To Watch Catch Up

[Jeza]

On your sky tv does it need to be connected to the internet?

[Buenchico]

Yes

[sherrardk]

Do you mean 'on demand' - just tried mine and it works fine and it's not connected to the Internet or even to a phone line.

[Jeza]

I'm snookered then Chris. My broadband is crap (sky). I can't even watch catch up on the computer. Everything breaks up. Mouths do not run with sound, picture breaks up etc.

[Jeza]

Sher. Will you explain to me how on demand works.

[sherrardk]

I don't normally use it. I just went to on demand (programme guide, then red button) chose the first program and pressed play. Our box is Sky + if that makes any difference.

[Jeza]

Today I have ordered a sky+HD box. At the moment we just have the old digi box. We can't record on the old box so decided to upgrade as we can't watch on computer either for reasons stated above.

[sherrardk]

I wouldn't bother with the £10 a month for actual HD programmes, I can't see the difference. With my Sky box I can tape two programmes whilst watching something I earlier taped. I never watch anything at the actual time it is on.

[sherrardk]

PS - my Internet is rubbish and isn't helped when som many of us want to use it at the same time. Hope your box arrives soon.

[woofgang]

the answer is yes and no. You can get sky on demand without a net connection but to get the full service with iplayer and the ITV and ch 4 variants, you need to be connected to the net.

[Zacs-Master]

Jeza, if your box is one of the new ones it should have wifi built in to enable you to get all the 'on demand' features.

[Buenchico]

A Sky box (or indeed any TV receiving device) needs a separate tuner for each [broadcast] channel that it needs to receive. If the box itself had to record every available channel it would need hundreds of tuners and a massive amount of storage space; that simply isn't practical. So Sky's On Demand service stores all of the programmes on a central server and then sends them to the box over the internet when you ask for them.

The need for an internet connection is confirmed here:
http://www.sky.com/products/ways-to-watch/on-demand/set-up/
(I've no idea how Sherrardk is accessing Sky On Demand without an internet connection. Witchcraft, perhaps?)
;-)

Run a speed test here
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/diagnostics
and/or here:
http://www.speedtest.net/
Sky recommend a minimum speed of 2Mbps. Ways to speed things up can be found here:
http://help.sky.com/tv/using-on-demand/speed-up-your-on-demand-downloads

[sherrardk]

No idea how ours works then. Is definitely not connected to a phone line and it's not connected to the Internet (to my knowledge). The router thing has been changed a number of times and the Sky box has never asked for a password. I've just checked and I can definitely watch on demand programmes (although I always forget that it's service which I can access). Maybe it is witchcraft!

[Zacs-Master]

Do you have access to full box sets and BBC iPlayer sherr?

[rockyracoon]

Sky have a small selection of shows and films that magically appear on the Sky box if you hit record, it's the old Anytime service I think and has no where near the amount of stuff that's available with On Demand.

[sherrardk]

No, only a few things, about nine - some you have to pay for. Most are something that lies in 'Sky store'. Maybe I haven't got what Jeza is looking for. Sorry for confusing everyone.

[rockyracoon]

Jeza, are you sure it's broadband that's slow? I ask because my mum's laptop has been ridiculously slow lately and we're been blaming the router but my daughter took her laptop round and she gets a great speed. I think mum's laptop has a virus on it.

[Jeza]

Sorry I've taken a while to get back, I had something to do.

Here goes. I rang sky about upgrading to sky+. I said although My TV was HD ready I didn't feel the need for it. They said all sky+ box's were now HD, and it was only an extra £5 a month. No charge for the new box or installation. He also said I would have on demand and box sets. I hope I'm making sense.

[Jeza]

Methyl. Yes it is a sky satellite dish. I wish I was technical.

[Buenchico]

Well Sky's HD services (as the programmes are transmitted) come entirely via your satellite dish, so whether you choose to upgrade is entirely up to you. It's got nothing to do with the speed of your broadband, so I can't see the relevance.