New To Sky+ A few questions :)

[jamesy247]

Hi, i'm having Sky+ fitted for the first time tomorrow and after reading some info about the different boxes and such, I was wondering will I get a new box, as I am a new customer, or will the engineer try and give me a reconditioned one? Will it be a 160gb box as standard?
If he does do I have any power/rights to insist on a new one?

Also the previous owner of my house had Sky before and all the cables/dish are still fitted. Will the engineer try and 'reuse' these or will he refit the whole lot? Again can I insist on having all new cables/dish?
Thanks

[Hurders]

You should definitely get a brand new box as you are a new customer. I think what box you get depends on what the engineers have in stock so I don't think you can know what make/type of box you will get until its installed. As far as using the existing equipment, the engineer will probably check the signal strength and if its ok then they will go ahead and reuse it. Of course, Sky+ requires 2 cables from the dish to the box so they will have to put another cable in and install a quad LNB if the previous install was only for standard Sky with 1 input.

[jamesy247]

Originally Posted by Hurders

You should definitely get a brand new box as you are a new customer. I think what box you get depends on what the engineers have in stock so I don't think you can know what make/type of box you will get until its installed. As far as using the existing equipment, the engineer will probably check the signal strength and if its ok then they will go ahead and reuse it. Of course, Sky+ requires 2 cables from the dish to the box so they will have to put another cable in and install a quad LNB if the previous install was only for standard Sky with 1 input.

Ty for the quick response.
So if he tries to give me a recon one I will insist on a new one. But are all new Sky+ boxes now 160gb and version 3's?

[Skytech]

yes, they are. It should come in a white box, tape sealed, wrapped in a large plastic bag and a plastic film on the front panel.

[kbj242]

James - Ive had Sky+ since August 06 and quite frankly, its a superb device.
I did a lot of research on these forums beforehand so here's a few tips for you (apologies in advance if you know any of this already..)

The box you get will be 160gb box - however - only 80gb is for your own use (which equates to 40 hrs of telly). The other 80gb is reserved for Sky Anytime. There's currently no way of altering this arrangement. C'est la vie.

The biggest cause of Sky+ boxes failing is overheating...therefore don't place any other kit on top of it, also, ensure air can flow around it on both sides. A flat stable surface is also your best best.

Instant Rewind - turn it off if you don't use it. When this function is ON it basically means your box is recording **all the time**. Switching it off saves a lot of wear and tear. You can still "pause live telly" by pressing the pause button on the remote (eg when watching the footy and the doorbell rings).

Finally, use a decent scart lead (not neccessarily expensive) and ensure the picture settings are switched to 'RGB' and the scart is plugged into an RGB-capable socket on your TV.

I've followed all these tips since day 1 - excellent picture quality and not one glitch !!

Happy viewing.

One more thing - I've also de-activated Sky Anytime - there was never anything of interest to me, so again, turning the function off saves more unnecessary wear and tear.

[Broadz]

Originally Posted by kbj242

One more thing - I've also de-activated Sky Anytime - there was never anything of interest to me, so again, turning the function off saves more unnecessary wear and tear.

However James, don't automatically deactivate it without seeing what it delivers first. More and more people are now realising that Sky Anytime is a good thing, not a hindrance, and gives you access to movies prior to them showing on the Movies Premiere channel and generally includes programmes which you might never have otherwise watched, not because you aren't interested in them, just because you didn't know that they were on.

Every morning I switch on the Sky box and go into the Anytime EPG just to see what programmes and films have been added. Yes, there is still some stuff that I have no intention of watching, mostly the kid's cartoons and some of the Sky One rubbish, but as I said earlier the fact that you get the movies three days earlier than they are shown on Sky Movies Premiere, plus lots of stuff from the History Channel and National Geographic makes it a useful tool to have.

Admittedly, I take advantage of it the most because I have Sky HD, and the movies in Anytime are HD versions, rather than the SD versions that Sky show on the Movies Premiere channel. Switch Anytime off if you find that it is causing problems with your new Sky+ box, if the noise that the hard disc makes while downloading stuff keeps you awake at night, or if it starts having an impact on recordings that you have set for the middle of the night. Otherwise, leave it running and just see what it gives you. You can always deactivate it later if you don't like it.

[jamesy247]

Originally Posted by kbj242

James - Ive had Sky+ since August 06 and quite frankly, its a superb device.
I did a lot of research on these forums beforehand so here's a few tips for you (apologies in advance if you know any of this already..)

The box you get will be 160gb box - however - only 80gb is for your own use (which equates to 40 hrs of telly). The other 80gb is reserved for Sky Anytime. There's currently no way of altering this arrangement. C'est la vie.

The biggest cause of Sky+ boxes failing is overheating...therefore don't place any other kit on top of it, also, ensure air can flow around it on both sides. A flat stable surface is also your best best.

Instant Rewind - turn it off if you don't use it. When this function is ON it basically means your box is recording **all the time**. Switching it off saves a lot of wear and tear. You can still "pause live telly" by pressing the pause button on the remote (eg when watching the footy and the doorbell rings).

Finally, use a decent scart lead (not neccessarily expensive) and ensure the picture settings are switched to 'RGB' and the scart is plugged into an RGB-capable socket on your TV.

I've followed all these tips since day 1 - excellent picture quality and not one glitch !!

Happy viewing.

One more thing - I've also de-activated Sky Anytime - there was never anything of interest to me, so again, turning the function off saves more unnecessary wear and tear.

Thanks for the info

I've been using a Humax 160gb (which is doing well on ebay atm )for the last 2 years mainly because I didn't want to pay the installation costs on top of subs for Sky+, but since I got one of the new free installation offers (from my mate at work) I managed to 'persuade' the wife.

Cheers for the advice I will be turning off the instant rewind function as I never used it much before and I will look into the the Sky Anytime and see if it's of any use to me. As for scart leads yeah I know how important a decent one is been using QED scarts for a few years now.
Once I have Sky+ I then need to 'persuade' the wife to move on to Sky HD lol!