PVR vs Sky+

Gambler

I pay Sky the £10 per month as we find sky+ extremely useful. The reception from the tv ariel has been none existent for the 4 years we have lived in our current house so we have to use sky to watch tv.

We are moving in a couple of months to a house which has Sky but the vendors are taking the dish with them for some strange reason

On a plus point though they have recently installed a new digital aerial. I've always fancied trying the PVR route and hence not have to pay Sky. I've also recently had a new sky box due to skipping programmes but the new one now seems to be doing the same.

When we move if I buy for example a humax is it just a case of plugging it in and I will have the same functions/picture quality as Sky+?

Are there are disadvantages of going down the PVR route?

Thanks

BenL

Here is a link to the freeviewplayback website.

This is the new "branding" for PVR functions on Freeview to enable marketing etc to compete better with Sky.

Series linking is now possible on some models.

If you want Sky again, sign up via quidco for £120 cashback and they will come and fit a new dish for you.

To be extra safe have a partner do it for you who is not the sky holder at the moment.

Gambler

BenL wrote: »

If you want Sky again, sign up via quidco for £120 cashback and they will come and fit a new dish for you.

To be extra safe have a partner do it for you who is not the sky holder at the moment.

I'd thought about this as an option but Quidco no longer have sky :mad:

alanrowell

Some of alexjohnson's information is a bit out of date

14 day epgs are common and it's easy to find a PCR with series link & the facility to record when the program is actually broadcast rather than at the times on the epg

Have a look at the Digitalspy & Avforums websites for information - also have a look at the Argos website as they seem to have as good a range of PVRs as anybody

Gambler

alexjohnson wrote: »

Provided you are in a good reception area, picture quality will be identical: Freeview PVR's store the data as it comes through the aerial and (unless you tell them to) do not monkey with this at all. Some of the minor channels are more heavily compressed on Freeview though but the major ones are very good.

Obviously you will not have access to nearly as many channels, though in addition to Movies and Sport the one most people would want is Sky One. So no Lost.

The big difference is that you will lose the "Series Link" so you will need to remember to record each episode you want individually. In addition, the programme guide only has 8 days' data, so you will need to remember to have a session once a week. Most will let you schedule "manual" recordings (for that two week holiday for example).

In short, while you will save money it is best thought of as a really souped up video recorder. You will notice the difference, so the question really is whether you will notice the saving more.

(For the record I use Freeview but through some scheme connected to a computer so I can schedule recordings over the internet and put things on iPods and other computers easily as I travel a lot and want to be able to catch up in hotel rooms and whatnot; I certainly don't save money versus Sky once the costs are taken into account, and most people would find this way too geeky.)

We don't record any sky programmes to be honest. Got rid of movies years ago and although I will miss the football I don't watch no where near as many matches as I used to before I became a Dad hence why I'm looking at the PVR route.

Series linking is now available on the PVR's I've started looking at, Humax and Topfield.

I'm also guessing I won't keep losing the signal with an aerial as opposed to a dish?

Sky works for me in our current house but PVR could be the better option in the new place. If it doesn't work I'll go back to Sky.

Woby_Tide

you can still lose the signal like a sky dish, signals via conventional aerials are subject to atmospheric and electrical interference, nothing can be done about them but for most people it isn't an issue

Series link isn't on all channels i.e. Ch5 via freeview but it is on a lot now

missile

I had Sky+ but when I moved to a flat I had only one feed, hence lost most of the features.

I looked at several PVRs and chose the Topfield 500GB machine. A bit pricey but as I spend a lot of time away from home ..... I find it does all I want and I am very pleased with it.

The Topfield EPG is not easy to use and I often use the Sky EPG or the EPG on my Panasonic TV to search for programs.

mdean

Surley a pvr will record whatever you feed into it -just like a vcr?- definitely the option to go for rather than ruperts £10 a month rip off- Sky + is just a brick if you opt out of paid sat tv

Of course on cable we get VOD as standard