Good news for some

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Rikkitic

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#223002 7-Sep-2017 12:49

I just had a phone call from Sky today. They said we have to give up our old mpeg decoder soon because Sky is shutting down that service within the next two months.

I know there are some here who will be very happy about this so I thought I would pass on the good news.

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#1860287 7-Sep-2017 13:14

What are they replacing it with if that's all someone has?

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Rikkitic

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#1860289 7-Sep-2017 13:26

Nothing. The lady who rang said if we did not take the new decoder the signal would be shut off.

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Rikkitic

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#1860291 7-Sep-2017 13:31

To be more precise, in case I might be causing confusion from imperfect understanding, this is about replacing the old analogue decoder with the new digital one that most people already have by now. We have clung to the old one because we didn't want to upgrade. The service that one works from, which I assume is the mpeg service, is what she says is being cut off in two months. That was always the plan as I understand it, but it was delayed until now.

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michaelmurfy

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#1860296 7-Sep-2017 13:35

And I bet they'll charge for the new decoder somehow.

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old3eyes

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#1860297 7-Sep-2017 13:36

michaelmurfy:

And I bet they'll charge for the new decoder somehow.

My M-in-Law got her's changed for free.

Regards,

Old3eyes

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#1860301 7-Sep-2017 13:40

The Signal isn't being cut off, but they are planning to upgrade the compression algorithm

Older decoders will not be able to decode the newer signal

The new decoders are hobbled mysky boxes, that can be fully easily unlocked by Sky OTA, expect a more constant stream of upselling...

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Rikkitic

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#1860307 7-Sep-2017 13:59

No worries there. We already agreed to dump Sky when the crunch came. There just isn't enough added value. When the decoder stops working we will stop paying and rely on UHF and satellite FTA, our streaming HTPC, and Android with Kodi. We are arts and culture fans and mainly watch Face and Arts channel at present, with some Nat Geo and (less and less) History thrown in and the very occasional film. Even without pirate streams, which we try to avoid (we do use geo-unblocking), we don't have time to view all that already interests us. There is just so much available. YouTube, Curiosity, Medici, PBS, SBS, iPlayer and much, much more.

And all of this without ads and promos. Yay!

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Behodar

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#1860357 7-Sep-2017 15:01

Sounds like my 10-year-old "Prime only" decoder will stop working soon! Not that I'm using it; it's been sitting in the bottom of the cupboard ever since Prime went onto Freeview.

michaelmurfy

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#1860360 7-Sep-2017 15:05

old3eyes:

michaelmurfy:

And I bet they'll charge for the new decoder somehow.

My M-in-Law got her's changed for free.

Interesting - they tried charging me (for a box that does HDMI out and no recording) when I was looking at upgrading from the Igloo box and wouldn't budge.

Apsattv

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#1860449 7-Sep-2017 16:59

Good to see Sky realizing they need to get a move on this Changeover should of been done by early in the year.

If you have the standard Sky box then you will get the one made by KAON, I have one, and no issues with it of course recording is disabled which I don't care about.

It also has built in wifi which I havn't bothered to setup.

Of course they will try to push you into getting "mysky"

Apsattv

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#1860462 7-Sep-2017 17:24

Rikkitic:

To be more precise, in case I might be causing confusion from imperfect understanding, this is about replacing the old analogue decoder with the new digital one that most people already have by now. We have clung to the old one because we didn't want to upgrade. The service that one works from, which I assume is the mpeg service, is what she says is being cut off in two months. That was always the plan as I understand it, but it was delayed until now.

The old decoder isn't analogue , just old Mpeg 2 DVB-S with no internet conectivity. The new low end ones are fine you would gain online functionality plus HD.

They will even throw in a free RF modulator, if you are doing a rf channel split to another tv.

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#1864461 13-Sep-2017 12:57

michaelmurfy:

And I bet they'll charge for the new decoder somehow.

They don't charge for it. But the deliberately disable the pause, record and rewind functionality if you don't pay the My Sky premium. My parents box got switched over when the moved house recently. Yet another example of how Sky add on charges just to use the services available, the other being the $9.95 HD ticket 'privilege'.

The new box has wifi built in which is nice to see. [edit: Oh, and it has HDMI too, which means HD FTA :) ]

Rikkitic

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#1864492 13-Sep-2017 13:43

Apsattv:

Rikkitic:

To be more precise, in case I might be causing confusion from imperfect understanding, this is about replacing the old analogue decoder with the new digital one that most people already have by now. We have clung to the old one because we didn't want to upgrade. The service that one works from, which I assume is the mpeg service, is what she says is being cut off in two months. That was always the plan as I understand it, but it was delayed until now.

The old decoder isn't analogue , just old Mpeg 2 DVB-S with no internet conectivity. The new low end ones are fine you would gain online functionality plus HD.

They will even throw in a free RF modulator, if you are doing a rf channel split to another tv.

The old decoder we have is a very old Pace decoder with SCART/S-video output. That is analogue as far as I know. Different people have different things they dislike about Sky (and some may even like some things) but for us, quality isn't the main issue. Content, convenience, flexibility, added costs, incessant commercials are. We just don't see it as a value for money proposition any more and the end of the Mpeg service is a good excuse to leave. The streaming services that interest us are already better quality and it doesn't cost any extra. The internal network is fine for distribution.

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B1GGLZ

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#1864521 13-Sep-2017 14:26

Rikkitic:

The old decoder we have is a very old Pace decoder with SCART/S-video output. That is analogue as far as I know.

All Sky's Sat decoders are/were Digital because all Sat TV is Digital. Only their UHF boxes were Analogue.

Behodar

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#1864524 13-Sep-2017 14:30

You're both correct. It's a digital signal from the satellite to the decoder, and analogue from the decoder to the TV.

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