Any ideas?

[Sonak]

Hi, I need to find a box that will allow me to watch Sky channels (free) and record. I'm not interested in Sky plus or HD and cannot have freeview in my area.
Any ideas anyone??!!!

[Buenchico]

You can't receive any Sky channels (except Sky News and Sky Three) for free. They're only available as part of a subscription package.

The nearest equivalent to Freeview, on satellite, is Freesat. This service from Sky requires a one-off payment of �150 for the supply and installation of the equipment. Alternatively, you can buy any satellite digibox, plus a dish, off eBay and install it yourself. If you do that, you still need to make a one-off payment to Sky (for a card which removes the encryption on Freesat signals) but this is only �20.

Further details of the Freesat service are here:
http://www.freesatfromsky.com

Sky don't offer a Freesat installation which includes a recording facility. You can either add on a separate DVD recorder or (if you're following the d-i-y route, with the �20 card) look for a digibox which includes a built-in recording function.

Chris

[Oneeyedvic]

Couple of points - Sky are stopping their �10 per month charge on Sky Plus - to be more competitive with Virgin (formerly NTL) - we are having one installed next week as we are an old customer and they are giving us the box as wella s free installation!

Secondly, you may want to check out BT Vision (http://www.bt.com/vision) which is freeview but with a hd recorder.

[Neilzulu1]

You will have to pay to get what you want m8. There is no freebie system.

[Sonak]

First of all I'm not after freebies!! I can see free channels without my Sky card (free to air). All I want is a box to allow me to record and view channels in one.

Anyone know if the Sky Plus comes with built in hard-drive?

Thanks Buenchico and Oneeyedvic.

[Buenchico]

A Sky+ box can record up to 40 hous of programmes on its hard drive.

However, you can't just buy a box and plug it into your existing satellite dish. Additional equipment is needed, which has to be installed by a Sky engineer. As far as I can see, that means signing up to a contract:
http://www.radioandtelly.co.uk/skyplus.html

Chris

[Buenchico]

PS: This page tries to keep up to date with all available hard disk recorders:
http://www.radioandtelly.co.uk/pvr.html
Unfortunately, the only one listed with an integrated satellite digibox is the Sky+ model. So it seems that you might be seeking something which doesn't exist.

Sorry!

Chris

[Hammer]

You CAN just plug a sky+ box into your existing dish and carry on watching the freebie channels you already get, but it won't record unless you pay sky �10 a month.

What you CAN'T do without further installation is record one channel while watching another (you need two receivers on the dish and two cables from dish to box for that)

Not much use for you then I'm afraid. How about any HD recorder plugged into your current sky box?

[Oneeyedvic]

I have just (last saturday) had an offer from sky (previous customer):

Free Sky Plus Box, Free Installation, No more �10 per month charge and 10% off any package (we are having the �15 per month one) for three months.

There is NO minimum contract period so I will cancel after 3 months and wait for the next deal!


They also mentioned that they are really trying to win more business from Virgin Media and if they have customers with debts, they will write 50% off if they sign up to a new contract!

[Hammer]

As of July there will be no more extra charge for sky+, BUT you must subscribe to one of their packages for it to work. You can't just use it with the freebies - you can watch them, but not record them.