Sky+ independants thumbs down

[Faust]

I have been talking to my local independant about the pros and cons of having Sky+. I was startled when he told me to leave well alone until the V2 units have had "a serious sorting" to use his words. He went on to say that until the situation improves he's going to give up fitting Sky+ It seems he's spending most of his working week going back to previous installs due to faults/total failures. Went on to say that he is not being properly reimbursed by Sky for this work and his reputation is suffering as customers are rightly sick and fed up of the situation. I think I will heed is advice and stick to my E30 for the time being. I am just amazed that no one has asked Watchdog to carry out an investigation into this fiasco.

 

[alwyn]

I have had sky+ now for six months and have had no problems at all.The main reason ,I think,that some people have problems with sky+ is that they are messing about with the hard discs etc.I have had sky now since 1987 or 88 and I have never had a breakdown in all that time.

 

[Billilu]

It started in 1989 so that's pretty much of a miracle in itself.

Seriously though, Sky+ is a bloody miracle, and I'm sorry if some people have had teething trouble with it, but I'm a bit tired of people on here moaning about little niggles without seeing the bigger picture - it's a bloody marvel. Think about 20 years, 10 years, 5 years ago, and realise what an advance it is on what went on before.

Remember what an advance Videoplus seemed at the time, and then realise how much further this goes. And thank your lucky stars you will never have to set a Videoplus code again, and then watch the resulting recording with muffled picture and muffled sound.

Rant ends.

 

[Faust]

I not sure that people posting that they have had no problems take the discussion much further. Neither does posting that one is sick of people moaning about the problems they have encountered with Sky+. Obviously a lot of people are having very real problems with these units, and to deny otherwise would be foolish. If someone who fits these units for a living is telling you to steer clear, and is going to stop doing the installs until the problems are sorted, then there clearly must be a problem. Alwyn mentioned that a lot of the problems are being experienced by those who have upgraded the HD. Well this does not hold water either. Clearly Sky or the independants would not be replacing these Sky+ boxes under warranty, as the warranty is void if one has opened the casing to do any mods. The old saying goes "don't shoot the messenger just because you disagree with the message" After all, I contacted my independant with a view to getting Sky+, and it was a very experienced independant who told me to hang on until these problems have been addressed.

 

[Starburst]

SKY+ units that have been replaced under warranty even though they might have had a HD upgrade are simply down to the fact that there is no physical barrier to opening the box.
As long as you retain the original drive and do a full system reset there is no way to prove the warranty has been voided.

As for independents how independent are they if they do contract work for SKY?
As far as I am concerned an independent buys SKY+ direct from PACE and deals with any warranty work on the hardware and isntallation themselves without recourse to SKY.

There are problems in regards to picture quality on the V2, this is documented and both SKY and PACE are aware of it, it will get sorted and by all means wait until it's fixed before you purchase even though some people with V2's do not experience this problem which might have more to do with their display hardware than their eyes.

 

[Billilu]

Originally posted by Faust
I not sure that people posting that they have had no problems take the discussion much further. Neither does posting that one is sick of people moaning about the problems they have encountered with Sky+.

What a strange attitude: people should only post on here if they have complaints, and not if they have anything positive to say. Obviously, people are more likely to post if they have problems, which could give those who are considering Sky + the erroneous impression that most viewers do have problems. I think the occasional positive post redresses the balance.

You very cleverly - or was it stupidly - quoted me without giving the whole quote. Of course people have the right to post on here if they have problems. What I said was "a bit tired of people on here moaning about little niggles without seeing the bigger picture - it's a bloody marvel."

Perhaps of more worth is a poll currently running on the Digital Spy forums:

http://forum.digitalspy.co.uk/board/t/44048/bd1bad0265964146c14777dd61631217ds.html

Less than 10% are either not very happy or extremely unhappy, 73% are happy, very happy or extremely happy (of which 62% are the latter two). Meanwhile 17% say they haven't got Sky+. (Not sure what the point is of taking part in a poll about whether you're happy with Sky+ to say you haven't got it, but there we are.)

 

[Faust]

Originally posted by Billilu
What a strange attitude: people should only post on here if they have complaints, and not if they have anything positive to say. Obviously, people are more likely to post if they have problems, which could give those who are considering Sky + the erroneous impression that most viewers do have problems. I think the occasional positive post redresses the balance.

You very cleverly - or was it stupidly - quoted me without giving the whole quote. Of course people have the right to post on here if they have problems. What I said was "a bit tired of people on here moaning about little niggles without seeing the bigger picture - it's a bloody marvel."

Perhaps of more worth is a poll currently running on the Digital Spy forums:

http://forum.digitalspy.co.uk/board/t/44048/bd1bad0265964146c14777dd61631217ds.html

Less than 10% are either not very happy or extremely unhappy, 73% are happy, very happy or extremely happy (of which 62% are the latter two). Meanwhile 17% say they haven't got Sky+. (Not sure what the point is of taking part in a poll about whether you're happy with Sky+ to say you haven't got it, but there we are.)

I was simply attempting to highlight what appears to be a significant problem. I have seen documentation via the web that reveals a 20% failure rate of Sky+ HARDWARE in the first twelve months. I cannot go further than that for obvious reasons, believe me or believe me not. I have many products that I have never had any problems with, but recognise that others have. Therefore to say that I have never had any problems does not advance the discussion further, which was the point I was trying (perhaps clumsily) to make.

 

[Dr Downey]

I had Sky+ installed on Saturday, and am amazed and delighted at how good it is!

I have been a 'silent' member of these forums for about a year, and have read just about all the posts that I could about Sky+ before I ordered. Cliveg's post about the refurb deal clinched it for me and I ordered.

The general consensus is that the V2 box has problems, being in a service environment I understand that people usually will only take time to complain, rather than praise, but I have found the guys that use these forums to be fair in their assesments.

I mentioned to the installer that I was glad that I had a V1 box installed, he asked why, and I said that I'd heard about V2 problems. He then reluctantly told me about the problems with the V2 such as soft focus, sound breakup, and also that the V2 boxes don't appear to 'last very long'

A bacon butty and coffee also eased the tongue, and the tricky install.

Valid points by both camps, don't hate Sky+ too much, the V2 box is in much the same mould as the PSOne (Same stuff, smaller box) due to integrated chipsets, and as we all know, miniaturisation is all very well, but the smaller something gets, the more fragile it can become.

The soft focus issue is supposed to be under investigation with Pace and Sky (According to the forum here!) so maybe the other issues will be resolved soon too.

Doc

 

[Stereo Steve]

Sky+ is superb. Yes, I would rather buy a box by Sony or Panasonic but at the mo we are stuck with the rather flimsy Pace one. Mine packed up and Sky replaced it within 4 days and gave me a 3 month warranty.

I still would not be without it though. Despite, having a failed box I would count myself in the 'happy' camp. By the way, the guy that replaced mine was an independant and he said they had very little trouble. You must remember that most people are thick and prone to talking out of their rf ports.

 

[squid]

I'm another happy sky+er .Touch wood I have never realy had a problem with mine and I have had it from not long after they came out .
All the problems I used to have with my old pace digibox are long forgoten. Oh the sheer joy of being able to record a prog and watch another. I just wish I had two they are just such an leap forward .Each day it's just a matter of looking through the guide tag everything you fancy then when you have the time it's all the there ready to watch with no los in pic and sound , you would'nt even know it was a recorded prog from looking at it.

I realy like the new feature were you can store the instant rewind .It's very handy if you are watching somthing and somthing comes on you think the wife would like ,you just pree the record button and there you go all stored for her . I know there are a lot of people having problems out there , but it's the same with anything new. Even with it's problems though I think it is on a par with the DVD player as a must have in my house .I would not be without it .

The one thing that I wish they would do though is put the auto channel change thing (when a prog starts) that's on normal boxes on the +. I know it's there realy for turning over to tap things when not in but I used to find it handy if I was in the kitchen as I have no tv link in there . So it would turn over from bargain hunt to ready steady cook when I'm buissy cooking

 

[bobgriffiths]

Hi i worked in the retail side for a largish independant .You could Not buy Sky+ direct from Pace you HAD to go through a distributor.
It was the same for ordinary sky boxes as SKY own the rights to the box it doesnt matter whoever makes the box we were big panasonic dealers but you couldnt get panasonic boxes direct from panasonic!!they limit where you get it .

We did specialised installs of multiple boxes or got specialised installers to put dishes in places SKY installers wouldnt go.It was a nightmare.
we found on the original very first Sky plus boxes that the units had less problems if we used a bigger dish! now the signal/quality levels said they were ok with a smaller dish but in reality a bigger dish helped.
we had problems with fan noise /lock up etc but the newer boxes seemed to iron this out .
The biggest problem we had was dealing with SKY not the boxes!
I think this is why a lot of independants put you off .its too much hassle for too little profit!

 

[MAW]

Another retail viewpoint, similar end result. I'm a custom installer, retailer of high end systems. About 50% of my customers have sky+, AFAIK they are all deliriously happy with it as none have complained to me, and I can assure you they complain about anything and everything else if it's the slightest bit wrong. This is probably about 100 sample, and rising.

 

[UZUBAIRU]

I've had Sky for 7 years and a V1 Sky+ installed 2 weeks ago.
Never had a problem in all that time.

Since I work varying shifts over a three week cycle, I have found the features of Sky+ a godsend.
I haven't missed a single program since I got it. Both my hubby and I are happy because program clashes are no longer a problem.

All TV viewing is via the Sky+ planner now and it's great.

Getting it for £99 + £1 install was the best thing of all.

Umu

 

[gringottsdirect]

Originally posted by bobgriffiths
The biggest problem we had was dealing with SKY not the boxes!
I think this is why a lot of independants put you off .its too much hassle for too little profit!

My Skyplus+ has worked fine, had it since they first came out ( V1 box ), people who've seen mine and liked it have had various experiences when trying to buy one. If I can, I accompany them to my local independent, sometimes we go elsewhere or order directly from Sky.
Reason for this is because at certain times the independent actually stops stocking and fitting Skyplus+. They get extremely fed up with demonstrating the benefits, only to have the potential customer whip out a Sky mailshot offering a deal which if the independent matched, they would lose money.
Without exaggeration I must have " sold " Skyplus+ to about forty friends, relatives or neighbours ( and several Tivos too ), but the independent can't install for £199 plus £1 fitting and move the old box for next to nothing, so they are now mostly bought directly from Sky.
I think this explains the general apathy towards selling Skyplus+ in stores, why bother ?
Obviously I think Skyplus+ is fantastic and nothing would stop me buying one !

 

[olliemac166]

i want to be one of the people who praise sky+ i've had it now for over 3yrs and yes in the begining it use to play up but that was when i moved home but apart from that its been a treat and my missus loves it but didnt love the £350 it cost! now if you don't change the hard drive for a bigger one why on earth would you need to have twice as much i'll never know some of you need to get out more! this machine will and has changed the way we watch tv,vhs tapes no more they were crap to say the least but they had their time now lets praise this digital revolution it's has to be said that this is one of the best machine to come out of the digital era and when they bring out a new i will buy it!!
what more can you ask!!