Transferring content from Sky+ & recording tv after leaving Sky

toojohnny

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Hi, apologies if this has been asked before. Basically I am leaving Sky tv due to their price hikes. What I would like to do (before the service ends) is to get the content I have recorded onto the Sky+ box off of it. Also, even though I will still have a number of channels free after I leave Sky (with the equipment left in place) I won't be able to use the boxes to record any more.

In an ideal World, I would buy 1 machine, that a) allowed me to transfer the Sky+ content onto it's hard drive - for me to do what I wanted with later, and b) allow me to record programmes (that I can still get) onto the same hard drive. I would be able to hook up a DVD recorder for later transfer - or better still the machine would have one...

But I don't think this 1 machine-does-all is possible is it?

On the assumption it's no, I've tried to do a bit of research, and 1 way (if you don't want to transfer straight to DVD) is to buy something like the Dazzle DVD recorder, and record to PC first. Does anyone recommend this? I note it doesn't come with leads, so what would I need to connect the Sky+ box to the PC? I understand this way is time consuming, but I kinda like the idea of editing first, and then recording exactly what I wanted onto DVD.

Secondly, the hard drive recorder. I don't want anything too snazzy. I just want something that I could hook up to the TV/Sky box equation, and record what I wanted onto the drive. I like Panasonic as a brand, but can anyone point me in the right direction/recommend anything? I bought a box previously, but it could not be used in conjuction with the Sky box - and it required arial input (which I don't have!)

If I record onto the PC, how much space would 1 hour take up?

Any advice/suggestions gratefully received. I wish I was an expert on this - but sadly I am not!
 
The content on your Sky box is encrypted, the only way you're getting it off the box is by recording it as you've suggested. SCART/component will output to a DVD-R or a capture device on a PC.

The question that probably needs asking is what do you want to watch? A number of services exist from things like NowTV/Prime/netflix etc. through to freesat/freeview or even non domestic satellite channels. As you already have a satellite dish i'd suggest looking at an enigma 2 based satellite receiver, it'll function much as your Sky box does in terms of recording/playback. They're inexpensive, easily customised with a full 7 day EPG and record in a format that's very easy to deal with/play back on other devices, the down side is they're slightly more complex to set up. Something like the Edison OS mini starts at £79 for a single tuner version or £99 for a dual tuner version. You'd need to add the cost of a USB hard drive or a flash drive (128GB is under £15 and will give circa 90hrs of recording time for SD).
 

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