Sky Plus

Does anyone here in UPS use Sky+, only we are thinking of having it. We
already have Sky for our TV
and I cannot seem to record to our DVD player from Sky.

Rabbit...

You could be cheaper in the long run buying a PVR

pmj...

But you can't get Sky on a PVR, can you?

& surely, (many/most?) of the people who have Sky got it (& pay extra
for) the Channels that Sky offer? - Otherwise why do they have Sky?

OK, yes, some people have Sky (or the NTL/Telewest Cable Equivalent)
cos they can't get a decent Terrestrial Signal, but if that's the case,
then they wouldn't be able to make use of a PVR anyway.

Jackie...

With the Sky+ I think it looks like it will cost £99 but because we
already have 2 premium channels it will be free to use
it is all rather confusing. Thanks for all the help we will probably
look into it tomorrow.

Aries...

I'll be more than interested in what you decide to do and how much it will
all cost. We subscribe to two premium channels so should come in the £99
bracket but I'm not clear about any extras we would have to pay for.

charge to Sky

JoeH...

Hear hear...or is it......here here? (or any combination thereof)

Pam the goose...

Now there's a point!

"Hear here" was what I was taught as a child but nobody seems to write it
that way these days.

Aries...

I think that's a great way of writing it Pam, solves all the worrying
about writing the right word lol

I would like any comments re. Sky+ please.

shaz...

I have had Sky + for just over a year. I had it put in computer room and
kept Sky in lounge. I got fed up of hubby hogging it for Sport and the poor
reception on analogue on Channel 5. I think it is good. You can record 2
programmes at once. I seldom watch anything live now. I record and watch
later so I can flick through adverts. Hard can freeze sometimes but just
needs a quick reboot. You can link programmes for recording so that they
record week after week without you having to remember. I have found it to be

Jackie...

Sounds good Shaz, thought it might be useful in the winter months then
we can record late night programmes to watch at other times. Thanks.

Did you/or do you have to pay extra for a different box?

shaz...

We paid for the Sky+ Box when it was on special offer and we pay and an
extra £10 a month for multiroom. Not sure about the costs if you swap your
Sky Box for a + one.

worthwhile.

pmj...

The stuff that you get/watch from Sky has DRM (Digital Rights
(or some people call it Restrictions) Management) stuff on it.
That's designed *explicitly* to stop people from Saving/Recording
it to a File (either a File on a Hard Disk or to something like a DVD)

You *can* (under some circumstances) Record the TV Output of Sky
(via an RF (ordinary Coa-Axial) Aerial Lead) onto a Video Recorder
(or DVD Recorder), but then that degrades the Picture & Sound, cos
it's been Conerted to an RF (Aerial) Signal & back again (twice)

What yo ucan't do is to Save (Record) the Sky Output *Directly* as
a Digital Signal.

Jeff Gaines...

Is that just Sky+?

pmj...

Nope, not as far as I'm aware. (But see below)

I have my Sky box feeding my DVD recorder via a SCART cable and I can

pmj...

Yes, but that's just Recording the *Analogue* Output (albeit not the
RF (Aerial) Output).

It's not Recording the actual *Digital* Audio/Video stream directly
to a File.

It's Recording the Output *after* it has been converted from the
Sky Digital Signal.

Jeff Gaines...

It records the RGB input plus audio, that's digital enough for me :-)

The quality is excellent, indistinguishable from DVD.

record no problems (and copy to DVD). I don't have any premium channels or

pmj...

Yep, (see above).

watch their Box Office films though, perhaps they are different?

pmj...

Yep, they have more DRM (Digital Restrictions Management) stuff on them,
so they are a bit different.

Sky+ is their way of letting you do that.
It Saves (Records) the Digital Stream to its own (built-in) Hard
Disk, so you can Play it back whenever you want.

It also incorporates 2 Tuners, so you can watch one Channel, while
Recording another Channel.

(& incidentally, allows you to feed the Signal to another Telly
elsewhere & has a better EPG (Electronic Programme Guide).

JoeH...

Sort your cabling out Jackie and you will.

Mike Cawood, HND BIT...

You won't record anything to a DVD player, you need a DVD recorder.
Mike.

jackie...

Mine is a DVD recorder - I should have made that more clear.
Perhaps we can get someone to sort out the way it is set-up, the man from
Sky when he came and installed our sky box did say we could record from Sky.

Anita...

I think I would go for an AV sender - saw it shown on QVC last night -
it costs about £35 and you can send to any tvs you wish to. You can also

pmj...

But aan AV Sender type thing is a *completely* different thing!!!

It doesn't (& is designed to) do any *Recording* - all it does is
to send the Output from a Sky Box (or similar thing, such as an
NTL/Telewest or FreeView Set Top Box or Video/DVD Player/Recorder etc,)
to other things.

It takes the *RF* (Aerial) Output (after it's been converted from
Digital) & just Re-Transmits it around the house.

pmj...

use the watch in another room and control what you are watching with the

pmj...

Yep.
That's what it's designed to do - it doesn't do any Recording.
(but (as mentioned above) you *could* then Record the Output on
an ordinary Video/DVD Recorder, but Sky (& NTL/Telewest do include
"Spoiler" stuff in the signal, which degrades the Signal, so sometimes
Recording like that doesn't work very well, if at all.)

tv control it is item number 553153 on the qvc site.
There are others around look at this site it goes into more detail as to
what it can do, it is about £4 dearer than QVC but works the same way

pmj...

& thus suffers from the same limitations as any other "AV Sender"
type thing.

Sky+ is designed not *just* (or even primarily) to let you watch
stuff elsewhere, but it's *main* point (& the reason they charge a
Monthly Subscription Fee for it as well as the cost of the HardWare)
is to let you Save/Record stuff, so that you can watch it whenever
you want (& watch it again, if you want)

Jackie...

That sounds very interesting Anita, will get Ted to look into it,

Anita...

I believe Sky+ costs another £10 per month - whereas using a sender
there is only the £34 or so layout and nothing else.

Aries...

Do you need both a sender and a receiver tho Anita ?

Anita...

Val go to the maplins site and read about it - it goes into great detail
on there - easy to understand too:)

Aries...

I have looked but it is always interesting to hear personal experience -
Do I need two things ?

Jackie...

Thanks Anita I thought perhaps you had to pay more each month.

Flyiñg Ñuñ 2°°6 +...

It says on here it's £99 - free installation and no extra monthly
subscription:

Rabbit...

Only if you subscribe to two premium channels.

HTH

Jackie...

I did wonder about the AV sender pmj as I did not see anything about
recording, but you have cleared that point now thank you that it does
not "record".

We do have a DVD recorder that uses DVD discs to record on but when we
put the DVD on we cannot use Sky
it goes onto another AV channel, is our cabling wrong as Joe suggests?

pmj...

It *sounds* like (without more Info about the way your particular
System is Set up & what you are using & how you are doing it)
that it's just a matter of the way the different things are connected.

When you have several (i.e. more than one) thing(s) Plugged into a TV
or Video/DVD Recorder using Scart Cables, they normally Automatically
Switch the stuff to the Scart Input (using a Signal on one of the Pins
of the Scart Plug/Cable) when the Equipment is Switched on - so if
there's more than one thing, sometimes it can be a bit tricky to get
the right Input to be Activated.

You may need to use a Scart Switch/Splitter Box, which has Multiple
Inputs & Outputs, so you can Manually choose which one is which.
& which Signal goes where.

Jeff Gaines...

It will most likely be your cabling, I feed Sky into a DVD recorder and
can record anything.

Let us know what cabling you are using (i.e. SCART, RF etc.) and
I/somebody will help you out with it.

Frogman...

This site is very useful in assisting you with the correct way to
connect devices.

Jackie...

Thank you for that Frogman I will let Ted have a look at that, I just
have to do the programming
for recording!!

Flyiñg Ñuñ 2°°6 +...

Ooops! I think I misread it, installation is only free if you also
subscribe to multi-room. Otherwise it's £60. Perhaps they will clarify
that when you 'phone them. I think their 'phone lines are open 24/7.

thanks.

I record from SKY on my DVD/HD recorder without a problem.
Remember SKY charge EXTRA for SKY+

Anita...

Yes, I record from Sky onto DVD or VHS and get a good recording too.

Flyiñg Ñuñ 2°°6 +...

My eldest has it and swears by it. Especially when I have just mentioned
that I must videa something on my VCR.

Jackie...

I must look into it FN about how much it will cost etc. I could not
really make it out how much it would be from Sky.com/skyplus

Jeff Gaines...

I'm sure we can help you, there's several of us doing it :-)

On mine I have a SCART cable from the Sky box (ordinary, not Sky+) going
to my DVD recorder. I then have a SCART cable from the DVD recorder to the
TV.

That way everything from Sky goes through the recorder to the TV and I
just press the 'Record' button to record the programme.

I wonder if you have your Sky and DVD recorder both connected separately
to the TV? If so you won't be able to record Sky*.

*Being pedantic there may be a way of achieving that but it is a bit more
involved. On my TV I have to set it up to 'dub' the output from the first
SCART connector to the second, I haven't bothered since I can't receive
analogue TV here.

Give us some info on he connections you use and your TV model, we'll come
up with a load of bright ideas and one of them may work :-)

Jeff Gaines...

Ain't that the truth :-)

I have been trying to work out what Sky+ would cost for a couple of weeks
with no success. It doesn't help that I've forgotten my user name/password
so I can't log on, and their help email system is helpless :-(

we already have Sky so will probably ring them tomorrow, thanks FN.