Look To The Sky+ For Inspiration (Sky Plus (Sky+))

Member Name: NinjaBaz

Product:	Sky Plus (Sky+)
Date:	24/03/09 (74 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great User Interface, Record 2 channels at once, Sky by mobile, Rewind and pause

Disadvantages: Box is white, SD picture is a bit soft, Can be expensive

I've been a Sky user for a number of years now, until last year that is, when I managed to qualify for a staff offer at work. This offer included a years' Virgin Media subscription (top package) at half price, including a V+ box (equivalent to Sky HD box) and a standard Virgin box for multiroom purposes. This cost £42.50 per month for their top TV package (includes Setanta sports), 20mb broadband and top telephone package with all calls included. At that price I couldn't resist! Although it would be a bind to get used to a new system, I was looking forward to saving some money...it did the job for the year, but now at the end of the staff offer I've decided to get sky reinstalled, all will be explained....

The offer ended and I was spending hour upon hour comparing the 2 services available to me before making my final decision. Upon browsing the Sky website one day, I was greeted by a pop up box which offered me the opportunity to talk live with a Sky representative. 'This is new' I thought, and certainly beats paying rip off phone charges to call them. My Sky representative asked if he could help and fished for information that could help him formulate an offer for me. I wanted Sky Sports if possible and the wife wanted the UK Style/Food channels. I also wanted the recording facility but wasn't keen on paying £99 for a Sky+ box or £49 (+ £9.75/month subscription!) for a Sky HD box.

After some umming and arring on my part, I was finally offered a web-link to a new customer offer. I was pleased to settle for 3 entertainment mixes (including UK Style package) at a cost of £18.50/month. The deal I was linked to also offered me a FREE Sky+ box and FREE installation on the proviso that I also subscribed to a minimum of 1 premium channel. No problem I thought, 'give me Sky Sports 1' I said, bringing the monthly charge to £29.50. I could also cancel any channels after a 3 month period.

So, Sky+ is now re-installed and I suppose I better tell you what it does, and why I prefer it over V+?

For those that aren't technologically minded, Sky+ is a 'satellite receiver' box that contains a hard drive. Unlike the standard Sky box, Sky+ gives you the facility to record 2 channels simultaneously. It does this by having 2 inputs (cables) coming from the dish, in turn feeding the box's 2 internal digital tuners.

The Sky user interface is very clear and simple to use, and menus are easy to navigate through. You can also set the Sky+ to automatically record the channel you are watching (named 'Instant Rewind'). This gives you the ability to pause, fast forward and rewind live TV at several different speed increments, as the box automatically starts recording when you switch channels. You can also do this during playback of any programme that you have recorded.

Recorded programs automatically go into your 'Sky+ Planner'. This is accessed by simply pressing 'TV Guide' then the green button on your remote....easy! This planner also gives you an indication of how much free space you have to record (e.g. Free 91%) and the option to 'delete' (self explanatory!), 'mark' (used when recording to an external source such as DVD recorder) or 'keep' programmes (this stops the programme being accidentally deleted). As a bonus, you are also able to watch a recorded programme whilst your Sky+ box records 2 channels....multitasking! The box gives you roughly 40 hours of recording time which is plenty, as long as you remember to watch then delete what you've recorded!

The Sky+ box is manufactured by either Pace, Thomson or Amstrad. Pace are generally considered the best, then Thomson, then Amstrad. I've never had a problem during ownership of 2 different Thomson's, but did have problems with my first Amstrad box as it was very noisy and didn't have a smooth rewind or fast forward function. Some years on, I couldn't really say whether they've ironed out those initial issues yet. The box you are supplied with depends entirely on what your installer has in his van on installation day. Mine had Thomson and Amstrad so I requested Thomson, to which he said "I don't blame you!"

In comparison to the V+ offering, I'd definitely say that Sky+ wins out. Sky+ is more responsive as it is much quicker to change channels and I found the V+ remote had to be pointed directly at the box to have any effect. Sky menus are laid out more instinctively and are a lot clearer. The Sky remote is more ergonomic with buttons in sensible places, it feels sturdier and looks a lot prettier too if that floats your boat! The only thing in favour of the V+ is the sharper standard definition picture. However, this may be down to the fact that Sky+ uses a scart connection and V+ uses an HDMI connection, as it is also capable of outputting HD broadcasts (more comparable to Sky HD really).

Another fantastic feature of Sky+ is 'Sky by Mobile'. This basically pairs up your Sky box to your mobile phone, and once you've downloaded the relevant software to your mobile and entered your Sky username and password, you can access the channel listings and set programmes to record from anywhere, just by using your mobile....brilliant! Sky claim it could take up to 30 minutes for your request to reach your box, and recommend using this service in plenty of time before the scheduled programme start time. Every time I've experimented with sending a mobile request whilst sat in my front room, the box has received the signal almost instantaneously. This is an excellent and much used feature by me, great for when you're out and have forgotten to record Match of the Day!

The recording function within Sky+ is FREE as long as you subscribe to a minimum of 1 entertainment mix which costs £16.50/month. If you just want to use the Sky+ box as a freeview box without subscription, you would be required to pay Sky £10/month to use the recording facility. Therefore most people would be prepared to pay the extra £6.50 to receive a bucket-load of extra channels.

The only issue I have with Sky, and in fact all digital TV providers, is the sheer amount of absolute cack they fill the EPG (Electronic Programme Guide) with. I'd say I've only ever watched around 5% of the channels I have access to, and wish they'd scrap the dross in order to make more room for extra HD channels. This might make me more likely to re-subscribe to Sky HD, but not until they put out anything worth watching.

In conclusion, I'm delighted to be back with Sky. I know prices can be an absolute rip off, but until Freeview and Freesat add to their meagre channel line-up there is not really a viable alternative for me.

Summary: And the winner is......yep, Sky+