Alternatives to Sky Movies
14 February 2013, 10:14 AM
#1
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Alternatives to Sky Movies
I am looking to potentially ditch Sky Movies and would appreciate some advice. This is our current situation:
1. We have a full HD 42" TV
2. We have Sky HD with Movies
3. We have Sky Broadband but it is very slow
4. Our phone is through Sky as well
5. We have a Dell XPS12 laptop with HDMI output capability.
The broadband is livable but annoying. We don't make full use of the movies, but we will make time to sit and watch good new releases. We don't pay to download box office movies as our internet it too slow; we only watch Movies when they are on Sky Movies HD 1,2,3, etc. We always watch movies in HD.
Overall we are paying a fortune to Sky for a phone we don't use, movies we rarely watch and a broadband service that is like 500-1000k at best!
We are thinking of stripping back to a more basic packaged and getting BT Infinity (34gb fiber). Our phone and broadband would be with BT and would work out cheaper than our current set up. However, I'd want to figure out a way to get movies in full HD. I also wouldn't want to have to wait longer than I already have to wait for titles to work their way onto the Sky Movie channels. I'm a little skeptical about the selection of Movies on Netflix and I find it worrying that you can't seem to browse the full selection unless you sign up.
To summarise, I want to ditch Sky Movies and get BT Infinity as I'll have faster broadband and be better off per month. With that faster broadband I can surely stream/download full-HD movies to the XP12 and HDMI it to the TV. A film I missed at the cinema that will be coming to Sky Movies HD soon is Avengers; if I ditch Sky movies in favour of speedy broadband, how do I ensure I can sit down and enjoy the Avengers (soon) in Full HD.
Also, if I ditch Sky Movies could I still rent films on an ad hoc basis through Sky Box Office? If so, how much is a typical HD new release?
1. We have a full HD 42" TV
2. We have Sky HD with Movies
3. We have Sky Broadband but it is very slow
4. Our phone is through Sky as well
5. We have a Dell XPS12 laptop with HDMI output capability.
The broadband is livable but annoying. We don't make full use of the movies, but we will make time to sit and watch good new releases. We don't pay to download box office movies as our internet it too slow; we only watch Movies when they are on Sky Movies HD 1,2,3, etc. We always watch movies in HD.
Overall we are paying a fortune to Sky for a phone we don't use, movies we rarely watch and a broadband service that is like 500-1000k at best!
We are thinking of stripping back to a more basic packaged and getting BT Infinity (34gb fiber). Our phone and broadband would be with BT and would work out cheaper than our current set up. However, I'd want to figure out a way to get movies in full HD. I also wouldn't want to have to wait longer than I already have to wait for titles to work their way onto the Sky Movie channels. I'm a little skeptical about the selection of Movies on Netflix and I find it worrying that you can't seem to browse the full selection unless you sign up.
To summarise, I want to ditch Sky Movies and get BT Infinity as I'll have faster broadband and be better off per month. With that faster broadband I can surely stream/download full-HD movies to the XP12 and HDMI it to the TV. A film I missed at the cinema that will be coming to Sky Movies HD soon is Avengers; if I ditch Sky movies in favour of speedy broadband, how do I ensure I can sit down and enjoy the Avengers (soon) in Full HD.
Also, if I ditch Sky Movies could I still rent films on an ad hoc basis through Sky Box Office? If so, how much is a typical HD new release?
14 February 2013, 10:36 AM
#3
I have both Netfix and Lovefilm. Netfix is alwayin hd add DD where as lovefilm omlly have some in hd. I pay £11 a month for both and each has a different choice of movies and tv programs.
I have never seen any problems with streaming Netflix but Lovefilm can crash.
I have never seen any problems with streaming Netflix but Lovefilm can crash.
14 February 2013, 02:59 PM
#5
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Sky movies is rubbish anyway, netflix would be a better option than Sky IMO.
14 February 2013, 03:29 PM
#6
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Connect your sky box to the Internet you'll get some movies on demand included in your package iirc.
Netflix is crap if you don't mind watching movies from 3 Years ago
Netflix is crap if you don't mind watching movies from 3 Years ago
14 February 2013, 03:52 PM
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Got the sky wireless box majigger-thingy to connect to our broadband. Happy to pay £3.99 on an occasional basis for those times that we do want to watch a film. I just don't know if we get the same level of access to the pay-per-view movies if we are on a lesser package. It would seem likely that you do; after all, you are paying them money to watch something!
Last edited by Saxo Boy; 14 February 2013 at 03:54 PM.
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14 February 2013, 06:41 PM
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There's also Now TV (which is owned by Sky), along with Netflix and Lovefilm. All three do 30 day free trial periods and I've taken advantage of that with Netflix and only to find that they don't enough films I currently want to watch to justify paying a subscription.
I've not tried the other two yet, partly because Lovefilm is/has been notoriously difficult to actually cancel. Now TV is meant to have most of the recent releases over the other two so I might give that a go next.
I've not tried the other two yet, partly because Lovefilm is/has been notoriously difficult to actually cancel. Now TV is meant to have most of the recent releases over the other two so I might give that a go next.
14 February 2013, 07:29 PM
#13
Get yourself one of these. 
http://satandcable.com/content/openb...te-receiver-v3
Plugs straight into your sat dish and router. Let's just say it works out 'slightly' cheaper than Sky.
http://satandcable.com/content/openb...te-receiver-v3
Plugs straight into your sat dish and router. Let's just say it works out 'slightly' cheaper than Sky.
14 February 2013, 07:34 PM
#14
Get yourself one of these.
http://satandcable.com/content/openb...te-receiver-v3
Plugs straight into your sat dish and router. Let's just say it works out 'slightly' cheaper than Sky.
http://satandcable.com/content/openb...te-receiver-v3
Plugs straight into your sat dish and router. Let's just say it works out 'slightly' cheaper than Sky.
infact that link shows an upgraded box it has more ports on it - it has a S/PDIF Interface port so i can connect it to my amp
do you have the v3 box can you confirm if it has the digital port?
Last edited by scoobyverysoon; 14 February 2013 at 07:39 PM.
14 February 2013, 09:58 PM
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Get yourself one of these.
http://satandcable.com/content/openb...te-receiver-v3
Plugs straight into your sat dish and router. Let's just say it works out 'slightly' cheaper than Sky.
http://satandcable.com/content/openb...te-receiver-v3
Plugs straight into your sat dish and router. Let's just say it works out 'slightly' cheaper than Sky.
14 February 2013, 11:18 PM
#20
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15 February 2013, 10:42 AM
#21
the openbox is very basic it doenst give you that option in the menus - my amp detects the sound on all my devices and changes to thx/ dolby etc
but it stays on all channel stereo for the openbox
but it stays on all channel stereo for the openbox
Last edited by scoobyverysoon; 15 February 2013 at 10:43 AM.
16 February 2013, 10:49 AM
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