I have been sky TV customer on and off for quite a few years and was really pleased when the sky + box came out; I have the Sky + hd box but It doesn't really make any difference to me having the HD part as I wouldn't pay an extra £10 a month to gain access to the HD channels. However, I simply love the functions of the box. I really like e the fact that you can record live TV; and that you can pause live TV, as well as being a able to rewind programmes. For example, if you start to watch a programme, from the time you started to watch it, you can actually rewind it. The pause button is great, especially if you are doing bits an pieces perhaps around the house, or need to go away from the TV for a bit, as you can then watch your programme from where you left off. There may be certain parts of the programme that a family member may have missed or something you want to see again in a programme and the rewind function is great for using in this way too.

You can actually record about 80 hours of television, so there is quite a lot of room for recording; although this can soon fill up. I guess it depends. You see if something really good comes on, say a great film or something, you may want to keep this film and not delete it ; if programmes build up you may end up finding yourself running out of recording space. This is actually what happens in my family quite a lot! My children like to keep certain programmes and films to watch over again!! So every now and then I tell them I must have a clear out of the programmes.

Another great thing is that you can record whole series of programmes; the only problem with setting up lots of things to be recorded is that you need to be careful that things don't clash; otherwise, one or the other cannot be recorded. You can record two things at the same time; but according to Sky, you need to watch programmes you have already recorded t the same time; this doesn't make that much sense to me, so I just stick to recording one programme at a time. You can record up to seven days in advance.

Now the problem is, Sky is not cheap; yes, with a basic package you get plenty of channels but many of the channels in my view are not worth watching. However, what is most frustrating is that there are a few channels that I really love such as CBS reality and BIO and without my Sky I cant access these channels!! In a way, that why I call it a sort of catch 22 problem. You can buy other brands of recording boxes which will record normal Digital TV and this would work out a cheaper option ultimately; however, unless you have Virgin Media for example; well, then you will get just the digital channels which leave a lot to be desired n my view!

I have to say I am a great fan of the Sky+ box; the only problem is, I don't now how much longer I can afford to have it for!!!!! Because I love the functions on the Sky+ box; in my opinion, it deserves 5 stars.