Is there an alternative to Sky + ?

carl310166

At the moment we have Sky + which is fantastic.

But we have come to realise that we don't really watch a lot of channels.

We have thought about getting a Freesat card from Sky for £20 and still pay them £10 per month so we can still retain the Sky + features,but is there an alternative,so we don't have to pay the monthly subscription?

There is an 80 gig pvr in Aldi soon,it seems to dual record,but what is the EPG (electronic program guide) like? is it free?

I have thought about a Tivo,but it doesn't dual record.

Thanks in advance.

I would normally search the av forums,but for some reason i can't access the site.

Fifer

I recently bought a Freeview PVR (Humax 9200T) from Comet (twin tuner, 160GB drive). It's a fantastic device and the EPG is free. It's not quite as versatile an EPG as Sky + from what I hear, but it's the best £230 I've spent for a while.

charlieheard

I bought a Topfield 5800 recently, which has most of the features of Sky+, and in many ways it is better. It stores over 80 hours of programmes, has picture-in-picture, allows you to record 2 separate channels while watching a third, has proper chase play and pauses live TV.

The best thing about it is that the manufacturer allows people to add enhancements to the box. This means you can add different features to it, such as searching the EPG for key words or phrases in programme names or descriptions and setting them to record.

There's a website dedicated to it, where users discuss tips and problems. Have a look at toppy.org.uk

lolly5648

Can you use these to record from Sky (I dont want to upgrade to Sky+ at the moment)?

buglawton

Similar question. I would like to know if you can get the Sky+ service for just £10/month (don't want any pay channels). PVR and NTL (cable) do not offer the Phoenix channel that I want to record.