It's seven years old (Amstrad?) so I guess it's time it went wrong 

 

We can watch TV fine, but recorded play back is sketchy, both visual and audio.  It's obviously intuitive as ad breaks appear perfect and it only misses the crucial bits.  Or so it seems.

 

I don't particularly want a Sky box and have said for a while that we should get shot of it and the monthly costs.  However, I know my place and understand I am to be ignored on this point.

 

My son's mate says to phone up Sky and moan like hell 'til they do something to secure our revenue.

 

I'm partly inclined to go for a freeview/freesat box and a HDD, but I really don't know what I'm talking about.  Telly's a 12 years old CRT leviathan, but still going strong (touches wood).

 

So any advice about what to do chaps?  I know it's subjective and personal choice, but if anyone's ditched Sky and moved on to better things, I'd welcome any argument I can put to the missus 

 

Ta very muchly

 

Gaz

Phone them - I did this after 3 years and got sent a new box and a £4 monthly discount.

 

I only phoned to inquire about broadband and was told as a loyal customer they would do this regardless of broadband of not!

Phone them and tell them you're going to leave, this saved me around £20 a month. They'll tell you there is a £75 call out charge for the box etc, just say it's fine you're happy to leave

I did the same a couple of years ago but decided to get a Youview box through my phone provider. Apart from missing a couple of channels we used to watch we love it and would struggle to go back. The ability to go back a few days on the guide rather than going separately to all the different individual catch-up TV providers is amazing. It's also very intuitive to us 

 

 

I also found the HD picture quality much better but that might have been my old Amstrad HD box

It'll likely be the PSU.

 

But try the leaving trick.  Sadly you won't be able to transfer your recordings to the new box.

beware youview.

Talktalk give away the boxes but they are the worst piece of consumer electronics I've ever owned - and it wasnt a rogue box. Look at Talktalk community to see the horrendous customer feedback.

after 5 months we went back to Sky (even though comitted to Talktalk for 18 months)

The quality of the product Sky vs Talktalk youview is like night and day.

beware youview.

Talktalk give away the boxes but they are the worst piece of consumer electronics I've ever owned - and it wasnt a rogue box. Look at Talktalk community to see the horrendous customer feedback.

after 5 months we went back to Sky (even though comitted to Talktalk for 18 months)

The quality of the product Sky vs Talktalk youview is like night and day.

 

 

Is their box different in some way?  Ours has been OK for two years - it's from Kcom but not tied to them. I know a couple of people with the BT version (slightly different) that have also been OK

Is their box different in some way?  Ours has been OK for two years - it's from Kcom but not tied to them. I know a couple of people with the BT version (slightly different) that have also been OK

Looking in more detail :-

 

Talktalk use Huawei boxes whereas BT and Kcom both use Humax

Edited 24 December, 201510 yr by bigjohn

I've a YouView box from BT and it's faultless; catch-up telly, Netflix, online stuff such as UK Gold, Sy-Fy, Nat Geo, Discovery etc etc and BT Sport

Oh, you can rent/ buy movies from the Sky Store too if you miss Sky stuff.

Humax Youview receivers havd a good rep, and even work on Talktalk - however thats another 200 quid on top of the contract costs that you would have to fork out since the supplied Huawei is utter crap.

So I'm never going back to Talktalk, and having had issues with both BT and youview I won't be combining those two either

Edited 25 December, 201510 yr by camelspyyder

Ditched all paid for myself. Gone streaming via kodi instead. As long as you've got a good unlimited internet package. You'll have no issues watching whatever you want through there systems

I would too but SWMBO finds it too difficult searching kodi on a laptop.

Still, a mate in the US flogs a kodi box with remote and easier functionality for both UK and US, so I think I'll pick one up next time I visit.

I would too but SWMBO finds it too difficult searching kodi on a laptop.

Still, a mate in the US flogs a kodi box with remote and easier functionality for both UK and US, so I think I'll pick one up next time I visit.

There's plenty available. I'm running it side loaded on an Amazon fire stick at the minute but when I get some spare cash I will upgrade to a Nvidea shield box

Yeah, I have the pre-configured TV Addons version running on android/officePC/laptop, but 'er indoors wants the convenience of remote control and recording.

I can understand with the need for a remote. But I've not found anything recently that I wished I'd recorded as I've not been able to find it

I can understand with the need for a remote. But I've not found anything recently that I wished I'd recorded as I've not been able to find it

The sky app is brilliant to use as a remote.

Kodi sounds interesting, cheers Brian.....goes off to rummage/find out more.

 

Gaz

Lots of useful videos on YouTube. If your an android user try it out on your phone /tablet first. I'd download kodi. And then google fusion setup and follow the guide. This should give you a good baic setup to try it

I sincerely doubt you'll be able to stream anything to a 12 year-old CRT leviathan lol

Oh Yea Lee of little faith  :p

Yeah - laptops can output through VGA, USB, HDMI depending on age.  A CRT that age should have a VGA port.

 

Oh. and re Kodi - the TVAddons version is self-configuring so easier for noobs to get going with.

Edited 26 December, 201510 yr by camelspyyder

Have you tried a planner rebuild as this can fix problems with recording and playback?

Bro in law is an independent specialist AV / satellite installer (does alsorts, fixes boxes to cctv, and satellite broadband etc) and as a evening job a long time ago i used to repair the tuners for him in the original grundig and amstrad digi-boxes (simply swap out the original cheap capacitors!).

 

He now often recommends Humax boxes outside of the sky world but i recently discussed moving from sky with him and we kinda got to agreeing the sky format and functionality is the 'standard' - obviously horses for courses though depending if you want monthly subs/upfront cost. 

 

It probably is the drive in the +box but as the recording maybe from the 2nd channel from the LNB, it could be something to do this breaking down or the cable (water in it?), or simply dish moved out of alignment. I'm no expect but i think that the programme content may affect the digital signal i.e. a lower quality adverts may not be affected (hence doesn't require the same signal bandwidth).  IMHO I'd probably make the call to sky and threaten to leave to get a discount and new/refurb box (and get the system checkover generally)

 

 

I'm now waiting for Sky Q to be released  :wonder:

Edited 26 December, 201510 yr by Exeterj

Sky Q does look very tempting, but no doubt it'll be an expensive upgrade

I have registered my interest in Q just have to wait and see what the price is.