Thetownend.com

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Skybox-F5S-Freesat-PVR-TV-Satellite-Receiver-Sky-Box-/141152509960?pt=UK_Sound_Vision_Satellite_TV_Receivers&hash=item20dd586008

i understand you can get free sky, encrypted channels, 3pm football etc on them by updating them with a USB stick. anyone tried it?

I've seen these too and would be interested to know if they're any good.

From a 10 second look, it seems like you still need one of their subscriptions circa £70 per annum (cheap).

Is that correct?

Think sky are onto them according to this forum.

http://helpforum.sky.com/t5/Sky-Programming-Channels/Skybox-F3-F5-Free-sky-channels/td-p/1304647/page/3

That post looks like a "big brother MIGHT be watching you" post to stop people getting things cheaper than other people who have paid full price scaremongery.

Obviously they cannot condone what may be construed as illegal so they try to scare people away from it with threats of possible action.

Sky get enough money off people already so any loophole that may give as good a service for a fraction of the price is a good thing IMO.

Yes believe so.

That sky forum is funny, some grasses on there

What are they expecting, Murdoch to come round their house, pat them on the head and say 'Well done,have free sky for life'?

Either deal with the fact people are getting stuff cheaper than you in a dubiously legal manner or get one yourself. Fucking curtain-twitchers.

Some fucking sad bastards about. Like the kid who follows the teacher grassing on all the others.

As long as the seller provides the updates as promised it looks a winner. If anything they'll be the ones getting nicked for it. Not the small guy watching at home.

I just wonder what happens after the year or the seller stops the updates? Guess it just becomes a bog standard freesat box then.

Got to be worth it even for a year. 100 against 1000. win even if it bursts into flames on day 366. Looks like you're the guinea pig tans :)

Been wanting to fuck Sky off for ages, we could all throw a few quid in to help tans be the guinea pig and then if it's all good, we get to save a fucking fortune.

Sounds good to me. I accept both cash and card payments

Does anyone own anything like these?


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251414939241

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/XBMC-ANDROID-STREAM-BOX-MX2-IPTV-FREE-MOVIES-FREE-SPORT-LIVE-TV-BEST-INTERFACE/251358325821?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/XBMC-Android-TV-STREAM-BOX-Free-Jailbroken-Jailbreak-tv-2-Movies-Sports-Asian-xx-/251367932652?

Seem a safer bet than the skybox. Any info on these i'd welcome, IE ease of use,etc,etc.
What does jailbroken mean too? Some say they are jailbroken,does this mean they are better?

Means unlocked/hacked

I see. thought it was something along those lines.
The jailbroken boxes seem to offer the same things as the other ones, does it matter?

I've got one similar,  and yes they are very good. Got to have a decent BB package though, unlimited and ISP's are blocking some of the content as and when court orders apply. You can actually set it all up on a lappie or pc, it's not that difficult. If you need a linky to where I got mine from let me know, worked out at about £100, comes  pre configured

Watched The  Wolf of Wall Street this afternoon, good film and reasonable quality

Cheers. It was your help that put me onto these.

I have unlimited internet and speeds of 4.5mbs- ish
Obviously i'd go for one people recommend so link me the one you have please. Easy to use and set up?
Is jailbroken worthwhile?

You're basically just paying for the hardware arriba. Don't waste your money.

XBMC is free (http://xbmc.org/download/). Plugins for sport/film/TV streaming are available here (http://www.xbmchub.com/blog/).

Jailbroken really only applies to Apple TV boxes. The Android boxes are rooted, which means you have full access to the operating system. If you have an android phone you'll be used to the way they work.

Finding Sky streams on them can be very hit and miss, you'll find a lot that don't work, that said there is so much content doubt if you'll miss it

So I could have this on my pc? Any good? I'm clueless about it so an idiots guide please.


Is it worth getting the box or getting the xbmc on my pc?

Sam is of course right as I hinted at, however if you don't fancy connecting a laptop or pc to your TV and setting it up yourself then these tiny boxes are a godsend

Have a crack at it, start by downloading XBMC

Yes. XBMC is a piece of piss to install. The plugins are slightly more complex, but there's plenty of info available to help.

This will get you up and running quickly

http://www.xbmchub.com/blog/2013/10/06/embrace-the-new-xbmc-hub-wizard-addon-released-october-2013/

Cheers. I'll give it a try. Want it for 3pm football, bt sport, pay per view boxing etc. I aint in a hurry to ditch my sky subscription, just want to get this as an add on really.
Thank you gentlemen.

As I said Sky is a bit hit and miss, and the quality isn't that brilliant as it's streamed from the net, but believe me you could quite easily cancel any movie subs that you have. Can't believe more people aren't doing it tbh

Ive downloaded it and set up using the hub wizard link.
Alot of the stuff i click on doesn't work and i can't see any links to live sport or live tv. Any tips? Is my pc more susceptible to viruses now too?

Mash Up is a good place to start. No its not more susceptible to viruses

Cheers fella.

After playing with it for a while now i can say i think it's ace.
Not all links work but plenty do and if an idiot like me can work it,it must be good.
I think I will get a box as my pc is across the room from the tv(the hd movies are superb quality) Let me know which one you have chunky. thanks again to you and Sam.

Another question though if i may. Do i need to do anything to keep it working well on my pc, IE updates, etc ?

There are new releases of XBMC and plugins from time to time. They don't automatically update, so you'll need to do it manually. Generally you'll only need to update plugins if the old ones stop working.

If you are going to get a dedicated box, the all-in-one Android based ones run slightly differently to how you installed it on Windows so it may not be so straightforwards to load plugins etc.

The alternative would be to either buy a second hand PC to use as a media centre, or better yet build a dedicated machine that can handle all your media needs (music, film, TV, DVD, BluRay etc).

Bumped fittons coaching badge. Click on the link on samdys post in page 2 for starters.