Homemade Sky+ Please

Chrispy2

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Hi all,

I recently had Sky installed in my new place, but could only have the standard Sky box as opposed to Sky+ as I couldn't have my own dish put up, instead we had to take a feed from my landlords dish. Anyway, all works lovely, good signal, but obviously no recording facility at present, which is a problem when the "better" half misses Strictly Come Dancing!

So I have a Sony KDL-32D3000, an Amstrad Sky Box, a PS3 and a Yamaha Amp with 5.1 Tannoy Speakers. PlayTV looks to be a no go, so I am guessing I need a DVD/HDD drive combo to be able to record Sky (accept an external source?), although this will mean I will have to watch that channel being recorded on Sky or the built in freeview tuner on the TV.

What device do you recommend? I am looking for 160GB or more of space and not to spend much over £200 (the less the better these days!).

Thanks in advance!
 
Get a Sky+ box from somewhere (ebay) and then feed it off one feed only. There are plenty of examples on how to do it on one feed and you will end up with an easy to use solution.

You can even set up to use the EPG so long as you follow some of the guides.
 
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PlayTV looks to be a no go

Why is this, no reception, or software bugs?

Its a good solution for me, but must admit is has it's problems at the moment.
 
PlayTV is Freeview only. @Chrispy2 has sought advice to record from Sky.

@Chrispy2, is there any barrier to your having two satellite cables from whatever your Landlord uses to supply the existing one ?
 
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PlayTV is Freeview only. The @Chrispy2 has sought advice to record from Sky.

@Chrispy2, is there any barrier to your having two satellite cables from whatever your Landlrd uses to supply the existing one ?

Doh, sorry I was miles away - didn't read the post very well at all. Sorry.
 
Unfortunately yes nvingo! He has run out of feeds as he has multiroom sky+'s!

I have read in certain places that the Sky+ box malfunctions with only one feed and doesn't record things, is this right? How simple would it be to just connect a sky+ box myself and use the guide, planner, record, pause, rewind function etc...? Will it work properly, other than only being able to watch/record one sky channel?

As for PlayTV, indeed, the problem is I couldn't connect it to Sky. Shame. Thanks!
 
Yes it should be able to work properly and be able to record one channel the one you are watching or via the EPG.

I think for the EPG to work you might need to set up a manual record so it fools the Sky + to record from input 1 always. There is a thread on the Sky + forum that details it but I can't find it.

Alternatively consider getting an octo LNB so you can have 8 outputs from your sky dish.
 
Unfortunately yes nvingo! He has run out of feeds as he has multiroom sky+'s!
Could you come to an agreement to increase the number of feeds available?

If there is a quad LNB fitted supplying four receivers, that could be exchanged for an octal with outputs for eight receivers.
If there is already an octal,that would need replacing with a quatro and a multiswitch with more than eight (probably 12 or 16) outputs.
If there is a quatro LNB feeding a multiswitch with X outputs all used, the multiswitch could be exchanged for one with more outputs.
The first option if suitable wouldn't be that expensive; depending on the Landlord's setup the multiswitch options would future-proof the property for Sky+ and Freesat PVR use in the lettings.
 
Hi,
As the Op originally suggested,an hdd/dvd player such as any of the Sony Rdr Hxd series will do this job, the 860 is available around the £175 mark,try Amazon.
Okay he'll be left watching freeview but only while it records from sky,or he could watch a dvd !


KH
 
Hi,
As the Op originally suggested,an hdd/dvd player such as any of the Sony Rdr Hxd series will do this job, the 860 is available around the £175 mark,try Amazon.
KH
Or for the same price he could have an Octo LNB and a brand new Sky + box from an independent dealer.

That way you could have dual record functionality.

For between 40 - 70 pounds you could get a used Sky+ off the bay and just use it on its own.
 
Think I'll move this to the Sky+ forum >>>>>
 

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