Information on the Sky+ service

What is Sky+?

Sky's hype on their Sky+ box is that it will 'change the way you watch TV'... and for once, the hype isn't wrong.

Sky Plus is a combined satellite TV receiver and a Personal Video Recorder (PVR), which records TV onto a built-in hard-disk, as opposed to video tape. This gives you a huge amount of control over how you watch TV, for example:

• Watch one Sky channel while recording another
• Record two different channels at the same time, while watching a recorded show
• Browse through a week's worth of TV with the on-screen programme guide, selecting which shows to record
• Pause and rewind live TV (when the phone rings).
• Follow a series - The excellent 'Series link' can be used to record episodes of your favourite series automatically, keeping track of schedule changes, and avoiding repeats.
• Select recordings from your Planner, and copy them off to DVD or video

The Sky+ Planner

The Sky+ box really is a top offering - you'll find you change your TV watching behaviour - no need to worry about setting the video recorder to keep up-to-date with a series, and with the drive holding 20 hours of shows, no more running out of tape. You also find you can stagger your watching - less more programme clashes, and using Live Pause means you can fast-forward through adverts. Nice! This box gets our top recommendation... go get one!

The standard Sky+ box is available from our store and holds around 20 hours of shows. It was recently awarded top of the PVRs in a PVR survey conducted by a leading UK consumer organisation.
 

Sky+ FAQ

Installation	Sky+ is available direct from our store. Your Sky dish will need to have two LNBs fitted and two cable feeds from the Sky dish to the Digibox. Normal Sky installations only require one LNB and feed, but as Sky+ boxes have two tuners (to allow simultaneous viewing and recording of different channels), then two feeds from the dish are required. Like standard Sky boxes, the Sky+ box should also be connected to a UK phone line however with our card service this is no required. It is possible to buy a Sky+ box , and fit them yourself. This is possible with our DIY kits , this may require fitting a new LNB to your dish,  or installing a completely new dish.
Sky in other rooms	If you're looking to get Sky in other rooms of your house, here are the options: If you have one Sky box, you can split the co-ax (aerial) cable feed using a splitter or booster - this allows you to run cable into other rooms. You're stuck with watching the same digital satellite channel in each room, but there's nothing to stop you feeding Sky into each room of your house. If you'd rather not run cables, consider a wireless video sender (see our Accessories page) Consider a Sky TV Link/Eye - This innovative product allows you to receive Sky Digital in 2 rooms using existing co-ax cable... Watch the same channel on 2 TVs at the same time, and use your Sky remote to change channels from another room. Available from our store.   Consider getting a second Sky Digital box. This allows you to watch two different satellite channels at the same time in different rooms.
Latest version	To check which version of software your Sky+ box is using, press the Services button, System Setup menu, option 5, 'System Details'. Our Sky+ Box reported the following version numbers as of 21 March 2006: Pace Sky+ Box Model: 4.004 Version number: 9F2006 Operating System Version: 1.31A0I EPG Software Version: sky+ 4.00o You can force your Sky box to update to the latest software. The procedure can be found on the Satcure FAQ
Copying recording	You can connect a DVD or video recorder to your Sky+ box, to allow you to copy shows recorded on your Sky+ box... great for archiving series recorded using series link. Note that there is a restriction on copying Sky Box Office movies. Connection to a recorder can be made via the box's two SCART sockets, or via the modulated output.
Outputs	2 x SCART, RF loopthrough, RJ11 telephone, 2 x phono audio out, S-Video, RS232, optical audio (for Dolby Digital 5.1)
Remote controls	Spare remote controls available direct from our store.
Installer menu	The technically-minded out there may be interested in the hidden "installer" menu, that can be accessed by pressing 'Services 4 0 1 Select':
Programme padding	The Sky+ box supports 'padding' or recording offset, which is a setting that allows you to add a number of minutes of recording time to the scheduled start and end times of programmes. This means that the box will record a few extra minutes in case a program doesn't start quite when it should, for occasions where the Sky+ EPG isn't aware of overruns. To edit the settings, press Services, and select Sky+ setup .
Hard disk defrag?	The July 2004 software upgrade (to Sky+ version 1.28.d), saw the addition of a hidden feature to allow the (advanced) user to perform a tidy on the Sky+ harddisk. Many users have found that this has recovered valuable disk space. If you want to give it a try, you need to go into the Installer menu (see above, and select the new "Sky+ Planner rebuild" option.