Do I lose my Sky+ Box and all recordings after after Q upgrade?

[realvlad06]

Hello,

I am due a Sky Q upgrade soon, and I don't know what it entails other than getting a new box.

1. Will they install a new dish and run new cables?

2. Will they want to take away my current Sky+ box? 

I have been with Sky for almost a decade and I was under the impression that I owned the Sky+ box. Is this true? If so, can I keep it and connect it up whenever I fancy watching some of the recordings I have stored on there?

My issue is that I do not want to lose the recordings on there, many are FTA channels but a few are Sky Arts and Histoy Channel etc. 

Can someone please advise on what my options are?

Thank you

[SDR · Accepted solution]

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@realvlad06 wrote:

Hello,

I am due a Sky Q upgrade soon, and I don't know what it entails other than getting a new box.

1. Will they install a new dish and run new cables?

2. Will they want to take away my current Sky+ box? 

I have been with Sky for almost a decade and I was under the impression that I owned the Sky+ box. Is this true? If so, can I keep it and connect it up whenever I fancy watching some of the recordings I have stored on there?

My issue is that I do not want to lose the recordings on there, many are FTA channels but a few are Sky Arts and Histoy Channel etc. 

Can someone please advise on what my options are?

Thank you

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They will look at your existing etc and replace if needed, They will however change the LNB which renders the + box unusable. There will be no way to access it or recordings I'm afraid. You can keep it however.

[realvlad06]

So there is absolutely no way to watch the recordings at all, what about if I ask for a hybrid LNB?

[Annie+UK]

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@realvlad06 wrote:

So there is absolutely no way to watch the recordings at all, what about if I ask for a hybrid LNB?

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Your viewing card for sky+ will be deactivated so you'll not have any playback etc… features, you'd only be able to use the box for live freesat viewing

[jim8sky]

@realvlad06 

Hybrid LNBs are for those that have an existing two room and box set up and want to use the second box as a freesat receiver they still cannot watch recordings record or pause live TV.

If you still have a vcr time to get recording.

Or do a search on the net............

[Logsie]

@realvlad06  This is a major flaw in Sky. How ridiculous when creating upgraded boxes that they don't have a transfer function for your recorded programmes.

Didd you find any solution?

Taken me years to build up the collection I have and I've searched the net - they aren't available as movies or documentaries on DVD. It really is poor that when you remain loyal by staying with a company and then decide to upgrade you lose recordings. This needs to be looked at ASAP by Sky. I have heard quite a lot of people with this issue now so it's clearly and issue across the board. Even considering changing provider as the thing keeping me with Sky was the recordings - or so I thought!

To reiterate ....  Poor poor planning when creating new products that they aren't able to move stuff over from the old boxes. I know a lot of people are very unhappy about this information. 
🤬

[oj01]

@Logsie Completely agree, but it isn't going to change now so late in the day. Equally, once you get Sky Q, the boxes are on loan, so there's usually little time spent on trying to fix one. So your box gets swapped out, losing your recordings again.

Bare in mind though, that Sky boxes were never designed to be used for long term storage boxes. They were designed for time shifting recordings. Eventually your hard drive will pack up and your recordings will be gone anyway. 

[Logsie]

Thank you @oj01 . Ah yes, I didn't think about the fact that Sky Q is on loan. We have family stuff on there frome when relatives have been on stuff it's so annoying and I hadn't even considered that about Sky Q. Looks like I'm going to be doing more research! 

[Mark39]

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@Logsie wrote:

This needs to be looked at ASAP by Sky. I have heard quite a lot of people with this issue now so it's clearly and issue across the board. Even considering changing provider as the thing keeping me with Sky was the recordings - or so I thought!

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That's unlikely. Sky boxes were never intended to be a long term archive for recordings. 

[oj01]

@Logsie

You should be able to hook up a VCR or DVD Recorder to your Sky +HD box to make a more permanent copy. Not sure Sky Q allows that though. 

[Logsie]

Yeah, thanks @oj01 @I've considered this but there's HOURS of stuff to transfer. I expect we'll have to agree to let some stuff go and just keep a few movies and appearances etc. Such a shame you can't just transfer as files into a USB or something. You'd think Sky would have made it easier to transfer recordings as its important to us and even more important to our relatives who are actually the ones on the recordings

[Annie+UK]

You do not own the recordings that you have made and copying them to other media is technically copyright theft regardless of how precious the recordings are to you

As mentioned the boxes are for Time Shifting where you can store recordings for a reasonable length of time for viewing at a later date and after viewing the recording be deleted, forever is not reasonable

[Logsie]

Sky have offered solutions such as recording in real time onto a hard drive. They have also taken the issue forward to their suggestions team as so many people have things they want to keep. At no point is it pointed out that what you record will be lost. If it had, we'd have made alternative arrangements. I don't even WANT to upgrade but ine of the boxes is faulty so I have to however they don't have the set up I require at the moment so I'm looking round and also checking to see if any stock of what I want comes back in. 

[Mark39]

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@Logsie wrote:

I don't even WANT to upgrade but ine of the boxes is faulty so I have to...

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You don't have to - there are plenty of used,boxes available on ebay etc you could buy to replace your faulty box. Just aim for a DRX890 or DRX895 model, rather than an earlier model.

[Spock64]

I had this problem few years back, and I’ve been with Sky since 1997 ! I had a sky+HD box....but when I opted to take multi-room upgrade together with their promise of a new box ! I also lost years and years of unwatched programs, not best pleased did try and Complain.....but nobody cared ! Got told there is NO way to transfer recordings from one box to another.

Thinking about it now, in hindsight, it makes perfect sense-sky excel at selling you the same programming again and again and again on continuously changing formats....

Prior to sky you would record on vcr and then on dvd or a hard-disk drive recorder....those were more portable and permanent and could be watched time and again......don’t forget you already paid BBC License Fee for that, year after year after year and there were no copyright issues then ! It’s NOT in sky’s interest to do anything different !!!

I would suggest you invest in some kind of separate recording device, and then you can play those when ever without being in hock to sky subscriptions in order to “enjoy the play back features “ of your beloved sky box. I am still, sadly, a sky customer on their lowest package.

If Sky have anything to offer, I’m all ears !