What is the alternative to Sky?

scotsmart

Ok guys im sure this topic has been done to death by now but of the posts i have read i cannot seem to find a reasonable answer thus i ask more for clarification......

We are considering cancelling our Sky subscriptions after in excess of ten years primarily due to their inability to help us out which seems to be kind of par for the course with such entities nowadays the days of excellent customer service have long gone..

So our main complain excluding customer service being non existant and techs that know less than we do about it that are unable or unwilling to try to help alongside continuing issues with Sky + boxes breaking down (we have forked out for five in as many years) i am all but convinced they have timers set to break around the end of the first year? five out of five have done so meaning us forking out for a new one plus the £48 @ month to view then taking into account the lack of keeping what youve recorded over this time and the fact we live in a frequent power cut prone area resulting in our planner and stored recorded programmes being frequently lost it really is a lottery whether we get to see a recorded programme let alone one we have set on planner often ?

So fed up of the sheer control Sky retains over something we have bought and paid for were now seeking information relating to the reality of what else is available? preferably for a one off payment? my problem really is a lot of my programmes are on Lifestyle & the Discovery network which i beleive are only available via a Sky package such as we currently have (i may be wrong and would love info if i am)

So ideally we are seeking a system that for no cost other than initial hardware cost that would record, pause FF & Rewind TV store indefinately without loosing recorded or planner programmes and last of all would not cost an arm and a leg i woud dearly love to know.

And laatly is there any alternative to actual Sky issued + and HD boxes with a longer lifespan than the terribly unrealiable Sky ones.

Many thanks in advance of replies guys :T

penrhyn

Subscription TV alternatives are Virgin Cable, or at a stretch BT Vision.
Non subscription services are Freeview (terrestrial) or Freesat.

PVRs available for either, Humax are a decent make.

Try removing the viewing card from your Sky box for a week and see if you can survive with the channels you can still view!

caeler

I rather like Freeview+ and I have a Humax PVR9300T. I can pause TV and record two things and watch limited channels whilst they record. I've been very happy indeed and couldn't imagine paying for TV now. The box was expensive mind, cheaper boxes are available.

scotsmart

Em right freeview is a no no due to being in rural NW Scotland with no signal to terrestial tv let alone freeview?

What are my options then? (sorry should of mentioned this in first post:j)

Also is there any recording playback pause and rewind TV devises that can be expanded or connected to external drives to burn so as to store prior to burning or playing back to a DvD recorder etc as this would be of great interest to us (we currently have a what was a very expensive Philips DVD recorder but it only records to Philips DVD's sadly that are both expensive and hard to find so an alternative needs to be sought)


Thanks in advance of replies ...

penrhyn

As per my previous post, Freesat from Sky, or Freesat., and a Humax Foxsat box.

davemurgatroyd

The probable cause of your previous failing boxes (and likely to continue on future boxes unless you do something about it) are your frequent power cuts - as power is returned there is likely to be a power surge and frequent surges are likely to kill any digibox. It sound as though you need to connect digiboxes etc to a power surge protecting strip.

macman

A Freesat PVR will do everything that Sky+ does (except charge you a subscription to use it). It's a straight swap for your Sky+ box. Humax Foxsat HDR is the one to get.
However if you want certain subscription channels that are only available on the Sky platform, then you have no other option, apart from maybe viewing those channels online.
I hope you are not paying Sky for the replacement boxes? They are available virtually for free on eBay, or completely free on freegle.
PS: Freeview is a terrestial TV service.

scotsmart

ok guys thanks and sadly we have bought all boxes from Sky? asking why this so frequently happened ! never really getting any conclusive answers shocking really and another reason to leave them for good...

malaga0034

scotsmart wrote: »

Em right freeview is a no no due to being in rural NW Scotland with no signal to terrestial tv let alone freeview?

What are my options then? (sorry should of mentioned this in first post:j)

Also is there any recording playback pause and rewind TV devises that can be expanded or connected to external drives to burn so as to store prior to burning or playing back to a DvD recorder etc as this would be of great interest to us (we currently have a what was a very expensive Philips DVD recorder but it only records to Philips DVD's sadly that are both expensive and hard to find so an alternative needs to be sought)


Thanks in advance of replies ...

if you have broadband and know somebody with sky just buy a sling box and you can watch all your sky channels or buy an apple tv and you can have 4od 5 on demand tv catch up bbc inlayer and many many more for free (once you have paid a one off £90 for the apple tv2)