Hi

We've a problem with our Sky HD box (it's about 3.5 years old).

Certain channels are starting to pixellate - others are OK and appear
unaffected, but C4HD (140) is virtually unwatchable, C4 and Sky 2 have
intermittent problems and I'm concerned that the situation only appears to
be getting worse. Signal strength, even on the effected channels is showing
as good.

I know Sky will organise a repair visit for £65, which covers anything
needed up to and including replacement of the box with a refurbished HD box
(I understand this would only have a 3 month warranty, which is a slight
concern).

Alternatively I understand Sky currently have an offer where we could
upgrade to a 1TB HD box for £49. Would this include anything else if that
was required (dish alignment, new LNB or cabling, for example), and would we
then be obliged to sign up for the HD pack at £10.25 a month for 12 months?
As we don't have the HD pack at the moment, that would effectively increase
the cost of the box to £170+.

The other option is to bin Sky off altogether and get a Freesat HD recorder
box as 90% of what we watch is on FTA/FTV anyway (Argos currently have a
Bush model at £159 on offer), although if the problem is dish alignment or
the LNB (for example) I appreciate that I'd be back to square one.

Can anyone offer any advice?

Thanks

Dave

On Sat, 18 Jun 2011 20:48:58 +0100, "Dave X" wrote:
Certain channels are starting to pixellate - others are OK and appear
unaffected, but C4HD (140) is virtually unwatchable, C4 and Sky 2 have
intermittent problems and I'm concerned that the situation only appears to
be getting worse. Signal strength, even on the effected channels is showing
as good.

Sounds exactly like the dreaded Thompson Capacitor problem. I've had
this a few times now, and each time the only fix was a replacement
box.

Of course it COULD be just a dish alignment problem, LNB problem, or
cabling problem. But if you get good quality channels on some
channels, but breakup or no signal on others, and this has slowly got
worse over weeks to months, and you have a Thompson box, and it's more
than 2 years old, then if I was a betting man I would say it's the
capacitor problem.

I know Sky will organise a repair visit for £65, which covers anything
needed up to and including replacement of the box with a refurbished HD box
(I understand this would only have a 3 month warranty, which is a slight
concern).

The 3 month warranty covers your entire setup for 3 months (dish,
cabling, box), and any callout charges. So it's not that bad
considering it's only £65.

Alternatively I understand Sky currently have an offer where we could
upgrade to a 1TB HD box for £49. Would this include anything else if that
was required (dish alignment, new LNB or cabling, for example), and would we
then be obliged to sign up for the HD pack at £10.25 a month for 12 months?
As we don't have the HD pack at the moment, that would effectively increase
the cost of the box to £170+.

I told Sky I couldn't afford the £65 callout fee - I was very polite
(I find this works better if you want something from people), and as
this has happened to me a number of times in the past that I was a bit
fed up of having to pay it every 2 years. The £49 1TB box offer came
up, but unfortunately I was an existing customer on that package, so
wasn't eligible. So I suggested passing me through to cancellations. I
politely explained the same stuff to them, and they offered to cancel
my HD package, then put me straight back onto it (which tricked the
system into thinking I was a new customer on the HD package) which
hence made me eligible for the £49 offer, which I accepted. Things
have been perfect since then. The new box is FAR more reliable. Where
my old Thompson box (even when it was working) would crash maybe once
a week when fast forwarding adverts, this hasn't had a single problem
yet. Also it is MUCH faster when navigating the menus etc. Well worth
it.

The £49 actually costs £64, because you have to pay £15 for
"self-install", which means the courier fee. Obviously you would get a
1 year warranty on the new box, BUT, I don't know if that would also
cover your other equipment (dish, etc). You'd have to ask Sky. I know
it does NOT cover dish alignment, etc, initially, because the box is
just couriered to you. There is no engineer sent out to fix anything.
Best ask them if you get a new 1TB box and you find you have problems
with your dish if it'll be covered.

Unless you convince them to let you have it for the one off fee like I
did, you would be stuck with the HD pack for 1 year, yes. HD is really
nice though - do you not find yourself wanting HD channels anyway? I
hate watching stuff in SD now - I really notice it.

If it were me, £49 + £15 for the 1TB box is absolutely worth it.
£10.25 a month for the HD channels is absolutely worth it. But that's
just me. It depends what channels you watch and how many of them are
available in HD.

The other option is to bin Sky off altogether and get a Freesat HD recorder
box as 90% of what we watch is on FTA/FTV anyway (Argos currently have a
Bush model at £159 on offer), although if the problem is dish alignment or
the LNB (for example) I appreciate that I'd be back to square one.

I looked into this too. You can even use the same dish and LNB. It
depends on what channels you want to watch as to whether it's an
option for you. Remember many popular channels, like Sky1, are NOT FTA
or FTV, so make sure you're not losing any of your favorite channels.
For me I'd have lost most of the channels I regularly watch, so this
turned out to not be an option.

Another option is simple terrestrial digital TV with a built in hard
drive recorder. You get about the same picture quality as SD. I
believe there are some HD channels now. The channel lineup is similar
to FTA + FTV from satellite. This would be cheaper still.

One way to be sure if it's the dish or the box, is to borrow a
friend's box and connect it briefly. If the same channels have the
same problems then it's not the box. If the channels you have problems
with are fine then it is the box.

--
Vincent

"Vincent" wrote in message
...

On Sat, 18 Jun 2011 20:48:58 +0100, "Dave X" wrote:
Certain channels are starting to pixellate - others are OK and appear
unaffected, but C4HD (140) is virtually unwatchable, C4 and Sky 2 have
intermittent problems and I'm concerned that the situation only appears to
be getting worse. Signal strength, even on the effected channels is showing
as good.

Sounds exactly like the dreaded Thompson Capacitor problem. I've had
this a few times now, and each time the only fix was a replacement
box.

Of course it COULD be just a dish alignment problem, LNB problem, or
cabling problem. But if you get good quality channels on some
channels, but breakup or no signal on others, and this has slowly got
worse over weeks to months, and you have a Thompson box, and it's more
than 2 years old, then if I was a betting man I would say it's the
capacitor problem.

I know Sky will organise a repair visit for £65, which covers anything
needed up to and including replacement of the box with a refurbished HD box
(I understand this would only have a 3 month warranty, which is a slight
concern).

The 3 month warranty covers your entire setup for 3 months (dish,
cabling, box), and any callout charges. So it's not that bad
considering it's only £65.

Alternatively I understand Sky currently have an offer where we could
upgrade to a 1TB HD box for £49. Would this include anything else if that
was required (dish alignment, new LNB or cabling, for example), and would
we
then be obliged to sign up for the HD pack at £10.25 a month for 12 months?
As we don't have the HD pack at the moment, that would effectively increase
the cost of the box to £170+.

I told Sky I couldn't afford the £65 callout fee - I was very polite
(I find this works better if you want something from people), and as
this has happened to me a number of times in the past that I was a bit
fed up of having to pay it every 2 years. The £49 1TB box offer came
up, but unfortunately I was an existing customer on that package, so
wasn't eligible. So I suggested passing me through to cancellations. I
politely explained the same stuff to them, and they offered to cancel
my HD package, then put me straight back onto it (which tricked the
system into thinking I was a new customer on the HD package) which
hence made me eligible for the £49 offer, which I accepted. Things
have been perfect since then. The new box is FAR more reliable. Where
my old Thompson box (even when it was working) would crash maybe once
a week when fast forwarding adverts, this hasn't had a single problem
yet. Also it is MUCH faster when navigating the menus etc. Well worth
it.

The £49 actually costs £64, because you have to pay £15 for
"self-install", which means the courier fee. Obviously you would get a
1 year warranty on the new box, BUT, I don't know if that would also
cover your other equipment (dish, etc). You'd have to ask Sky. I know
it does NOT cover dish alignment, etc, initially, because the box is
just couriered to you. There is no engineer sent out to fix anything.
Best ask them if you get a new 1TB box and you find you have problems
with your dish if it'll be covered.

Unless you convince them to let you have it for the one off fee like I
did, you would be stuck with the HD pack for 1 year, yes. HD is really
nice though - do you not find yourself wanting HD channels anyway? I
hate watching stuff in SD now - I really notice it.

If it were me, £49 + £15 for the 1TB box is absolutely worth it.
£10.25 a month for the HD channels is absolutely worth it. But that's
just me. It depends what channels you watch and how many of them are
available in HD.

The other option is to bin Sky off altogether and get a Freesat HD recorder
box as 90% of what we watch is on FTA/FTV anyway (Argos currently have a
Bush model at £159 on offer), although if the problem is dish alignment or
the LNB (for example) I appreciate that I'd be back to square one.

I looked into this too. You can even use the same dish and LNB. It
depends on what channels you want to watch as to whether it's an
option for you. Remember many popular channels, like Sky1, are NOT FTA
or FTV, so make sure you're not losing any of your favorite channels.
For me I'd have lost most of the channels I regularly watch, so this
turned out to not be an option.

Another option is simple terrestrial digital TV with a built in hard
drive recorder. You get about the same picture quality as SD. I
believe there are some HD channels now. The channel lineup is similar
to FTA + FTV from satellite. This would be cheaper still.

One way to be sure if it's the dish or the box, is to borrow a
friend's box and connect it briefly. If the same channels have the
same problems then it's not the box. If the channels you have problems
with are fine then it is the box.

--
Vincent

Thanks for the advice.

Dave

Dave X wrote:
: Sounds exactly like the dreaded Thompson Capacitor problem. I've had
: this a few times now, and each time the only fix was a replacement
: box.

: Alternatively I understand Sky currently have an offer where we could
: upgrade to a 1TB HD box for £49. Would this include anything else if that
: was required (dish alignment, new LNB or cabling, for example), and would
:

Sky seem to want RID of the Thomsons. They phoned ME a few weeks ago to
offer a free swap of my Thomson for a brand-new DRX890 (the 500Gb version).
There was NO change in my contract for any of this!

Mike Henry wrote:
: But what brand is the brand-new box? Not Amstrad I hope?

Only Amstrads are supplied currently!!! Either the 890 (250Gb user space) or
895 (1Tb). HOWEVER, as Sky own Amstrad, all the branding (even on the
circuit boards) is "Sky".

Despite the sneering I think my DRX890 is an excellent STB. Lots faster than
the Thomson and I have even bought it a 2Tb HDD!