Topic: Sky Plus TV recorder

[Garden Manager]

Just wondering who on A4All has one of these. You know the one i mean, sky decoder with built in hard drive to record satelite programmes.

Ours has been working fine and is very usefull, yet recently has been giving a lot of trouble, firstly with playback, then recording. I would like to hear other peoples experiences of this machine, or about possible alternatives that might be better.

Thanks

[pntalbot]

Had our Sky Plus 2.5 yrs and every fault has been a Hard drive problem and this means, change of Recorder --had `3`
If you Record two programs, say to start at 8pm & finish at 9pm and then you want to record one at  9 pm--it won`t--- Clashes --this is because, the first 2 programmes being recorded actually finish at 9.02pm  and any new recording starts at 8.58 pm.
In Sky setup,  it is set  to  AUTOMATIC --start & finish ,which can be adjusted, but then sometimes, if you set this to Zero, you miss backend or forwardend  of some programmes. This is the only thing I don`t  like about Skyplus.

[Yellow Petals]

Richard, may I ask what sort of problems you mean with recording and playback?  Is it only part recording, going out of sync on recordings or freezing etc?  We've had our Sky Box almost two years and about a month ago we had the above problems but found that turning of the box, unplugging it, removing the card and then putting it all back solved it. 

In reference to the recording times clashing, if you're lucky enough to be around when recording programmes like that pntalbot, you can stop one manually as soon as the credits come up, leaving time to start the next one on the hour. 

[glow777]

Had our Sky Plus 2.5 yrs and every fault has been a Hard drive problem and this means, change of Recorder --had `3`

You can change the hard drive yourself they are just standard PC hard drives - usually Maxtor. You can pick up 80GB drives new for less than £30 and they can take 160GB drives (£45 ish) which will double your storage capacity. Drives are standard IDE and the SKY PLUS machine formats them when switched on. Most harddrive problems can also be fixed by taking the drive out fdisking & formatng in a pc and then sticking back in again.

My skyplus box also has a USB and a network port on it - labelled for future use. I want to fiddle with these but the wife won't let me as she can't live without sky+!

[Garden Manager]

Thanks for replies.

At first the problems were mainly freezing and picture breakup during playback and the occasional failed recording. This was solved by switching off and rebooting. Then this didnt seem to help much and a complete reset (reformating the hard disk, and starting afresh like you would with a PC), not ideal since it erases all recordings, but it seemed to help.

Then about 2 months ago the device 'crashed' and had to be rebooted. On rebooting none of the recorded programmes could be played and no new recordings made. I phoned up sky and they told me to do a full reset to cure the problem, it did but was told it would probably happen again and the box may need replacing. Since things seemed to be OK again we decided to stick with the box for the time being.

Then about 2 weeks ago, shortly after a busy night of rrcordings when the disk came near to full we had a bad night where nearly everything we tried to watch froze up or crashed the  machine to one degree or another. We thought that maybe it was time to do another full reset, but there were still programmes that i really wanted to see recorded on it so the reset got put off. As a stopgap measure I became really strict about puting thr box on standby when not in use, as we had a bad habit of leaving it on 24/7 and just turning the TV off. This seemed to make a diference, clearly giving the machine a 'rest' between uses. Doing this helped keep things going well over christmas (when the box gets lots of use).

That was until yesterday, when all of a sudden the box crashed again and on rebooting was found to have 'lost' all of our recordings, requiring a full reset once again. This time however it did not work as expected, we still coulnt record and were greeted with an error mesage instructing us to phone sky. On phoning sky, we were told to do yet another full system reset with the addition of a couple more steps to reactivate the recording function. This was successfull and we thought we were back to normal again. It wasnt until we tried recording via the planner that the next problem arose. Recordings have failed to start at the required time, only partialy recorded or appeared to record OK then failed when attempting to play back (one has even caused the box to stop working temporarily). Yet some have recorded and played fine. The problem is totaly random.

I am guessing we have a hard drive failure in progress, rather than a software or other mechanical problem.

So how does the replacing just the hard drive work? surely the hard drive must be configured to work as a video recorder rather than a general PC drive which is all you'd be able to buy from a computer shop?

Sorry for the lengthy message, I thought i'd better relate the whole saga so you had the full facts of the problem. I must say I am glad to not be alone with this problem.

Thanks

[glow777]

So how does the replacing just the hard drive work? surely the hard drive must be configured to work as a video recorder rather than a general PC drive which is all you'd be able to buy from a computer shop?

A hard drive is just a storage mechanism. The integral parts of the sky plus box (basically a headless pc ) is what is "configured" to do the recording.
I'll try to find you a website that explains how to replace the drive. What kind of box do you have?

[glow777]

GC have a look at this - prices are a little out of date but it gives you the idea.

BTW i have never used the named screwdriver just LN pliers but I could see the advantage in having one

http://www.morlocks.co.uk/disc-change-v2.htm

http://labs.pcw.co.uk/2006/03/how_to_upgrade_.html


Glow

[Garden Manager]

Blimey that looks a bit complicated. Not quite as easy as doing the same thing on a PC(?).

The box i have is a Pace type, (20 hours of recording only) cant find a model number or anything. Had the thing about 3 years, so maybe its a 'version 1' sky plus.

Might be better getting sky to send an engineer out to look at it. Were told that it would cost £65 to call an engineer out but that any new parts or even a new box would be covered by that charge. Sounds a bit too good to be true but I dont see as we have much choice.

[Garden Manager]

Just to update on what going on. Thursday night was the final straw. The thing messed up big time, so phoned up sky to book an engineer to call. Were pleasantly surprised to get saturday (quicker than we thought). Were even more surprised to get a call first thing saturday from the engineer that he would be calling within the next 30 minutes, for 'an installation'. We assumed it was just a simple case of installing a replacement box as promised on the phone.

Engineer turns up, we explain problem as best we can. He in turn checks a few things on the system, including signal strength, but not recording or live pause/rewind functions, then turns around and says we need a new dish and not a replacement box. Goes off to replace dish (which was quite corroded. This done he comes back and checks the picture - much better,but still nothing about the recording problems or the box. We raise this with him. Says recording probelms were probably down to signal loss (due to corrosion on old dish). This of course does not explain the problems we had been having with playback of recorded programmes!

Then finaly engineer turns attention to the box and the hard drive. Says all it needs is a complete reformat and defragmentation and sets this going. This takes longer than expected so I think to myself (knowing a bit about computers) well maybe 'fragmentation' of data on the hard drive was causing the problems and by defragmenting and replacing the dish (curing any signal loss) the problem would be solved. Once the disk was defragmented the engineer decided we needed new software, this would take about 10 minutes followed by a reboot of the system. He said this procedure didnt need him around tho complete and would leave it to us to sort out. Clearly he was in a hurry to get onto the next job (he told us openly he has a lot on that day). Work done was then signed for ( on one of those electronic pads, no paperwork involved) and the engineer left.

Once the system was reset and ready to use we started programming in recordings to test things out. On the whole it seemed a lot better, picture clearer and the planner mor responsive. The first new recording worked fine. The second would have if the box had not spontaneously shut itself down mid recording as It had done on several occasions before. This messed up that one recoding and a subsequent 'shut down' lost what had recorded. Later on last evening most of the old problems resurfaced, resulting in a lengthy phone call to sky. This did produce results. The engineer that visited us had not done his job properly and another visit was arranged at no extra charge. Hopefully this time things will get sorted out.

Thing is problems such as we are experienceing are hard to prove or test for. Such things cannot be made to happen as a demonstration for an engineer's benefit. So we have decided to carry on using the system as normal, and if programmes fail or dont palyback properly they will be left to demonstrate the problems. In the meantime we do at least have a VCR and tapes to backup (most) programmes we dont want to miss.

[pntalbot]

Sorry to hear your problems, but your Box will be changed, when the Engineer Calls. These Enginineers  don`t  fault  the Box, just change  them. You have similiar problems as my note above --PNTALBOT.
What also annoyed me, when the telephone bill came in my Printout bill showed £3.75  for ringing Sky on a number of occasions. --0870 number are not cheap, when you hang on with Sky  doing various resets.Then after trying these Resets etc, still problems, they then make an Appointment for Engineer to call.

[Garden Manager]

Tell me about it. When I called on saturday to report latest problems and complain about the engineer they send us that morning, I was kept waiting ages on the phone before i spoke to anyone. The conversation itself was pretty long so that adds up to a largish call bill! (that said e dont use the phone much so the overall bill wont be that horrendous).

[telboy]

Hi All,
Be very, very wary with Sky!!
I can tell you from my own experiences (and they've been horrendous), that the engineers will replace your box if they can't fix it on site.
The faulty box goes back to a repair centre.
If it can't be fixed in 7 minutes, it's repacked & sent back out again.
Then some other poor 'sucker' gets it.
Might be you?

[Curryandchips]

Somehow I am not surprised ... ?

[Garden Manager]

Hi All,
Be very, very wary with Sky!!
I can tell you from my own experiences (and they've been horrendous), that the engineers will replace your box if they can't fix it on site.
The faulty box goes back to a repair centre.
If it can't be fixed in 7 minutes, it's repacked & sent back out again.
Then some other poor 'sucker' gets it.
Might be you?

Another engineer came yesterday. After hearing all the problems we'd been having, he decided to replace the box straight away, and it all seems fine now. The box whilst not brand new looks a lot newer than the one we had so hopefully it should be OK.

I dont see any problem with this exchange instead of repair policy. Surely its best for all in the long run. At least you get a working box straight away rather than wait for the existing one to be repaired - which may not be possible even if its sent way rather than repaired in situ.

I am guessing that replaced boxes go back to be serviced and put back into working order before being used as a replacement box elsewhere. OK so there is the risk that something might be wrong with the replacement box, but i think it comes with a guarantee (along with any other required work) so you are at least partly covered against future problems. Plus you are saving money. The £65 call out fee covers parts and labour whereas you'd have to pay a lot more to get a brand new box - and then still have to fit it yourself. No i think its not a bad deal really.

Have been thinking about this whole affair of the two call outs we had to have. The first one was described as an 'instalation' yet apart from a new dish (not the real cause of the problems) no instalation (ie of a new box) was made as was promised by sky. The yesterday the second engineer that called was under the impression that we had had a replacement box and that the call out was for a problem with that one, not the oroginal one that was still  in place. After being set straight the work was carried out as described above, but on completion no signature for the work done was asked for (unlike the previous visit). Now it could be that the one signature covered all the work, (since the job was not completed in the first instance). But what if something a buit more sinister was going on? What if the first engineer was supposed to do a full installation (replaement box etc), but didnt but still reported to SKY that he had done so, possibly to get more money from them for less work. So then when we called again, Sky thought we had a problem with a second box rather than the same problems with the first that wasnt fixed or replaced?

OK, so we havent lost out by it but maybe someone was trying to pull a fast one on Sky. Might be barking up the wrong tree but the chain of events certainly suggest it at least.

[pntalbot]

Garden Cadet  from pntalbot.
Our sky plus fitted July 2004--NO EXTENDED WARRANTY ,presume 1 yr guarantee--No faults in first year.
Went faulty 27.7.06--New Box--NO CHARGE--after 2yrs ? ?
29.7.06  Still faulty -- New Box  -- No charge ? ?
Caused Uproar, when it went wrong again 29.7.06 and told them, I am thinking of going to NTL Cable, instead.
 Had heard  thro` grapevine, Callout was £65, but I just kept  Quiet, but was willing to Pay

[silly billy]

Can only speak from my experience which is that we have had no faults with our sky+ box.We had the usual sky box but our dish needed moving due to a tree sky wanted £65 to move the dish. Read on moneysavingexpert.com about threatening to leave and what sky would do to keep you. Result: 1 new dish resited to a much better location 1 sky+ box 2 remote controls for £50.I kept my old box which I sold on ebay for £55  ;D ;D. My inlaws did the same for £49 and so did my sisterinlaw.

[glow777]

Can only speak from my experience which is that we have had no faults with our sky+ Read on moneysavingexpert.com about threatening to leave and what sky would do to keep you.

This is how we initially got sky+
Our normal sky went bust well out of warranty we phoned up to cancel two days later everything was upgraded to sky+ with a new dish and box etc for £49.99

£49 seems to be the charge they use for everything that needs fixing on a threaten to leave basis

[Garden Manager]

Another odd thing happened with the sky+ this morning. Went to record and a message came up saying there was a problem with the veiwing card and were unable to record! Unbeleivable! However I removed the card, carefully cleaned it and replaced the card. Tried again and the recoring worked fine. Very strange, since i cant work out why a problem with the card would prevent recording. Its a veiwing card after all. Could still veiw channels OK.

It is possible we need a new card, as the one we have is still our original sky + card.

[pntalbot]

Been with SKY  from start --18 yrs--never  had a Card fault.
Now got Sky Broadband --£17 per month-- very fast --5.6 meg--recommend it,when Sky get their own Eqpt in Local Exchange, in the coming months, it will be either FREE or at my speed ( up to 8 meg ) £5 per month

[telboy]

Could you please rephrase that?
When you are finally sorted, what will you actually pay per month?