Sky+ is working in Ireland for those who have Sky + boxes already

ShaneOC

Finally after 21 months of waiting my Sky+ box was activated yesterday evening.

First impressions are good. Live Pause is very handy. Set a load of stuff to record through the night and throughout today.

JDxtra

Wahooooooo!

That's it - I'm not going out this weekend! Or maybe I will, and just get Sky+ to record all my fave shows...!!

Did they make you hook it up to a phoneline Shane?

ShaneOC

It is already connected to a phone line, but the guy did not ask about it. He just asked how was I paying for my Sky subscription. Then he said that he had sent the signal and it could take anything from 2 minutes to 4 hours. Took about 5 minutes. I pressed pause and the little logo popped up on the bottom left of the screen.

DMC

Just changed the heading to say that they are two types of Sky + customer: those who are going to order the product and those who have Sky + already and waited to have it activated. There is another thread open for new customers.

Is it finally worth it, Shane? Good to see it is working now.

ShaneOC

Originally posted by DMC
Is it finally worth it, Shane?

Appears to be. Cutting ad breaks down to 5 seconds using 30x fast forward is very handy. Will report over the weekend on how I get on with it.

JDxtra

I've just called - but got passed through to the Sky+ department after they could not find my viewing card number on their system.

They were then looking for my EPG software version & serial number of the box and asking who installed it. I just said an independant installer put it in after I sourced it in the U.K.

I told 'em that I'd call them back later when I was at home with the other details...

JDxtra

.

ShaneOC

Originally posted by jdempsey
.

If you say so

KdjaCL

Anyone got a 5.1 amp ?
Is it any use ?

Im not going to pay for 5.1 something we should have already but be interested to know if the 5.1 was a pure signal and not some cack.

kdjac

JDxtra

I have a DD5.1 amp hooked up to my Sky+ box. The audio is superb on the movies that Sky broadcast with DD5.1.

To me, it appears as if it's as good as DD5.1 on a DVD.

You don't need a Sky+ subscription to get DD5.1 - just the box itself.

Originally posted by ShaneOC
Appears to be. Cutting ad breaks down to 5 seconds using 30x fast forward is very handy. Will report over the weekend on how I get on with it.

I await your review:D
My box is sitting pretty,pretending it's still being discriminated against:p
In other words, I've decided to use it as my main digi box for now and take advantage of the 5.1 where I want but not pay the extra tax for the features to Sky.
My decision to get the Sky plus box in the first place , was as a replacement for my burned out broken old box.
I have a dvd recorder which is doing most of the job for me now anyhow.
Is it an extra €15 a month that they have decided on in the end??
Or a lower figure, taking the ex rate into account??

Mind you, when Shane comes back with an orgasmic report, after the w/end I might just be tempted...
mm

robert muldoon

Originally posted by jdempsey
I've just called - but got passed through to the Sky+ department after they could not find my viewing card number on their system.

They were then looking for my EPG software version & serial number of the box and asking who installed it. I just said an independant installer put it in after I sourced it in the U.K.

I told 'em that I'd call them back later when I was at home with the other details...

So have you been activated?
I have mine connected up and ready to go, should I anticipate any problems from Sky?
The only problem I have is the card I am using is in my wifes name and we dont have a password for it , the box was originally installed about 2 years ago when passwords wer'nt necessary.
By the way we are together (the wife & I) I used her name to get a 2nd box and a slight variant of our address and since i have an ISDN line i could give a second tel nr, so now as ican get a mirrored sub I want to regulorise the situation with Sky
I hope that was'nt too complicated!!
I just hope when i call them i DONT get a women! They ask all sorts of akward questions

JDxtra

Phew, got my Sky+ activated at last!

Had to connect my box to a phoneline and force a call back before Sky would allow me to activate the service. It was activated before I had put the phone down!

Everything working brilliantly so far and just as expected - I guess it will take a few weeks before I get fully used to the idea of being able to time shift all the stuff I want to watch. I wonder if it will become something I can't live without?

kevmac

From what I've read on plusworld it becomes addictive and essential

watty

I'm glad ShaneOC and the others have it.

But the ITC or COMREG opr someone should give SKY a THICK EAR and BLOODY NOSE for making people wait 21 months for turning on someting that should work with NO subscription out of the box.

It's sick.

It's also very sad that you have to pay ever month on TOP of subscription for what is free to FTA users or non-videocrypt Digital Satellite PVR users that have a NOT-Sky Satellite sub.

From 10th July I'll be able to record etc BBC on my PC system. It can take a real CAM and viewing card. I'd be happy to pay regular Digibox subscription if I wanted it to receive Sky pay TV. But Sky insist on only selling a sub for Digiboxes because they want to control you.

Originally posted by kevmac
From what I've read on plusworld it becomes addictive and essential

Yes, I've seen it operating, and have spoken to people who have had it in the UK for ages now and wouldn't be without it.

Get down.. sky plus devil I can hear you calling me...!
No I must resist...,I have a feeling, I won't for long:o
mm

neilc

I finally picked up a sky+ box yesterday in Currys in Sprucefield, Lisburn. One thing to be careful of though for anyone thinking of doing the same, the LNB does not come in the box in Currys. I opened the box in the store because of what I read here before. After a bit of haggling I got a 10% discount. Rang Tony (www.satellite.ie) then for a LNB which I picked up today. So everything is now connected up but sky can't activate it for me:mad:
You see my new sky card is apparently in the post and that is the only card number on their system. So I have to wait until the new one arrives to activate my + box. At least now that I got the new box hopefully my BBC card is safe. Total cost £179 stg (box) and €109 (LNB).
Neil

P.S. Thank very much Tony if you see this for accommodating me today.

ShaneOC

As you know, I finally got Sky+ activated last Thursday and promised a review after the weekend. I was tempted to post one on Friday night.

Having been without the Autoview functionality for nearly two years meant that it was not possible to set lots of things to record and even before that I dodn't bother recording a load of stuff as it would never get watched. That has changed quite a bit.

I went through the EPG on Thursday and scheduled a load of stuff to record. I always thought that the crowd on digital spy were whining excessively about the lack of dual recording, but I can now see their point. Amazingly, most of the programmes that I selected have series links working properly so now when I check the planner there is usually a few more things that have been recorded.

I recorded Harry Potter yesterday and the Dolby Digital soundtrack recorded too. Excellent.

Live Pause is brilliant, as is instant rewind. I was watching the Grand Prix yesterday and during one of the pit stops I thought that they hadn't changed the tyres. I pressed rewind (on live TV remember) and went back and watched it again, then continued to watch the race. After a while got a bit peckish, so I paused it, got some grub, gift, and came back and resumed the race without missing a second. Advantage now was that when the ads came on I could fast forward through them.

One of the best features that I have found is that you can start to watch a programme while it is still recording. Used to find it very annoying that you had to wait until the programme was finished, especially if you had only missed five or ten minutes at the start.

The quality is exactly the same as watching regular Sky, so much so that sometimes you forget that you are watching a recording and you curse having to watch the ads. Then you remember that you can fast forward (it really did happen :rolleyes: ).

Overall, very happy with it.

Man, say bye bye to the €15

dmeehan

when the dual recording becomes available, will that mean that the sky+ box will require 3 feeds from the lnb?

kevmac

Dual Recording will mean that you can't watch Sky as the the two tuners are working - well actually you can watch Sky but you'll be watching something you're recording.

July 1 for my install and I'm counting the minutes.

ShaneOC

Originally posted by dmeehan
when the dual recording becomes available, will that mean that the sky+ box will require 3 feeds from the lnb?

No it won't. It simply means that you will be able to record from both tuners at the same time. You will not be able to record two channels and watch another one, however you will be able to watch either of the recording programmes or a previously recorded programme. The Sky engineers are trying to figure out how to make it easy to use (or are they trying to explain it to their customer care staff ).

You can sort of have dual recording at present. If you are recording a programme and watching another at the same time and then use Live Pause both programmes are being recorded, however you must view the live paused one before you can do anything else.

JDxtra

One minor thing I noticed is that when the instant rewind feature is activated, it takes just a tiny split second longer to change channels.

I assume this is becuase it deletes the data from the hard disk of the channel you were just watching before recording from the next channel.

The box was previously lightning fast to change channels - now it's at about regular digibox speed! :cool:

This is only a very minor thing I noticed! Otherwise, it's still thumbs up from me... I've used 40% of the hard drive already!

DaithiSurfer

Anyone planning on upgrading their sky+ hard drive?
I hear you can get 70 hours on it if you upgrage to a 120meg drive.
Check it out on digitalspy

ShaneOC

Yes, I have noticed this too. Nothing to get worried about though. At one stage over the weekend I had only 11% free space left on the drive.

Suppose the next job will be to upgrade the hard drive in the box.

DaithiSurfer

ah f_ck it, i just ordered even though i said i wouldnt.
26th July installation.
Means a day off work tough

ShaneOC

Originally posted by DaithiSurfer
ah f_ck it, i just ordered even though i said i wouldnt.
26th July installation.
Means a day off work tough

You wont regret it. Less than a week in and it's already changing the way I watch TV.

DaithiSurfer

can't wait now, i think i'll get rid of sky sports and it'll go a bit towards the extra €15

neilc

Well lads got activated last night. Very very impressed. Recording from the epg is great but I really love the pausing live tv feature. We have a new baby in the house so this really comes in handy. An added bonus is the fact that I now have my old box just for my BBC card, so no more hassle having to swap cards.
Neil.


PS I don't know if this was mentioned here before but around 3 weeks ago I heard some top guy from utv on the sunday business show (today fm) saying how utv really wanted to be on sky in the south and expected to be so by the end of the year.

Thats it....:eek: :eek: :eek:

Am getting my box activated...the kid in me has escaped and is kicking up a right fuss!!
Shane, can you confirm that it is not possible to record or use any of the plus features with "other channels".
If not it's typical Sky restrictive practices
mm

JDxtra

Correct, the plus features do not work when viewing anything in "other channels".

ShaneOC

Originally posted by Man
Thats it....:eek: :eek: :eek:

Am getting my box activated...the kid in me has escaped and is kicking up a right fuss!!
Shane, can you confirm that it is not possible to record or use any of the plus features with "other channels".
If not it's typical Sky restrictive practices
mm

What the hell took you so long ???

Almost 100% sure that there is no joy with the other channels but have not been using them much.

Had 2% of disk space left this morning. Just as well it's the weekend and I'll get a chance to look at some of the stuff I've recorded