IanW

Is it worth it or not?

I currently have Telewest Cable TV in the house, and they are just about to put the prices up again.

Interested in opionons about it, I know that most of the channels will still be the same.

ian_sadler

Ian,

It's very good. I was supprised by just how much it made a difference to my telle watching.

Also as an added bonus it has an optical out so you can pump it through your surround sound

IanW

I am literally >-< that close to calling Sky and ordering it, as apart from the inital £99 outlay for the box the monthly cost is identical to what I am paying Telewest.

Surround Sound dont know what you mean I dont have any of that kit

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Current off from Sky is £100 for the box, free installation and £41 per month for the family package (1st month half price)


Standard sky is free install and free box, and same subscription costs (depending on package).

If this is the first installation then I'd go for the sky+ box beacuse if in the future you want to upgrade to Sky+, it will cost you £150 for the box and another £60 installation (£210 total) - based on the current on-line offers.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Oh, whilst I'm on here...anyone getting rather peeved off at SKY's brainwashing attempt to try and get you onto sky+ with multiroom?

Mind...seeing this thread exists - it must work

Vonzack

I would recommend the Sky+ route, have had it for some time now and it's great.

Sky usually increase their prices in line with everynoe else, but the service is allot better.

dharbige

Got it a few months back. Love it. 'Nuff said.

IanW

I am actually considering the Multi-Room option as well, for the sake of £10 a month extra it would be handy having all the channels on the other TV.

ian_sadler

Yep moved the old box to the bedroom and put + in the lounge

IanW

Time to do all teh maths as to other costs, phone lines, internet etc... as at the moment it is all done through Telewest.

If it looks cheaper, or about the same cost then I can see an order for Sky+ going in.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

£10 a month...£120 a year, £600 every 5 years.

Digisender works well enough for me (oh, and the built in analogue receiver that my bedroom TV has...free cable )

ScoobyJawa

Sky+ rules - buy it.

nuff said

ian_sadler

Ian, if we do the recomend a friend thing we can split the vouchers

Sub97

I heard a rumour that they are going to be releasing a new version of Sky+ towards the end of the year. Anyone know anything about it?

Geezer

I cannot recommend Sky+ enough, it is the dogs. It makes life so easy for the viewer.

However, on the downside, the boxes themselves are as fragile a tissue paper. We are on our 3rd box in 10 months, and from what the engineers and the call centres have said, we are by no means an exception.

We have even elected to take out the cover after our 12 month period expires, because although it pains me to do it, I know the box will fail every 6 months to a year, and it is cheaper than forking out for a new box each time, or Skys outrageous callout fees if it ain't under their warranty period.

Geezer

Neil Smalley

Buy a second hand tivo. Far more flexible IMHO

ian_sadler

True, its just an ordinary HDD in the box with very little in the way of cooling (but you can upgrade to a larger disk for more recording storage).

If it's in the rack with everything else it can get hot and fail.

Krade

The new version of Sky + is currently on test at the mo I know as Im testing it. Its the same as the old one but will give you 160 hours of recording time rathr than the current 20 hrs.

The other thing in development is HDTV coming in 2006, High Deffintion TV. Don't know too much about that at the mo but if they offer the HD test to staff I will deff be applying for it. DVD quality pics for normal TV broadcast mmmm yes Please

wez_sti

Sky + is the best thing since big turbo's!!!

buy it! think of the money you'll save by not having to buy DVD box sets of '24' , CSI etc... just record them and watch em when you want!

IanW

Hmmm i guess that would explain the 'deals' on these older boxes at the moment then.

Just doing some basic number crunching at the moment, and there is not a lot between them, Telewest used to give a reasonable discount on the Internet if you had the digital TV package, but now it is only £3 a month discount.

Ian i will let you know if I am going to order it

ian_sadler

Had the new Sony HDV camera in the office last week for a play VERY IMPRESIVE . 1080i on stndard DV tape, true 16:9 and still handholdable

Tiggs

lol...glad the lone "tivo" voice is being drowned out by SKY mania!

sky + is essential, id give up my TV beofre my sky box!

ian_sadler

Mogsi

What a con..

Why is it new Sky customers get the box for £99.. Yet someone like me who has been with Sky for the last 7years+ has to Pay £149 and £60 installation fee to upgrade !!!!!!!!!

*rant over

ozzy

Simple marketing Mogsi. Offer cheaper prices to new customers and it'll attract more business. Same thing happens with insurance, mobile phone contracts, etc..

I heard that if you phone up and tell them you're cancelling the subscription, they'll offer Sky+ @ £99 as an incentive to keep your business.

You've got 30-days notice, so if they call your bluff you can always phone up a few days before and change your mind.

Stefan

2000TLondon

Got SKY+ a few months back... Very good. I try not to watch too much TV, and I think the whole thing with cable / sky is that you don't need it, but once you've had it, you can't live without it! Very pleased I upgraded, the memory could be bigger but apparently that will be upgradeable....they say. Also, I believe there is the capactiy to record from the HD to DVD, VCR or your PC HD but I have not tried this yet..... Plus, no more adverts!!!!!

Would recommend it. I would certainly recommend SKY over CABLE anyway, with long experience of both.

Also, if you press them, they generally do you a deal to sign up, calling late in the evening and trying to negotiate near the end of the shift is my trick!

ian_sadler

I didn't.

Booked it over the net and got free installation and the box for £99.00 AND they didn't charge for relocating the old box.

ozzy

If you have a DVR, you can transfer recorded programmes from the Sky+ box to DVD. You can use a DVR with DVD only, but only copy at 1:1 ratio. If you get a DVR with built-in hard disk then you can transfer programmes to the DVR's hard disk and then do high-speed dubbing to DVD.

Sky+ isn't aware of the DVR, so you just reply the programmes on Sky+ and set the DVR to record.

A very good DVR (Panny, Pioneer, Tosh) will set you back around £400 with a 80GB hard disk.

Stefan

Geezer

I know people who have TIVO, and whilst the boxes themselves may be more durable, they are just nowhere near as flexible as Sky+. You don't get all the series link stuff, you have to have the box on the channel you recording (just like that giant of technology, VHS video!), you can do "i" on programs which you have record (which sounds petty, but it somehtong which is soooooo annoying if you cannot do it). If a program moves, then Sky+ will still record it, as long as the channel send out the correct signals, I do not believe TIVO does that, although I may be wrong

Geezer

Krade

Dont forget being able to record Two Satalie channels at once on Sky +, well handy if you are going out and theres two thing you want to record on at the same time.