I've had a VU+ box for about four years now. But I also have a full (legit) SKY subscription on two SKY+ HD box's.
I didn't get the "dodgy box" to get free SKY. Rather so I could watch some of City's away matches. When I discovered that nearly every match is televised somewhere in the world, I hit the internet to find out how to get them.
I tried and ended up sick of poor quality, unreliable streams. So decided to stump up for a fairly decent system. I had a 1.1m Triax motorised dish installed (needed for the foreign channels), and bought a VU+ box. It took a while to learn how to set it all up and install the software required to get it all running.
I wanted to stay legit, so kept the SKY HD box's and to be honest, the VU+ isn't nowhere near as wife/kid friendly. I also wanted to stay legit with the VU box so searched what foreign card I needed to watch most of the foreign broadcast games. This proved harder than I thought due to the running battle with SKY, the Premier league and the pub landlords. The cheapest legit cards were with Tring, but this card got turned off half way through the season. I eventually decided to get a "share", as this gave me access to almost unlimited channels, therefore improving my chances of watching any match I wanted. I reasoned that SKY lost nothing, and since the foreign channels cannot now be sold here meant they also lost nothing. I wanted a private share, but this proved fruitless as most people are paranoid who you are and are not willing to let you in. So I pay for one.
I can received most of the SKY channels (but don't need to), but I have heard that some of the HD channels have gone down. I can also receive some shocking foreign porn channels that I have watched purely for research purposes. For anybody interested in that side of things, don't bother. You will get bored of it in 10/15 years. (or go blind!)
Not all is good. Yes, most foreign football channels can be had in HD, and the quality is great. But nearly all have dropped English commentary. Also depending on your "share" and what channels you are watching, the picture/sound can pause. Many things can cause this like a slow ping/latency to/from the "shares" server. (Your actual internet download rate isn't really a factor since the data packet is tiny) Or if your "share" has too many sharers. Some pay shares simply take your money and shut down. So you take your chances etc. Also, the foreign channels move around a lot, and unlike SKY you need to update the channels lists from time to time. (thankfully, these can be downloaded from the net to make it easier)
How long this way of watching football will continue is anybody's guess. SKY at least are trying new things everyday. The foreign channels don't seem as active, so I won't be effected for a while hopefully.
But the guys in the know seems to come up with something to get round it just as quick. So my attitude is just enjoy it for as long as it lasts.
Maybe one day the penny will drop with the Premier League that they cannot stop it and just allow clubs to sell "Total Match" packages via the internet or dedicated club TV channels. The premier League will make more money, and the people who want to go to the matches will still go...
I didn't get the "dodgy box" to get free SKY. Rather so I could watch some of City's away matches. When I discovered that nearly every match is televised somewhere in the world, I hit the internet to find out how to get them.
I tried and ended up sick of poor quality, unreliable streams. So decided to stump up for a fairly decent system. I had a 1.1m Triax motorised dish installed (needed for the foreign channels), and bought a VU+ box. It took a while to learn how to set it all up and install the software required to get it all running.
I wanted to stay legit, so kept the SKY HD box's and to be honest, the VU+ isn't nowhere near as wife/kid friendly. I also wanted to stay legit with the VU box so searched what foreign card I needed to watch most of the foreign broadcast games. This proved harder than I thought due to the running battle with SKY, the Premier league and the pub landlords. The cheapest legit cards were with Tring, but this card got turned off half way through the season. I eventually decided to get a "share", as this gave me access to almost unlimited channels, therefore improving my chances of watching any match I wanted. I reasoned that SKY lost nothing, and since the foreign channels cannot now be sold here meant they also lost nothing. I wanted a private share, but this proved fruitless as most people are paranoid who you are and are not willing to let you in. So I pay for one.
I can received most of the SKY channels (but don't need to), but I have heard that some of the HD channels have gone down. I can also receive some shocking foreign porn channels that I have watched purely for research purposes. For anybody interested in that side of things, don't bother. You will get bored of it in 10/15 years. (or go blind!)
Not all is good. Yes, most foreign football channels can be had in HD, and the quality is great. But nearly all have dropped English commentary. Also depending on your "share" and what channels you are watching, the picture/sound can pause. Many things can cause this like a slow ping/latency to/from the "shares" server. (Your actual internet download rate isn't really a factor since the data packet is tiny) Or if your "share" has too many sharers. Some pay shares simply take your money and shut down. So you take your chances etc. Also, the foreign channels move around a lot, and unlike SKY you need to update the channels lists from time to time. (thankfully, these can be downloaded from the net to make it easier)
How long this way of watching football will continue is anybody's guess. SKY at least are trying new things everyday. The foreign channels don't seem as active, so I won't be effected for a while hopefully.
But the guys in the know seems to come up with something to get round it just as quick. So my attitude is just enjoy it for as long as it lasts.
Maybe one day the penny will drop with the Premier League that they cannot stop it and just allow clubs to sell "Total Match" packages via the internet or dedicated club TV channels. The premier League will make more money, and the people who want to go to the matches will still go...