Upgrading to Sky+

Miroslav

I have a standard Sky digibox but it seems like time to upgrade to Sky+.

On the Sky website it says as an existing customer, the box is free but installation £60 - can I get it any better aside the usual haggling?

With a Sky+ box can I still record onto VHS and DVD either directly or off of the hard drive? I like to keep certain things.

I'll have another look around to see if I can find some answers, but in the meantime if anyone can give me some info or provide a link to somewhere that can, I would appreciate.

Cheers :beer:

penrhyn

To upgrade to Sky +, chances are you will require a new LNB fitting to your dish and a new twin feed to the box to allow for recording on one channel whilst watching another.
The Sky + box has the same connectivity as the standard box so you can still use a VHS machine (whatever that is:D).
You can copy either live programmes or ones pervously stored.

If you get a new box from Sky it will be a Sky+HD box so your TV permitting you'll be able to watch the fta HD programmes as well.

Miroslav

Funnily enough i'm having a new LNB later today, but just for normal Sky, so if I got Sky+ would be a waste of money having the new one today, but I am getting dish re-aligned too.

As long as it's a simple replacement, box for box where the VCR is concerned and all the connections are the same, i'm happy, but I fear with Sky+ I may need two scarts in my TV, which I don't have as it's fairly old.

The other option would be to buy an HD TV too, although not bothered by widescreen. I'm guessing if I don't have an HD TV, I can still view other non HD channels, so that in reality is fine for me.

penrhyn

Get the fitter to put a quad LNB in for you and run a twin feed into the house. Shotgun cable can use the existing hole.
Then pick up a Sky+ box from fleebay for a few quid.
Its only a single scart connection to the TV and your VCR plugs into the second scart on the sky box.


A bit of an old photo, the new ones don't have component outputs.

Miroslav

Too late. Have a message on my phone to say he's just done it, so now i'll go home and check it's working.

Still will talk to person I live with about Sky+ and then maybe speak to this chap again to see if he'll install cheaper than Sky will.

Thanks for the info. May still go SKY+ anyway in the not too distant future. Phoned home and it's all working again, so a positive

What is the lead called that goes from the dish to the back of the box (the one with the thin pinsticking out about an inch or so? Looking at the cable, it's very worn after 12 years and fading after we had a leak a few years back. Maybe i'll need to change that in the end too.

penrhyn

F connectors are the ones that terminate the cables from the dish.



The downleads are satellite grade coaxial cable.
For Sky+ installers tend to use the colloquially named shotgun cable.


WF100twin Find it on the Satcure website.

Miroslav

Ahhh, so they'll have new leads for Sky+. Good job with the condition my current ones are in!

Thanks for all the info. I'll discuss it with my flatmate and see if I can convince her to upgrade!

macman

Buy yourself a Sky+ box on eBay for next to nothing. Once you have the twin feed from the LNB, it's just a box swap. No 'installation' is required, just a call to Sky to pair your viewing card.