Sky+ box without subscription?

S

speculatrix

Regular Member
My Location
East Anglia, UK
My old ondigital, er itvdigital, er, freeview box is getting unreliable, so I want to know what to replace it with.

I don't watch lots of TV, to be honest, but I would value the features of sky+ box. Pace have a digital terrestrial receiver out with same features, for similar price.

Would a sky+ box be fully operational with just the free bbc card in it? that's to say, I'd get all the time-shifting features, programmable timing etc?

I ask because sky imply that without a proper sky+ subscription the box would be an inert pile of junk!

alternatively, I am thinking of getting into cams+cards scene instead.

thanks!
Paul
 
speculatrix said:
Would a sky+ box be fully operational with just the free bbc card in it?
Click to expand...
To my knowledge - No it wouldn't Speculatrix.

The SKY+ device is a very lucrative cash generator. Allowing a user to record FTV/FTA stuff and benefit from their investment (yawn) and STB functionality (yawn) simply wouldn't generate ARPU.

The only thing that SKY will give you for free - is SKY Travel, SKY Yawn and SKY News (all with adverts).

Have Fun,

Mark.
 
mljgmljg said:
The only thing that SKY will give you for free - is SKY Travel, SKY Yawn and SKY News (all with adverts).
Click to expand...

thanks for that... I figured that this would be the case )(-red , but needed to convince the wife that sky would be a bottomless pit of money for us

.... now to go look at something which will give me an education in crypto!
 
There are alternatives to sky+.

1. If you are just interested in the BBC and other FTA channels then any none Sky receiver with a build in hard disk would do the job. This type of receiver usually have common interfaces so you can add a CAM for encrypted channels (not for Sky).

2. Alternatively you could consider buying a DVD recorder. In particular the Panasonic recorders have good time shifting capabilities as the use DVD RAM (and DVD-R). DVD RAM lets you do things like time shift and record one program while watching another. I know that most manufacturers are not supporting DVD RAM but it is the best format.

3. Last but not least, some manufactureres make hard disk recorders, with or without a built in DVD player. Panasonic among others make one with built in hard disk and DVD recorder.

Options 2 & 3 work well with any Sky digibox.
 
yeah, I considered a pvr route, or combo of sat receiver pvr + cam/card ... even a small form factor PC and a digital sat card or digital tv card... it's not just being able to record programs, it's the ease of doing so, and capturing the digital stream to ensure the quality.
it's hard to make a decision, as money is not plentiful - just had our first child - so can't afford to buy something that will be hard to use or not reliable.. the wife has enough problems operating the tv/vcr/dvd/av-amp stuff without adding more complexity!!!
 
Try Humax 8000 - single tuner DTT for about £150, so a lot cheaper than the Pace (though that has two tuners). There is supposed to be Humax 9000 double tuner model coming out, but that'll cost more.
 
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