neildo wrote:Your viewing card will be paired to the new HD box meaning that you won't be able to view any encrypted content on your old box
Sorry, actually Neil that is incorrect...
An unpaired card can playback content that was recorded with it in any box. All this is required is:
a) A working satellite feed to the box
b) The card still has a valid subscription to the channel
c) The channel is not a premium channel (Movie or Sports) - FTA and mix recordings are fine however.
See
Card Pairing FAQ.
Also, although technically you are voiding your warranty, I can not give you a single case of Anyone ever being pursued over this. All that happens is the Sky installer turns up and swaps your box like any other. When the box gets back to the repair centre, whether it was a warranty exchange or a paid for (£65 callout) exchange has long since been lost in the system and Sky are past caring.
I know for a fact that their repair centres also have a growing collection of "non-OEM" hard drives (i.e. ones the boxes weren't originally shipped with) and they don't do anything about that either.