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

[pjhaahl]

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@Spock64 wrote:

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 !

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Years and years?!? how big was the hard drive! is that a slight exaggeration perhaps.

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@Spock64 wrote:

Got told there is NO way to transfer recordings from one box to another.

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There isn't.

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@Spock64 wrote:

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....

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To be fair Sky is primarily a content curator and broadcaster.  Sky provides one with the ability to view that content on a subscription basis. Some people will never have seen things others have, and some welcome the opportunity to re-watch things they've seen in the past. It makes sense to cater for this.

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@Spock64 wrote:

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.

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Indeed, and in the past content creaters weren't really bothered about people making low quality copies for their own rewatching purposes. As technology developed though, content creators were a lot more concerned about people being able to make perfect digital copies of their intellectual property. With the advent of digital broadcasting and modern equipment, copy protection developed too. That isn't really anything to do with Sky. 

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@Spock64 wrote:

.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 !!!

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No not really. Paying a TV licence simply gives you the right to install and use a TV receiver for the purpose of viewing live broadcasts. It does not give you any right of ownership over the content being broadcast.

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@Spock64 wrote:

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 !

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Sky isn't really an A/V hardware manufacturer. Its unlikely they would offer anything along these lines. It might be seen as somewhat of a conflict of interests. 

[TimmyBGood]

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@Spock64 wrote:

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

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As I've observed elsewhere, a Sky box hard drive is (and always has been) intended to facilitate time-shifted viewing of 'live' television and the consumption of on-demand content: it was never offered as a media archive and our subscriptions (and contracts) don't cover such use.

[Spock64]

I’m not looking for any punch ups ! 

I came across this by accident, saw someone had the same concerns as me and highlighted my experience of the same.

I have been with Sky since 1997.......that’s not to say I had a sky+HD box for the whole period . You’re well aware that ultimately the box eventually starts overwriting previously viewed material so NO ! I’m not exaggerating.

My views are my own, like em or lump em- merely pointing out a customer user prospective. Not a lawyer so not questioning the legalities of copyright, nor Sky’s intentions on their offerings.

Tell me I’ve said anything that is untrue......I’m 57 years old, and tech. averse........

Merely stated things that used to be. If you’re offended I’m sorry.

[Mark39]

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@Spock64 wrote:

You’re well aware that ultimately the box eventually starts overwriting previously viewed material so NO ! I’m not exaggerating.

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Only if there's not sufficient diskspace for new recordings, and you've told the box to overwrite old recordings to accommodate them.

[TimmyBGood]

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@Spock64 wrote:

Not a lawyer so not questioning the legalities of copyright, nor Sky’s intentions on their offerings.

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Neither are most people, which is where the confusion arises.  If you think back to when recording became possible on Sky in 2001, and particularly after HD arrived in 2006, this was potentially a direct challenge to the ability of the content rights owners to sell their property on optical disk (with a much better profit margin), and so the hard drive was specifically designated as being for time-shifting 'live' content, not archiving it for repeated replay.  In addition, recording never transferred any form of ownership and the ability to play back recorded content was tied to an ongoing subscription to the Sky service, which is why you can keep a Sky+ box after cancelling but it won't allow disk access.

[Full+Circle]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the fact that some programs and films expire. A prime example of this was game of thrones which my dad used to watch only for them to no longer work, the recorded episodes also did not work. I've seen quite a few things with expiration dates on them so recordings are most definitely not meant to be kept for the long term.

I'm curious as to what personal and important stuff would be on a sky box as I thought it just allowed the watching and recording of programs and films to watch at a later time and then usually delete said recording. Does the sky boxes have features I wasn't aware of?

[Mark39]

Downloads from  catch up and box sets generally have expiry dates. Recordings from the TV Guide generally don't and remain on the box until you delete them.

[TimmyBGood]

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@Full+Circle wrote:

I'm curious as to what personal and important stuff would be on a sky box as I thought it just allowed the watching and recording of programs and films to watch at a later time and then usually delete said recording.

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'personal and important stuff' in this context generally means stored content that has a particular meaning to the subscriber and is essentially irreplaceable, such as programmes they were featured on or particular one-off sporting events to which they have an emotional attachment.

[Logsie]

@TimmyBGood Exactly this!

[m4speedway]

Hi @realvlad06 

I've just read your post and I feel for your sitution as I'm in exactly the same position:- I need to upgrade my sky box as my satellite signal is unwatchable, but I have lots of recordings on my box that I haven't even watched and a sky box office film I was told would be kept on the box. 

What happened when you got your sky Q box did you lose all your recordings?

I don't have the time to just watch all the recordings as I'm my dad's carer.  Like you I've been a loyal sky customer and have built up recordings over many years.  Initially I used to be able to copy sky to a dvd or HDD recording, but now that option is gone - that's why I initially made the recordings. 

I'm currently using a sky box with a signal if lucky, otherwise it's terrible or no signal on sky sports and HD channels so I'm missing my favourite sport! 

Thanks 

[Annie+UK]

@m4speedway If your box is functioning and it is just a signal issue then just get the dish sorted out, you don't need to upgrade to Sky Q, if sky will not fix your signal, and I don't see why they would not, you can get a 3rd party to fix it

[oj01]

@m4speedway In addition to Annie's answer, your Sky Box Office purchases can be re-downloaded onto a new box, should you end up needing one.

Also, the ability to record to DVD from a Sky +HD box is still available. 

[TimmyBGood]

@m4speedway 

And if it's a problem with the box, there are dozens of Sky+ units on eBay which could conceivably host a transplanted hard drive.  Sky contact centres are going to tell you that the 'solution' to technical issues with Sky+ is to move to Q, but it's not a requirement yet.

[DEVJEETSSB]

Is it possible to use the Sky Q viewing card in the Sky+ box when I want to access the recordings on the sky+ box i.e. allow the new sky q viewing card to pair with the sky+ box and then put it back into the sky q box and repair when I want to go back to sky q?

If so does the sky+ box need to be connected to the dish as I am not interested in viewing channels per se but actually on the recordings I have already made? If it does need to be connected to dish as well as paired with sky 1 card does this mean the dish must have the LNB or could I ust keep my existing dish untouched and just have them install new dish for the new sky q box which hasnt been installed as yet? Thanks

[Mark39]

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@DEVJEETSSB wrote:

Is it possible to use the Sky Q viewing card in the Sky+ box when I want to access the recordings on the sky+ box i.e. allow the new sky q viewing card to pair with the sky+ box and then put it back into the sky q box and repair when I want to go back to sky q?

If so does the sky+ box need to be connected to the dish as I am not interested in viewing channels per se but actually on the recordings I have already made? If it does need to be connected to dish as well as paired with sky 1 card does this mean the dish must have the LNB or could I ust keep my existing dish untouched and just have them install new dish for the new sky q box which hasnt been installed as yet? Thanks

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When you order and activate Sky Q your Sky+ subscription is cancelled.  You can only have one or the other.