Sky+ its amazing! (Sky+)

Member Name: martymcr

Product:	Sky+
Date:	10/09/01 (2126 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Pause live TV, Record from the EPG, 2 Sky Tuners

Disadvantages: £10 a month subscription

It was with much anticipation that we went to Comet at the end of August to pre-order our Sky+ box.

Sky+ is the new service from Sky that replaces your digibox with a new box that includes a hard disk. The new box has dual connections to your dish, and enables you to:

- Record onto the box (no tapes etc)
- Pause live TV
- Record one programme whilst watching another
- Record 2 programmes at once (coming soon)

Getting the box installed proved to be a little tricky - Sky were not geared up for people who bought boxes from electrical retailers - if you get quote a long delay (e.g. 6 weeks) for install, complain like mad or ring back - ours was changed from 6 and a half weeks to 1 week when we rang back!!

The engineer fitted our box yesterday - it involves replacing the LNB on the dish and removing the old cable and replacing it with a double-cable (the new box has 2 Sky tuners)

Once in operation, I have the say that the box is truly revolutionary - it changes the way you watch TV.

Calling up the Sky TV Guide now gives you new options - pick a program in the future to record, tell the box to record all programs in a series, set reminders (as before). The system just works! - it warns you of clashes, and tells you how much space you have on the hard disk (the box can record about 25 hours of TV at the same quality as the original broadcast).

Whilst watching live TV, you can press Record to save the program you are watching, or even celver, press Pause and go and make a cup of tea - come back, press play and it carries on where you paused from - you can fast fordward and rewind perfectly through recordings at up to 12 speed.

It really is extremely good, and I can't recommend it enough. The box costs £300 to buy, and it currently adds £10 a month to your Sky subscription - it may not sound worth it, but believe me it is - no need to use your video or remember to set it again - unless yo
u want to archive programs that is. Its so easy, and works brilliantly!!

Summary: