sky plus or pvr box

Kazzajr

Well I'm not in a cable area and half expected Sky to check my postcode but they didn't, sorry should have mentioned that in my earlier post.

I said I was going to go with Virgin because of the cheap tv/phone/internet package and free v+ box then Sky offered the Sky + box deal and also free line rental for 1 year and free broadband (min bb package), including wireless router.

Unstoppable_2

trinidoug wrote: »

Hi,

I already have Sky (not +). If i get a seperate PVR box can i link that to sky so that i can pause/record their shows eg the football or does that only work with a sky+ box?

Yes you can link it but you can only do the live pause and rewind for as long as the Sky box remains on that channel. You can't do what you can on Sky + which is halfway through a programme select record and have it record from the beginning whilst you switch to another channel.

Sky+ has long been argued as being the best PVR solution out there if you intend on subscribing and to a point, even worth paying the tenner a month for if you're a non subscriber.

Leopard

We're paying £38 a month (that's £456 a year :eek: ) for Sky+ now, without the Sports channels. And even that's a deal for long-standing customers (not a "Pick & Mix" collection of packages, or whatever Sky calls it this week).

The "New Bargain Deal" on offer from Curry's is that one can purchase a Sky+HD box "for just £49" and they'll even let us off having to buy a new television as well :rolleyes: . All we'd then have to do, if you read the small print, is pay Sky £60 to deliver the box...plus an extra £120 a year for the HD...plus an extra £120 a year for "Multi-room" (compulsory).

That little lot adds £300 to the "Only £49". And this is a Special Offer until 27 January, after which it will cost an additional £150.

So, a year of Sky+HD works out at £805 - or £955 after 27 January. To watch television??? Even if one can afford it, that's obscene. I'd feel guilty paying it when children are starving to death in Africa.

Then there's the BBC licence fee and the fact that we're already using a 4-LNB (with the two non-Sky+ feeds going to other rooms with "Freeview-from-Sky" cards). So, I'd have to get our aerial guys in first, to install an 8-LNB before Sky turned up with the HD box. Add another £100 for that (although it would provide a satellite feed to another couple of rooms).

Putting all that together comes to well over £1,000 (plus another £150 unless it's contracted before 27 January). With Sky free to raise its subscription fees to whatever it likes, whenever it likes.

What planet are they on?

For a one-off payment of just £300 I can buy a Humax FoxSat HD box, with twin HD tuners and a 320 GB hard drive, from Richer Sounds.

That's £156 less than I'm paying every year for ordinary Sky+ with film channels - let alone £505 less than Sky wants for HD (or £655 less than it will want after 27 January).

That's an awful lot of Blu-Ray discs I could rent from Blockbuster by mail order (with better picture quality and before they're even shown on Sky).

So, Sky is going to have to offer me something pretty damned special if I'm not to tell them to stick their current £456 a year for SD television - let alone pay them £805 a year for HD (£955 after 27 January) and instead just buy a £300 Humax HD box to use when I'm not watching rented films on Blu-Ray, delivered to my door, for £3.50 a shot, months before Sky ever gets to show them.

Has Sky gone mad or am I missing something?

DatabaseError

£100 to fit a octo-lnb?! If I was local I'd do it for you for £90!

Leopard

No, I meant £100 for supplying the octo LNB, clambering all over the roof, drilling holes through walls and cabling up two more rooms.

For that, plus the call-out cost of coming here and back, I actually think £100 is quite reasonable.

A plumber would be horrified at such extreme under-charging. :eek:

(Even if he's Polish and you paid him in cash Euros). :cool:

Kazzajr

It is too expensive for what it is, the deal I was offered still wasn't good enough for me as I was looking for sky+ free and a reduction in package costs.
I would prefer HD box but wouldn't pay £10 per month for it.

I have now cancelled my sky subscription and will look into getting a pvr box, have checked the BT vision but to get the free box you have to be tied into an 18 month contract and that still seems expensive also don't like the fact you don't know exactly what is shown on it.

As it stands now I have freeview on my tv and will still have the free channels through my sky box which I can also record through my pc, so I am going to see how I go with this and save my subscription costs, if I really struggle without Sky then I can always take advantage of any new/returning customer deals in a couple of months.

ETA: On a related topic does anyone know if HD channels will be available through freeview in the near future?

bellslea

can someone please tell me what is best sky+ or pvr box for a non freeview area

Kazzajr

Have you tried phoning Sky again and saying you are cancelling as you are moving to Virgin as they are offering you a free box.
Make sure you are put through to the cancellations dept, Sky will offer you incentives, knock back the first one and say no you would still like to cancel they will say they are checking for any other deals available.

bellslea

not in a cable area or freeview area. only sky or 4 channel t v

Kazzajr

I'm not in a cable area but didn't mention this to Sky and they didn't check so I was offered their best deal based on going to Virgin (which I cannot even do).

If you do have to buy one of the boxes for the higher price I would suggest a PVR as long as you can put sky through it because if you cancel sky the sky + functions are no longer available (unless you pay £10pm).