Vintage TV testing ... (Aug 2010)

Vintage TV have started testing ready for the launch of the channel on Freesat and Sky.

According to the channel's website, Vintage TV will be ... "Introducing music television as never before seen: reviving the sights and sounds of yesterday and preserving the songs which will live forever."

You can watch the channel's test loop by programming the following parameters into your free to air, freesat or Sky box:


Frequency = 11223
Polarity = Vertical
Symbol Rate = 27500


The identity of the station is currently 53145 and will launch officially on Freesat and Sky next Wednesday, 1st September.

Sky fix broken digiboxes (May 2010)

[Update August 2010: the rogue software referred to below has now been fixed and re-sent to the Pace boxes so you can no longer remove it.]


It looks like the rogue software download that crippled some Sky digiboxes last month has been withdrawn. This means that affected boxes can revert back to a previous version of the software and stop switching themselves off for no good reason.

The affected Sky digibox is made by Pace and is model number DS430N. If you have one of these and it started switching off about a month ago, then follow this procedure:

First, check the the software version by going into Services, System SetUp and then System details. If the EPG software version is 3.8.8 , you need to force a software download. Unplug the box from the mains, hold down the BackUp button on the front of the box and then plug the mains lead back in holding down the button all the time. After 20 seconds or so, all four lights on the box will come on and you can take your finger off the button. If your television is on, there will be a message on the screen saying that your software is being updated.

After 10 minutes or so, the four lights will go out and the box returns to Standby mode. Just wait for a minute and switch the box back on and return to the System Details page. The software should have reverted back to 3.7.6 which was the version before the rogue software download.

A word of caution ... don't attempt to do a forced download if you have signal problems.

Sky Digiboxes switching off ...

Following a software download by Sky, some Sky digiboxes have started switching themselves off. The boxes affected appear to the Pace DS430N, that's the grey box with the red or green light on the left hand side.

The picture will momentarily freeze while the sound carries on and then the box switches off. When the box is switched on again, it starts up on the Sky Welcome channel.

There's nothing that anyone can do to fix this apart from Sky themselves in the form of another download.

ITV HD goes full time on Freesat (March 2010)

If you have a Freesat HD set top box, then you will know that ITV HD is a Red Button option on certain ITV programmes. That's all about to change because ITV1 HD launches its own dedicated channel on Freesat next month on the 2nd of April.
ITV1 HD will be on channel 119 and will be a simulcast of ITV1. In the evening, most programmes will be in native High Definition and during the daytime programmes will be 'upscaled'. This means that programmes will look better on a HD television via a Freesat HD set top box.