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Upgrading to Sky Q

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  • neilmcl
    neilmcl Posts: 19,460 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    I don't think I've ever used the programme reminder feature in my Sky HD box. I tend to record just about everything I'm interested in whether I watch it in real time or not. More often than not I'll deliberately watch a programme 10-15 minutes later simply to skip through the ads. 
  • Belenus
    Belenus Posts: 2,753 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 13 October 2020 at 7:06PM
    neilmcl said:
    neilmcl said:
    There is a solution, my hubby said you can take the hard drive out of the Sky HD box and connect it to a desktop computer and transfer the videos in file form and download special software which replicates the Sky box and watch and save them on the computer. 
    Unless you want to provide details to this "solution" afaik this isn't possible as the recordings on the disk are encrypted and there's no software available that can decrypt them.
    The programnes are recorded in a special video format he said, apparently you download a special software and it decrypts the file and transfers it into an AVI file he just told me which can be played on DIVIX does that makes sense, I am just typing what hes on about. 
    So you don't know in other words. Please don't definitively post "there is a solution" if you can't provide what exactly that solution or what this "special software" is.
    Sorry guys I wasent trying to avoid you. hubbys gone back to work and I cant ask him details. I just remember we had music concerts he wanted to keep on our HD Sky box a few years ago so dismantled the box and took the hard drive out which looks exactly like a pc hard drive, and connected it to his pc as a secondary hard drive and did something that way.  And now we have it all on DVD. 
    You could do that but it only ever worked with unencrypted programmes.

    There was a programme called ExPVR that is no longer supported and may no longer work on the latest Sky+ software.

    I used to use ExPVR regularly to copy unencrypted music programmes to my music server so that I could delete them from the Sky box and free up space. It does not allow you to copy encrypted programmes and most things on Sky are encrypted.

    ExPVR was also able to copy the entire contents of the Sky+ disk and copy it to a new disk. I used it to upgrade from 500gb to 2tb. I removed the 500gb disk, attached it to my PC along with a 2tb disk and copied the content of the 500gb disk to the 2TB disk and then put that in the Sky+ box. It could transfer both encrypted and unencrypted programmes. It also allowed you to select only some programmes to transfer. It was a very useful piece of software and it is a shame that the developer stopped upgrading it to cope with changes and upgrades in Sky software.

    A lot of people used ExPVR in the same way but I don't think it works anymore. Perhaps it does as I haven't tried to use it for a while. 

    Copy+ was a much older similar piece of software but that hasn't worked for a decade or more.

    Ask your husband if it was ExPVR that he used.


    A man walked into a car showroom.
    He said to the salesman, “My wife would like to talk to you about the Volkswagen Golf in the showroom window.”
    Salesman said, “We haven't got a Volkswagen Golf in the showroom window.”
    The man replied, “You have now mate".
  • rmg1
    rmg1 Posts: 3,159 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Firstly, apologies for not responding sooner to all the comments (I've been working non-stop).
    Secondly, I didn't expect this thread to explode as much as it did.

    Last, byt by no means least, thanks to all for the comments/suggestions.
    It looks like it comes down to 3 choices:-
    1. Stick with the current box (does anyone know if Sky will eventually force an upgrade to Sky Q, i.e. the current HD boxes will just stop working as no longer supported?)
    2. Binge-watch everything and then upgrade
    3. Bite the bullet, lose everything and upgrade anyway
    For number 3, I'll need to check what's available on box sets to see what we'll lose.

    I did purchase a film that we haven't watched yet.
    I'm assuming I can just download it again?

    RIchard
    :wall: Flagellation, necrophilia and bestiality - Am I flogging a dead horse? :wall:

    Any posts are my opinion and only that. Please read at your own risk.
  • Neil_Jones
    Neil_Jones Posts: 9,536 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    1) Considering Sky still support the pre HD boxes which are best part of 20 years old by now, you should be safe for the foreseeable future on HD.  But if the box breaks or becomes unfixable, you won't get a new one from Sky as they don't make them anymore.  It'll either be a refurbished box or an enforced Q upgrade.
    2) Binge-watching is always good.
    3) Remember this is an on-demand world.  This isn't the 1980s where if you miss something because you didn't tape it its gone forever, a large amount of content is on-demand.

    As to the purchase of a film, if you bought it through Sky Store and migrate over its my understanding it will follow since it'll be the same account.  One of the benefits of Store on Sky is you get the access to the digital copy, the one that sits in your planner that you can download/archive as you see fit.
  • Belenus
    Belenus Posts: 2,753 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    1) Considering Sky still support the pre HD boxes which are best part of 20 years old by now, you should be safe for the foreseeable future on HD.  But if the box breaks or becomes unfixable, you won't get a new one from Sky as they don't make them anymore.  It'll either be a refurbished box or an enforced Q upgrade..................
    There are thousands of working used Sky+ HD boxes available on eBay and other sites for £30 or less.

    This is mainly due to people upgrading to Sky Q and selling their no longer wanted Sky+ HD boxes.

    It will be many years before that supply dries up.
    A man walked into a car showroom.
    He said to the salesman, “My wife would like to talk to you about the Volkswagen Golf in the showroom window.”
    Salesman said, “We haven't got a Volkswagen Golf in the showroom window.”
    The man replied, “You have now mate".
  • rmg1 said:
    Firstly, apologies for not responding sooner to all the comments (I've been working non-stop).
    Secondly, I didn't expect this thread to explode as much as it did.

    Last, byt by no means least, thanks to all for the comments/suggestions.
    It looks like it comes down to 3 choices:-
    1. Stick with the current box (does anyone know if Sky will eventually force an upgrade to Sky Q, i.e. the current HD boxes will just stop working as no longer supported?)
    2. Binge-watch everything and then upgrade
    3. Bite the bullet, lose everything and upgrade anyway
    For number 3, I'll need to check what's available on box sets to see what we'll lose.

    I did purchase a film that we haven't watched yet.
    I'm assuming I can just download it again?

    RIchard
    The thing is you can purchase the HD boxes for around ten pounds at a car boot, or some charity shops or even ebay etc.
    I used to collect them just in case ours failed. The point is you can replace them very cheaply, and then you simply ring Sky to get them to connect to your subscription card.
    In hindsight from a personal point of view,  I or rather we now regret upgrading to the Sky Q box mainly due to losing the program reminder feature. Sounds daft but true. We really dont see the point of filling up the hard drive with things we could have watched in real time, when we just need a nudge sometimes to be reminded its about to start. Then you got the hassle of scrolling through recorded stuff to delete it. I have lost some valuable things this way when things get deleted by mistake. Sounds old fashioned but if I want to keep a program we still use our Panasonic dvd recorder. That way I know it wont get deleted by mistake. These new fangled ways are fine for some people, not for others. 
  • neilmcl
    neilmcl Posts: 19,460 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    rmg1 said:
    Firstly, apologies for not responding sooner to all the comments (I've been working non-stop).
    Secondly, I didn't expect this thread to explode as much as it did.

    Last, byt by no means least, thanks to all for the comments/suggestions.
    It looks like it comes down to 3 choices:-
    1. Stick with the current box (does anyone know if Sky will eventually force an upgrade to Sky Q, i.e. the current HD boxes will just stop working as no longer supported?)
    2. Binge-watch everything and then upgrade
    3. Bite the bullet, lose everything and upgrade anyway
    For number 3, I'll need to check what's available on box sets to see what we'll lose.

    I did purchase a film that we haven't watched yet.
    I'm assuming I can just download it again?

    RIchard
    The thing is you can purchase the HD boxes for around ten pounds at a car boot, or some charity shops or even ebay etc.
    I used to collect them just in case ours failed. The point is you can replace them very cheaply, and then you simply ring Sky to get them to connect to your subscription card.
    In hindsight from a personal point of view,  I or rather we now regret upgrading to the Sky Q box mainly due to losing the program reminder feature. Sounds daft but true. We really dont see the point of filling up the hard drive with things we could have watched in real time, when we just need a nudge sometimes to be reminded its about to start. Then you got the hassle of scrolling through recorded stuff to delete it. I have lost some valuable things this way when things get deleted by mistake. Sounds old fashioned but if I want to keep a program we still use our Panasonic dvd recorder. That way I know it wont get deleted by mistake. These new fangled ways are fine for some people, not for others. 
    Is it really that much of a hassle though. You do know that you can easily recover deleted recordings, right? When you delete a recording it doesn't permanently disappear but remains in the deleted section where it can recovered or permanently removed, bit like your recycle bin on your PC. 
  • neilmcl said:
    rmg1 said:
    Firstly, apologies for not responding sooner to all the comments (I've been working non-stop).
    Secondly, I didn't expect this thread to explode as much as it did.

    Last, byt by no means least, thanks to all for the comments/suggestions.
    It looks like it comes down to 3 choices:-
    1. Stick with the current box (does anyone know if Sky will eventually force an upgrade to Sky Q, i.e. the current HD boxes will just stop working as no longer supported?)
    2. Binge-watch everything and then upgrade
    3. Bite the bullet, lose everything and upgrade anyway
    For number 3, I'll need to check what's available on box sets to see what we'll lose.

    I did purchase a film that we haven't watched yet.
    I'm assuming I can just download it again?

    RIchard
    The thing is you can purchase the HD boxes for around ten pounds at a car boot, or some charity shops or even ebay etc.
    I used to collect them just in case ours failed. The point is you can replace them very cheaply, and then you simply ring Sky to get them to connect to your subscription card.
    In hindsight from a personal point of view,  I or rather we now regret upgrading to the Sky Q box mainly due to losing the program reminder feature. Sounds daft but true. We really dont see the point of filling up the hard drive with things we could have watched in real time, when we just need a nudge sometimes to be reminded its about to start. Then you got the hassle of scrolling through recorded stuff to delete it. I have lost some valuable things this way when things get deleted by mistake. Sounds old fashioned but if I want to keep a program we still use our Panasonic dvd recorder. That way I know it wont get deleted by mistake. These new fangled ways are fine for some people, not for others. 
    Is it really that much of a hassle though. You do know that you can easily recover deleted recordings, right? When you delete a recording it doesn't permanently disappear but remains in the deleted section where it can recovered or permanently removed, bit like your recycle bin on your PC. 
    Thanks for that, but we even rang Sky at the time and tried that but it seemed to have been permanently deleted as Sky says that happens when the hsrd drive becomes full, and the Sky Q boxes automatically deletes what it thinks you didnt want to keep, which is wrong because how could it read my mind or possibly know what was precious to any of us? So again another reason to not like the Q boxes in my opinion. Like I said what sometimes seems like progression is a backward step for other people. 
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