Sky+HD, SkyHD & Sky 3D

[raveydavey]

Well, now that the new software is at last being rolled out and basically seems OK, we don't want the developers to get bored with nothing to do. So a good time maybe for some enhancements. Here are a few ideas, some of which have already been suggested:

• Ability to backup and restore recordings using an external drive. If you only make 1 change, make it this one!
• A proper EPG for radio channels
• Aspect ratio conversion of 4:3 SD shows (pillarboxing) when output is set to 720p or 1080i. At the moment it puts out 4:3 HD which is a totally invalid and non-standard format
• Ability to re-order favourite channels
• Favourites to be the default when hitting TV Guide button
• Keep to be the default when adding a new recording to the planner
• When looking inside a series stack, don't display the show name for every episode. They will by definition all be the same. Instead, show the synopsis (as much as will fit) thereby making it easy to select a particular episode.

That should keep them busy for a while...

[raveydavey]

One more idea I've just remembered - this is a bit complicated so bear with me.

If I have been playing back and I stop the playback, the box will revert to live TV. This causes 2 problems:

• When doing multiple recordings starting/stopping at the same time, the automatic recording of overlaps between programmes is cancelled. This I presume is done to keep the live TV going wherever possible, but can result in recorded shows being cropped
• As another poster recently pointed out, the sound from the live TV can act as a spoiler, telling me facts about the show being recorded that I don't want to hear.

Suggestion: selecting a dummy channel (000?) causes live TV to be suspended leaving just menus and playback. Both tuners are now dedicated to recording as required.

[GregorA]

Hi raveydavey,

There are some very interesting suggestions in both posts and I can see you are quite enthusiastic about improvements within our services which is great to see

I can understand there are certain points within your posts that can frustrate you at times which I understand and we are always looking at ways to improve our services so that it pleases all our customers. We also appreciate every suggestion that's put forward by the community.

Regards.

[Deano1975]

With the ability to record programmes onto the hard drive planner, what is the possibility of sharing recorded programmes with other sky users. Like the principle of forwarding an e-mail. Each user will have their own user name an address and can vet sent programmes before accepting them. Record, share and view!

[caesarome]

What about the ability to set a recording for a program when a trailer is shown for it on TV, perhaps the red button on the remote could be used similar to the green one for the reminder function.

[timsky64]

i also have a good update idea;

when watching channels with adverts like itv or sky1, i often change to another channel during these ad breaks. But then i get so involved in the new channel that i am always missing the first bit of the original channel when i return. I think a handy feature would be a button which you could press as the adverts begin and change channel which then would remind you when the adverts have finished on the original channel. hence not missing any of the original channel.

[JanePar]

When selecting a show in the EPG I'd like a Browse Related option which allows you to find other episodes of the selected show , related series , related programmes from cast and crew and related genre. The Sky button taking you to My Sky with HD poster graphics showing what's on now and personalised reccomendations similar to the excellent new DirecTV HD guide in the USA.

[TheRidgeback]

I have just spent about 20  mins searching through the never miss, adding all the programs and films that I want to see.
Would it be possible to link this to the auto record feature within my account, so that as soon as the first episode is ready to be aired or the film I have bookedmarked, not only will I receive an e-mail, it will also set the remote record for that program.

Just a thought.

Cheers

Mac. 

[JanePar]

A nice feature would be the ability to download shows recorded in your planner onto a mobile device to watch away from the home providing your STB and mobile device are connected to your router I would presume it possible.

[Annie+UK]

How about removing the usless Showcase tab from Anytime+ when Anytime is disabled?

Also give most of the reserved HDD space back to the user when Anytime is disabled.

[John8372]

A useful option would be to allow the user to select how they wanted to watch 4:3 programs.

At the moment with the output set to 1080i 4:3 programs on SD channels are stretched to fill the screen. The user should be able to watch it this way or in the correct aspect ratio with black bars down the sides if they want.

4:3 programmes on HD channels are shown in the correct ration with black bars down the sides. Again the user should be able to watch it like the or have the Sky box stretch the picture to fill the screen.

Just one extra option in the picture settings menu would be enough to select this (fullscreen On / Off). The difficult bit would be detecting 4:3 programs on HD channels.

[headscratcher]

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• Ability to backup and restore recordings using an external drive. If you only make 1 change, make it this one!

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+1 for this. Even better simply allow the old and new boxes to connect via their ethernet ports and do an automatic copy over.  Assuming these are Linux boxes you could use an open source ftp server/client, implementation would be reasonably straighforward considering the customer benefit.  This issue affects 100% of your users that record programs, no hardware lasts forever and you are losing this customer because of it.

I have a Thompson box so the chance of any further updates/features seems negligable.   Thompson owners are left out of new features and existing ones disappear.  Its the planner contents that kept me hooked but I'm now running them down and its a pain I do not intend to repeat.  My solution is to set up a HTPC with dual satellite card to get a very flexible Freesat+HD setup with some useful extras.  Most importantly I can copy/backup/view my recordings however I wish, all without subscription. After 20yrs of being with Sky and paying to be an early adopter of Sky+HD it was disappointing to discover that I, like my fellow Thompson owners, have become a 2nd class subscriber.

[JanePar]

Would it be possible for a future box to back scheduled recordings and series links to the cloud.

[Annie+UK]

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JanePar wrote:
Would it be possible for a future box to back scheduled recordings and series links to the cloud.

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This, IIRC, is going to be implemented in a future version of the software

[headscratcher]

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Annie+UK wrote:

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JanePar wrote:
Would it be possible for a future box to back scheduled recordings and series links to the cloud.

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This, IIRC, is going to be implemented in a future version of the software

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At over 3 months to upload the contents of a 1Tb drive at typical ADSL upload speeds I'd have hoped the Sky developers would have better uses for their time.