[u2roger]

I have a Sky+ box that would record (when I paying for services). I then ended the contract so SKY switched OFF access to the hard drive. Now I have no record or playback access.
How can I regain control of the recording drive inside the Sky+ box.
Is there a company that can do it for me, or is there any instructions regards overriding Sky auto switch off???

[John]

Very easy solution . Re-subscribe

[pedros_e]

As far as I know youll need to pay Sky£10 month to use Sky+ functions, even if you're just using it as a Freeview box.

Did you still have your box connected to the phoneline when you cancelled the Sky Subscription?

[Broadz]

Originally Posted by u2roger

SKY switched OFF access to the hard drive.

...by disabling Sky+ functionality on your Sky card. Not by doing anything to the hard drive.

Originally Posted by u2roger

How can I regain control of the recording drive inside the Sky+ box.

By putting a card with Sky+ functionality activated on it in the Sky box. If you want to record the FTV channels as well as the FTA channels, the card will need pairing with the box also. The drive still works fine.

[Broadz]

Originally Posted by pedros_e

Did you still have your box connected to the phoneline when you cancelled the Sky Subscription?

Whether he did or didn't has no impact on the cancelling of Sky+ functionality on his card. The card checks via the satellite connection whether it has the ability to record/pause/rewind - not via the phoneline.

[u2roger]

OK I can except that Sky switched off the function on my sky card. BUT therefore I need to know how to internally remake that connection (that the card instruction once did). Like it may have switched off the voltage supply to the hard drive or was it maybe the instruction to something else??
I have tried a SKY Sat card (£20) that allows you to use the box as a "Freesat" (like a freeview box but with a few more channels). But the card does not allow you to access the record and playback facility.
So is there anyone out there that is more technically minded.

[stuckinstandby]

Technically speaking there are a couple of ways to do it:
1. Enable it on the card
- There is no public information about modifying the card to do this.

2. Re-write the box firmware to ignore the info from the card.
- For one model of Sky+ box (Pace 3100) someone released a firmware patcher which enabled the recording feature but only for FTA channels (not FTV). Installing the patch is not a trivial task and requires some soldering.

You can find the info via Google.

[logiciel]

Originally Posted by u2roger

I need to know how to internally remake that connection

That's like asking how to make the subscription channels decrypt again.
It can't be done and if it could Sky would get very legal about it.

[davemurgatroyd2]

Originally Posted by u2roger

OK I can except that Sky switched off the function on my sky card. BUT therefore I need to know how to internally remake that connection (that the card instruction once did). Like it may have switched off the voltage supply to the hard drive or was it maybe the instruction to something else??
I have tried a SKY Sat card (£20) that allows you to use the box as a "Freesat" (like a freeview box but with a few more channels). But the card does not allow you to access the record and playback facility.
So is there anyone out there that is more technically minded.

It is not a hardware switch but software controlled by a combination of firmware in the box and software on the viewing card. As stated above you need to extract and rewrite the software (if yours is not a Pace 3100) then solder jtag connections to the motherboard (if you can identify them on your motherboard - they are not marked) and then "flash" your version of the software onto the chip on the motherboard. If and only if you completely rewrite the code (without using any part of the existing code) then it is legal otherwise modifying the existing code is illegal.

Although you own the hardware of the box you do not own the software you merely own licenses to use various parts of it - without a viewing card that include viewing FTA channels, with a FreesatFromSky card it adds the FTV channels and a subscription adds Sky + facilities.