Sky+ Recording Free from October 1st

carrolls

This seems like good news.
Also Dual recording will be available from the middle of next month.
http://skydigital.mediabullet.co.uk/

If thats correct, it's great news, especially as I have a UK sub now:D
mm

John R

Yes excellent news, it always was a cheek to demand an extra sub. Obviously take-up has not been as high as they expected.
Three new boxes too; hopefully Panasonic are making one, anything is better than Pace IMO.

carrolls

I hope the word "Dropped" in the MediaBullet statement means 'discontinued' and not 'reduced price'. Its a little ambiguous as usual.:mad:

Mossy Monk

this is good news. with dual recording it will be very hard to resist temptation

kevmac

Hmmm, Seeing as we have only had Sky+ for less than a month who thinks that they'll try to squeeze us a while longer than the UK?

byte

Hmm, if that's the case I might just get myself a Sky+ box.

As John R has said, I also hope Panasonic release a Sky+ box. Wouldn't fancy a Pace box again...

byte

Originally posted by Man
If thats correct, it's great news, especially as I have a UK sub now:D
mm

Ooh, glad to hear you got it sorted OK! Happy viewing!

carryo

So, is sky+ finally availible in Ireland now ?

How much does it cost in euro and how do I order it ( I have the +box and dual-lnb already) ?

kevmac

Welcome Carryo,

You should do a search first to get up to speed on all the topics.

DaithiSurfer

The Cynic in me thinks that this is a marketing ploy as it hasn't come directly from sky.
Picture this.
A company makes revenue by charging a subscription on a service.
People won't get this service because of the subscription.
What does the company do?
Well they advertise that they are getting rid of their subscription in a view months through someone not connected to them.
Hundreds or thousands of victims go out and spend hundreds on a box that completely useless without the subscription, so no they are trapped into paying said subscription.
Then in november the company comes out and says 'we never said that'. But still they have hundreds of thousands worth of extra revenue coiming in.

I'ld like to hear it from an official source.
I have sky+ already but if the sub is stopping you buying it then don't buy it until this is official guys.

ShaneOC

Well at least it isn't a rumour saying the charge is going up.

We'll just have to wait and see. If Sky introduced a lifetime sub they would have a windfall as quite a few people would pay it to get rid of it, however with the impending departure of the charge they have lost out on that opportunity.

watty

It's because many European Satellite PVRs (which can't take a Sky viewing sub at all, but will work with S4c, TCM BBC etc) will be chaeper and more available from Autumn. Some with DVDRAM or DVDR drives too.

With that competition Sky would rather we bought SkY+ boxes, cos at least there is potential to sell a Sky Sub.


But will they record without a sub at all.... ?

If A Digibox dies it would make sense then to replace it with a Sky+ as only one subsidized Digibox per household.

Mossy Monk

Originally posted by DaithiSurfer
if the sub is stopping you buying it then don't buy it until this is official guys.

my digibox is on the way out so it would seem and i'll be buying a new one anyway so i will go for Sky+ (from the UK)

Cloud

Has anyone managed to get any recorded programs off a Sky+ box onto a PC for example (apart from taking out the HD!)?

drjolt

My understanding is that the hard disk files are the original encrypted program data from the satellite - the decryption is done at playback time.

ShaneOC

Originally posted by drjolt
My understanding is that the hard disk files are the original encrypted program data from the satellite - the decryption is done at playback time.

Yes, that's the case. The recordings are decrypted at playback. You even need the card in to view them. There is a strange loophole / problem with this. If you record of a movie channel and then unsubscribe to that channel you cannot view your recording. On the other hand if you are not subscribed, you can record a programme, subscibe at a later date and then watch the recording.

Mossy Monk

Originally posted by ShaneOC
On the other hand if you are not subscribed, you can record a programme, subscibe at a later date and then watch the recording.

that would be handy. record some decent films over a 2 or 3 month period then subscribe for a month and watch them/transfer to video tape. the restrictive hard drive could be a problem though. 20 hours isn't enough

Tony

Originally posted by carryo
So, is sky+ finally availible in Ireland now ?

How much does it cost in euro and how do I order it ( I have the +box and dual-lnb already) ?

Yes it is available at €399 including quad lnb + €75 if you want it installed.

LFCFan

Originally posted by Mossy Monk
that would be handy. record some decent films over a 2 or 3 month period then subscribe for a month and watch them/transfer to video tape. the restrictive hard drive could be a problem though. 20 hours isn't enough

Is it just a normal 3.5" IDE Hard Drive? Is it 40GB? You could just replace it with a 160GB Drive and get 80 hours recording if the software allowed it.

Genghis

Originally posted by drjolt
My understanding is that the hard disk files are the original encrypted program data from the satellite - the decryption is done at playback time.

Does this also mean that only your card (assuming appropriate subscription) can replay the recording. In other words if it was possible to transmit the recording, could you play it on another Sky+ box, with another card and another subscription?

Why do you think Sky built this in - surely all it will do is generate complaints. I know I record a lot of movies before downgrading, it would be very annoying to find I couldn't watch them after I'd downgraded.

watty

Yes the hard disk simply records the tuner MPEG2 stream (as does my PC Satellite receiver)

The Sky+ box is just the same as a regular digibox excet a second tuner and the hard disk between the tuner(s) and the videoguard decrypt.

The Hard disk is just a time delay on the satellite signal.

Also this is why Sky could add SW to an ordinary Digibox to have a PCMCIA sized or external Hard Disk plugged into the PCMCIA type socket at the back.

There is almost no extra HW in a SKY+ apart from the Hard Disk and the 2nd Tuner.

IDE = Integrated Drive Electronics. Unlike SCSI, a PC IDE connection is just a "port" it isn't a controller, the Drive has all the stuff built in (CPU, RAM etc). An IDE interface can be very simple & a few dollars to add to anything already digital like Digital Satellite or Digital Terrestrial. It is only Analog recording that is complex.

byte

Originally posted by LFCFan
Is it just a normal 3.5" IDE Hard Drive? Is it 40GB? You could just replace it with a 160GB Drive and get 80 hours recording if the software allowed it.

You can indeed change the hard drive. There are certain ones that work and some that don't work. I found the following website on changing HDD:

http://www.hummer.co.uk/disc-change.htm

Also, Kesh Electric are selling 120GB HDD's compatible with Sky+

http://www.keshelectrics.co.uk/en-gb/dept_1.html

Please note that changing the HDD will invalidate your warranty

Grayarea

Originally posted by LFCFan
Is it just a normal 3.5" IDE Hard Drive? Is it 40GB? You could just replace it with a 160GB Drive and get 80 hours recording if the software allowed it.

Not all drives are compatable, most Maxtor drives seem to be.

There is no point in putting in a bigger drive than 120GB as the built in controller can only address the first 120GB of space.

Grayarea.

Grayarea

Originally posted by Genghis
Does this also mean that only your card (assuming appropriate subscription) can replay the recording. In other words if it was possible to transmit the recording, could you play it on another Sky+ box, with another card and another subscription?

The file system sky uses appears to be encrypted, so it is not possible at the moment.

Also swapping drives will not work as the Sky+ box reformats a drive if its serial number does not match the serial number of the last drive that was connected.

Grayarea.

LFCFan

Originally posted by Grayarea
The file system sky uses appears to be encrypted, so it is not possible at the moment.

Also swapping drives will not work as the Sky+ box reformats a drive if its serial number does not match the serial number of the last drive that was connected.

Grayarea.

It has been done though! See the link from above:

http://www.hummer.co.uk/disc-change.htm

Grayarea

Originally posted by LFCFan
It has been done though! See the link from above:

http://www.hummer.co.uk/disc-change.htm

Sorry I don't understand what you are trying to say.

You can upgrade sky+ boxes with bigger hard drives, I have a 120GB drive in mine.

You cannot move recordings from one sky+ box to another as the first thing the new sky+ box will do is format the drive. Even if the drive has a valid sky+ file system, the box will still format it as the serial number of the drive has changed.

Greyarea.

LFCFan

Originally posted by Grayarea
Sorry I don't understand what you are trying to say.

You can upgrade sky+ boxes with bigger hard drives, I have a 120GB drive in mine.

You cannot move recordings from one sky+ box to another as the first thing the new sky+ box will do is format the drive. Even if the drive has a valid sky+ file system, the box will still format it as the serial number of the drive has changed.

Greyarea.

You should have been more specific. You just said that swapping drives doesn't work. You should have said.....yes, you can swap your drive but the recordings on the old drive will be lost.

robert muldoon

If dual recording does come shortly, Will the software be downloaded to our Sky+ boxes automatically, or is there new hardware to be installed?

Mossy Monk

software download i'd imagine

watty

Tiny SW download

The Sky+ *ALREADY* does dual recordings...

Record a channel and watch a different one.

Then pause Live TV

After 5 minutes play.

The Digibox is then simulanously recording BOTH tuners in two "files" and simulanously playing back a different part of one file.

If they are clever you can record the channel you are watching as well as the other channel, and still "pause" live TV.

One of the recordings always has to be a channel your watching.


If the digibox tuner heads are very delux (like Nokia SCSI sat receivers or PC cards) you might be able to watch a 3rd channel as long as it was on one of the two transponders used by the two tuners. Since almost no-one knows (when watching a Digibox) which Transponder it is on, they are unlikely to do this. However some PC recording SW for PC Satellite Cards or SCSI interfaced Nokia non-Digibox can indeed record *ALL* or most of the channels on a transponder.

OT a bit...
Like a VCR, "timed" recordings on my PC Satellite card require the PC to be running but the Satellite Program to be closed. Of course in theory you could have 2, 3 or even 4 Satellite Cards in a PC all running at once.