Sky +

[brianmole 0]

My kids keep badgering me to get Sky +. We have normal Sky, but I am less than interested.... Is it worth it, do you reccomend a particular box? Should I stay away from a particlar box?

 

Where is the best deal?

 

 

Cheers,

Brian

[spinner 0]

I've had Sky+ since the service started, upgrading to a newer box about a year ago.

Remember that you'll need a multi-outlet LNB on your dish ( comes with it ) and another cable feed for the second tuner in the box.

 

Certainly it beats having a VCR and the EPG allows you to select whatever you want to record well in advance then watch it when it's convenient.

 

However I cancelled my Sky TV subscription since I was paying for stations I didn't want. It's still good for recording any of the free channels ( and there are plenty ), especially films from any of the channels which are not interrupted by ads. They can then be dubbed to DVD to add to your collection!

 

The downside is that I have to pay £10 per month for the privilege of using the Sky+ record/playback feature. Otherwise the box reverts to being just a receiver.

 

So, unless there are channels you want particularly get a Freeview PVR with which you can record whatever you want for free - just as you could with a VCR.

[Kingy 0]

I use the Telewest equivilent and find it easy to use and reliable.

 

Left Sky two years ago due to their awful customer service and find cable better. Sky used to freeze occasionally too.

[Gary 0]

I've used SKY+ for around 2 years now - its a god-send.

 

We've got the standard Sky provided box and got sky to install it, complete with the new multi-feed LNB (the lump on the end of the arm on the sat dish).

 

The standard sky+ box has an 80gb harddrive, and offers half that in recording capacity - 40 hours. There is also the Sky+160 box, which (surprise!) has a 160gb hard drive, and offers 80 hours recording capacity.

 

We had a standard 80gb/40h box, but using the information found on the Digitalspy forums, we upgraded little hard drive thats inside the unit, for a huge 300gb drive (£peanuts). The drive is easy to swap, so long as you have some fairly upto date security screwdriver bits. The drive is mounted in an easy to get to place, and has the bog-standard IDE and power cables.

 

We've now got 150 hours recording time - thats 6 and a quarter days of programmes - or 3 days of programmes if you record two channels simultaneously - thats Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day sorted... with the ability to watch a recorded program whilst 2 new ones are recording.

 

If you're looking at swapping the harddrive - do visit the forum mentioned as not ALL brands/makes/models of harddrive work with Sky+, but there is a growing list.

 

Also handy is the fact that you can watch something as it's being recorded - so, if you end up getting back in at 8:10, and your program started at 8, fine...just hit Play, and you can see it from the beginning - by the time you've whizzed through the first couple of advert breaks, you'll be back onto "real time" by the 3rd ad break.

 

Also, the sky+ seems to "buffer" or cache what you're watching - even though it shows no indication of this - so...if you're watching a program and a few minutes (upto an hour) into the show, you think..."Oh... would like to have seen this..." Hit RECORD and the entire show (even the portion that you've already been watching) will be titled, and dumped onto the hard drive and recording will continue - just as if you'd recorded it in any normal fashion.

 

The "Series Link" option is great too - you pick a program that you want to record, using the on-screen TV listings, and if its a series - you simply press the green button, an arrow icon appears alongside the program in the "To be recorded" list and hey presto every single episode is recorded for you as its broadcast. We often resist watching anything for a few episodes, so we can build-up the recorded episodes and watch several at once.

 

You can also transfer recorded items from the hard drive to an external source - eg: VHS or DVD-recorder - although this is only in real-time...

 

It would be an excellent purchase - especially as you're likely to be out alot over Christmas.

Edited August 24, 2006 by Gary

[DJ Marky Marc 0]

whats on sky that the Kids want ?

 

cant you get a media centre and use freeview?

 

 

[EdBray 0]

Wouldn't be without mine, as a shiftworker I think it's brilliant, does everything that Gary said and I have not missed an episode from any series I have been interested in since I got it.

 

I still only have the standard Hard Drive in it though, so may look to upgrading that soon.

 

Eddie.

[FDDJ 0]

Tell them to get out and do something less boring instead...

 

 

 

 

 

Altogether now..."Why don't you..."

[YourBigEvent 0]

I had it and it lasted two days, never watch TV anyway and was spending about £70 per month on Sky so cancelled the whole lot

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But what do I know ?

[DJ Geco 0]

If you are gona go for it, may be worth getting in the que for the HD boxes if you can afford that little extra. If you just go for a Sky+ Box though, try and get a Panasonic box, they are the best. When your sky man comes to fit it, be prepaired to get wholes drilled in your wall without being plugged or having fittings attached over the whole, just a cable running through it. May be worth getting a company such as Wired and Working to come in and do it for you, still need the sky man to put the stuff in and activate tyhe system, but he will leave a mess http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/smile.gif

[McCardle 1]

it is not the timeshifting that is the problem it is having the time to watch whichever program has been shifted i would end up with about 9 hours of episodes to watch and never have more than 1 hour to watch them in http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/533.gif http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/014.gif but having looked at the options i think sky+ is a waste of money as a huge percentage of the programs and films on sky are repeated several times over the course of a month and even itv regional programs are shown again at a later date on freeview. not being in a cabled area i do pay for sky but the quality of the programs are certainly slipping especially on their movie channels where its the same films being shown for months and so about 25 opportunities to catch them at a more convenient time without having to pay the sky god any more cash.

 

anyway kids watch far to much tv and play too many computer games why waste this quality family time which could be better used to finish that long standing family row or to get ripped off at theme parks where you take out a second mortgage to stand in a queue for 3 hours. bank holidays are those precious family moments where two generations of hate come together in an explosive mixture whilst stuck in a traffic jam on the M1 in a steamed up car on a rainly monday afternoon. These days are few and far between and once missed will never return.

[brianmole 0]

QUOTE (DJ Geco @ Aug 24 2006, 11:11 AM)

If you are gona go for it, may be worth getting in the que for the HD boxes if you can afford that little extra. If you just go for a Sky+ Box though, try and get a Panasonic box, they are the best. When your sky man comes to fit it, be prepaired to get wholes drilled in your wall without being plugged or having fittings attached over the whole, just a cable running through it. May be worth getting a company such as Wired and Working to come in and do it for you, still need the sky man to put the stuff in and activate tyhe system, but he will leave a mess http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/smile.gif

Ah, I hear they are a bunch of cowboys who do DJing part time... http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/tongue.gif

[BigBen 0]

QUOTE (McCardle @ Aug 24 2006, 10:13 AM)

it is not the timeshifting that is the problem it is having the time to watch whichever program has been shifted i would end up with about 9 hours of episodes to watch and never have more than 1 hour to watch them in http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/533.gif http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/014.gif but having looked at the options i think sky+ is a waste of money as a huge percentage of the programs and films on sky are repeated several times over the course of a month and even itv regional programs are shown again at a later date on freeview. not being in a cabled area i do pay for sky but the quality of the programs are certainly slipping especially on their movie channels where its the same films being shown for months and so about 25 opportunities to catch them at a more convenient time without having to pay the sky god any more cash. anyway kids watch far to much tv and play too many computer games why waste this quality family time which could be better used to finish that long standing family row or to get ripped off at theme parks where you take out a second mortgage to stand in a queue for 3 hours. bank holidays are those precious family moments where two generations of hate come together in an explosive mixture whilst stuck in a traffic jam on the M1 in a steamed up car on a rainly monday afternoon. These days are few and far between and once missed will never return.

Amen. http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/biggrin.gif

 

I, too, see Sky as an expensive rip off. They churn out more and more junk with each passing week. We used to have the full package, films and sport, piped into various rooms around the house. First went the sport, then the films. I now pay about £20/month now for one of their really basic packages but I am looking forward to cancelling that when we move house. Sure I'll miss the Comedy channel but £240 a year is a lot of money to watch a few American shows.

[Gary 0]

QUOTE (McCardle @ Aug 24 2006, 11:13 AM)

it is not the timeshifting that is the problem it is having the time to watch whichever program has been shifted i would end up with about 9 hours of episodes to watch and never have more than 1 hour to watch them in http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/533.gif http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/014.gif

Some of the Panasonic Harddrive/DVD recorders have a partial solution to this.

 

Some units allow you to play back the recording at up to 1.3 times normal speed with pitch lock / key adjust on the soundtrack - therefore you can keep upto date with a 1 hour program, in just 40 minutes.

 

Ok, everyone on screen walks a bit funny at that speed, but if its just a case of trying to keep yourself upto date with the storyline of a particular soap etc, rather than immersing yourself in the atmosphere of a scary suspense movie, or to absorb a detailed understanding of the political and cultural blah blah etc... it can be a handy feature - although not a feature that I've seen on a stand-alone domestic harddrive product (yet).

[Kane 0]

QUOTE (brianmole @ Aug 24 2006, 12:21 PM)

QUOTE (DJ Geco @ Aug 24 2006, 11:11 AM) If you are gona go for it, may be worth getting in the que for the HD boxes if you can afford that little extra. If you just go for a Sky+ Box though, try and get a Panasonic box, they are the best. When your sky man comes to fit it, be prepaired to get wholes drilled in your wall without being plugged or having fittings attached over the whole, just a cable running through it. May be worth getting a company such as Wired and Working to come in and do it for you, still need the sky man to put the stuff in and activate tyhe system, but he will leave a mess http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/smile.gif Ah, I hear they are a bunch of cowboys who do DJing part time... http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/tongue.gif Ouch   brianmole 1 bubbles - 0 http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/laugh.gif

[Dukesy 0]

QUOTE (McCardle @ Aug 24 2006, 11:13 AM)

anyway kids watch far to much tv and play too many computer games why waste this quality family time which could be better used to finish that long standing family row or to get ripped off at theme parks where you take out a second mortgage to stand in a queue for 3 hours. bank holidays are those precious family moments where two generations of hate come together in an explosive mixture whilst stuck in a traffic jam on the M1 in a steamed up car on a rainly monday afternoon. These days are few and far between and once missed will never return.

http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Paul Smith 0]

QUOTE (Gary @ Aug 24 2006, 12:34 PM)

Some units allow you to play back the recording at up to 1.3 times normal speed with pitch lock / key adjust on the soundtrack - therefore you can keep upto date with a 1 hour program, in just 40 minutes.

If you also take into account the adverts, opening titles and end credits you could watch 2 hours of programming in just one hour thus giving you more time to do those more useful tasks like filling in your 2005/6 tax return http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/kid.gif

[John Kidd 0]

QUOTE (brianmole @ Aug 24 2006, 11:21 AM)

QUOTE (DJ Geco @ Aug 24 2006, 11:11 AM) If you are gona go for it, may be worth getting in the que for the HD boxes if you can afford that little extra. If you just go for a Sky+ Box though, try and get a Panasonic box, they are the best. When your sky man comes to fit it, be prepaired to get wholes drilled in your wall without being plugged or having fittings attached over the whole, just a cable running through it. May be worth getting a company such as Wired and Working to come in and do it for you, still need the sky man to put the stuff in and activate tyhe system, but he will leave a mess http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/smile.gif Ah, I hear they are a bunch of cowboys who do DJing part time... http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/tongue.gif As it would happen, 'Wired and working' Do not install Sky+, This Operation troubleshoots all sky systems.   As for Cowboys, my legal team will be in contact.   http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/cowboy.gif

[brianmole 0]

http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/hits_the_fan.gif http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/oops.gif

 

 

 

http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/071.gif Love you too!

 

Well, Mrs M has short circuited the purchasing research dept, and ordered it from somewhere. It arrives in a few days.

 

Thanks for all the advice, you're all stars. http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/grouphug.gif

[Steve_Mitchell 0]

we`ve also had it for a couple of years now and I would say its excellent. As others say though I`d get the H/D box instead of the normal one.

 

It beats having an old VCR under the telly. And am not a snob... http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/071.gif

 

[jamminroadshow 0]

I love Sky+ I though before i had it there are a lot of channels with http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/pooh.gif on but now i get to pick what i want to watch and also now with the green button thing if you see a program that you like the look of just made it better.

 

The sky customer care could do with sorting though but my internet is with ntl and they are by far worse at customer care than sky

Edited August 26, 2006 by jamminroadshow

[Gary 0]

Although I've got an HD TV, I'm not bothering with an HD receiver box for a few years - but I'll be getting an HD DVD deck as soon as I start seeing reasonably priced HD DVDs in the shops.

 

Currently very few other items, recorders for example are HD ready - and indeed many of the live HD offerings are pretty poor, and benefit little from HD - eg: BBC news in HD.... http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/533.gif True, there are around 20% of skys box office offerings on HD, but again - not really fussed at the current prices that sky wants for HD.

[EdBray 0]

Gary,

 

I have a HD Plasma TV and bought a Phillips HD DVD Player (only £65 and plays Div-X as well), the difference when playing standard DVDs is amazing from playing them on a normal DVD player (I still have my DVD recorder connected as well).

 

Downside the bloody HD leads cost almost as much as the DVD player.

 

As I understand it, pretty much all DVDs produced in the last couple of years have been produced in HD as standard, so there may be little point in waiting.

 

Eddie.

Edited August 27, 2006 by EdBray

[DJ Geco 0]

QUOTE

Downside the bloody HD leads cost almost as much as the DVD player.

 

Not if you know where to shop http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html//emoticons/rolleyes.gif

[YourBigEvent 0]

QUOTE

Downside the bloody HD leads cost almost as much as the DVD player.

 

Give me a call Ed