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ITV
on Sky Digital.What is Sky Digital?.
Sky
Digital is the UK Satellite Television Service, provided by BSkyB, and
broadcast via the SES owned Astra 2 series of satellites at 28.2 degrees
east.
Part
of BSkyB's license conditions are that they must allow other UK
broadcasters to use their receivers and conditional access system, the
costs for this must be 'reasonable' and are set by the authorities - not
by BSkyB. Because of this, most of the UK terrestrial TV services are also
carried on the Sky Digital system, the exception being ITV and ITV2, both
of which have so far being prevented from being carried by the efforts of
two of the largest ITV companies (Granada and Carlton) - who have a large stake in
OnDigital (now renamed ITV Digital),
the UK Terrestrial Service. It's strongly rumored that ITV will launch on
Sky Digital towards the end of 2001 - ITV have signed for space with SES/Astra,
so hopefully it won't be too long.
What do I need to receive it?.
The
receivers required are known as 'Sky Digiboxes' and are made to a design
from BSkyB by a small number of approved manufacturers (basically the ones
who applied for, and were granted, a license to manufacture them).
The
encryption system is called VideoGuard, and is only available as an
integral part of the Sky Digibox - separate CAM's are not available, and
unlikely to be so, certainly for the foreseeable future. There are
currently five manufacturers of Digiboxes, Pace, Grundig, Amstrad,
Panasonic, and Sony (in order of first production), the current Panasonic
(TU-DSB30) is
fairly universally accepted as the best, as it's a generation ahead of
the other boxes, and the EPG is FAR!! faster, although the new Pace
box due out in September 2000 is supposed to be it's equal.
The Sony box has
only recently being released, after it's announcement over a year ago, due
to some controversy over it's facilities and the price! - however, the Sony
box is the only one to include a Digital Optical Audio Output (the source
of the controversy!) and it's not certain if it's enabled or not (a letter
in the boxes says not, but samples I've tested work OK). I've recently
spoken to Sony Technical, who assure me that the Digital Optical Audio
Output is now fully working, the box just needs updating to the latest
software version - which should be done by the installer before
authorisation of the card/box.
Update
August 2001: All manufacturers Digiboxes are now (at long last) 3rd
generation, and equally fast, but make sure you get the latest version if
speed is important to you. The Panasonic TU-DSB30 has been replaced by the
TU-DSB31, which appears to be a 'cost improved' version, although it's as
fast as the 30 the 31 no longer works in fringe areas - particularly
Southern Spain. The best current box for such use appears to be the
Grundig GRD310/2, which outperforms even the Panasonic TU-DSB30's, and has
an S-Video output as well.
To
feed the Digibox you simply need a suitable sized dish with a Universal
LNB pointing as Astra 28.2E, for the UK only a small dish is required, and
a suitable size mini-dish is provided as part of the package.
What else do I need?.
To
enable the Digibox to receive almost all the UK channels, an access card
is required, and there are two types of these (or at least two ways of
getting the same card enabled for different services). The first is a 'Sky
Digital' card, this is a subscription service requiring a monthly
subscription, which can cost upto £34.00 depending on the subscription
package you require - it also includes all the other FTV (Free To View)
channels. The second type of card is a 'Subscription Free' card, often
called a 'BBC Card', this requires no subscription, but only provides
access to the free channels provided by the BBC, CH4, and CH5 - it's
almost certain that the same card will provide access to ITV and ITV2, if
and when they appear.
Once
you have a box and card, you need to 'authorize' them, if connected to the
phone line this is easily done via the built-in modem (requiring a handful
of button presses), but without the phone line it requires a voice call -
this usually takes a lot longer to work!.
These
cards are actually 'married' to the boxes, you can't take a card from one
box and use it in another - with a few exceptions!. The Sky non-premium
channels will work OK with the card in the wrong box, as will CH4 and CH5,
but the BBC channels and Sky premium channels won't work. If your box
fails, and is replaced, you need to ring and get the card transferred to
the new box.
How do I get these cards?.
To
get a 'Sky Card' you need to approach BSkyB, and for a 'BBC Card' you ring
the 'FTV Subscription Service' to order a card - these actually pass the
card request onto BSkyB, so it takes longer to arrive.
Why do I need a card for a 'free' service?.
Unlike
terrestrial broadcasting, satellite broadcasting can be received over a
much greater area, so the broadcasts have to encrypted for copyright
reasons. Broadcasting rights are bought for a particular area, in this
case the UK, and there are severe restrictions about permitting access
outside this area. This is one of the reasons why the BBC, CH4 and CH5
have opted for the Sky Digital platform, it offers much higher security
than most other systems at a much lower cost than all other forms of
broadcasting they use, and is UK specific. Although BSkyB rigorously pursue
any systems they know has been taken outside their permitted service area
(as they are required to do so!), the BBC are even more strict about it -
being a programme maker they wish to sell their programming abroad, and
broadcasting their output free to all of Europe would severely damage
their sales figures.
This
even applies inside the UK, with the BBC service being split into various
regions, you are only allowed a card for the region you live in - based on
your postcode. This is mostly done for copyright issues with football
matches, BBC Scotland (for example) only buy the rights to show the match
in Scotland, so it can only be viewed with a Scottish region card.
How much does it cost?.
This
depends quite a bit!. For a UK address you are allowed one 'free' box per
household, where if you subscribe to a full Sky package you pay £50 for
'installation', if you subscribe to a lesser Sky package you pay £70 for
'installation', or
if you don't subscribe to Sky you pay £100 for 'installation'. Whilst Sky
call these charges 'installation' it isn't really true, the installer only
gets paid £40 for any of the three options - Sky pocket the difference!.
In all cases you must agree
to keep the box connected to a UK phone line for the first 12 months. If
you don't want to have the phone connection (or don't have a phone line)
you can pay for the box instead, and again the price of this varies
depending on what you actually want!. There are two subsidies on the
'free' boxes, one from BIB and one from BSkyB, for a truly 'contract free'
box the dealer is required to repay both subsidies, this makes the price
around £369. A number of dealers are advertising boxes as 'contract free'
for substantially less than this, but it's certain they are not repaying
both (if any) of the subsidies.
New 2/1/2002 - BSkyB
have now dropped the 'free' boxes for FTV cards, if you don't subscribe to
Sky you pay £215 for the box, plus £100 installation, and a phone
connection is still required!.
One
important point - ALL BOXES COST EXACTLY THE SAME! - if a dealer
tries to charge you more for a particular box, YOU ARE BEING RIPPED
OFF!!
Second
hand boxes are available, you can often find them fairly cheap in the free
advertising magazines, but it's easily possible to get £200 for a second
hand (out of contract) box with a 'BBC' card (or expired Sky card, these
continue to work as an FTV card once you have cancelled the subscription).
Which foreign channels can I receive?.
Basically
none!. There are no non-UK channels on the Astra 2 series of satellites,
according to their representatives at presentations, SES consider 28.2
primarily a UK specific slot. However, if you point the dish elsewhere
(including the Astra 1 slot at 19.2E) there are a number of FTA (Free To
Air) channels you can receive, although the design of the receiver is such
that it's made difficult, and only has a limited range of settings
available.
I
think practically, if you want to watch the FTA foreign channels, you
would be far better getting a receiver designed for the job, and a
steerable dish to go with it.
Can I use it outside the UK?.
Not
officially! - the box is only supposed to be used inside the UK, and the
conditions with the card prohibit it's use outside the UK. However, the
coverage from Astra 28.2E covers the largest part of Europe, and many
boxes have been taken outside the UK and are working happily. If you do
want to take a box abroad, it's strongly! recommended that you take
a Grundig GRD310/2 or Panasonic TU-DSB30 (not a 31) box, with Sony as a
poorer choice (unless you can get hold of
an old Pace or Grundig box) - many of the later use a new
type of tuner (cheaper presumably?), and this has much less filtering.
Once you get too far south (particularly down as far as Southern Spain)
these boxes cease to work - the problem isn't signal strength, it's the
difference in signal strength between the North and South beams from the
satellite, the new tuners can't cope with the difference. If you check the
footprint maps on the Astra
Website, you'll soon see the problem. If in doubt, check with your
dealer, or you could try asking me?.
Extra facilities!.
The
Digibox includes a 'universal type' remote control, this allows the remote
control to also work your TV (at least the great majority of TV's), I've
included a page that gives full instructions on how to set the remote,
plus the full installer list of code numbers required - Remote
Control codes.
The
Digibox also includes a second RF output, this can be used to feed another
room, and has the additional feature of allowing an I/R 'magic eye' to be
fitted in the second room, which feeds remote control signals back down
the coaxial cable to control the Digibox. For this to work you must turn
the 9 volt power on using the service menu.
You
can also use the Digibox for sending and receiving E-Mail, with an E-Mail
address supplied by Talk21 from BT (a free ISP), but it is extremely limited,
you can only send one E-Mail at a time, and each one costs a phone call PLUS
1 PENCE!. If you've got a PC (or other decent home computer), it's a
lot more effective to use that. But if you don't have any other way to
send and receive E-Mail, it could be a useful service - a full ASCII
keyboard is available to make this easier.
How do I access the Service Menu?.
To
access the Service Menu you have to press a certain sequence of keys:
'Services'
'4'
'0', '1', 'Select'
This
brings up the Service Menu, with various options, including new
installation, setting the RF out channel, LNB options, and the 'magic eye'
power select.
What about the future?.
The
original series of Digiboxes didn't include a timer facility, they were
originally supposed to, and it has been promised as a software upgrade
since before the service started - eventually this has appeared, called a
'Personal Planner', and seems to work extremely well.
The next generation however will include a timer, plus an internal hard
drive to record programmes, or even time shift them by a small amount -
for example, you are watching a programme and the phone rings, you just
press a button on the handset and the picture freezes and the hard drive
starts recording - when you finish your phone call you sit back down,
press a button, and the programme continues from where it was, the hard
drive continually buffers the incoming data and displays it as you want to
watch it. It's strongly rumored (the boss of one of the distributors
claims to have been shown them at a Pace demonstration) that these boxes
will also allow reception of two channels at once, so you can watch one
channel and record another - whilst only requiring one subscription
card.
I've
now seen the press release from BSkyB, and all the above is true! - the
box from Pace will include a 40GB hard drive, allowing 40 hours of
recording time, it includes two tuners, allowing you to watch one channel
while you record the other - however, it records the encrypted signal, so
you require the card to be in the receiver to play the recordings back!.
They are 'supposed' to be available 1st quarter 2001, and the price will
be released then - so far they just describe it as 'an unsubsidised
premium product', which sounds like a long winded way of saying
'expensive!'. For a guess, I would suspect they will sell for between
£600 and £700, we can only wait and see. The box will use an extended
version of the current EPG, modified for use with two tuners and the
recording capability of the box. One nice feature is you can tell it to
record all episodes of a series, quite a nice touch - hopefully it uses
some system similar to PDC in case of late starts etc. The Pace PVR
(Personal Video Recorder) actually records the incoming digital data
stream, so picture quality should be exactly the same as the original
broadcast - unlike the TiVo (see below).
Well,
as usual, projected release dates come and go, the new Pace box is now due
Autumn 2001, and is apparently going to cost £399 - BUT!!! -
requires an extra £10 per month subscription, which rather spoils it!. It
seems likely that they will make this release date, they are already
running seminars for the ASA dealer network.
Well,
it's now September 2001, and the Pace Sky+ PVR has been released (but only
in very small numbers, so far we've had one - to use as a shop demo box).
I've had a play with it, it's absolutely superb, it's easy to work, and
the picture quality (as expected) is identical to the original programme.
It's rather a large unit, but hides the card under a flap at the front,
which is rather nice. It uses a different handset, basically a slightly
larger version of the old one, with extra keys for the recorder - also
it's not compatible with the old Sky handsets!!.
Before
the Integrated Personal Television Recorder is released, Sky are releasing
a TiVo box, which is just a recorder, and doesn't include a satellite
receiver, these will be available from a small number of selected stores
from mid-November - a few Dixon's and Curry's shops will have them, plus
the top 25 independent Sky retailers (the rest of the trade will have to
wait till January 2001). The cost of the TiVo box will be £399, and will
record analogue or digital, terrestrial, cable, or satellite signals
(presumably it just accepts a composite video or digital input), but for
full functionality requires a £10 monthly subscription to TiVo, or a one
off payment of £197. I've now found out what this is for, it's for the supply of
schedule information, I imagine similar to what BSkyB supplies free in the EPG.
According to people who have seen the TiVo in operation, it works quite well in
12 hour mode - but is totally useless in 40 hour mode, all the demonstrations only
show 12 hour mode. If you are interested in one, make sure you see one demonstrated
in 40 hour mode, preferably on some fast moving sport!
Amstrad
Digibox DRX100 instructions for download
- a PDF file of the instructions for the original Amstrad Digibox, as all
boxes are very similar it applies pretty well to all makes of boxes.
