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GRUNDIG SKY BOX
Now don't get confused when you read about the Grundig Sky Box, as all it means is that the unit is produced by a particular manufacturer. Other manufacturers of the Sky Box were Amstrad, Pace, Panasonic, Sony and Thomson. The technical designs were identical, although the different boxes had varying strengths and weaknesses. The early examples of the Grundig Sky Box were known for its weak modem, whereas the older Pace Sky Box versions had unstable tuners. Also, some of the boxes had different features. The Grundig Sky Box had a S-Video socket and the Sony had TOSLINK outputs. Mostly in 2004 and 2005 the Grundig Sky Box was not manufactured, and the only player in the market was Pace with its DS430N model. But Amstrad and Thomson have resumed production, although Sky subscribers are assigned boxes on a random basis and cannot be chosen. This has created a second hand market in people trying to secure different makes of Sky box, coveted because of their different features. The Grundig Sky Box is technically a Digibox and it's a device which allows people to receive digital satellite television broadcasts. The broadcasts originate from the Astra satellites and the Sky digital TV subscription service is marketed by British Sky Broadcasting. In 2005 it was announced that all Sky Boxes would all be manufactured to a standard design. This is known as the 'Flow' design and three manufacturers continued manufacturing models: Amstrad, Pace and Thomson. And although all the Sky boxes now look the same, they still retain manufacturers model reference numbers. The Sky+ Box was manufactured in three different versions - again by Amstrad, Pace and Thomson - and all have dual LNB inputs and an optical digital audio output. They allow programmes to be recorded and live television to be paused, rewind and replayed. With the Grundig Sky Box now having disappeared into the background, a further version of the Sky Box appeared in the guise of the Sky+HD box. Manufactured exclusively by Thomson, it can receive DVB-S2 HDTV signals in the MPEG-4 format. Making its debut in May 2006, it quickly sold out and many subscribers had to wait for their boxes. Its success was due to the launch of Sky and BBC high definition TV services and their popularity is set to increase over the years. But although new Grundig Sky boxes are no longer manufactured, there is a healthy trade in second hand units on many of the trading websites.
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