What are the similarities and differences between the boxes in these countries and with the upcoming merger are we likely to see all 3 have the same box?
That would be subscribers that didn't upgrade their old Premiere boxes when Sky Deutschland took over and are probably cable subscribers. Satellite subscribers should all have decent Pace boxes (as in a much better spec than the current DRX89x) running MediaHighway.
I'm sure most of their DTT channels are also on satellite as ours are, but perhaps not all of them.
They have a lot of very local channels in Italy IIRC.
That would be subscribers that didn't upgrade their old Premiere boxes when Sky Deutschland took over and are probably cable subscribers. Satellite subscribers should all have decent Pace boxes (as in a much better spec than the current DRX89x) running MediaHighway.
Apparently our DRX89x are much better than their Pace boxes
Apparently our DRX89x are much better than their Pace boxes
Very true. Neither the Pace or Humax Sky Deutschland boxes are a patch hardware wise on the BSkyB DRX89x boxes. It should be noted that the Pace and Humax boxes both come in Satellite and Cable versions on Sky Deutchland. Pace boxes can have either an external or internal HDD, while the Humax only supports external hard drives. This means the boxes work as basic digiboxes or as PVRs dependent on disk connection, which is via a bespoke cable limiting you to use their own external disks (largest of which is 2TB).
Sky Italias older kit was based on similar hardware to Sky Deutschland without the cable/external HDD variants, but with as others have pointed out a DTT tuner.
All three operators use Cisco (ex NDS) Videoguard and set top box software. Sky Italia shares many similarities in look and feel and operating with BSkyB, but the Sky Deutschland one is very different.
They will probably use a different software in DE and IT.
I can't imagine they would take the editable favorites section (number 1-99) away in Germany for example and have just a fixed list like in the UK.
They will probably use a different software in DE and IT.
I can't imagine they would take the editable favorites section (number 1-99) away in Germany for example and have just a fixed list like in the UK.
I can't see them switching away from MediaHighway as the core middleware in either Germany or Italy considering Sky Italia has just recently switched to MediaHighway.
Now BSkyB switching to MediaHighway would be a logical move as it's a far more mature middleware than what is currently in use and will probably keep the Cisco bean counters happy as they will be able to stop using resources supporting middleware that is only used by one customer.
Comments
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_Italia
http://advanced-television.com/2014/08/18/sky-deutschland-to-drop-nagravision/
It appears that Sky Italia boxes are the same as ours, and Sky Deutschland boxes soon will be.
thats a definitive answer!
I would guess the software is similar too except maybe the look of them?
That would be subscribers that didn't upgrade their old Premiere boxes when Sky Deutschland took over and are probably cable subscribers. Satellite subscribers should all have decent Pace boxes (as in a much better spec than the current DRX89x) running MediaHighway.
They have a lot of very local channels in Italy IIRC.
RAI channels were not available on Sky Italia so Sky subscriber only got them via DTT
Apparently our DRX89x are much better than their Pace boxes
Very true. Neither the Pace or Humax Sky Deutschland boxes are a patch hardware wise on the BSkyB DRX89x boxes. It should be noted that the Pace and Humax boxes both come in Satellite and Cable versions on Sky Deutchland. Pace boxes can have either an external or internal HDD, while the Humax only supports external hard drives. This means the boxes work as basic digiboxes or as PVRs dependent on disk connection, which is via a bespoke cable limiting you to use their own external disks (largest of which is 2TB).
Sky Italias older kit was based on similar hardware to Sky Deutschland without the cable/external HDD variants, but with as others have pointed out a DTT tuner.
All three operators use Cisco (ex NDS) Videoguard and set top box software. Sky Italia shares many similarities in look and feel and operating with BSkyB, but the Sky Deutschland one is very different.
They will probably use a different software in DE and IT.
I can't imagine they would take the editable favorites section (number 1-99) away in Germany for example and have just a fixed list like in the UK.
Now BSkyB switching to MediaHighway would be a logical move as it's a far more mature middleware than what is currently in use and will probably keep the Cisco bean counters happy as they will be able to stop using resources supporting middleware that is only used by one customer.
i've heard they are sending out new colour coded cards to each country/territory soon.
the UK card will be red,
R.O.I...Green,
Italy...Blue
not sure of Germany nor Austria
Sky Q to be in ALL territories by end of 2016 under 1 interface apparently.