SKY+ QUESTION

Uncle_Cuddles

Hi. I'm interested in getting Sky+ for £99 but I notice that they have a new Sky+160 for £399 which I assume is the same except it has a bigger hard-drive in it. If that is all it is, is it possible to upgrade the original Sky+ box with a bigger hard-drive? It would be cheaper than paying an extra £300!

That leads me on to my next question - does the Sky+ box belong to you when you buy it or do Sky still own it?

aljoe

I have heard you can upgrade - 160 Gb drives are apparently available on the internet for £70 but doing this would invalidate any warranty.

The box is yours I believe as Sky are keen on pushing breakdown insurance. I do not have the insurance.
However I had a problem a few months ago - they have a callout charge of £30 including parts - they visited twice and I had everything replaced at no extra cost! Dish, LNB, cable and box

Sarfaraz

Yes, you can upgrade the hard drive and there are numerous forums (good place to start is https://www.digitalspy.co.uk) where Sky+ hard drive upgrades are discussed. However, as aljoe states your 12 month warranty would be invalidated, although the box is yours.

You could get the standard Sky+ and say buy a DVD recorder (with or without hard drive) and transfer the stuff from Sky+ on that, but it's your call.

Q for aljoe: Sky called me up to sign up for an extended warranty (£9.99 per month) although I am reluctant to fork out more money for Mr Murdoch! I was led to believe by the Sky rep a call out which is outside of warranty costs £65.... Is it really only £30 per call out?

aljoe

Just checked the amount - oops! - sorry it was £60 (now gone up to £65).
I suppose you have to balance £9.99 per month against a £65 one off call out.
In my case I have had Sky+ since it came out and have only needed one call out. We were getting regular failed recordings and even losing some until the hard drive totally failed and so they installed new equipment.

iwannamotorbike

Hi

Interesting thread. I also refuse to pay £10 a month for insurance.

Has anyone experience of calling to cancel Sky + if they have a problem after the 12 month warrenty on the box has expired? Are they really going to give up £600+ a year (includes the multi room option) for the cost of fixing a problem?

Any responses appreciated

Thanks


Allan 8)

sweep9

According to other forums I read, you can fit a maximum of a 250gb to your Sky+ box. You are better having a V2 Pace box or an Amstrad. This shouldn't be too much of a problem if you are going for a new install.

To open the Pace you need Torx Security bits. To open an Amstrad you need a standard x-head screwdriver.

There are instructions on other site called https://www.hummer.co.uk. Click on sky+ pages.

I can guarantee that it's quite easy to do 'cos I've fitted a 200gb hard drive to my Amstrad sky+ and it's worked nearly* perfectly since. It now stores 100hrs!!! ;D

*nearly, because I forgot to turn the acoustic to quiet so I had to put up with the box clicking away in the corner of the room. It's now set on quiet and the clicks have gone!

nicknak123

According to other forums I read, you can fit a maximum of a 250gb to your Sky+ box. You are better having a V2 Pace box or an Amstrad. This shouldn't be too much of a problem if you are going for a new install.

To open the Pace you need Torx Security bits. To open an Amstrad you need a standard x-head screwdriver.

There are instructions on other site called https://www.hummer.co.uk. Click on sky+ pages.

I can guarantee that it's quite easy to do 'cos I've fitted a 200gb hard drive to my Amstrad sky+ and it's worked nearly* perfectly since. It now stores 100hrs!!!  ;D

*nearly, because I forgot to turn the acoustic to quiet so I had to put up with the box clicking away in the corner of the room. It's now set on quiet and the clicks have gone!

I thought about upgrading the disk but all the problems logged on the hummer site scared me off - especially the Do This Upgrade At Your Own Perilwas it really that easy ? or am I just being a girlie ? :-[

sweep9

On the Amstrad I did the following (the 2nd time around!):-

Put the new Harddrive in my PC and ran a utility called AMSET from the Maxtor Website. This sets the drive on 'Quiet' mode so you don't hear the clicking.

Turned off the SKY plus box. Waited for the machine to cool down for 20 minutes. Unplugged from the mains.

Removed 3 screws from the back. Slid the cover off.

Removed the four screws holding the HD cradle to the main board inside. On of the screws also holds the earthing lead. Removed the power socket from the hard drive. Removed the big grey IDE lead carefully.

I then took out the cradle and removed the four screws holding the drive to it.

Replaced the drive and did the whole lot again, but in reverse.

Then ran a SKY+ setup (Services > 4 > 0 > 1 > SELECT > SKY PLUS SETUP) and it set the harddrive up and then reset itself.

Downside: My partner recorded a film the night before. This is still sat on the old hard drive. Oops, you can't win them all!

Upside: 100hrs recording instead of 20hrs and a much cheaper than paying Sky £200 for the extra 60 hrs. (20hr SKY+ is £199 80hr SKY+ is £399)