Sky Digital and DVD Recoders

Wheels · 03-07-2006 4:34pm #1

Having been bitten by 8 faulty Sky+ over three years I finally decided to admit defeat, cancel my premium packages and become a lowly Sky Digital subscriber again. My new goal is to find a DVD Recoder with a HD that will not turn recording onto Sky Digital a nightmare.

I know there are machines such as the Pioneer 530 that use GuidePlus and can automatically change the digibox to your desired channel, but I've been unable to find confirmation that guideplus works properly with Sky in Ireland.

I remember there was a machine (possibly a VCR) that automatically started recording when an "autoview" was activated on Sky (doing it through the scart). Is there any machines out there like this that are DVD RHD?
Is there anyone who uses their DVD RHD with Sky and needs to manually set it? Is it a chore?

I'd forego the bells and whistles if I could find a decent machine that wasn't a nightmare to set up to record on Sky, had decent memory (160GB) and played DivX. Any suggestions?

mjsmyth · 03-07-2006 4:39pm

Currys had a DVD/HD Recorder on sale last week for €249. Or at least I think it was Currys.

I have no idea about Gudieplus though or just how good the recorder was.
MJ

Wheels · 03-07-2006 9:33pm

mjsmyth wrote:

Currys had a DVD/HD Recorder on sale last week for €249. Or at least I think it was Currys.

I have no idea about Gudieplus though or just how good the recorder was.
MJ

mjsmyth · 04-07-2006 9:17am

Hey, just letting you know that Currys had one. You could always ring them to ask for the spec of the recorder..

Zaphod · 04-07-2006 9:36am

http://www.bluedelta.co.uk/phantom_plus.htm

bk · 04-07-2006 11:28am

You could also look at getting a second hand UK TiVo with sub, that should work nicely with Sky.

Alternatively you could get a media center PC running either windows MCE or MythTV.

I've heard rumours about the guideplus working for most channels if you give it an address from the North, but I've never tried it.

sundula · 04-07-2006 3:22pm

With the phantom PVR would you not have to watch what you were recording ?

mjsmyth · 04-07-2006 4:56pm

The same would go for any external DVD/HD recorder unless Sky+ still allows the use of both tuners even though the recording facility has been cancelled.

MJ

Mossy Monk · 04-07-2006 5:56pm

recording of 2 streams with a single Sky box requires a Sky+ subscription. cant do it any other way

Wheels · 05-07-2006 10:18am

Zaphod wrote:

http://www.bluedelta.co.uk/phantom_plus.htm

Brilliant! That's just what I wanted, thanks a million.

Greenman · 05-07-2006 2:00pm

Wheels wrote:

Brilliant! That's just what I wanted, thanks a million.

If you do purchase that item, can you please come back and tell us how you are getting on!!!!

MarkR · 09-07-2006 7:31pm

I have one for the last few months and it's brilliant. I sometimes miss the first couple of seconds of a broadcast, but I think that's due to the broadcast. I use it with a targa dvd hard disk recorder and it rocks.

gipo2 · 09-07-2006 9:28pm

Ive just got a Pioneer 440HX-s 80Gb HHD/DVD recorder. Ive set up guideplus, using a northern post code. RTE1/2 are the only Irish channels that work for guideplus with two days of listings. However you can also use the videoplus numbers for say TV3 and TG4 and also have the recorder to switch the channel on the sky box. Works very well in my opinion. When the data for guideplus is first downloaded bbc NI will be set for 101 but you can change the numbers so in this case to 143 and RTE1 will be 175 but i can be changed to 101 ETC. Very simple to use, the recorder can select the input by itself as well. The above recorder is 80Gb but there is also a 160Gb version. I got mine online from richersounds in belfast for 450euro. Bought it on wednesday delivered friday. RGB recording. Richersounds dont have stock of the 540HX-s untill the 17th July. Must also say its DivX compatibale as well.

Wheels · 26-07-2006 11:45pm

I got the phantom plus yesterday. Took me a while to set it up but it's working pretty well now. It does tend to miss a couple of seconds of the programme but thats down to the DVDR's lenghtly start-up time and the fact that the Autoview generally switches as soon as the show starts. Other then that I'm pretty damn happy with it.

Greenman wrote:

If you do purchase that item, can you please come back and tell us how you are getting on!!!!

DMC · 27-07-2006 7:10am

Hmm... I've just noticed this thread, can I ask the OP, Wheels... 8 faulty Sky+ boxes? Can I ask where did you store the Sky+ box? Did you store it in a cabinet or close fitted area? If you can a pictire of where your stored

I'm thinking ventilation might have been an issue??

Wheels · 27-07-2006 9:33pm

DMC wrote:

Hmm... I've just noticed this thread, can I ask the OP, Wheels... 8 faulty Sky+ boxes? Can I ask where did you store the Sky+ box? Did you store it in a cabinet or close fitted area? If you can a pictire of where your stored

I'm thinking ventilation might have been an issue??

At the start it was in a cabinat that closed at the front but had an open back. So after a couple of crashes I changed the base the TV was on to an open unit and it still happened. One suggestion was that it was a power surge but I put protectors in. In the end Sky couldn't give me an answer and any intaller that came said I wasn't the only one and it was due to the reconditioned box. Also, twice it happened when it was left in stand-by while we were away.

Sky Digital and DVD Recoders

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