Digibox

The first Digiboxes shipped to consumers in October 1998 when Sky Digital was launched, and the hardware reference design has been relatively unchanged since then.

A PC type interface was fitted internally to some early standard boxes but was never utilised by Sky.

The tvLINK has an IR detector and sends commands from the remote control back to the Digibox on a 6 MHz carrier on the RF cable.

However, their use as a DVB-S receiver for anything other than Sky services is seriously limited by their reduced choice of symbol rates (22,000 and 27,500; additionally 28,250 and 29,000 on Sky+ HD), and their inability to store more than 50 (fewer still on some models) non-EPG channels without losing them.

Although the reference designs were identical, a number of digibox lines have specific faults or traits, such as failing modems on Grundig units, and unstable tuners on older model Pace boxes.

Digiboxes for new customers are assigned randomly, and cannot be chosen, creating an after market for specific boxes due to their individual features.

[citation needed] In late 2005, it was announced that all future Digiboxes would have a standardized cosmetic design, although retain the three current makers, and have a slightly redesigned remote control, which would be recoloured white with some blue keys.

All have dual LNB inputs and an optical digital audio output, as well as all other features of the Sky box.

(this unit has been discontinued) A third generation of Digibox also exists, with the additional ability to receive DVB-S2 HDTV signals in the MPEG-4 format.

The initial sole manufacturer of these Sky+ HD boxes was Thomson, and made their debut on 22 May 2006 with the launch of HDTV channels on Sky.

The Sky HD box is not a personal video recorder, meaning it has no hard disk and cannot support the Sky+ functionality.

Once this step has been completed it is no longer possible to view premium channels such as Movies or Sports on any other box besides that which the card was paired with.

A card can be 're-paired' in some instances such as STB replacement or multiroom relocation, however this must be initiated by Sky and cannot be completed by an end-user.

[6] Sky+ boxes are believed to reduce their power consumption more significantly in standby because they can spin down hard disks.