Questions on Sky Packages

JohnK

Hi, I'm planing on getting Sky and have a few questions that I hope someone here could help me with:

What I need:
Sky+ in one room. Standard Sky in a second room.
Both rooms will have all channels (ie. Movies, sport & what ever else is going)

Optional Extras:
I would like to be able to upgrade the hard disk in the Sky+ box to a bigger disk than is standard. Is there a particular box make/model I should look for?
I would also be interested, at some point in the future, in adding a third box to the dish. What do I need to do now to allow for this in the future? Is this even possible? Will allowing for this cost extra now?

Any leaflets that I have looked at seem to have the costs for what I need as follows:

• Sky+ box: €199
• Standard box: Free
• Room1 Subscription: €62.50 (Family pack, movies, sport)
• Room2 Subscription: €15.00 (Same chanels as Room1)
• Installation: Free

Does this sound right? Also, assuming the above prices are standard, do they include VAT? Are there any costs I'm missing here?


Finally, how long does it usually take for installation from the time of ordering? eg: if I wanted it installed on or around april 1st, when should I order? Is there anybody ye would recommend to do the installation? (In the Cork area)

Thanks for any help,

JohnK.

slegs

JohnK wrote:

Hi, I'm planing on getting Sky and have a few questions that I hope someone here could help me with:

What I need:
Sky+ in one room. Standard Sky in a second room.
Both rooms will have all channels (ie. Movies, sport & what ever else is going)

Optional Extras:
I would like to be able to upgrade the hard disk in the Sky+ box to a bigger disk than is standard. Is there a particular box make/model I should look for?
I would also be interested, at some point in the future, in adding a third box to the dish. What do I need to do now to allow for this in the future? Is this even possible? Will allowing for this cost extra now?

Any leaflets that I have looked at seem to have the costs for what I need as follows:

• Sky+ box: €199
• Standard box: Free
• Room1 Subscription: €62.50 (Family pack, movies, sport)
• Room2 Subscription: €15.00 (Same chanels as Room1)
• Installation: Free

Does this sound right? Also, assuming the above prices are standard, do they include VAT? Are there any costs I'm missing here?


Finally, how long does it usually take for installation from the time of ordering? eg: if I wanted it installed on or around april 1st, when should I order? Is there anybody ye would recommend to do the installation? (In the Cork area)

Thanks for any help,

JohnK.

seems to me like you are combining two different offers....one being a new subscriber to regular sky (free box and installation) and the second being an existing subscriber upgrading to Sky+ and multiroom (199EUR for the box and 15 EUR per month for multiroom, installation free and Sky+sub free as long as you have subscribed to one premium channel)...I am not sure how sky view this if you are looking for all this as a new setup...may even be cheaper as there is no "upgrade" involved...all prices do include VAT and you have the correct monthly subs..

order time is an issue...when I order my sky+ upgrade i got a lead time of 8 weeks! In the end I found a Sky affiliated installer on this forum who did the job for me 1 week after ordering (I paid him some extra)...it was worth it for me as he did an excellent job...note you have to lay phone cables from both boxes when ypu get multiroom...this can be messy if the installer isnt neat...also with 4 coax cables to run there is scope for disaster with aesthetics...the guy I used ran the two new cables from the back of the house through the attic and down the drainpipe at the front...really neat job..PM me and I will give you his handle - he is midlands based...

I have exactly the setup you are describing with the fourth slot on the quad lnb being used for a third digibox with freeview card from UK...just get the installer to run an extra line of coax from the fourth (unused) lnb output - you can then hook it up to a digibox at a later date...I also have the boxes distributed through the house on a multi output satellite amp/distributor that works with the global eye...this allows you to have access all boxes in all rooms and the ability to change channels with globaleye (you just need to separate the RF frequency settings from each other so you dont get fuzzy pictures)

To upgrade you box there is load of info out there...check out www.hummer.co.uk or the www.digitalspy.co.uk Sky+ forum...I have a Samsung SP1604N 160GB hard drive in my Sky+ box and it works perfectly...There is a 250GB Maxtor Quickview that gives good results also (think its 5A250J0 or something like that)..there is also a 160GB Maxtor Quickview that can be bought and this is the actual 160GB drive used in the new Thomson Sky+160...try www.planetmicro.co.uk or www.stuff-uk.net ...I have bought from each of them for Sky+....all Sky+ boxes can be upgraded but alot of feedback on digitalspy suggests Pace boxes are better...some people here will tell you amstrad are better...I have a Pace v2 and i have had no problems

Other things to consider for a perfect TV experience...If you have a Dolby Digital AMP you can hook it up to Sky+ via optical or coax for DD5.1 sound on Movies 1,2,3 and dolby surround on other channels. The Sky+ remote can then be programmed to control the AMP for sound instead of the TV. This is a brilliant feature. (vol buttons control amp, tv then left nav button turns on/off amp, tv then up/down nav buttons control TV vol - instructions on this setup can be found on the hummer site).

Also, note that hooking your sky+ box by a SCART lead to Scart 1 on most new televisions will allow you to use the RGB picture setting (this can be changed in the Picture menu on Sky+ or any Sky box). This was a revelation to me when I found this...the picture on my Panasonic 32 widescreen improved at least 50%..so much sharper and colorful...