topic Re: Sky HD Boxes Advice in Sky+

Sky HD Boxes Advice

DorsetJon — Sat, 17 Feb 2024 22:10:23 GMT

Hey Guys,

My first post in the forum,so looking forward to your advice.

Long story short - I had to call Sky Protect to request an engineers visit,to fix one of our HD boxes,which had signal issues,turns out the cable to the dish had become VERY second hand.

All fixed now,normal service resumed.

But the sky engineer was super helpful(even more so after we'd made him a brew)and was telling us that on paper,Sky HD boxes and the platform itself,was now technically obsolete,and being phased out by Sky,with them now focusing solely on Sky Q,Sky Glass and Sky Stream.

"Is that true?"

Our contract expires atthe end of next month,so we are THINKING of upgrading to Sky Q,so long as Sky offer us a tempting offer,when upgrading.

The Sky engineer did say however,that there are still huge amounts of Sky subscribers who are still rocking Sky HD boxes,and are very happy NOT to upgrade,but with us going out of contract in the coming weeks,we are giving things some serious thought.

Thanks in advance.

Jon.

Re: Sky HD Boxes Advice

HeathHayle — Sat, 17 Feb 2024 22:32:19 GMT

yes your right on paper sky+ isnt available anymore but its upto you if you want to upgrade to sky Q or not but a word of warning you cant go back if you dont like it so I would personally look at other peoples setup to decide if you like it

Re: Sky HD Boxes Advice

oj01 — Sat, 17 Feb 2024 23:12:01 GMT

@DorsetJon I, for one, am very happy to stay with Sky+HD. I was recently able to negotiate a new 18 month discounted contract. It just works!

Re: Sky HD Boxes Advice

Daniel0210 — Sun, 18 Feb 2024 05:37:20 GMT

@DorsetJon

Luckily you'd taken out Sky Protect cover with Domestic and General Insurance as Sky no longer send engineers for Sky+ or Sky+HD issues.

As other have said research Sky Q and other options fully before ordering. Another Superuser has compiled a comprehensive guide for those thinking of changing to Sky Q so I'm sure he won't mind me adding his link

SKY +/HD to SKY Q

cc @nigea99

Re: Sky HD Boxes Advice

DorsetJon — Sun, 18 Feb 2024 10:12:36 GMT

Exactly THAT,oj01.

My parents instilled a"if it aint broke,then why fix it"mindset in me,so I agree.

But with our contract nearning its end,a few of the in contract discounts are also expiring,which is pushing our monthly sub to over £100,this current sub is becoming unaffordable.

Coupled with the fact that im currently waiting for probate to clear following my mums sad passing,my finances are very important to me,right now.

"Is it possible to let me know oj01 what sort of deal/offer you managed to get please,either in here or by inboxing me,as although im a good haggler,I need something to go on?"

* Our sub expires towards the end of next month.

Thanks in advance.

Re: Sky HD Boxes Advice

DorsetJon — Sun, 18 Feb 2024 10:17:28 GMT

@oj01 sorry oj01,I didnt tag you in my reply above,in the previous post

Re: Sky HD Boxes Advice

oj01 — Sun, 18 Feb 2024 13:47:40 GMT

@DorsetJon wrote:
Exactly THAT,oj01.
My parents instilled a"if it aint broke,then why fix it"mindset in me,so I agree.
But with our contract nearning its end,a few of the in contract discounts are also expiring,which is pushing our monthly sub to over £100,this current sub is becoming unaffordable.
Coupled with the fact that im currently waiting for probate to clear following my mums sad passing,my finances are very important to me,right now.
"Is it possible to let me know oj01 what sort of deal/offer you managed to get please,either in here or by inboxing me,as although im a good haggler,I need something to go on?"
* Our sub expires towards the end of next month.
Thanks in advance.

@DorsetJon I pay £48 (rising to £51.50 after April's price rise) for Signature, HD and Complete Sports. I made contact using the chat function 31 days before the discounts expired.

Re: Sky HD Boxes Advice

TimmyBGood — Sun, 18 Feb 2024 14:21:50 GMT

@DorsetJon wrote:

But the sky engineer was super helpful(even more so after we'd made him a brew)and was telling us that on paper,Sky HD boxes and the platform itself,was now technically obsolete,and being phased out by Sky,with them now focusing solely on Sky Q,Sky Glass and Sky Stream.

"Is that true?"

Sky+ HD hardware hasn't been manufactured since 2015, cannot host apps and will never output UHD. Sky Q was released in early 2016 and so is itself now eight years old, and Sky Glass/Stream launched in late 2021.

It's currently unclear if Sky intends to keep the Sky+ platform (HD boxes only) going until both it and Q are rendered obsolete by the end of life of the satellites which Sky uses: that could be as early as 2028.

Re: Sky HD Boxes Advice

DorsetJon — Sun, 18 Feb 2024 20:08:35 GMT

@oj01 thanks for that.

We've got multiscreen,and pay for TNT sports,plus signature and the full sports package.

We also pay the monthly Sky HD subscription.

No kids or Sky movies,so we've got a bit of wiggle room.

Re: Sky HD Boxes Advice

DorsetJon — Mon, 19 Feb 2024 19:00:19 GMT

Did the fact that youre running older hardware,give you any more leeway,when trying to haggle and to souce a new contract?

Re: Sky HD Boxes Advice

oj01 — Mon, 19 Feb 2024 20:54:30 GMT

@DorsetJon wrote:
Did the fact that youre running older hardware,give you any more leeway,when trying to haggle and to souce a new contract?

Didn’t appear to make any difference to be honest. I was concerned beforehand that I would have to switch to Sky Q to get a good deal, but it wasn't even mentioned.

Re: Sky HD Boxes Advice

DorsetJon — Tue, 20 Feb 2024 11:38:03 GMT

@oj01 that's sounds like a great deal you've negotiated there,leaps and bounds above any value we get with our current sub.

Although we have TNT Sports,essentially our current sub is the same as yours,it would appear.

"Is there anything you or anyone else would haggle for get rid of,when ringing Sky, in the coming weeks?"

We are big sports fans,so would have to keep Sky signature,the fully sports package,and TNT Sports.

"But over and above that,anything else to crimp or get rid of,via the pictures I've just posted?"

And multi room will be a necessity,going forward.

Thanks in advance.

Jon.

Re: Sky HD Boxes Advice

HeathHayle — Tue, 20 Feb 2024 12:35:42 GMT

woah am I reading it right you pay £26 a month for siguature if so I would definitely haggle that down and HD £6 a month seems a lot to pay for that

Re: Sky HD Boxes Advice

Exiled-in-HH — Tue, 20 Feb 2024 13:11:02 GMT

Sky Sports through NOWTV is usual about £20 on discount with no need for Sky Signature and it is HD 1080 which is £2 or so on discount🤔

Re: Sky HD Boxes Advice

oj01 — Tue, 20 Feb 2024 13:50:30 GMT

@DorsetJon wrote:
@oj01 that's sounds like a great deal you've negotiated there,leaps and bounds above any value we get with our current sub.
Although we have TNT Sports,essentially our current sub is the same as yours,it would appear.
"Is there anything you or anyone else would haggle for get rid of,when ringing Sky, in the coming weeks?"
We are big sports fans,so would have to keep Sky signature,the fully sports package,and TNT Sports.
"But over and above that,anything else to crimp or get rid of,via the pictures I've just posted?"
And multi room will be a necessity,going forward.
Thanks in advance.
Jon.

@DorsetJon My breakdown after April's price rise is

Sky Signature £24.50

Sky Sports Complete £22

Sky HD £5

Re: Sky HD Boxes Advice

DorsetJon — Wed, 21 Feb 2024 10:19:37 GMT

@oj01 many thanks for your reply,oj01.

So aside from multiroom and our TNT Sports sub,it seems our monthly is practically the same.

Am just TRYING to account as to why/where our current monthly sub is so much more expensive,than yours."Can you shine any light on it?"

Re: Sky HD Boxes Advice

DorsetJon — Wed, 21 Feb 2024 10:23:08 GMT

@HeathHayle thanks HeathHayle,will try.

Re: Sky HD Boxes Advice

1staggy — Wed, 17 Apr 2024 00:32:09 GMT

I recently was contacted by Sky trying to get me to convert from HD box to Sky-Q and was unimpressed with the deal and they have emailed me to say my HD box will no longer get any software updates. It was quite intimidating but didn't specifically say what the implications of this was. Anybody else in this situation?

Re: Sky HD Boxes Advice

HeathHayle — Wed, 17 Apr 2024 00:43:12 GMT

@1staggy you dont have to upgrade to sky Q if you dont want to your sky+HD box will continue to work to receive channels from the satellite

Re: Sky HD Boxes Advice

Mark39 — Wed, 17 Apr 2024 08:58:06 GMT

@1staggy wrote:

I recently was contacted by Sky trying to get me to convert from HD box to Sky-Q and was unimpressed with the deal and they have emailed me to say my HD box will no longer get any software updates. It was quite intimidating but didn't specifically say what the implications of this was. Anybody else in this situation?

You would almost certainly get a better deal by calling - tell Sky you want to switch, if that's the case, but don't want to pay more, and see what they come up with.

The lack of software updates is unlikely to have any major implications - after all there hasn't been an update for well over 12 months already. It's more likely that your box's hard disk will fail - even the latest Sky+ boxes are at least 8 years old. Bear in mind also that engineer support for Sky+ equipment has been withdrawn so you're on your own should a dish issue arise. And lastly, Sky boxes' interactive functionality has been withdrawn, as has the red button service. Rather than being killed off, it seems that Sky+ equipment is being allowed gradually to wither on the vine.