come on peoples, whats the best out there?

been looking and can't really find anything better than sky themselves :(

I got rid of Sky HD and went V+

£85 all in (No Sky One but do have Satanta) and phone line with 10 meg bb.

It's better for me as I don't really watch tv much and just record things to watch in my own time

P.s I sold my HD box on E-Bay!

trouble with going for V+ though is that Virgin are absolutely ****e and i would trust them as far as i can throw one of their planes with my little toe

had comtel/ntl and its no different now that virgin have taken over other than colour scheme and a few channels, don't know about your area but they are aweful round oxford in every way imaginable and then some more ways you wouldn't ever think about. :thumbdwn:

we had trouble with the tv, the phone line, the BB, the billing, the (complete lack of)customer service, even after cancelling, them collecting the equipement and being with sky/BT for months they then attempted to bill us again

so V+?? not a ******* chance mate

I have SKY HD and have had no problems

Bengie, Do you already have Sky or Sky+?

trouble with going for V+ though is that Virgin are absolutely ****e and i would trust them as far as i can throw one of their planes with my little toe

True

I'm saving £30 a month so I can live with it

But you are correct to say customer service it not a strong point :(

we have sky+ and two multirooms at the moment, sky have quoted us £270 to supply and install sky HD, install?!?!?!

Bengie, in that case do what I did.

Buy the box from Ebay, mine was £173 +delivery. Swap the sky+ box for the HD one, then give them a call to pair the card to the box.

My box was brand new, and the latest generation with WD Hard drive. The only difference, if it breaks you need to deal with a company called Anovo and not sky. I got mine several months ago, no problems at all. The ebay seller was skysatallites.

disconnect, then reconnect on a new contract using your partners name(might not be required) and order through quidco for 110 quid cashback, just a thought

Quidco - Sky Digital

Bengie, in that case do what I did.

Buy the box from Ebay, mine was £173 +delivery. Swap the sky+ box for the HD one, then give them a call to pair the card to the box.

My box was brand new, and the latest generation with WD Hard drive. The only difference, if it breaks you need to deal with a company called Anovo and not sky. I got mine several months ago, no problems at all. The ebay seller was skysatallites.

Hmm, when the Sky man came out to replace my HD box the other week he gave me a reconditioned one. I asked him if it was one of the newer style boxes and he said they were all exactly the same, the only upgrades have been software ones?

I'll be phoning Sky again soon to getr another HD box soon anyway, the refurbed one they've given me is the noisiest thing known to man and it keeps turning itself off.

Back on topic. Do you really need HD? I've had it just over a year now and to be honest the content isn't that great. I do like the box being balck though...

There have been 3 revisions of the sky HD box, since its release. Externally they are the same, its the inside thats dfferent. The current V3 ones are much quieter than the early ones, they have better fans and a different brand Hard disk.

Bengie, in that case do what I did.

Buy the box from Ebay, mine was £173 +delivery. Swap the sky+ box for the HD one, then give them a call to pair the card to the box.

My box was brand new, and the latest generation with WD Hard drive. The only difference, if it breaks you need to deal with a company called Anovo and not sky. I got mine several months ago, no problems at all. The ebay seller was skysatallites.

Seconded - I did this, got 2 years warranty on the box and just phoned sky to get my viewing card provisioned.

Even with "Loyalty" Discount, Sky want £199 for the box and you have to take the HD subscription etc. The Ebay route is quick and painless

hmmm, gonna have to have a think about this.

cheers for the help guys

Bengie, in that case do what I did.

Buy the box from Ebay, mine was £173 +delivery. Swap the sky+ box for the HD one, then give them a call to pair the card to the box.

My box was brand new, and the latest generation with WD Hard drive. The only difference, if it breaks you need to deal with a company called Anovo and not sky. I got mine several months ago, no problems at all. The ebay seller was skysatallites.

I think this is going to be my route as well Manny.

Is the standard def picture any better through an HD box seeing as it's HDMI instead of Scart? I have a 42" 1080 LCD which looks pretty poor on SD inputs.

Not that bothered about the HD service for a tenner a month but would like a better picture from the regular channels if possible.

With the HD box, you get BBC HD, without a HD sub, and also the soon to launch Channel 4 HD. The picture is slightly better, but because the bitrate of some channels is poor on some channels, they are just as bad.

There have been 3 revisions of the sky HD box, since its release. Externally they are the same, its the inside thats dfferent. The current V3 ones are much quieter than the early ones, they have better fans and a different brand Hard disk.

I knew it! That's what I'd been told and the Sky amn was ll 'Nope, there all exactly the same see, there all made by Thomson, it's just software diferences'.

I'll be phoning Sky again Friday afternoon and getting them to replace my box again before the three month warranty on it runs out.

Currently all the SKY HD PVR are made by Thompson and do a pretty good impression of a desk top hover craft.

In the new year you will be able to get boxes from PACE :thumbup:and SAMSUNG :thumbdwn:these are based on a newer chipset and should be quieter.

If you have a HD box with HDMI the SD content can be scaled in the STB to the resolution of the display.

Also an HD box will have 'DVB-S2' rather than 'DVB-S' tuners.

This means you will be able to receive more channels in the future.

If you have to fund your own box then yu are future proofing yourself.

Guess where I work ...

well i've ordered one form sky

£199 for the box including installation(what installation?!?!?), sky BB for £10(been paying BT £26) and sky talk for free(free evening and weekend calls to landlines and they are cheaper than BT for mobile calls). so paying £15 more than buying from Ebay but getting BB £16 cheaper per month, getting it quicker(they are doing it tuesday) and its fully legit with no chance of a royal(mail) balls up:D

Currently all the SKY HD PVR are made by Thompson and do a pretty good impression of a desk top hover craft.

Mine is silent, unless you stand right next to it when you can here the HD clicking slightly. A noisy box, is a faulty one and you should have it changed, this is particularly true of the current generation of box which uses better quality components.

Checking on Sky.com and they will do an HD box for £169 for me! Once i'm out of contract with Pipex for my ADSL and BT for my calls I will bung it all on Sky I think. I'll be able to get the HD subscription and save money on what i'm paying now.

that £169 is plus installation of £30 mate

Yeah I noticed that, need the install too as it's only single core coax I have at the minute and need the twin core for the Sky+ recording. Got a while before i'm out of all of my other contracts so it'll be completely different offers by then!

they don't use a twin core co-ax, they install two cables.

I had seen on Ebay on one of the HD boxes sellers web sites cable that had twin cores, I just assumed they would use this.

The Sky installer will love my house, the dish is on one side and the cable goes up and over the roof then down the other side, through the wall to where my TV is. It'll be probably classed as a non standard install, maybe a couple of twenty pound notes would change his mind