I heart Sky Plus (Sky Plus (Sky+))

Member Name: BeautyGeek

Product:	Sky Plus (Sky+)
Date:	24/03/09 (27 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Build your own viewing schedule

Disadvantages: Never enough time to watch all the things you've recorded

Oh Sky+, where have you been all my life? I absolutely love this system and would not do without it. When I was younger and living with my mum in our somewhat technologically backward household, I was unfamiliar with anything other than the standard 4 (as it was back then....back in the day.....) channels. Then one day I spent a weekend staying at my fathers who had recently installed Sky. I was mesmerised with the choices available and ever since then I've been pretty much obsessed. Within a week of receiving my first wage, I had the installation booked and I was ready to give up on going out to indulge my channel hopping fantasies.

Then they released Sky+. After the initial confusion regarding the understanding of the service (what do you MEAN you pause live TV????) I was saving for the appropriate system and once it was installed I started going out and seeing friends again. How sad it is to say that it changed my life, but it did!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the service, it's a box that records television shows for you so you can watch them at a later date. Yes it is, in a sense, a glorified video recorder, but there's so much more to it! Firstly, and most importantly, the TV works around you. No more waiting for the break to go to the toilet, as you pause it and go. You can be sitting around watching live television and pause it for as long as you like, or at least as long as your system memory will allow. Like a computer, you can buy systems with larger memories which means that you can record more.

Another benefit of this system is that you can record two shows at once. So if you're watching something that clashes with something else you wanted to watch, you can record it. Also, you can record two shows at once whilst watching another show you've already recorded.

Whenever I watch live TV, I always pause it for around 10 minutes or so so I can then fast forward to ad breaks when they arrive.

Sky Anytime is another great thing that comes with Sky+. It's built into your system and records shows and upcoming movies (if you have the movies package) so that you can watch them straight away rather than have to wait until they're on and recorded.

I realise I've spent the majority of this review gushing like a lovesick teenager, but I really do love this service and I feel it makes such a difference to my viewing pleasure. If I miss something said on the TV I can rewind it and hear it again. If I see something I like I can rewind it as many times as I like and watch it over and over. I never have to worry about missing my favourite shows, all I do is find the first episode, select series link and then every episode in that series will be automatically recorded for me as soon as it airs. What an amazing invention it is.

Here's an annoying way to end my review: I paused the show I was watching to write this :)

Summary: Fantastic system that is designed to work for you