HarryMonkey Posted October 17, 2014 Posted October 17, 2014 An expired viewing card shouldn't stop you recording free channels though. It does. In order to record anything on your sky+ box, you need a current subscription. Even the free stuff.
pooley Posted October 17, 2014 Posted October 17, 2014 I am currently in my 30 days cancellation window, have allready been offered 35% for the next year if I continue with them. I have a Plex server and netflix, ruckus and chrome devices everywhere. It's the Mrs that's going to be the issue, she likes the sky PVR and the on demand stuff.
plexer Posted October 17, 2014 Posted October 17, 2014 Yup on demand is great and the recording is one of the best, we have a sky tv sub which I got reduced after saying I was going to leave and have movies on a now tv subscription as that's cheaper than adding it to the sky package. Sky should start offering internet connected sky boxes now rather than needing a dish as it's just an extension of what you can do with now tv anyway. Ben
cookie_monster Posted October 17, 2014 Author Posted October 17, 2014 It does. In order to record anything on your sky+ box, you need a current subscription. Even the free stuff. That's not what I meant. I mean there is no technical reason, Sky just deliberately hobble the box. It's a bit naughty considering they make you pay for the box. They don't tell you that its your box until it breaks and they tell you to buy a new one.
HarryMonkey Posted October 17, 2014 Posted October 17, 2014 I've never paid for a box, it's always been free with the install. Why is it naughty to make you pay for a feature? I think it's perfectly acceptable for them to sell you something (namely the ability to record programs from their satellite feed) and then withdraw the feature once you stop paying for it.
plexer Posted October 17, 2014 Posted October 17, 2014 Yup you should consider yourself lucky that it continues to work at all after you cancel your contract Ben
rickjames Posted October 17, 2014 Posted October 17, 2014 Dream of the day I'm a cable cutter and have Netflix/Hulu/HBO and be content. Moved not long ago into a new place where they have the the Sky Sports package, costs us about £20 each every month which certainly adds up. Apart from the football, NFL and casually watching The Simpsons I don't watch anything through it.
Edu-IT Posted October 17, 2014 Posted October 17, 2014 I am currently in my 30 days cancellation window, have allready been offered 35% for the next year if I continue with them. I have a Plex server and netflix, ruckus and chrome devices everywhere. It's the Mrs that's going to be the issue, she likes the sky PVR and the on demand stuff.You can get 50% by buying a voucher on Groupon, or even sometimes free on MSE/vouchercodes so don't settle for that!
cookie_monster Posted October 17, 2014 Author Posted October 17, 2014 (edited) The box isn't free its built into the price, everyone I know who's box has gone wrong has had to buy a new one. They even send you a letter telling you to in sure it after 12 months. The standard free channels are nothing to dk with Sky and are available to watch still but not record. When my contract for my mobile is up I can still use the phone book feature to make calls, bits of it don't suddenly stop working. Its a dirty little trick from a dirty little company. Edited October 17, 2014 by cookie_monster
plexer Posted October 17, 2014 Posted October 17, 2014 You're comparing apples and oranges though it is what it is and no-one is forcing you to give Mr Murdoch any money. Ben
plexer Posted October 17, 2014 Posted October 17, 2014 When my contract for my mobile is up I can still use the phone book feature to make calls, bits of it don't suddenly stop working. Its a dirty little trick from a dirty little company. If you contract is up and you expire bits of your phone stop working by the very nature of it i.e the ability to place calls as you have no valid service contract. Ben
cookie_monster Posted October 17, 2014 Author Posted October 17, 2014 (edited) I've already given him the money and paid for the equipment, he then breaks it. If it was rental equipment it would be perfectly acceptable, it is not acceptable to break equipment that you have paid for. Edited October 17, 2014 by cookie_monster
plexer Posted October 17, 2014 Posted October 17, 2014 It's not broken though it's had a feature disabled that you no longer pay for. Ben
cookie_monster Posted October 17, 2014 Author Posted October 17, 2014 (edited) I disagree. Its Wong that they make you pay for a box that then doesn't work afterwards. Edited October 17, 2014 by cookie_monster
plexer Posted October 17, 2014 Posted October 17, 2014 You're welcome to disagree that's not a problem everyone one has their own opinion. Ben
cookie_monster Posted October 17, 2014 Author Posted October 17, 2014 (edited) Exactly Anyway I've bought a freesat recorder now, let's just hope that doesn't stop working after a pre determined amount of time. Edited October 17, 2014 by cookie_monster
HarryMonkey Posted October 17, 2014 Posted October 17, 2014 I disagree. Its Wong that they make you pay for a box that then doesn't work afterwards. The box does work ... you can still view the free channels. What doesn't work is the bit that you're no longer paying for, namely Sky+, and something that's made quite clear in the T+Cs that the ability to record is dependent upon a current Sky subscription.
cookie_monster Posted October 17, 2014 Author Posted October 17, 2014 The system could easily use the freesat facilities, its morally bunk of sky and done deliberately and spitefully. I'm sick to death of nasty corporations.
tmcd35 Posted October 17, 2014 Posted October 17, 2014 Dream of the day I'm a cable cutter and have Netflix/Hulu/HBO and be content. Moved not long ago into a new place where they have the the Sky Sports package, costs us about £20 each every month which certainly adds up. Apart from the football, NFL and casually watching The Simpsons I don't watch anything through it. I cut the cable a number of years ago. Until recently I did have a (expensive) Humax Freesat DVR that replaced my old Virgin Cable connection. I've also toyed with Freeview via the PS3's TV tuner. Recording TV is great but I don't miss it at all. I'm now 95% IPTV. The odd 5% is mostly BBC Breakfast first thing in the morning or a very rare BBC program like Dr Who watched live. Most of my TV is YouTube and BBC iPlayer. I have both Netflix and Now TV subscriptions which I dip in and out off as and when (very useful now Walking Dead is back). I also have Plex set up with some old boxsets, etc but I don't tend to go near it too often. 4OD is a once in six months affair. Can't remember the last time I saw anything on ITV Player or Demand5, that said I watched a couple of good ITV series on Now TV as part of their new ITV Encore offering. All in all, I think I can get my TV consumption down to just BBC Breakfast, iPlayer and NowTV. Wouldn't really miss the rest at all. These days I'd sooner read a good book, or better still, play a decent video game.
Alkaline Posted October 17, 2014 Posted October 17, 2014 (edited) What's the loophole? The viewing cards expire don't they? Is that the loophole? Freesat from Sky - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia I can't remember the exact loophole details. Its a loophole in EU law. Basically it is illegal under EU law to sell something described as a satellite recorder and then brick it (what sky do to their boxes). So Sky allegedly get around this by not defining their boxes as a "satellite recorder". As they do not describe it as a recorder they can block it without any issues. Sky also own the firmware on the box, and this is clearly described in the contract even when you buy the box. In the old days of the blue house cards, you could switch off the box, wait a few months and then have free recording functions, but this has been prevented with the white cards and firmware updates. And the blue house cards are all now disabled. Some Sky third party sellers will even say the recording never gets switched off, but it does. Years ago there was a very specific Sky plus box model which allegedly could be made by editing the firmware to allow free recordings, but all of these have no doubt died by now. I think it is illegal to do such a thing. Edited October 17, 2014 by Alkaline
cookie_monster Posted October 17, 2014 Author Posted October 17, 2014 Live pause isn't even available, talk about bricking.
plexer Posted October 17, 2014 Posted October 17, 2014 Well no because it would need to record to do that. Lol. Ben
cookie_monster Posted October 17, 2014 Author Posted October 17, 2014 Yes but it only needs to stream it to the disk, no access to a "subscription" TV guide required. Absolutely ridiculous so glad I'm getting rid of them.
steveking Posted October 17, 2014 Posted October 17, 2014 Years ago there was a very specific Sky plus box model which allegedly could be made by editing the firmware to allow free recordings, but all of these have no doubt died by now. I think it is illegal to do such a thing. It's a Pace 3100 (which is non-hd), and while I pay Murdoch his idiot tax I also have one of these set up and working fine without a subscription. It wasn't too complicated to set up, but does need you to get a soldering iron and flash it over the parallel port (I spent ages wondering why this wasn't working, don't do it from a Dell pc was the answer!). And while the box is open you can bung a bigger hard drive in there too, as I think they only came with a 40gig drive. clicky
Alkaline Posted October 19, 2014 Posted October 19, 2014 (edited) It's a Pace 3100 (which is non-hd), and while I pay Murdoch his idiot tax I also have one of these set up and working fine without a subscription. It wasn't too complicated to set up, but does need you to get a soldering iron and flash it over the parallel port (I spent ages wondering why this wasn't working, don't do it from a Dell pc was the answer!). And while the box is open you can bung a bigger hard drive in there too, as I think they only came with a 40gig drive. clicky Thanks for that, I have yet to find an EPG which is as good as BSkyB's Even the very good Freesat plus boxes I don't like, the EPG's seem to over complicate things but I guess you can get used to it after a while. Apparently new EU laws are coming in (which will force Sky as a result of the law to release recording functions) soon to close this loophole as many other manufactures get up to tricks with their products, but I saw that on the net about five years ago so I would not hold my breath. On another note, as the Sky boxes start to add more and more features, no doubt someone will hack one in the end, but that's illegal, so I would have to part in such a thing. Edited October 19, 2014 by Alkaline
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now