Is it time to change to Sky+?

socks_uk

We've been with Sky for many years and we are having a problem with the old Sky box not turning on (it has red light but not green). We're still investigating, and hoping it will come back to life after being turned off over night but no luck as yet so in the meantime...

If I ring SKY and ask to be upgraded to Sky+ does anyone know how much more per month it will be? I keep hearing of people being offered it for free if they say they want to cancel but now I hear they don't do this much now.

I also have to think about my dvd recorder which I mainly use to transfer programmes to disc to send to my sister in USA (Dr Who, Life on Mars, etc.) Can I bypass the Sky+ and still record to the hard drive of dvd recorder? I also send Sky to the kitchen TV via a 'magic eye'.

We're still hoping our old box springs back to life (red light is on and flashes when remote is pressed and remote works TV volume OK) and I'll unplug it from the mains again while at work today.

Any advice greatly received, thanks.

macman

Cheapest route would be just to replace your old Sky box with another one from car boot sale, freegle or eBay. They are given away all the time
The PSU can be replaced but really not worth it on a non Sky+ box.
Or go the Freesat route with a Humax Foxsat HDR if you want the Sky+ functions.

Kurtis_Blue

^as above.

The Sky pixies will not fix your box over night, with Sky+ you can still use a VCR or DVD recorder or separate hard drive to record.
If you have a high spend with Sky on packages then probably more likely to get a deal on the new Sky+ contract only can try, find out exactly how much Virgin/BT will be and go armed with the fact.

Hammyman

socks_uk wrote: »

If I ring SKY and ask to be upgraded to Sky+ does anyone know how much more per month it will be? I keep hearing of people being offered it for free if they say they want to cancel but now I hear they don't do this much now.

Its free and there is no extra charge other than any installation charges as long as you subscribe. And what I can't understand is why you haven't already. Once you have it you'll wonder how you did without it.

macman

It's inclusive if you subscribe, but you will need a twin feed from the LNB to the box-which may require a new LNB if you only have an old single. Not a difficult DIY job if the dish is accessible.

socks_uk

Thank you for all your replies.

For the longest time it used to cost extra per month to upgrade to Sky+, I didn't realise it no longer was.

We have 3 (yes 3!!! two purchased off ebay for peanuts!) Panasonic dvd recorders with hard drive and so never thought it was worth upgrading Sky. My DVDHDDs do all of my recording automatically once programmed and I like the feature on SKY that turns over the TV when programmed (series link). We did try out Virgin but I didn't seem to be able to pre-program to 'turn-over' a week ahead like Sky.

I'll give Sky a ring when I get home from work and see what they say. I won't tell them my box isn't working unless they ask me! It's a good job I have a freeview box attached to my dvd recorder in the bedroom so I can start recording the new series of The Apprentice, my sister loves it (American TV is rubbish!)

Thanks again!

socks_uk

macman wrote: »

It's inclusive if you subscribe, but you will need a twin feed from the LNB to the box-which may require a new LNB if you only have an old single. Not a difficult DIY job if the dish is accessible.

Sorry macman, what's an LNB? Probably something obvious but not obvious to me!

macman

Low Noise Block-the device that sits on the arm in front of the dish and collects the signal. The cabling runs from the LNB to the digibox.
Pre-Sky+ LNB's may have had only 1 feed. These days the minimum is usually 4 (a quad LNB), to allow for 2 Sky+ feeds.
Quad looks like this:
http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/5713/idlp40qdlplusfront.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php%3Ft%3D1090093&usg=__FbEfIfkRoSj2PwBZVn9RmeIXtyQ=&h=500&w=600&sz=48&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=faVQTQsMv5CYdM:&tbnh=176&tbnw=210&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dquad%2Blnb%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1680%26bih%3D854%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=151&vpy=129&dur=16606&hovh=205&hovw=246&tx=165&ty=118&ei=oEisTKjINoGDswbGvqXfAw&oei=oEisTKjINoGDswbGvqXfAw&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=30&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0
If you look at your LNB then you can see how many sockets it has on it.

socks_uk

macman wrote: »

Low Noise Block-the device that sits on the arm in front of the dish and collects the signal. The cabling runs from the LNB to the digibox.
Pre-Sky+ LNB's may have had only 1 feed. These days the minimum is usually 4 (a quad LNB), to allow for 2 Sky+ feeds.
Quad looks like this:
http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/5713/idlp40qdlplusfront.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php%3Ft%3D1090093&usg=__FbEfIfkRoSj2PwBZVn9RmeIXtyQ=&h=500&w=600&sz=48&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=faVQTQsMv5CYdM:&tbnh=176&tbnw=210&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dquad%2Blnb%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1680%26bih%3D854%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=151&vpy=129&dur=16606&hovh=205&hovw=246&tx=165&ty=118&ei=oEisTKjINoGDswbGvqXfAw&oei=oEisTKjINoGDswbGvqXfAw&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=30&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0
If you look at your LNB then you can see how many sockets it has on it.

Thanks for that... I'm sure it will make more sense when I can see the link but unfortunately my internet blocks some sites at work... thankfully not MSE!! lol

kari59

I rang Sky to get standard Sky+ without multi room and they told me is was £99 plus £60 installation.

Harrowing_2

kari59 wrote: »

I rang Sky to get standard Sky+ without multi room and they told me is was £99 plus £60 installation.

Similar price if you go for High Definition box (which incorporates sky+ functions). £60 install + £120: cos HD sub £10 a month for a min 12 months. When you cancel HD sub, you will still have HD for BBC, ITV, CH4 and Five. Well worth the extra £20 I'd say!