Is it possible to watch BBC HD and other free channels without a Sky subscription or Sky box?
You can buy the Sky box without a Sky subscription from independent suppliers and you can still watch BBC HD, but it costs an extra 100. It is possible to receive HD channels such as the BBC on a different HD box provided the receiver supports the right standards including MPEG-4, DVBS-2 and the appropriate codec. The BBC transmissions are Free-To-Air so no decryption is needed. Before the BBC started transmissions we warned that “until the viability of this possibility has been confirmed it would be a risk to assume it is going to work”. This turned out to be prophetic when it transpired that the BBC and Sky are using the older MPEG-4.2.0 standard instead of MPEG-4.2.2 which European receivers are built for. Humax have developed a software upgrade to fix the problem and it must be installed to watch BBC HD. Satellite recievers that should work if the problems can be resolved include the Humax HDCI2000 and the Pace DS810XE both of which cost about 299.
