SKY+ Problems

Francesanne

pilsdon wrote: »

I am on my second sky+ box and it went wrong so I checked various forums.
There is often a problem when you store a lot on the machine and if the reboot method
ie switch on and off you may find that you need to reinitialise the disk analgous to defrag a computer.I did the disk clean and reload as I am reasonably ok with techy things .Sky can do some things online as well.But if you do the reinitialise you will lose all your recordings and have to reset the programme series function.I almost bought a new box but gave it a try and have been working as new for 3 months.I also turned sky anytime off as this also loads the disk

if you want to look at more links
http://www.stevelarkins.freeuk.com/sky_tv_guide.htm#Where_to_Buy_a_Cheap_Sky_Digibox

and

http://nice-design.co.uk/blog/sky-plus-system-fault-how-to-fix-faulty-sky-without-a65-callout-fee
If you are not confident go the engineer route and threaten to cancel lots of blogs tell you it works .Good luck

Thanks for your help. We've got around 72% free space at the moment but think we may need to copy favourite unwatched programmes onto video and maybe start afresh. Find all this stuff a bit scary but getting a little more confident after the last 2 days.

bluboy

They should have been able to determine if it's the hard drive for you by testing the various record functions that rely on the hard drive e.g. -
'Instant rewind' - watch a channel for 10mins then press rewind. The programme should rewind for the duration you have been watching (up to the the value of the 'instant rewind' menu setting). If the hard drive is faulty it is likely that you will not be able to rewind.
Similarly while watching live TV press Pause. The picture should freeze frame. Then after 5-10 minutes press Play. The picture should resume smoothly.
If the picture refuses to freeze frame or the box switches itself it is likely to be a faulty hard drive.
Record - simply select a program from the TV guide and press record. The programme will appear in your planner and you should be able to watch the recorded programme.

The hard drives in sky+ boxes take an awful lot of stick and have a reputation for failing. Mine packed up about 3 seconds after the 12 month warranty and sky refused to replace it so I did it myself.
I suggest you pester them while you're well inside the warranty period.
Hopefully you'll get to talk to someone who knows what they're doing.

Francesanne

Was getting thoroughly fed up and downhearted after trying so many times but out of desperation gave it one final try tonight and it seems the problem has been resolved.Not quite sure what we did differently this time but we managed to watch two complete downloaded programmes without any problems. So fingers crossed everything stays OK. Many thanks to everyone who's offered help and advice. It's been much appreciated. Happy viewing to everyone.

staylor_2

As I said welcome to the world of Sky! The gremlins are already starting to get to work. Better get Sky protect!!!???
Not bitter as you may think as I managed to get out of my HD Contract 8 MONTHS early today with £180 viewing credit till run down. Best day of my life in the last 2.5years:rotfl: . Sky losing Full Package from me including talk and broadband. I am only doing this after 2 and a half years shocking service and a terrible customer experience. Things may be running "well" now but just wait!!!
You have it all to look forward to!
I REALLY do wish you the VERY Best of Luck.:beer:

homealone_2

Francesanne wrote: »

Thanks for your help. We've got around 72% free space at the moment but think we may need to copy favourite unwatched programmes onto video and maybe start afresh. Find all this stuff a bit scary but getting a little more confident after the last 2 days.

just noticed that you said copy unwatched things onto video, do you do this through the function that shows on screen? as when i have tried it it never worked and husband tried it with our dvd and that didnt work and when we have made enquiries about it to various engineers that have come out to show us how it works they have all mumbled oh o thats not what it means you cant copy from sky + to video.......so how do you do it/ or have i got wrong end of stick?

deejayen

The way I do it is NOT to use the "copy" facility as some recorders have problems [even though Sky say they have fixed the problems the Aspect Ratio can still be affected]

Connect SCART from Sky+ box TV skt to your VCR/DVD recorder
Connect SCART from VCR/DVD recorder to TV

MAKE SURE THAT YOU HAVE THE RECORDER'S CORRECT INPUT SELECTED [in my case its AV2]

Playback the sky recording -- Selecting Record on your VCR/DVD

Dave

Francesanne

homealone wrote: »

just noticed that you said copy unwatched things onto video, do you do this through the function that shows on screen? as when i have tried it it never worked and husband tried it with our dvd and that didnt work and when we have made enquiries about it to various engineers that have come out to show us how it works they have all mumbled oh o thats not what it means you cant copy from sky + to video.......so how do you do it/ or have i got wrong end of stick?

We've copied only a few things onto video (for my Mum to watch) but it worked perfectly each time. Mind you, I do leave that to my husband to sort out.

Francesanne

Well, so much for having sorted out the problem. Everything was going so well last night. Husband sat down this afternoon to watch favourite he'd downloaded and then had a slightly different problem with it. The programme suddenly went back to begin of programme and then screen went blank (dark grey) and turned itself off. Tried the good housekeeping procedure again but no joy this time. Got through to technical advisor, a very pleasant and helpful young lady. Sounds like we've got a hard drive problem and we've got an engineer coming out between 12 and 5pm on Sunday. No call out charge because we're still under warrantee. Really disappointed because I've now had all my favourite programmes wiped from my planner but that will teach me to watch them sooner. Watch this space!

Francesanne

Had a visit from a really super SKY engineer today and have been given a brand new SKY+ BOX (Pace). Back in action once again.