Sky Boxes.

[trevnhil]

Just a quick question re Sky TV boxes. Has there been an alteration via a download, which sends your box onto 'standby' (red light on) Because we are in Cyprus we have had no notification of this, and wondered if it has happened in UK.

Regards. Trev..

[mpprh]

I also have a sky box.
Mine is working as normal.

Peter

[kidstypike]

No problems here Trev.

[trevnhil]

Well I am glad to here that you are all problem free.

In Cyprus what has happened is not so much a problem but an annoyance. Every morning when we came to switch he TV on we would find the sky box on standby (red light on). We have now found out the following......

Sky have just released an update for all digiboxes.

If you look at the services menu there is a new entry for

5. Auto Standby

and if you select it then the options are ON or OFF with the default set at ON.

This is Sky's answer to the 'Green' lobby supposedly saving electricity by turning the sky box to standby after it has not been accessed for a while.
This is judged by whether or not the channel had been changed. If you leave the box on one channel and continue watching then it thinks its not being used and will switch to standby.

One thing that sky have not told anybody is that (apart from the + version where the hard disk is stopped in standby mode) there is NO power saving when the sky box is in standby mode

Recommend you turn this option OFF and all will be back to normal.

BUT......... Maybe all this does not apply to boxes in the UK. Though I don't know how they would tell where a particular box is.

However we are OK now and I am glad that you are.

Regards. Trev..

[WillowTheWhisp]

Haven't noticed any difference with ours but to be honest all this insistence on individuals saving energy and saving the planet is quite pathetic in comparison to the waste that goes on in companies and government (national and local).

I'm all for a bit of common sense and do my bit with recycling and switching lights off etc but the 'rubbish police' annoy me. We can be fined for not putting things in the recycle box. We can be fined for putting the wrong sort of glass, plastic, paper, cardboard in the recycling. We can be fined for putting our bin out too early and fined for not bringing it in quick enough (never mind that people can be at work and not available to put things in and out at the appropriate hour.) We can have the refuse operatives refusing to empty our bins if they are too heavy or if the lid isn't closed.

It's all getting a bit ridiculous.

[trevnhil]

Good Morning all. Yes Willow I agree with all that you say, it has gone over the top now.

We had another mystery this morning. When we awoke we found that both sky boxes had gone on to standby (red light on) No problem, i thought. I will go to the services menu ad alter N0 5 'Auto stand by'.... It's not there now.

So we will have to see what happens in the days to come.

It does seem like they have scrapped that idea.

Regards. Trev..

[WillowTheWhisp]

How very odd. Maybe they are experimenting.

[lifeboat1721]

Mine has always been on standby right from day one unless I need to use it,

The only way around it I can see is to unplug at the back but then you would have to wait for it to do a full reboot.

Ian

[trevnhil]

We will see what happens overnight. We always leave the box On ie green light.

We'll see tomorrow.

Cheers. Trev..

[trevnhil]

Hi all. Well no problems now with the Sky Box, but the REMOTE has started playing up. We changed the batteries but it still would not operate properly. It seemed that the 'Select' key was sticking.

If any one has this problem now or in the future, on the internet I found instructions for cleaning remotes. I was a little wary, but I did exactly as it said and it really was easy.....AND IT WORKED.

I DID NOT CLEAN THE BOARD.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CLEANING NORMAL SKY REMOTES.
The one screw in the battery compartment is the one to remove.Its usually very small,and set quite deep,and can be awkward to remove.Its not much bigger than the ones that hold your glasses together,but without removing it,you'll never get the remote apart.(Ive had to drill one or two out)Once you do remove it,slide the front egg-shaped transmitter"window"forward and away from you(no screws,but a very tight fit,and sometimes needs the help of a small screwdriver or something).Now the 2 main parts of the remote can be prised apart,again with the help of a screwdriver,exposing the board(only one),and the rubber pads.The board seems quite sturdy,with only one or two components on it.I clean the board with the agent you clean tape heads with,but the rubber pads and plastic body parts get a good scrubbing in hot soapy water and rinsing,and allowed to dry thoroughly.AFAIK,that one single drat screw is the key to getting them apart.

Save this somewhere.... in case.

Regards. Trev..

[coachman]

I am pretty ignorant about Sky things but do remember when I first got a Sky box many years back (pre-Willow days) that in my contract, it had to be connected to a phone line for a minimum period of 1 year. At the end of the year, I disconnected it so that my children would not be tempted to go "on-line" at some horrific cost.

When I married Willow, I found that she had adhered to their request to keep the phone line connected so my first handiman job was to pull it out of the socket!

I am just wondering, is this the way they make their "up-dates"? or do they up-date via the satellite? Anyone know please? and do Sky still connect to a phone line?

[musky]

Updates are done via Satellite, New customers are contracted to be connected to a phone line for first 12 months.

[lifeboat1721]

Well they Never complained when I Pulled mine out of the Socket after 3 months

[mpprh]

And mine has never been connected


Peter

[trevnhil]

I just need to vent my fury so I will post on here.

For a good few months now SKY have been saying that they will replace all the blue viewing cards with white ones.

We are registered with them at my daughters UK address. She has not had a card for us so has contacted them quite a few times on our behalf. A week or two back they would not let here deal on our behalf unless she knew the password......... There was no password ever set up.

So, despite them saying they have sent yet another card it has not arrived. I phoned for the second time last Friday and was told that they would again send another card to my registered address in the UK. This morning 2 days after the phone call they turned our blue card off. I have just phoned SKY again via their Indian rep: and got absolutely nowhere.
I politely asked if they would turn the blue card back on because it was only last Friday when they promised to send another card. I told them that I could not comply with the on screen message saying 'put in the new card', as we had not yet received one from them. The lady told me she cannot turn on the old card and it will take 3 to 5 days for the new card to arrive.

3 to 5 days with the postal strikes..... Grrrr

I must watch my blood pressure.

Not amused. Trev..