Ntl cable box as freeview only
 

hi there,

i have just aquired an old ntl cable box (pace DITV - 1000). The guy who gave it to me said he was pretty sure that it could be used as a freeview box.

i connected it to the ariel cable, but it says that no channels can be found. i have a cable socket in the wall but i have never used it before. it might work but i don't have a "cable" cable.

i would like to know if what i am doing is a waste of time. can i get freeview channels with this box without subscribing to ntl?


thanks

tim:confused:

Re: Ntl cable box as freeview only
 

short answer use it as a door stop.

Re: Ntl cable box as freeview only
 

As unlimited has said, to get something of ntl you need to pay for it, EG subscribe to there select pack for £5.50 PCM (plus telephone line @£11)

Re: Ntl cable box as freeview only
 

Nahhhh sell it on ebay, some fool will pay you £30+ for it! :rofl:

Re: Ntl cable box as freeview only
 

:welcome: to the forum.

Unless you are willing to pay a subscription, you won't get anything from the NTL box, I am afraid.

The best way to get freeview (assuming you are in a good reception area) is to go down to your local electrical shop and buy a freeview box (you can get them from about £20 up now).

Re: Ntl cable box as freeview only
 

Or chuck a brick at it :D

Re: Ntl cable box as freeview only
 

If you want DTT (marketing name freeview) you will need a receive like one of these in argos http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Browse...ip%3D36797.htm then a aerial on a dtt transmitter, the pace receive you have is for a cable network and belongs to ntl if you install it in you house on a cable like that cable receiver can be tracked back to you house via the mac address in it,

Re: Ntl cable box as freeview only
 

no the mac is reference to the stb(its deliverable address), they cannot pin point the stb via mac to a addy or house number but they can see what headend its on, also crazytim77, there is a sticker under the stb, THEFT OF SERVICE IS A CRIME, give the stb back to your mate and let him give it back to ntl/telly west cos if he used that stb to subscribe to the service and he dont have it he will be billed for the replacement if they come to collect it. if you want freeview then do as others have mentioned, go to asda/tesco and pick one up cheep :)

Re: Ntl cable box as freeview only
 

if anyones got a few networked pc's and wants to get into DVB DTT then id advise them to look into getting a cheap DVB-T USB card with a BDA driver, a copy of JTVLAN add-on and WebScheduler
http://forums.dvbowners.com/index.ph...per\.conf+file
set it up for multicasting and watch the CD+ quality .ts streams on any PC or TV attached machines with VLC pointing to 224.0.0.1:7777

shame the same cant be done with the NTL STB's as they dont have AV streaming server software built in.

funny thing is, you could do that on your PC if you buy a DVB-C PCi card with cam and were able to use your NTL SmartCard in that slot, shame NTL dont sell these options or even offer them as an extra rental option, then you could make your own cable based (TW/HDTV-ntl/SDTV)DVB AV server without hopeing that one day NTL might put that now basic want/wish on one of their rented STB's in the future that never arrives.

on the point about
"the pace receive you have is for a cable network and belongs to ntl "
"give the stb back to your mate and let him give it back to ntl/telly " both assume that NTL/TW did not already bill the original guy, and hence its his property to do with as he wishes.

"if he used that stb to subscribe to the service and he dont have it he will be billed for the replacement if they come to collect it." made me laugh now (long time past, but never fully cleared up and refunded me), as they once took back my box after i canceled the account (receate included), and still charged my account for the price of a replacement box to the tune of £300.

the thing is, NTL dont care about these boxs, and infact, assuming this is a billed for box in perfect working order,if the lad were to ring up NTL and ask them to re-activate it on the basic minimum package they would not allow it..........

now thats a wast of perfectly good kit, and one more non-subscriber, probably justifyed by the fact that they couldnt charge the £15.00 STB rental per month for this now end-user owned box.

Re: Ntl cable box as freeview only
 

Not entirely true, ntl can track a stb down to the cab at the bottom of you street then all it takes is a couple of lads disconnecting each cable in there until the stb they are looking for drops of the software and bob's your uncle and you have the address of the said stb, yes its labour intensive but if ntl really want to they can find you.

Re: Ntl cable box as freeview only
 

Why would Ntl want to find you, if they get the box back they have to pay to dump it!

If you connect it to the network you'll get channels 1-5 with no subscription - pretty much what you can get from your aerial on the roof. :)

Re: Ntl cable box as freeview only
 

Erm - why is this chat permitted about taking NTL services without paying for them? I pay for the services - others should do too.

Re: Ntl cable box as freeview only
 

hmm, so were in any of this thread, is anyone saying they want to get NTL PAYG services without paying for them?.

making invalid assumptions are you!.

the guy was asking about the perfectly valid 'free to air' channels nothing more, and AFAIK NTL are required by UK law to provide these channels to any UK resident able to receave them with a working DVB-C box/card.

Re: Ntl cable box as freeview only
 

I would like to see this law that is always rolled out everytime this discussion airs.

The fact is you should have the STB collected if you have disconnected the service. If you have got the STB through other means you are not supposed to use it on the NTL system if you are not paying for a subscription.

The channels are not free to air, that is on the Terrestrial side not on cable. NTL do not provide "freeview or free to air", they have by-pass units fitted on STB's to enable customers to record the channels 1-5 whilst watching cable, this was seen as an added extra, something that Sky boxes didn't provide unless you had your roof ariel plugged into the Sky box. Unfortunately people, see that this is provided as freeview or by law, whatever!

It isn't either.

Yes NTL do care about these STB's as well,(i know before it is said) they are making more of an effort to retrieve the STB's as it costs money to replace the ones that havent been collected. No they don't dump them either they are reused.

Re: Ntl cable box as freeview only
 

If you really knew your stuff you'd know it was the subscribers responsability to return it!

Stop talking out of you ass.

If you stop subscribing from Sky your viewing card reverts to a FTA/FTV card.

If you stop subscribing from Ntl your STB still recieves the channels 1-5

If Ntl want the STBs then they'd collect them, if people continue to use them when the subs are canceled then that's Ntls look out.

They have to pay to dump them, like the modems, it costs them more than the items are worth. :erm:

Why would they bother sending a man (paid £7+ an hour) to collect a piece of junk worth a fiver that will cost them twice than that to dump.:rolleyes:

Treat it like Ondigital STBs if you've always had it connected to that Ntl ouput - it'll give you 1-5 in digital as would your ariel with a Freeview STB - nothing more nothing less.

---------- Post added at 02:14 ---------- Previous post was at 01:54 ----------

99.99% of people with a Ntl STB pay for their TVL, why shouldn't they get their channels over cable -they could over satellite, DTV, analogue TTV.

Edit - Sorry to the team, but people that just take pot shots at things they know nothing about just p*** me off. :(

Re: Ntl cable box as freeview only
 

I take exception to the comments made above.
The monthly price you pay to NTL includes the rental of the STB. It doesn't belong to you, when the contract ends, it has to be returned. So to use NTL services, you need to have paid for a STB.
If you want digital services, get a Freeview box, or complain to your MP as the government are forcing through the digital switch

Re: Ntl cable box as freeview only
 

I really wish they'd stop reuseing the same old pace boxes and invest in some nice new ones. Can't complain about the stablity to much i spose it doesn't crash that often But the thing is so slow and unresponsive

the number of times ive keyed in a channel number only to have it miss one of the digits or you press chan up a few times then have to wait for the stb to play catch up.

Re: Ntl cable box as freeview only
 

---------- Post added at 02:14 ---------- Previous post was at 01:54 ----------





Can you explain what exactly i don't know about? Shaun

All you have done it said what i have said but put a slighlty childish angle to it. I have explained the facts as from NTL's side, not how you see it.

If you knew what you were taliking about, you would know that contractors are employed to collect the STB's as i have already stated that these are then cleaned and screened then sent back out into new installations, to throw away an STB worth around £200.00 every time wouldn't be sensible would it!

Also as i have already stated the channels that you get that are commonly thought as freeview, i will say again for your benefit Shaun that they aren't, they are part of the subcription you pay, fact.

All i will say about you Shaun is that you obviously need to get some facts correct before you go Flaming people, if you disagree with my comments, fair enough but at least put your side in a sensible manner.

Re: Ntl cable box as freeview only
 

True FTA /terrestrial channels arent broadcast on the same frequencies as analogue channels are by NTL?
Just something to consider.:confused: and therefor in my oppinion are different things.

Re: Ntl cable box as freeview only
 

I have tried taking the viewing card out of my Samsung STB and i can still get BBC1, BBC2, ITV1 & CH4

Re: Ntl cable box as freeview only
 

I dumped NTL months ago, but i still get ALL Free BBC channels and a few other free to air channels, i'm not stealing anything because i havnt touched the equipment in any way.
If they want it they can come and get it, but as regards the op of this thread, the box itself will be classed as stolen sorry.

Re: Ntl cable box as freeview only
 

not when its already been billed and payed for, when they bill you and take the cash, will you still consider using your (by then) property as stealing !.

Re: Ntl cable box as freeview only
 

Do you mean that the STB will somehow become yours when you are paying your subscription?, or if you have disconnected the service the STB is yours?

Re: Ntl cable box as freeview only
 

You NEVER own an NTL box, its rented :confused:

---------- Post added at 21:03 ---------- Previous post was at 20:59 ----------

And i'm not stealing, when they come and take the equipment its game over, until then the contract HAS been terminated.

Ps. is it pc silly season

Re: Ntl cable box as freeview only
 

which part of 'billing and payed for' dont you get?,
when you say " You NEVER own an NTL box, its rented" that is only true up to the point were your acount is deducted, then it becomes YOUR property, do you disagree with that ?.

they HAVE, and DO bill and take the cash every day in many cases, fact.

Re: Ntl cable box as freeview only
 

I'll leave this alone, i dont feed trolls :rolleyes:

Re: Ntl cable box as freeview only
 

neather, as has happend time and time again, people like
marky "dumped NTL months ago", NTL never collect the STB, so you would perhaps ring them and arrange collection, now rather than the man in the van coming to your door and picking up the STB and giving you a receipt for that box (as your only proof of return to ntl posession), some smart accounting department worker/computer system, decides it would be a good thing to send the bill for the cost of the STB/modem/whatever to your account and its automaticly deducted (unless your made aware of that fact first and stop it), then ntl have initiated a sale by default.

---------- Post added at 21:51 ---------- Previous post was at 21:40 ----------

interesting that you try and imply im a troll, when you try and deny the facts and defend NTL accounting, i know its fact, it happened to me, and in my case they even billed me after i got the receipt and it was returned (still hasn't been resolved).

Re: Ntl cable box as freeview only
 

All I will say is that the ntl boxes are rented as per terms of conditions and any use outside of the t and c is a breach of contract. Im aware NTL should have collected the boxes upon disconnection. But that does not give anyone the right to sell them or use them outside of contract. A call to Customer Services is needed so that someone can pick up the box. End of. All other arguments outside of this remit are pointless. NTL provides arial feeds in most areas to those who need it, they do not provide dtv pace boxes to fulfill this function.

As I said, thats my own personal view and I will now leave this thread.

Re: Ntl cable box as freeview only
 

Sorry if this has already been said, but if you had subscribed to ntl and then cancelled said subscription after the 12 months, (I know you weren't a subscriber) surely you would be able to receive the free to view?
I cancelled Sky the other week and have moved the box to my bedroom, I can still pick up frre to view.

Re: Ntl cable box as freeview only
 

No, when you cancel, your box will not recieve any digital channels. If you want Freeview, go to your local store and buy a freeview one.

Re: Ntl cable box as freeview only
 

Your mixing Sky and NTL, sorry but these are different companies with different equipment and different ideas.

You can buy a Sky box for £150.00 and yes you can get freeview with them and i think they guaratee the viewing card for 5 years. With NTL when you terminate the contract the STB should be collected and the service is disconnected. Unlike what other people would like to think that is it. There is no freeview with NTL, regardless of what you would believe it to be.