Sky Plus Options

Nick Harvey · Thu 26 Nov, 2009 23.16

I'm sure there are other places I could ask this, but I don't fancy either a) wading through all the associated dross on Digital Spew or b) spending £150 on a premium rate call to Sky themselves, only to finally get the dork who doesn't know the answer anyway.

I'm sure I heard or read somewhere, quite a while ago, about a four tuner Sky Plus option, where you can either watch one channel while recording three others, or simply record four while you're out.

Was I dreaming? Is it a real option? Has anybody got it? If it's a real option, what's its proper name, so I can order it without too much hassle?

The time is rapidly approaching (it's called digital switchover, when all the timer clocks lose teletext and go into freewheeling mode) for Harvey Towers to dispense with the stack of DVD recorders and videos in the corner of the sitting room.

Oh, and HD isn't a specific requirement, but if the option's only available in HD, so be it.

all new Phil · Thu 26 Nov, 2009 23.58

I don't *think* it's an option, certainly not at the moment. Sky are very good at ramming their products down the throats of their customers, and I've never seen anything offering this (and I'm subscribed to Sky+HD). Would be interested if it did exist, though.

Think it's possibly in the plans for their long-rumoured home hub type thing.

Inspector Sands · Fri 27 Nov, 2009 10.37

The nearest I've heard to it is the V+ box which allows you to record 2 channels while watching (and pausing) a third.

It wouldn't surprise me if Sky did bring out that option, after all Sky Plus installations come with quad LNBs

Pete · Fri 27 Nov, 2009 11.49

I think this was rumoured when the V+ box (or telewest tv drive as it was then) first came out but nothing appeared to come of it. Despite all Virgin's flaws they do seem to try and introduce new features to the boxes despite the limitations of liberate itself. Searchable music videos was nice for the two days it was there before vanishing. Hopefully they're just waiting until a load of old clunkers are decommissioned before readding that one.

WillPS · Fri 27 Nov, 2009 16.56

Hymagumba wrote:I think this was rumoured when the V+ box (or telewest tv drive as it was then) first came out but nothing appeared to come of it. Despite all Virgin's flaws they do seem to try and introduce new features to the boxes despite the limitations of liberate itself. Searchable music videos was nice for the two days it was there before vanishing. Hopefully they're just waiting until a load of old clunkers are decommissioned before readding that one.

As I understand it, only the ancient Pace boxes were struggling with it - in which case I don't see why they don't just make the feature available to V+ users. My lovely (if hefty) Scientific Atlanta box certainly had enough muscle for it.

Steve in Pudsey · Fri 27 Nov, 2009 17.59

I'd be inclined to have two separate twin tuner boxes, as an insurance against the thing crashing, so you only lose two recordings rather than four.

Nick Harvey · Fri 27 Nov, 2009 19.09

Steve in Pudsey wrote:I'd be inclined to have two separate twin tuner boxes, as an insurance against the thing crashing, so you only lose two recordings rather than four.

That's option's appealing for the reason you state, but the downside is needing a Sky card in each and having to pay Sky for that privilage.

Philip · Fri 27 Nov, 2009 19.50

Doesn't seem to have been mentioned here, but might be worth waiting a year as Virgin Media has signed a contract with TiVo to produce their non-PVR and PVR boxes. TiVo are very well known in the States for their easy to use hardware and software; especially the interface and remote control. The first products are expected in 2010.

Pete · Fri 27 Nov, 2009 21.08

I myself have one of their new Samsung V+ boxes which does demonstrate that, to a point, one of the major problems with virgin was the lack of processor power in the Scientific Atlanta boxes rather than the firmware itself.

WillPS · Fri 27 Nov, 2009 21.21

I thought that TiVo were redoing the software for all V+ boxes, new and old? Seeing as they've only just released a new box (quite a big thing when you consider the amount of red tape Virgin seem to have to cut before bringing a new product on-line), it'd be strange for these to become obsolete so quickly.

I have a Scientific Atlanta box and love it. Either way, the Samsung is still only a speedier version with less connectivity. It was disappointing that the NTL HD PVR (which was in the very late stages of R&D at the time of the ntl:Telewest merger) was cancelled. Not only would it have supported MPEG-4 (meaning Virgin wouldn't have struggled so much to find space for HD channels) but it would have been able to act as a server to other standard STBs in the same house.

Nick Harvey · Fri 27 Nov, 2009 22.33

I'm not in a cabled area, so any of the Virgin options are out for me.

A number of friends have warned me against anything from TiVo because of their slowness at reacting to schedule changes, therefore the fronts or backs of programmes not being recorded on far too high a percentage of occasions.

We've got to the point now where we watch less than 10% of our television live. We watch a tiny bit of BBC output live but anything on any commercial channel gets recorded, even if we could have watched live, purely so we can fast forward past the adverts.

We really need a Sky, or at least an Astra/Eurobird 28.2/28.5, solution.

I'm beginning to wonder about a quad LNB connected to a Sky Plus (two tuner) AND the equivalant Freesat (two tuner) offering.