Got Sky - a bit disappointed

lufinn

I got Sky in a couple of weeks ago - Sky+ in the living room and normal sky box in the bedroom. There are a few things that I am finding quite annoying:

-other channels, is there any easier way of viewing these other than Services > Other Channels? They tend to get forgotten about in this house. I knew they couldn't be sky+ but I thought they would be easier to access than this

- the channel order is arseways! I like all the standard channels at the beginning and then the lesser known ones. Is tehre any way I can change this?

- on NTL you could use the browse button to see what is on the other channels while still watching your current one. You can also get information on any programme (not just the one you are on). With sky you can browse through but it times out too quickly and you can only get more information on the channel you are currently watching.

- the sky+ box hums a bit too much for my liking

- the standard sky box front panel has a blue-lit 'SKY' on the front which is too bright at night time

- should have got the Sky+ in my room instead of the living room (that one's my fault! I should have at least asked the installer to run the second cable into the room so i could swap)

My main reason for getting Sky in was the Sky+ box, now I find out that NTL have just launched a DVR! I could have stuck with what I had and not put any holes in my house! We have no interest in the Sports or Movies.
On top of that Sky have just taken money from my account for my 'free' month. I got the full package cause it was free and am going to cancel before going into the second month. That's really annoying - I called yesterday and the girl told me that they have not taken anything out my account and to check with the bank that it definitely cam out!

OK, rant over! I'm just kind of annoyed I didn't wait a bit longer and stick with NTL because I think I'm one of the few who didn't have any trouble with them!

ethernet

lufinn wrote:

I got Sky in a couple of weeks ago - Sky+ in the living room and normal sky box in the bedroom. There are a few things that I am finding quite annoying:

-other channels, is there any easier way of viewing these other than Services > Other Channels? They tend to get forgotten about in this house. I knew they couldn't be sky+ but I thought they would be easier to access than this

No, not really. You'd want a FTA receiver if you really want to organise channels as you want but that means no encrypted channels.

- the channel order is arseways! I like all the standard channels at the beginning and then the lesser known ones. Is tehre any way I can change this?

I must say I like it. I recommend you add channels to your favourite list. That way, you can flick through the list [up to 50] by pressing the blue button while watching something else. Can't change it apart from this.

- on NTL you could use the browse button to see what is on the other channels while still watching your current one. You can also get information on any programme (not just the one you are on). With sky you can browse through but it times out too quickly and you can only get more information on the channel you are currently watching.

Not quite. With Sky, you can see what's on now and next for any channel. Just use the right arrow for basic EPG data. You need to use TV Guide for full listings. To see the cut-down EPG data for other channels, use the up and down arrows to bring up the search and scan banner.

- the sky+ box hums a bit too much for my liking

Put it in a comms cabinet and distribute the signal?! Make sure it's on an even surface also to reduce further whining.

- the standard sky box front panel has a blue-lit 'SKY' on the front which is too bright at night time

Don't like the look of the new box myself. Looks dead cheap.

- should have got the Sky+ in my room instead of the living room (that one's my fault! I should have at least asked the installer to run the second cable into the room so i could swap)

It's something you could do yourself see as you already have a quad LNB.

My main reason for getting Sky in was the Sky+ box, now I find out that NTL have just launched a DVR! I could have stuck with what I had and not put any holes in my house! We have no interest in the Sports or Movies.
On top of that Sky have just taken money from my account for my 'free' month. I got the full package cause it was free and am going to cancel before going into the second month. That's really annoying - I called yesterday and the girl told me that they have not taken anything out my account and to check with the bank that it definitely cam out!

Read the threads on it. The customers seem to know more than the engineers. Also, it seems only one channel can be recorded at a time and there's no real series link function as there is in Sky. Also, you have to pay extra for the PVR functions [recently dropped by Sky]. Additionally, only available to cable customer just yet. Expect bugs in firmware to be ironed out over time.

_Kaiser_

I'd say give it time OP.. I have Sky HD upstairs but there's NTL downstairs, and I infitely prefer the Sky system - even though it's not exactly perfect either.

Some reasons why...

- The NTL box forever cuts out/freezes restarts
- The remote is tiny and awkward to use and doesn't seem to work unless you're sitting directly in front of the box.
- The timeout for changing channels is ridiculously short (eg: fiddling with the remote to get the third channel number in before it disappears).
Incidentially OP, you can change Sky's timeout value in the Services > System Setup > Picture Settings menu.
- The picture quality isn't anywhere near as good and is prone to pixellation/freezing.
- No Sky+ equivalent until now and from what I read it's nowhere near as capable as ethernet points out
- No HD, and no plans for it last I talked to them.

All they're really doing is reselling Sky anyway but in an inferior manner.
This goes back years to when they didn't have a lot of the channels, or would be months/years late adding them, yet charging the same as Sky. I'd rather go direct.

.. but that's just me

conax

lufinn wrote:

you can only get more information on the channel you are currently watching.

go to TV Guide, select the genre you want and press "i" button when you are on the TV programme you want the info on.

loyatemu

I recently got Sky+ also and I would agree with some of the points above - the difficulty of getting to the other channels is particularly annoying. Its worth putting up with for the brilliance of the recording features, but Sky could definitely make their channel navigation in general more user-friendly.

It seems to me that with UPC/NTL finally pulling their finger out and trying to compete with Sky, perhaps Sky will have some incentive to add UTV and the extra BBC channels to the Irish EPG. After all, every cable company in the country has had UTV available since day one, it seems odd that its not properly available on Sky.

_Kaiser_

loyatemu wrote:

I recently got Sky+ also and I would agree with some of the points above - the difficulty of getting to the other channels is particularly annoying. Its worth putting up with for the brilliance of the recording features, but Sky could definitely make their channel navigation in general more user-friendly.

It seems to me that with UPC/NTL finally pulling their finger out and trying to compete with Sky, perhaps Sky will have some incentive to add UTV and the extra BBC channels to the Irish EPG. After all, every cable company in the country has had UTV available since day one, it seems odd that its not properly available on Sky.

Short version is TV3 are holding it up - not surprising considering the majority of their output is ITV sourced anyway. UTV have stated publicly they'd like to be on the ROI EPG

loyatemu

Kaiser2000 wrote:

Short version is TV3 are holding it up - not surprising considering the majority of their output is ITV sourced anyway. UTV have stated publicly they'd like to be on the ROI EPG

what about the BBC channels? - Sky would probable have to pay the BBC to add them to the Irish EPG, but UPC have them, and compared to most of the dreck on satellite they're actually pretty good (the children's channels are excellent).

lufinn

Thanks for all the replies and sorry about the moaning!

ethernet wrote:

Not quite. With Sky, you can see what's on now and next for any channel. Just use the right arrow for basic EPG data. You need to use TV Guide for full listings. To see the cut-down EPG data for other channels, use the up and down arrows to bring up the search and scan banner.

Sorry, I mean when you press the 'i' button (after pressing select) it only shows the detailed info for the channel you are currently on.

ethernet wrote:

I must say I like it. I recommend you add channels to your favourite list. That way, you can flick through the list [up to 50] by pressing the blue button while watching something else. Can't change it apart from this.

I find the favourites a bit fiddly too!

ethernet wrote:

Put it in a comms cabinet and distribute the signal?! Make sure it's on an even surface also to reduce further whining.

way too much hassle! I'll live with it:)

ethernet wrote:

It's something you could do yourself see as you already have a quad LNB.

that's true but I was kicking myself that i didn't ask the installer to do it while he was up there.

ethernet wrote:

Also, you have to pay extra for the PVR functions [recently dropped by Sky]. Additionally, only available to cable customer just yet. Expect bugs in firmware to be ironed out over time.

True but it's only €7.50pm. I got multiroom with Sky which is €15pm, NTL's is €7.50pm - so if i had gotten NTL's DVR & multiroom it would have been the same extra per month

conax wrote:

go to TV Guide, select the genre you want and press "i" button when you are on the TV programme you want the info on.

yeah, but I want to do it without having to go into TV Guide:(

Kaiser2000 - I take all your points as I had all of those problems with NTL but had kind of gotten used to them!

loyatemu - I agree about the BBC channels, Cbeebies is rarely on these days and it's a lovely channel for the little ones (no stupid ads for finance!)

I know none of my issues are major ones and maybe I could do with sitting down with the manual for anight to figure it all out but it's the little things that are bugging me. I just wish I had held on for a few weeks for the NTL version