Wednesday, 13 February 2013
Tuesday, 12 February 2013
Saturday, 9 February 2013
Thursday, 7 February 2013
Ways to connect your Sky Set top box to your Sky Router
With the additional on demand content ramping up recently on Sky it's worth while making sure your set-up is correct to get the most out of your service!
Your Sky Set top box (STB) generally has a fair few connections coming out of the back.
The green Ethernet one is the one we're interested in for on demand content coming in via broadband. First of all make sure the telephone connector / cable hasn't been shoved in this socket by accident. (I've seen this done before!) If so put it in the right socket which is the orange telephone line one. To my understanding that's important also for pin services like renting a movie on box office.
If you have nothing in the green Ethernet port then we are going to need something in there connecting back to the router to get our broadband across to the unit.
There are a number of ways to do this:
The best in my opinion is to run a Ethernet (CAT5e or CAT6) to between the two units. This can be upto about 95m-100m !!!
Another way is to get a wireless adapter for the STB and link the units wirelessly. These can be bought direct from Sky:
http://www.sky.com/products/kit/wireless-connector/index.html
I only recommend these where there isn't too much in the way off the router and the STB. A good test it to use a wireless device like a laptop / iPad where the STB is and run something like BBC iPlayer to test. If the distance is too far or there are too many think walls / too much noise from other wireless devices, then this may not be the best option for you.
For further info regarding the wireless connector: PDF
The last option is to use your electricity sockets in the home as a network to get a cabled link back to the router. For this you will need adapters in power sockets by the Sky router an STB. These can be had for around £30 and I have linked to some in the Amazon widget at the bottom of this page. See this wiki-page for a better description of the technology.
On a completely unrelated note. If you want 5.1 Surround sound from your STB remember use a optical sound cable as Sky still don't send the surround sound down the HDMI which is disappointing!
Update: You can now get STB's with built in wifi and also as mentioned in the comments, Surround sound now can go via the HDMI. http://www.sky.com/shop/tv/sky-plus-hd-box/
If you found this article useful, please: like /share / tweet /+1
Your Sky Set top box (STB) generally has a fair few connections coming out of the back.
The green Ethernet one is the one we're interested in for on demand content coming in via broadband. First of all make sure the telephone connector / cable hasn't been shoved in this socket by accident. (I've seen this done before!) If so put it in the right socket which is the orange telephone line one. To my understanding that's important also for pin services like renting a movie on box office.
If you have nothing in the green Ethernet port then we are going to need something in there connecting back to the router to get our broadband across to the unit.
There are a number of ways to do this:
The best in my opinion is to run a Ethernet (CAT5e or CAT6) to between the two units. This can be upto about 95m-100m !!!
Another way is to get a wireless adapter for the STB and link the units wirelessly. These can be bought direct from Sky:
http://www.sky.com/products/kit/wireless-connector/index.html
I only recommend these where there isn't too much in the way off the router and the STB. A good test it to use a wireless device like a laptop / iPad where the STB is and run something like BBC iPlayer to test. If the distance is too far or there are too many think walls / too much noise from other wireless devices, then this may not be the best option for you.
For further info regarding the wireless connector: PDF
The last option is to use your electricity sockets in the home as a network to get a cabled link back to the router. For this you will need adapters in power sockets by the Sky router an STB. These can be had for around £30 and I have linked to some in the Amazon widget at the bottom of this page. See this wiki-page for a better description of the technology.
On a completely unrelated note. If you want 5.1 Surround sound from your STB remember use a optical sound cable as Sky still don't send the surround sound down the HDMI which is disappointing!
Update: You can now get STB's with built in wifi and also as mentioned in the comments, Surround sound now can go via the HDMI. http://www.sky.com/shop/tv/sky-plus-hd-box/
If you found this article useful, please: like /share / tweet /
Wednesday, 6 February 2013
Ofcom Broadband services data
Hopefully we're due Nov 12's data shortly.
http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/market-data-research/market-data/broadband-services-data/
http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/market-data-research/market-data/broadband-services-data/
TalkTalk returns to growth.
A small growth but with all the past issues (buying Tiscali and merging them into the fold) it's a positive sign for them.
http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2013/02/uk-isp-talktalk-returns-to-growth-with-4-053m-broadband-subscribers.html
http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2013/02/uk-isp-talktalk-returns-to-growth-with-4-053m-broadband-subscribers.html
Liberty who? Virgin Media just got bought!
Liberty Global will acquire Virgin Media to create a cable giant. Sounds like a nice investment injection for Virgin as OpenReach start to rival products that are competitive for their providers (FTTC / FTTP) against Virgin (DOCSIS 3.0) in terms of speeds.
From the Inquirer:
US CABLE TV COMPANY Liberty Global has picked up Virgin Media for around £14bn.
Combining the two firms is subject to shareholder approval and will build a powerhouse firm with 25 million customers in 14 countries, Liberty claims.
The Inquirer (http://s.tt/1zrhw)
From the Inquirer:
US CABLE TV COMPANY Liberty Global has picked up Virgin Media for around £14bn.
Combining the two firms is subject to shareholder approval and will build a powerhouse firm with 25 million customers in 14 countries, Liberty claims.
The Inquirer (http://s.tt/1zrhw)Monday, 4 February 2013
Friday, 1 February 2013
Sky's broadband share growing!
Good to see. There is also an increase in customers taking stand alone phone and broadband which shows strength in the product on its own.
http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2013/01/bskyb-sky-broadband-tops-4-23-million-uk-isp-subscribers.html
http://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/5694-sky-starting-to-challenge-virgin-media-as-second-largest-provider.html
http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2013/01/bskyb-sky-broadband-tops-4-23-million-uk-isp-subscribers.html
http://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/5694-sky-starting-to-challenge-virgin-media-as-second-largest-provider.html
Awwww MinDisc format goes off to die quietly..
I LOVED the miniDisc format.
It was small. Had decent audio quality and had a protective casing. Everything I wanted.
I never felt like Sony pushed the media enough. Being the empire that they were at the time. They could have killed off the CD if they were daring enough.
It has slight comparisons with Blu-ray in some respects. Obviously Sony has had better luck here with market penetration as their PlayStation 3's come with built in. They were very slow with movie industry support like they were with MiniDisc with the music industry.
Who remembers SACD ? Again, failed by their developers (although Phillips were part to blame there) even though its a much superior format to current CD's. Even worse so is Hybrid SACD which has a level of backwards compatibility with conventional CD players.
http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/01/sony-says-sayonara-to-minidisc-will-sell-its-last-players-in-ma/
It was small. Had decent audio quality and had a protective casing. Everything I wanted.
I never felt like Sony pushed the media enough. Being the empire that they were at the time. They could have killed off the CD if they were daring enough.
It has slight comparisons with Blu-ray in some respects. Obviously Sony has had better luck here with market penetration as their PlayStation 3's come with built in. They were very slow with movie industry support like they were with MiniDisc with the music industry.
Who remembers SACD ? Again, failed by their developers (although Phillips were part to blame there) even though its a much superior format to current CD's. Even worse so is Hybrid SACD which has a level of backwards compatibility with conventional CD players.
http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/01/sony-says-sayonara-to-minidisc-will-sell-its-last-players-in-ma/
First Xbox live browser game with achievements
It's Wordament, which seems to be being thrown onto any platform Microsoft catches sight of. Probably BB OS10 and Android next...
http://www.wpcentral.com/wordament-first-browser-game-xbox-achievements
http://www.wpcentral.com/wordament-first-browser-game-xbox-achievements
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