Leaving UPC and switching to Sky - good/bad idea?

BenEadir

Hi all,

I hope you don't mind me asking for your input. I'm a current UPC customer with the full package including movies and sports etc running on two digital boxes. I'm paying €100 month but don't really use the sports and movie channels any more (thank God for Netflix etc) and want to reduce my costs so I'm thinking of either switching my package to Horizon Max http://www.upc.ie/television (but keep my existing HD digital boxes as I believe the new Horizon boxes are a disaster) which I think will cost me €45 per month or the Sky Variety package with online sign up as a new customer as outlined below which looks like it has a similar channel set up to Horizon Max but costs €66 per month plus €199 for the 2nd box. If I'm paying for the 2nd box do I really need to also pay the €15 multiscreen fee as well? If not Sky would cost €51 per month and UPC €45 which would make more sense and I'd probably go for Sky as from what I've seen it is a better TV service than UPC's in terms of EPG, ease of use of the remote and more HD channels.



I don't need broadband or phone services as I get these FOC from my company who pay for broadband to my house so I can work from home from time to time.

I'd appreciate any steer I can get here to make sure I'm on the right track and have the right assumptions before I pull the trigger.

Cheers,

Ben

AlanS181824

I'm pretty much a Sky fanboy so I might be slightly biased.

But definitely go with Sky, once you use the Sky Box UI you'll know why.

Compare it to Horizons excuse for an OS and the differences are immense.

More channels, easier to use.

Sure it's expensive but it's a luxury you're paying for.

muffler

You should get a better deal than that with Sky. They do change their offers every month or so hang in there for a while and see what comes along.

I have read of people calling them and asking for an offer to sign up as a new customer.....some are apparently getting 20% - 50% off for a couple/few months

You could also request a 50% off code here. If you're not a member just create a free account. Im not sure if they are still valid but my daughter got one of these codes a few weeks ago and it worked out at half price for a year with the usual free installation etc.

BenEadir

AlanS181824 wrote: »

I'm pretty much a Sky fanboy so I might be slightly biased.

But definitely go with Sky, once you use the Sky Box UI you'll know why.

Compare it to Horizons excuse for an OS and the differences are immense.

More channels, easier to use.

Sure it's expensive but it's a luxury you're paying for.

Hi Alan,

Which of my cost calculations for Sky is correct? Would I be looking at €51 per month or €66 per month for the variety pack with HD and a second box in another room?

Ben

AlanS181824

BenThere wrote: »

Hi Alan,

Which of my cost calculations for Sky is correct? Would I be looking at €51 per month or €66 per month for the variety pack with HD and a second box in another room?

Ben

Hi there, Entertainment Extra (Now Variety) is €36 per month and HD is €15 on top of that and as is Multiroom.

That means it'll cost €66 per month, personally I wouldn't go for HD as I don't find it all that spectacular.

It's grand for watching a match in HD or a film but I can't really justify €15 for it.

Sometimes Sky offer HD for €5 but that may just be for existing customers.

Not ideal for everyone but I've heard of people getting eVision and using that as a Multiroom type service.

As you're UPC this would be of no use.

Get Variety with Multiroom is you really want but personally I'd ditch the HD.

BenEadir

AlanS181824 wrote: »

That means it'll cost €66 per month.........Get Variety with Multiroom is you really want but personally I'd ditch the HD.

That's disappointing. I have two HD TV's so I'm not going to sign up for an SD only package. I think HD for nature type programmes is fantastic as it is for sport, particularly hurling.

My main motivation for switching is to get better value for money so Sky at €66 isn't a runner vs €51 for a similar UPC package.

Perhaps I should just invest in a Saoeview/Freesat combo box and ditch monthly fees all together!

Ben

mightybashful

BenThere wrote: »

That's disappointing. I have two HD TV's so I'm not going to sign up for an SD only package. I think HD for nature type programmes is fantastic as it is for sport, particularly hurling.

My main motivation for switching is to get better value for money so Sky at €66 isn't a runner vs €51 for a similar UPC package.

Perhaps I should just invest in a Saoeview/Freesat combo box and ditch monthly fees all together!

Ben

You'll still get rte 2 for hurling in HD if you don't take the HD package, and on saorview if you take that option for a second room. If you're not taking movies and sport leave the HD option off it's not worth an extra 50% odd a month

TheDriver

Maybe you should review your viewing and choose. We have freesat plus box, hd and recording and no fees. Once you realise nearly everything is on uk channels, we only use rte to watch live things such as news or hurling as tv does saorview

mike2084

Have upc in apartment in Dublin, and Sky is back at the parents house at home - would have to say Sky wins hands down in my eyes.

Sam Russell

I have Freesat and Saorview which costs nothing per month. The Humax Foxsat HDR cost about £250 about 4 years ago and has worked faultlessly ever since and does the same as a Sky plus box (more or less). The dish came with a Lidl satellite kit about 5 or 6 years ago for €80 which I installed. The Saorview aerial cost about €30 which I installed myself. My second TV set has Freesat/Saorview built in.

Why pay for TV when well over 90% of what you watch is free? [According to current adverts - 97%.]

[And what you cannot see does not matter.]

Obviously, if you are into sport, you need to pay but I am not into sport except I would like to watch the H cup, but I have survived without it.

iba

@Benthere

Bit confused here, I thought you bought a Gigablue Quad, so why do you need Sky or UPC when you can get all you want for free?

You also have Chromcast or another XBMC streaming device and Netflix if I am not mistaken.

Regards

BenEadir

iba wrote: »

@Benthere

Bit confused here, I thought you bought a Gigablue Quad, so why do you need Sky or UPC when you can get all you want for free?

You also have Chromcast or another XBMC streaming device and Netflix if I am not mistaken.

Regards

Didn't realise I was making such a memorable impression on ya Iba :eek:

I have two TV's which are used every day (kitchen/diner + living room) which I'm paying UPC just over €100 a month for for the full package of movies & sport plus a 2nd digital box so I'm looking to significantly reduce or preferably eliminate that monthly cost all together. I have a Minix X7 connected to the Living room TV (streams content over WiFi from a 2TB NAS + online content from various sources using XBMC and other apps) and I also have a 4 year old Sagem HD Freesat box in the Living room which works fine but is rarely used as it doesn't have the Irish channels.

In addition I have a bedroom TV which I used to have an Ouya connected to but I sold that and replaced it a couple of weeks ago with a Chromecast which I finally figured out how to configure and I even have it streaming US Netflix etc. It's only used for Netflix and streaming box sets etc over WiFi from the NAS mainly during winter when a couple of episodes of the Following, House of Cards, Orange id the New Black or Mad Men or whatever we're watching at that time.

I haven't bought a Gigablue Quad just yet. I came close but the price was coming in at over €520 configured with dual Sat and Saorview tuners and a 1TB HDD, see



Two of those boxes would therefore cost €1,040 + some additional costs to have more cables run from the existing Satellite etc and on top of that from what I've been able to read it seems the Gigablue Quad Vix image isn't rock solid yet. For that reason I started to explore whether switching to a basic UPC or Sky bundle would be a more practical and cost effective solution for the next 12 months until the Gigablue Quad Vix (or other image) is more stable and perhaps the cost of the boxes has reduced a bit. If I could get the basic channels i.e. the equivalent of the Freesat and Saorview channels to my two existing UPC boxes for €50 a month for 12 months I'd still be saving €600 a year and wouldn't have the hassle/risk (enjoyable challenge?) of figuring out how to set up the Gigablue boxes and keep them running.

Now that I've fessed up and explained myself fully perhaps you could answer this question? Given I have a Minix X7 on one TV for all my local and internet streaming requirements and will soon have a new X8 for the same function on the other TV all I really need a Sat box for is pure TV i.e. watching and recording Freesat and Saorview channels are there other boxes you could recommend which have well sorted Vix images and are cheaper than the Gigablue Quads? It would need to have 2x DVB-S2 and DVB-T2 tuners + a 1TB HDD and strong Wifi capability to update EPG's (bouquets?) etc.

Ben

Eircom_Sucks

I went from sky €81 a month to upc horizon , stay with sky !!!!!!! Upc is only good for internet , horizon is shockingly bad

BenEadir

Eircom_Sucks wrote: »

I went from sky €81 a month to upc horizon , stay with sky !!!!!!! Upc is only good for internet , horizon is shockingly bad

Thanks ES. The one thing I'm certain of is that Horizon boxes won't be crossing my front door. If I stay with UPC on a reduced package I'll be keeping the two HD Digital Boxes (the fore runners to the Horizon boxes) for sure. I've only heard very bad stories about the Horizon system.

Ben

AlanS181824

BenThere wrote: »

Thanks ES. The one thing I'm certain of is that Horizon boxes won't be crossing my front door. If I stay with UPC on a reduced package I'll be keeping the two HD Digital Boxes (the fore runners to the Horizon boxes) for sure. I've only heard very bad stories about the Horizon system.

Ben

My auntie has eVision and Sky and to be fair with Eircom, eVision works great but it does have its moments.

Whereas Sky is more or less perfect.

The almost yearly price increases are a pain but as I said it's a premium service you're paying for, not a necessity.

I've had Sky since 2005, I've had HD, Movies etc but I currently only have Variety.

When I first join the base package was either €19 or €21 can't fully remember, now it's €28!

That's not exactly fair considering the service has improved loads since then and more channels but just bear in mind that there may be future price increases!

Bepolite

Broadband = UPC*
TV = Sky*

There are a bazillion options, free-view, evision, read a book, netflix... none of the convenience of the above.

People are obsessed with bundles - bundles are either cheaper or their not, why people can't wrap their heads around this is beyond me (not you OP). If there is €5 in it I will always go with better service.

Negotiate but sans a friend at Sky I can't see the discounts being in the 50% range. UPC's 'single usage charge' can be discounted to nil. (I managed to get both )

*unless you're on MMDS and cant get UPC broadband obviously.
*unless you are one of these nutters that requires TV in every room in the house including the dog's kennel and the toilets.

iba

BenThere wrote: »

Didn't realise I was making such a memorable impression on ya Iba :eek:

I have two TV's which are used every day (kitchen/diner + living room) which I'm paying UPC just over €100 a month for for the full package of movies & sport plus a 2nd digital box so I'm looking to significantly reduce or preferably eliminate that monthly cost all together. I have a Minix X7 connected to the Living room TV (streams content over WiFi from a 2TB NAS + online content from various sources using XBMC and other apps) and I also have a 4 year old Sagem HD Freesat box in the Living room which works fine but is rarely used as it doesn't have the Irish channels.

In addition I have a bedroom TV which I used to have an Ouya connected to but I sold that and replaced it a couple of weeks ago with a Chromecast which I finally figured out how to configure and I even have it streaming US Netflix etc. It's only used for Netflix and streaming box sets etc over WiFi from the NAS mainly during winter when a couple of episodes of the Following, House of Cards, Orange id the New Black or Mad Men or whatever we're watching at that time.

I haven't bought a Gigablue Quad just yet. I came close but the price was coming in at over €520 configured with dual Sat and Saorview tuners and a 1TB HDD, see



Two of those boxes would therefore cost €1,040 + some additional costs to have more cables run from the existing Satellite etc and on top of that from what I've been able to read it seems the Gigablue Quad Vix image isn't rock solid yet. For that reason I started to explore whether switching to a basic UPC or Sky bundle would be a more practical and cost effective solution for the next 12 months until the Gigablue Quad Vix (or other image) is more stable and perhaps the cost of the boxes has reduced a bit. If I could get the basic channels i.e. the equivalent of the Freesat and Saorview channels to my two existing UPC boxes for €50 a month for 12 months I'd still be saving €600 a year and wouldn't have the hassle/risk (enjoyable challenge?) of figuring out how to set up the Gigablue boxes and keep them running.

Now that I've fessed up and explained myself fully perhaps you could answer this question? Given I have a Minix X7 on one TV for all my local and internet streaming requirements and will soon have a new X8 for the same function on the other TV all I really need a Sat box for is pure TV i.e. watching and recording Freesat and Saorview channels are there other boxes you could recommend which have well sorted Vix images and are cheaper than the Gigablue Quads? It would need to have 2x DVB-S2 and DVB-T2 tuners + a 1TB HDD and strong Wifi capability to update EPG's (bouquets?) etc.

Ben

Well that is one hell of a detailed reply, I'm afraid mine will not be as long.

To answer your question first, I'm afraid that I am not exert enough to answer your question, STB, Fat-Tony, Radiowaves, GBCullen and others would be much better and giving advice on that. Sorry.

But it does seem to me that you might be going a little OTT. Do you really need all these tuners? Do you send a lot of time recording stuff?

I only have the Gigablue 800SE because I do not record anything. But if I ever did I would just connect an external drive to the box.

As for the Hard Drive you were quoted in the spec, why not buy it on Amazon and stick it in yourself. That would save some money.

To address some of your oints, there is nothing wrong with the Vix image at all. Both Fat Tony and STB use it on their Quads. I use it on my box and countless others use it on their VUs.

By joining World of Sat, you can get a 5% or 10% (I can't remember which) discount when buying from that site - another few quid saved.

Setting up any linux box is not that hard, and for someone like you who is clearly into this and is technically minded, it will be a breeze. I can do it and I do not work in IT or anything like that.

Reading your post again, I really do not think you need all those tuners, esecially when you are saying that you want two boxes. It means that you have 4 T Tuners and 4 S Tuners - are you really that much into recording?

What I think I would suggest is get a Linux receiver for your living room and get either an Ariva 152 or 252 or a Humax for your kitchen.

For USA Netlix, are you paying for a DNS or do you have a link to a free site for one?

Time for bed.

Regards

BenEadir

iba wrote: »

But it does seem to me that you might be going a little OTT. Do you really need all these tuners? Do you send a lot of time recording stuff?

Yes, we do record a lot of stuff to watch later. The kids record a good few movies and TV series and I would record a lot of documentaries etc

iba wrote: »

To address some of your oints, there is nothing wrong with the Vix image at all. Both Fat Tony and STB use it on their Quads. I use it on my box and countless others use it on their VUs.

That's good to hear, I was reading the thread Gigablue Quad thread and got the impression the Vix image wasn't doing so well on it but those comments may have been some time ago and things are sorted now.

iba wrote: »

setting up any linux box is not that hard, and for someone like you who is clearly into this and is technically minded, it will be a breeze. I can do it and I do not work in IT or anything like that.

Thanks for the vote of confidence, I am a little hesitant about investing in the Gigable Quad boxes as reading the various threads gives the impression of a steep learning curve.

iba wrote: »

For USA Netlix, are you paying for a DNS or do you have a link to a free site for one?

MOD: there is no discussion of circumventing regional restrictions

Ben

BenEadir

ei3gqb wrote: »

MOD: there is no discussion of this here

I'v eno idea what <deleted> is! If it requires a motorised system does that mean you're taking different channels from different satellites and your dish needs to move around to realign itself each time you change channel??

Confused.com

Ben

icdg

There is no discussion of subverting regional restrictions or illegal piracy here.

BenEadir

icdg wrote: »

There is no discussion of subverting regional restrictions or illegal piracy here.

Apologies ICDG, I didn't realise smart DNS services were illegal. I won't refer to it again.

Ben

icdg

They are not illegal per se but the use of them to circumvent regional restrictions is against the T&Cs of most services. What ei3gqb wanted to discuss most certainly is illegal, however.

iba

BenThere wrote: »

I'v eno idea what <deleted> is! If it requires a motorised system does that mean you're taking different channels from different satellites and your dish needs to move around to realign itself each time you change channel??

Confused.com

Ben

Not sure if this question is directed at me cause of the deleted post.

But yes, a motorised system realigns itself when changing to a channel on a different sat not on the same sat.

Henry Ford III

Sam Russell wrote: »

....Obviously, if you are into sport, you need to pay but I am not into sport except I would like to watch the H cup, but I have survived without it.

With decent bb nearly all live sport can be streamed to all sorts of devices. The picture quality has increased massively too.

I sometimes use Acestream which is amazing.