Getting European channels from a Sky HD receiver

[chaotica]

Does anyone know how to add free european channels to the existing Sky+ lineup? or if thats not possible what is required to be able to receive them eg German and Austrian free to air channels? Thanks in advance.

[Schutzengel]

To start with you will need to have an Astra Satellite dish, and then buy an additional small box, "Innovative" Digital Satellite Receiver. You might have to try a few aerial installer firms before you find one that can supply the "Innovative" box. We were fortunate that we hadn't had our Astra dish removed in 2000 when we changed to Sky, so we only had to buy the small box, which cost �126 in 2007. It works really well for Austrian, Swiss, and German channels, and you can even get Real Madrid's own channel. Good Luck. I hope you can find a supplier. PS. The installer will reset the box to the Astra Satellite.

[LCDMAN]

If you already have Sky+ then you are pointing at 28.2 degrees East so can only get signals from any co-located satellites at this location (other than Astra 2A-D, the only one is Eurobird1) provided you manually enter the frequency etc. in the "manual tuning" menu on your Sky box. With a fixed dish installation like Sky you are limited to this satellite "cluster" though.

You can find details of all the channels available at 28.2E here;

http://www.lyngsat.com/28east.html

There isn't much there that isn't English I'm afraid. If you get a multi LNB or motorised set-up you could look at other satellites listed on www.lyngsat.com, but with Sky equipment you will only access digital signals not any of the analog ones

The old Astra 1F-L analog "cluster " at 19.2E has loads of stuff on, some of it free to air (unencrypted) but some is encrypted still. You won't get these signals with a Sky or Sky+ box though but would need a more sophisticated receiver capable of receiving both analog and digital signals and dealing with different video decryption standards.

http://www.lyngsat.com/astra19.html