View Full Version : Sky by broadband
johnnyhalluk
29-12-2005, 4:41 PM
having read this months free sky mag, i have noticed a new service called "sky by broadband"
if have sky movies all you do is register at sky.com, download some software and choice a film to download (must be a couple of hundred films)
also a selection of sky sports (looks like some full football matches and highlights plus other sports also)
i registered about 2 months ago - but they still have not launched the service....
Forest Fan
29-12-2005, 9:34 PM
Hi,
It appears to be up and running today. I've downloaded the software, logged in and tried to download Spiderman2. It's meant to be a 790mb file. The first 719mb downloaded in about 15 mins then for the next 2 hours the timestamp kept updating but the file didn't grow any bigger. I've been having problems with by BT broadband, the connection terminated and I've not gone back yet to complete the download.
I might try a smaller one next time just to see if it does work.
Regards
justdoit
30-12-2005, 10:49 AM
Have got it working on my pc after quite some messing around, its slow downloading tho but the short sports clips seem fine.
Hotshot147
30-12-2005, 10:57 AM
Have you got a link for SKY broadband please.
Cheers.
Chris...
justdoit
30-12-2005, 11:09 AM
www.skybybroadband.com hard one that lol. (you need your viewing card number to sign up!)
Knyght_byte
30-12-2005, 11:20 AM
sound interesting....save me using my + box for films...can view them thru the puter on to my PJ...heh
is it the same quality as a sky broadcast or better?
edit: ok i checked the FAQ's, for once actually vaguely helpful..lol
"Videos are encoded at a variable bit rate of 860 kbps, and resolution of 540x432."
hmm...is this the same as normal sky anyone know?
andersonshatch
30-12-2005, 12:08 PM
I've already got a sky.com account, however I can't remember my username what format are they in e.g. firstname,lastname, emailaddress?or do you get to pick them yourselfs - the forgotton username can't find me at all :( and i can't be bothered to call sky.
Josh
Starburst
30-12-2005, 12:18 PM
"Videos are encoded at a variable bit rate of 860 kbps, and resolution of 540x432."
hmm...is this the same as normal sky anyone know?
Standard resolution for digital broadcasts is 720*576 with anamorphic used for 16:9 content.
The resolution being offered is a little small compared to what you can download off the net (p2p,usenet etc) and the bitrate a little lower as well assuming a mpeg4 variant.
Might have to give it a go but not until next month since I'm over the NTL cap already:)
The Fulwell
30-12-2005, 3:46 PM
I've already got a sky.com account, however I can't remember my username what format are they in e.g. firstname,lastname, emailaddress?or do you get to pick them yourselfs - the forgotton username can't find me at all :( and i can't be bothered to call sky.
Josh
I had the same problem but eventually sussed that it was my full name in lower case, without any gaps; thus: thefulwell (but of course that was probably the option I took when I first registered, so it might be case sensitive).
so if you have more than one sky box (so more than one viewing card)
can you then use the service on more than one computer...?
Knyght_byte
31-12-2005, 12:42 AM
so if you have more than one sky box (so more than one viewing card)
can you then use the service on more than one computer...?
good point, no reason a multiroom user shouldnt be able to use more computers...heh....mind you, mine are networked in a way that lets me watch video on the other puter but its being sent from here, so not so much of an issue for me....lol
blitzed
31-12-2005, 10:45 AM
It wont work for me keeps bringing up error message :
THERE WAS AN ERROR ISSUING A LICENCE[ERROR CODE 14].
Cant seem to find that error code any help?
Ed
Hotshot147
31-12-2005, 11:03 AM
I'm also struggling it says i should be connected to the internet.I think its a firewall problem but i cant seem to find a way round it.Anybody else had this problem?
Cheers.
Chris...
alphaomega16
31-12-2005, 2:10 PM
*** is wrong with this site ?
It keeps saying Please type in the characters as they appear in the image ?????
*** do they want from me man.
Knyght_byte
31-12-2005, 6:45 PM
the characters in the image thing is simply a security procedure to stop bots signing up and spamming servers....
Starburst
31-12-2005, 6:54 PM
The servers have been up and down all night, some maintenance and upgrading going on it seems. Finally signed up now so we'll see how it all works tomorrow when I recover from tonight:)
luckyb**
31-12-2005, 10:37 PM
been really slow downloading tonight...................10 hours to get 8% for 2 films!!!
Starburst
01-01-2006, 10:20 AM
Well I like the front end but the service itself is pretty much a disaster as it relies on p2p which explains the very poor download speeds.
Perhaps when SKY have fully integrated Easynet and have their own branded ADSL and ADSL2+ services then direct downloading may be an option.
So basically I can watch SKY on TV via my digibox, capture SKY on my PC at DVD spec or download content from the net months before SKY show it at good if not better quality and no DRM.
You know I really can see the point of having this service on my PC especially when it decides to stream content from my PC to others and with a capped ISP that can not be allowed to happen.
ArfurAnt
02-01-2006, 10:37 PM
I hope the 30 days to watch a movie starts from the time it finishes downloading and not when it starts as the way it is going it will take about a fortnight to download anything!
Great concept but a bit flawed in the execution . . . .
Throttle
03-01-2006, 12:06 AM
Yea it does seem extremely slow may aswell just download using p2p programs with how slow it is really :(
raven219
03-01-2006, 3:52 PM
Same here. 10 hours to get 25% of a film. So much for their quote that with 1 meg connection it will take as long as the film!
Raven
Throttle
03-01-2006, 4:18 PM
Lol...im on 2 meg and ive had computer on from morning till late at night 2 days solid and only got 30% on one movie :rotfl:
alphaomega16
07-01-2006, 11:53 PM
How can I change my status from additional user to account holder ?
This site is 100% Useless.
Is this service for free or is it yet another subscription for Sky.
justdoit
09-01-2006, 8:41 AM
its free as long as you subscribe to the movies or sports (you just get what you have on your subscription).
Vonzack
09-01-2006, 9:03 AM
I'm really disappointed with the service, the resolution of the films is poor and I tried to download iRobot and gave up after it hadn't even started after 4 hours.
Also, and this is my biggest gripe, the software didn't install correctly and then didn't uninstall correctly.
After the installation, the Sky shell wouldn't load and I was left to fix the Digital Rights Management in Windows XP myself (the bit that does the 30 day deletion of the files). Following the MS help page was not easy as my fault didn't match the resolution info, I had to read between the lines a little and this would be difficult for an inexperienced user.
Then when I tried to uninstall the software, it took off the main app without any problems, but left the KService and KShell services (from Kontiki) hanging around on my box with no uninstall path. To get them off I had to remove all references to them from the registry and then remove the home directories that the software created.
Not slick Sky.
Sounds bad to me, think I'll give it a miss.
Guys,
Remember that it hasnt been offically launched yet, maybe they know there are problems and thats why they haven't emailed all those that signed up for it months ago.
:nono:
Works fine for me. An hour and a bit to download master and comander. The same for Spiderman 2. Great to watch on my laptop to and from work on the train!!!