Sky +

M

mikeinsthelens

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Can someone tell me in simplistic term what Sky + offers above normal Sky.

From what I can make out in the forums I might not need a VCR anymore is this the case?

I am currently on the Sky Sports World Family Package at £31 per month. Does this mean I dont have to pay any extra per month, and what happens to my current Panasonic box??

Any help greatly appreciated.

Regards Mike
 
Sky allows you to record channels directly to the hard disk inside the box and do live pause.
Currently you can record 2 channels and watch something you have previously recorded simultaneously.

Not sure on the charges but you should qualify with that.
We pay £33.

You get to keep your old box assuming you have had it for more than 12 months.

You will need a quad LNB (the black bit on the dish) and another cable running from the dish to your box for Sky+.
 
it also gives you 5.1 surround sound on the movie channels first 3 i think .
 
Does that mean I could have my new box upstairs? Would I have to pay a subscription for this?
 
Yes - you can move the box upstairs and you will need what's called a mirror sub(scription).
Costs £10 a month I think.
 
I am also on the Sky Sports package (£31) and DO NOT have to pay any extra for Sky+. It IS £10 for the mirror sub. I think you can cancel this after the first month and then use the box as a "freeview", but it is worth the £10 IMHO.
I have only had Sky+ for less than a week - It really is the Dogs B*******!! Go for it . You won't regret it.
If you order it online it will only cost £1 for installation and £200 for the box, but check this as I vaguely remember someone saying that this offer had ended.???
You will only need your VCR if you wish to archive something as you only have about 20 hours of space on the hard drive. Better still would be to ditch the VCR and get a DVD recorder to archive to!
The live pause and rewind is a fantastic feature, so too the recording simplicity and broadcast quality recordings.
 
Can someone tell me in simplistic term what Sky + offers above normal Sky.
Sky+ does enough that it's rather difficult to explain it in "simplistic terms". It's a combination of a Sky digibox and a hard disk drive. In essence it is able to store the actual original digital satellite signal for a TV program onto its hard disk. You can then use that signal to make the digibox part produce the relevant sound and picture any time you want, instead of only when the program is being broadcast.

So, in essence, it records TV programs, but there are certain advantages over most other types of recording device:
  • Setting it to record a program is very quick: it just involves finding the program in the Sky Guide, and pressing a single button.
  • The quality of the playback is literally identical to what it would be if the program were live.
  • You can watch one program while recording another.
  • Recording and playback are independent - so you can start to play back a program before it has finished recording, play and record at the same time, and so on.
  • You can pause a live program.
  • You can set it to automatically store up to 60 minutes of what you've just been watching, and rewind back through it (rewind live TV).
  • If you watch a live program from the beginning and then decide half way through that you want to record it, you can usually store the whole program, including the part broadcast before you decided to record it.
  • As of a few days ago you can now record two programs at once, and even play back a third (previously recorded) program while you do it.
  • There's no shuffling of discs or tapes.
  • You can switch subtitles on and off while watching a recorded program.
  • You can (often) set it to automatically record every episode of a series without having to enter each one manually.
  • It has a digital audio output, which (if coupled with an external home cinema decoder) will give you a full 5.1 Dolby Digital soundtrack on certain films on the Sky Movie channels, and improved quality if you're using Dolby ProLogic II.
  • A played-back or briefly-paused program doesn't have the dreaded red dot.
  • If you record a pay-per-view program and then decide to delete it without watching it, you won't be charged anything.
  • It can output RGB and S-Video at the same time, which is useful to some people.
Disadvantages:
  • Historically it has proved to be buggy and unstable (in lots of different ways).
  • The disc can only hold about 20 hours of programmes, which isn't much when you add it up. (It's possible to fit a larger hard disc, but this invalidates your warranty).
  • The software is nowhere near as powerful as what you get with TiVo.
  • If you cancel your subscription to a channel, then you won't be able to watch anything that you have previously recorded off that channel.
  • If you lose your Sky signal feed (e.g. because of heavy rain) not only can you not watch live programs but you can't watch any recorded programs either until the signal comes back.
  • No equivalent of PDC.
Basically, it's a very good time-shifting device: it lets you watch programs at the time you want rather than only at the time they're being broadcast. But it's not really suitable as an archiving device. If you want to record something permanently then you'll need a VCR or DVD recorder as well. (You can record on tape a program that is being played back by Sky+ as easily as you can a live program).
 
I've had my sky+ for all of 5 days now and absolutely love it. I haven't been able to do this yet though:-


Originally posted by NicolasB

If you watch a live program from the beginning and then decide half way through that you want to record it, you can usually store the whole program, including the part broadcast before you decided to record it.


When I've 'rewound' a live programme and pressed the record button it just records the current programme from where it is and not the part that was captured from the rewind (that I'm watching when I press record).

Hope this makes sense!

Any suggestions please?
Thanks very much
Tracey
 
Originally posted by TraceyJ
I've had my sky+ for all of 5 days now and absolutely love it. I haven't been able to do this yet though:-



When I've 'rewound' a live programme and pressed the record button it just records the current programme from where it is and not the part that was captured from the rewind (that I'm watching when I press record).

Hope this makes sense!

Any suggestions please?
Thanks very much
Tracey

you should have instant rewind switched to on an you can vary the amount from 0-60 mins
 
Tracey,

Make sure that you have the latest software - the version which enables dual record. Make sure that in your Sky+ settings you have the Instant Rewind buffer set to something reasonable - say 60 minutes.

Watch a program for a few minutes. Then press record. (You need to press it twice to actually start the recording). If you then go into the Sky+ planner and play the program, you should find you can see everything back to the point where you started watching.
 
The Sky + website's cool & informative, however I've just gone to Broadband, I'm not sure if a dial up connection would give the same effects.
 

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