Everything you could ever want to watch! (Sky Plus (Sky+))

Member Name: mumof2boys

Product:	Sky Plus (Sky+)
Date:	20/02/09 (157 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Loads to watch, Can Pause Record Live TV, Nice looking Box

Disadvantages: Monthly Fee! Alot of Repeats

We got Sky + a couple of weeks ago as I saw a deal on there site for a "FREE" Sky + Box and installation as well as £50 worth of Marks and Spencer's vouchers and I also got £50 cash back from Quidco!

**** WHAT IS SKY +? ****

It's a neat little box connected to your TV and you also have the Sky Dish attached to your house to get a signal.
The box is very good quality white in appearance and its very smooth to operate with the sturdy remote control.
We had Free view + before so we could record the programmes we wanted but it was rubbish and awkward to use. But I will cover this issue later in the review,

Sky + is a brilliant idea as you can pause live TV, forward through the adverts if you have paused for some time, record and watch something at the same time.

We have not had sky for about 3 years as we thought it was a waste of money? And I think it can be if you don't watch the channels you are paying for but we are a family of 4, we don't go out much as we have small children so watching a movie on sky is an easier alternative.

****THE CHANNELS****

We pay top whack £46 a month because my other half wants to watch all the football, darts, cricket and other various sports I cant stand, he is also a movie freak so loves watching all the different films that come out.

Sky + offers so much more then Freeview, and so it should as im paying a lot of money for it. I love Living TV and Sky One, Documentaries and there are pages of kids TV channels and my little boy is 3 and loves fireman Sam so we tape a lot of episodes so he can watch them, saves us buying DVDs.

You can fit a fair amount of programmes on the box, Im not sure exactly how much but I think its 80GB. The best thing to do is to delete the ones you have watched otherwise you will find them mounting up and it will be a task to delete them all.

I love watching all the home make over programmes on Living and UK style these are 2 of my favourite channels and Free view just cannot match that.

It's quite easy to find the channel you are looking for as the TV guide lists the channels what category that fall under, Such as "Lifestyle and Culture", Kids, Documentaries. You can also save a maximum of 50 of your favourite channels so it's easier to find what you're looking for.

When an advert comes on for a programme this little green icon comes up in the right hand screen, which says "REMIND ME" when you click on this you can select it to remind you when it's on or set it to record. Which is an excellent idea! As I am always forgetting what I want to watch.

Setting a programme to record is easy you can either do it when you are on the channel by hitting the R button or you can go into your programme guide and select R, There is an option with most programmes to select the whole series to be recorded so you never forget.


**** THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FREEVIEW AND SKY****

Free view is a good idea, don't get me wrong its good to have if you are out a lot and don't watch sport or much TV. Or if you don't have the money to spend on Sky.

We paid £80 for a freeview box that recorded and started to pay £10 a month for what we thought was extra channels like the ones I wanted "Living TV and UK style" but what they actually do is just download random programmes on to the box, most of them you don't want to watch, so it's a useless idea. And I think the advertising on
this is very wrong.
Also when I recorded on my freeview box I found it missed the end of the programme a lot of the time, which was so annoying! Sky has not done that at all. Don't know if it's because it's coming through satellite it times it better. As sometimes programmes can be delayed.

Our Free view + box stopped working too and we called various times and they have agreed to come and collect ours and give us a new one, we are going to keep this one in the bedroom.

Sky offers a wide range of packages and at the moment they are doing a Sky HD Box for £49 which is pretty good but if we had gone for that it would have cost £56 a month as you have to pay £10 on top of what you normally would pay.

If you don't want the movies and sport I think it costs about £20 odd pound or so, the best thing is to go to the website and have a good look as there are so many channels and combinations.

I love my Sky + Box and I have not had any trouble as yet but it has only been 2 weeks, will update this review if anything changes though.

Still waiting for my £50 Marks and Spencer's vouchers so I assume they will arrive in the next few weeks,

****EXTRA****

Sky don't just do TV you can get a good deal on your phone and internet and TV but we just decided on the TV as we don't have any problems with BT and don't want to complicate things. If it's not broke don't fix it!

Sky has an interactive part where you can play games and do some betting although I never bother with this part.

You can now get Sky HD and also multiroom at additional costs.

****SUMMARY****

I love Sky + and although I have only had it for a short amount of time it has been worth it for the money. It all depends on your lifestyle, I have small children so I have to record a lot of the TV I want to watch and a lot of the channels I like Free view don't offer. I don't get out much because of the small children so this is in effect a little treat in the comfort of my own home!

Summary: Worth it if you have a family and will get use out of the channels!