topic The Cost of Recording on your Sky box when you cancel your subscription? in Archive

The Cost of Recording on your Sky box when you cancel your subscription?

modelmaker — Tue, 06 Apr 2021 13:08:23 GMT

I am fed up with continuous contracts which leaves you at the mercy of price hikes so I am intending ditching my Sky contract when it finishes in July?August? However, freesat pvr's are few and far between and the latest boxes have appalling reviews but I believe I can get freesat from Sky but to record will cost you so much per month. How much is this and is it monthly or contractual? If I go for Sky freesat can I still use my magic eye system as I would be using my old Sky box? I live in a wooded valley so a dish is essentiial.

Re: The Cost of Recording on your Sky box when you cancel your subscription?

Mark39 — Tue, 06 Apr 2021 13:13:53 GMT

If Sky still offer the recording/playback feature as an option, I believe the cost is £10 per month. Your magic eye setup will continue to work, as it's not dependent on having any subscription.

Re: The Cost of Recording on your Sky box when you cancel your subscription?

TimmyBGood — Wed, 07 Apr 2021 11:15:59 GMT

@modelmaker wrote:

However, freesat pvr's are few and far between and the latest boxes have appalling reviews

No reason not to use an earlier model unless you want UHD.

Re: The Cost of Recording on your Sky box when you cancel your subscription?

modelmaker — Wed, 07 Apr 2021 18:33:42 GMT

Hi,

Many thanks for your response. I didn't think there was an earlier model made by Freesat. The only earlier pvr's seem to be the Humax brand. There appear to have been problems the minute Humax backed out of freesat boxes. I am correct in this assumption?

Regards

John

Re: The Cost of Recording on your Sky box when you cancel your subscription?

modelmaker — Thu, 08 Apr 2021 06:47:20 GMT

Hi,

Many thanks for your advice. I did not realise that there were so many alternative pvr options. I will now research into the ones appropriate to my needs and watch the development of the new 4x Freesat boxes - they've got to get better surely

Best wishes

John on the Wirral

Re: The Cost of Recording on your Sky box when you cancel your subscription?

TimmyBGood — Thu, 08 Apr 2021 07:39:09 GMT

@modelmaker

Worth noting 'Freesat' isn't a manufacturer, it's a branding (owned by the BBC and ITV) licenced to one particular 'official' manufacturer: first Humax, then Arris/CommScope. There are and always have been several other manufacturers of Freesat-compatible equipment: up to eleven at one point according to Wikipedia.

Re: The Cost of Recording on your Sky box when you cancel your subscription?

modelmaker — Thu, 08 Apr 2021 09:23:10 GMT

Hi,

Many thanks for your contribution to my dilemma and iI do appreciate the point you are making about Freesat. I am now able to consider my options more clearly. The two areas that are important to me are :- firstly,we tend to live on recordings so a big pvr would be nice and secondly we use two of our other rooms as well to watch tv. I have Sky cable and magic eyes in all rooms. This works very well and suits our needs. However, I will be ditching my Sky subscription as my contract runs out for my reasons stated earlier and,in terms of use of what we pay for, we hardly scratch the surface.

Option 1 Stay with Sky and pay £10? a month to record.

Pros. -less hassle, much cheaper,utilises existing system set-up,and,as an existing

customer, very cheap to enrole.

Cons - still tied to Sky contracts? and potential price hikes,when box dies will need

a buy a new box from Sky?

Option 2 Ditch Sky and find a nice big box that works and is reliable.

Pros - Free of Sky subs, able to get latest technology, more recording capability

(upgrade dish)

Cons - Would need to work out how to use existing cables to get tv in other rooms.

Having difficulty finding a reliable box.

My tv is an old flatscreen but works well and is supported by an Amazon Firestick. Where do I find details of other freesat boxes. I have looked at Argos,CurrysPCWorld ,and Amazon.

Regards

John

Re: The Cost of Recording on your Sky box when you cancel your subscription?

oj01 — Thu, 08 Apr 2021 11:29:15 GMT

@modelmaker Just one observation from the above. When/If your Sky +HD box dies, there are a plenty available on e bay for around £30 or less. I don't think Sky would provide a replacement anyway (without a full Sky subscription) but would be undoubtedly more expensive anyway.

Re: The Cost of Recording on your Sky box when you cancel your subscription?

modelmaker — Thu, 08 Apr 2021 12:28:18 GMT

Many thanks for your speedy response My experience of Sky is that they do their best to keep you. if you can be kept on tap and I would imagine if they still offer the payment to record scheme it would be a subscription so anything could happen. Regarding used ones you are,of course,correct. But I would be tempted by a good reliable freesat box if there is one out there.

Best wishes

John

Re: The Cost of Recording on your Sky box when you cancel your subscription?

Thewindycleaner — Fri, 11 Jun 2021 10:33:50 GMT

I realise you've probably resolved this by now, but for the benefit of others, I've just been on to sky to try to activate the recording facilities on my sky+HD box and I was on half an hour to them and they said they could not do it. The only option was to take a new channel package with a new sky Q box.

Re: The Cost of Recording on your Sky box when you cancel your subscription?

modelmaker — Fri, 11 Jun 2021 13:04:25 GMT

Hi,Thanks for that- I'm not surprised as they just want to keep you on an 18 moth contract so they're not about to give something away so easuly. I haven't done anything yet as my contract runs out in August so I had a break. However,I am getting fed-up with having to sort out deals including all my insurances eg. car, home, and travel.

It is a pity that ther are no half- decent Freesat boxes available yet and even then there is the problem of getting your signal to the other rooms which was so easy with the magic eyes.

I will be coming out of Sky on the termination of my contract - sad after so many years with them but they have to realise that there are many ways to watch TV nowadays. Many thanks John on the Wirral.

Re: The Cost of Recording on your Sky box when you cancel your subscription?

TimmyBGood — Fri, 11 Jun 2021 15:04:59 GMT

@modelmaker wrote:

It is a pity that ther are no half- decent Freesat boxes available yet

Most reviews of the current Arris/ComScope 'Freesat 4K'-branded hardware report it's at least 'half- decent' if not better. I'd suggest if you're hoping for something with Q-like functionality that's just not realistic: without subscription income to subsidise manufacture, no-one could afford to produce a Freesat receiver system with multiple tuners and wireless additional terminals at any reasonable retail price.

Re: The Cost of Recording on your Sky box when you cancel your subscription?

modelmaker — Fri, 11 Jun 2021 14:24:20 GMT

Hi, Thanks for your response. It looks as though I am expecting too much. I am no expert on these things and simply assumed that the Sky box had rf outputs and the magic eye cheaply completed the connection. What you see on each TV was the same,of course, and could be changed from any of the rooms. I just fealt it was an extension of the same signal.

Many thanks

John on the Wirral

Re: The Cost of Recording on your Sky box when you cancel your subscription?

TimmyBGood — Fri, 11 Jun 2021 15:33:24 GMT

@modelmaker

Although still in use by some Sky+ subscribers, RF redistribution from a Sky+ box over coaxial cable is pretty obsolete: frankly it really has been since Sky hardware first started doing HD over HDMI as both input and output potential became much better than the built-in RF technology permits, and there was no likelihood that it would be included in either Q or current Freesat specifications. The modern standard for such things is HDBaseT using HDMI and ethernet cable.

Re: The Cost of Recording on your Sky box when you cancel your subscription?

Mark39 — Fri, 11 Jun 2021 14:49:14 GMT

@modelmaker if you're keen to use your existing RF distribution set up, an HDMI/RF modulator such as this may provide an answer. It has the advantages of providing an HD picture and stereo sound, vastly better than the mediocre analogue, mono output from Sky boxes' RF ports.

I've used a similar model for the last 5 years, very successfully.

Re: The Cost of Recording on your Sky box when you cancel your subscription?

modelmaker — Fri, 11 Jun 2021 16:33:04 GMT

Hi,

Thanks for that - I think I am beginning to get the picture (sorry) now.

Best wishes

John on the Wirral