Sky + recorder full - help!

Crisp_£_note

Hi

My Dad tells me that his Sky + planner is full with programs my Mum has recorded and wants to keep long term. Which is causing a problem for him obviously as he can no longer record any more programs to watch at a later time and delete afterwards. My Mum refuses to delete any of the stuff she has set to Keep as she watches it regularly!

This is causing even more of a problem because they dont have a DVD or video player in the same room as the Sky + box so cant simply record the shows onto DVD / VHS and clear the planner space. They dont understand modern technology so wont just unplug the DVD / Video and reconnect it in the Sky + box room either.

Does anyone know if there are any other alternative solutions I can organise or tell them about as I live 4+ hours train journey away and it really isnt conveinient or affordable for me right now to take a few days away to go and sort it out for them.

Many thanks

macman

Can't really see any alternative to archiving it to DVD.
If your Dad really wants to record new stuff and already has a DVD recorder, then he'll probably make the effort if you tell him there is no alternative.
If they're really that non-techie, can you pay someone local to go round and copy to DVD for them?

Crisp_£_note

Hi

Thanks for reply I thought that was the only way!

I just wondered if there was any way they could record it directly from the Sky + box itself onto say a portable media device such as an SD card or laptop as there is another 'hole' of some kind next to the Sky+ viewing card in the slot and dont know what this is meant for. Any ideas?

If all else fails they will have to call up their local Sky man but he is hopeless and always seems to cause more problems for them and messes up their phone lines and other wiring in the past. Which is why I think theyre so paranoid about moving things again.

Thanks

macman

Crisp_£_note wrote: »

Hi

Thanks for reply I thought that was the only way!

I just wondered if there was any way they could record it directly from the Sky + box itself onto say a portable media device such as an SD card or laptop as there is another 'hole' of some kind next to the Sky+ viewing card in the slot and dont know what this is meant for. Any ideas?

If all else fails they will have to call up their local Sky man but he is hopeless and always seems to cause more problems for them and messes up their phone lines and other wiring in the past. Which is why I think theyre so paranoid about moving things again.

Thanks

If they can't move the DVD recorder in from the next room then they're not going to manage to hook up a laptop etc.
Why get a 'Sky man' in? Any PC repair person or general tecchie should be able to do this for them. There'e nothing very Sky specific about it, a Sky+ box is a PVR, nothing more.

Crisp_£_note

macman wrote: »

If they can't move the DVD recorder in from the next room then they're not going to manage to hook up a laptop etc.
Why get a 'Sky man' in? Any PC repair person or general tecchie should be able to do this for them. There'e nothing very Sky specific about it, a Sky+ box is a PVR, nothing more.

Thanks for reply but thats where you are wrong sorry to say my Dad is very PC literate. They have been around far longer than DVD's and VHS after all!

They prefer a local 'TV man' (not specifically a 'qualified Sky engineer' no but this is what they label them so went with the flow of things in my enquierey sorry for confusion) because they often use the same one each time there is a problem as he is a local independant business and reliable to turn up on time (even if his work sometimes isnt any good and he has to go back to fix it but in my experience its more the fact Dad doesnt explain things very well so lack of understanding / comunication not bad trader).

Anyway thanks again I will have to talk Dad through it on the phone by the sounds of it.

Best wishes

speedyrite

It is possible to upgrade hard disk drive inside the Sky+ to a larger capacity drive. I don't have the details, but I'm sure I heard of a service that will also copy your existing recordings onto the new HDD. Don't know how much this would cost though. Worth a google search???


Update: http://www.skycopyplus.co.uk/

Fifer

Crisp_£_note wrote: »

Thanks for reply but thats where you are wrong sorry to say my Dad is very PC literate. They have been around far longer than DVD's and VHS after all!:)

Actually, no. VHS was released to the public in the mid-70s, the first IBM PC wasn't launched until 1981. Even the first pre-PC home computers (Apple, Commodore PET and the Tandy) came out in 1977, which was a couple of years after VHS.

It is possible to fit a bigger hard disk an a Sky+ box, but that might only be a temporary solution as it seems inevitable that your mother will eventually fill that too. I think she needs to realise that PVRs are not intended for anything other than temporary storage. A better solution would be to buy a DVD recorder to sit by the Sky+ box and Dad could archive anything she wants to keep to DVD.

ceebeeby

Ha-ha-ha, if they're that untechy, next time you're round, and they're both out of the room, I'd delete all the programmes on there - call them back in, pretend to be horrified and say it's just done a hard drive crash .... but the memory is now empty.

Okay, so you might have cold semolina and a glare from your Mum, but she'll forgive you ..... solves the problem!

Crisp_£_note

Fifer wrote: »

Actually, no. VHS was released to the public in the mid-70s, the first IBM PC wasn't launched until 1981. Even the first pre-PC home computers (Apple, Commodore PET and the Tandy) came out in 1977, which was a couple of years after VHS.

Wrong again! I was talking about my Mum and Dad not PC's / VHS and DVD! :rotfl:

Fifer

Crisp_£_note wrote: »

Wrong again! I was talking about my Mum and Dad not PC's / VHS and DVD! :rotfl:

Then, following that logic, shouldn't that make him as AV-literate as be is PC-literate?

Francesanne

Crikey your Mum must like an awful of programmes. We've got a fair amount saved on our planner and we've still got 62% left. My husband for some odd reason has started taping some of his programmes on the video and that solves taking up more space on Sky.