
M
Mike Dimmick
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:22 AM

Janie: I believe the Sky box in the bedroom would drop down to 'free-to-view' mode. You wouldn't be able to watch subscription channels, but you'd be able to watch all the channels listed at Compare Freesat and Freesat-from-Sky TV | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice . You'd no longer be able to pause or record programmes on the bedroom box, if it's a Sky+ box.

Or, you could just unplug the Sky box and plug the Freesat box in, in its place. You'd lose the few channels that are in Sky's free service but not on Freesat - again, see that link for the comparison.

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Mike Dimmick's 2,486 posts GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:23 AM

Janie: You can use the Freesat in your bedroom. Just connect it to the dish, same as the Sky box.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Friday, 10 February 2012
M
Michael King
2:32 PM

I am already a Freesat subscriber using a HD Humax Box through an LG TV. I also subscribe and pay for Eurosport TV which I watch via my Computer. Is there any way to transmit my eurosport picture onto my TV via my BT Modem (or the Home-plug) adapters that are currently being used to transmit Demand TV and BBCPlayer & IPlayer. (I am aware that I can transmit images etc from my Compter to TV via a VGA hard-wire links but I was wanting to being able to do it using wireless. Thanks

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Michael King's 1 post GB flag
Monday, 27 February 2012
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

6:26 AM

Michael King: You can use a "wireless video sender" such as Argos - www.argos.co.uk
but you can't use the devices you listed.

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Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 28 February 2012
I
ian from notts
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

9:21 AM

I am enquiring about the Humax Freesat+ recorder?
It has a thru loop fitted so can i use this to run the Freesat built in my Panasonic tv?
Meaning 2 cables from the dish to the Humax and 1 out of the thru loop yo the tv and all 3 Freesat tuners working normally?
If not what is the thru loop for?

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ian from notts's 253 posts GB flag
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