Sky +

thinking of getting above

Just wondering about hackablilty etc and wether it is any good.

Not hackable at all so far and quite possibly will never be hackable. Unlike the TiVo it doesn't run Linux and all the content remains encrypted on the hard disk. So it is a fairly hard cookie to crack.

You can upgrade the hard drive yourself pretty easily, but that is about it. So far I have resisted upgrading, the 40GB drive it comes with is just about big enough for us.

It is very good though, I really couldn't watch TV without it now. It works well, not often missing the beginning or end of shows and not crashing any more frequently than any other Sky box I have used (in fact probably less frequently).

All the recording selection works using the existing EPG, if you have used reminders on an normal Sky box you pretty much know how Sky+ works already.

Being able to record two channels while watching a recording is cool. That is something that a UK TiVo can't do.

You must be aware though that it isn't as clever as TiVo. The EPG data is covers seven days and all it has in the way of intelligence is:

- it knows when programmes change time at the last moment (assuming the broadcaster sends the right data)
- it has series links, so that you can record a whole series (again this relies on the broadcaster sending the series data, some like Paramount and all the Discovery channels still don't do series links)

So no clever TiVo stuff, which is a shame. I happily trade broadcast quality recordings and dual record for the TiVo stuff. If there was a TiVo with two Sky tuners I imagine I would have the TiVo, but that doesn't look likely to ever happen.

I've got a Sky+ with 120Gb which I installed just before the Rugby World Cup, you get the occasional glitch but in general very happy with it. The wife can work it too! I've backed up a few films onto my PC which we watch through a Hauppauge Media MPV, a handy & cheap device (crap for playing mp3s though). There's an Amstrad version out now as well, I don't know which is worse though Pace or Amstrad

I've got a UK Tivo, like andy says you can't record 2 things at once from Sky with it, but you can hack it death!!!

I've not started hacking mine, but I have plans to, I want to be able to set the Tivo to record programs over the internet, I keep missing programs and that would be such a cool feature, all I need it the ethernet card for it (£65), bigger hard drives are easy too. Of course getting hold of a new one may be a bit hard now?

I think boxer has Sky+? I had a quick play with it when I was round there, it's pretty cool, but I'd miss my Tivo's "Thumbs Up" and "Thumbs Down" features.

Cheers

Cris.

You rang!!!
Swear by it, and the price has come down - when I got it, I thought that the capacity would limit me, but in practice I've never filled it, although I have downloaded the odd film to VCR ease things up.
I seldom watch live television and the 30x wind forward means that I miss all advertising messages (Ironic for someone who runs an ad. agency).
It takes a few months before it really sinks in that you don't need the schedules - as I understand the thumbs up/down, I can see why you want them, but I probably wouldn't use them.
There's copious wisdom on this site about hackability, much from Andy, but I accept that it is not a possibility.
I've had a few reliability problems, which I guess is going to happen with any hard disk product - maybe I was just unlucky, so do take out the warranty. Sky got a guy round quickly to change the whole box - very efficient - but I did lose all my stored programmes.
Fit a Linda Barker zapper, and a feature that records programmes that haven't been on yet, and they're on to a world beater!!!
Oh, and by the way, it has a built in feature that cuts off the end of Holby City each week to annoy Mrs. Boxer. Oh, and don't miss that you can listen to and record all the major radio programmes.

I was wondering how you backed up the films onto a PC? Or is it re-capturing the video out?

I thought the capacity would be plenty for me, but it is so easy to record stuff now, that I keep filling it up with films that I haven't got time to watch! I feel a new hard drive is needed

I wouldn't go without Sky+ now. I had a new box fairly soon after it was installed (not sure what the failure was), and since then it has been very stable. Having said that, there must have been a software update last week, because my fan has started coming back on again now and then - it had been off completely for quite a while before then. Having been without the noise, it is quite intruding now, especially noticeable when it turns on. Since that update, I have had a few crashes - it reboots after about 20 seconds and all seems fine again - but annoying in such a short time.

Overall - hghly recommended!

Like Boxer, I have also noticed it's dislike of Holby City - not a problem for me, although my wife seems to think it is my fault...

My EPG seems to cover 2 weeks now though ?!

Nick

A new HD's no hassle, just put it in, wait for it to be formatted and turn on. I backup to PC using a video capture card from the S-Video out on the Sky+ using a Canopus ADVC1394 PCI card, you need a lot of disk space as it's captured to .avi (21 Gb/Hour) which you can compress to various different .mpg formats using TMPGenc.

If you want to record films direct to PC, not that that's quite the question you asked, this works well.

My EPG seems to cover 2 weeks now though

Are you sure ?

The EPG covers 7 days (or only two while it is doing a dual record), can't understand why you think yours covers two weeks.

Unless you are getting confused with the feature they added so that series links could survive when the next episode was more than 7 days away?

I'll check tonight, but me being confused is an all-too-likely possibility!

I remember knowing it was 7 days, and then being surprised when I could actually go forward more. After the first week, it swaps from saying Monday, Tuesday etc to actually showing the date. Then again, it may actually just be the 7th day doing that... I'll check...

I was really only after copying programs off the Sky+ box that I wanted to keep, rather than capturing the original broadcast. I keep meaning to try it using my DV camcorder as an S-video to firewire converter and in to my laptop, but I keep forgetting to pick up a 4-pin to 4-pin firewire lead.

For pccasionally capturing live TV or watching TV when I am away on a laptop, I was thinking of getting a cheap USB tv tuner (like the Hauppage WinTV USB FM) - any opinions?

Nick

Then again, it may actually just be the 7th day doing that...

The 7th day does show the date, so that is probably it. I wish the other days showed the date as well.

I'll check tonight, but me being confused is an all-too-likely possibility

I think that the two things we're confusing here are:
Does the programme guide show more than 7 days?
No, it doesn't
Does the Sky+ planner show more than 7 days?
Yes, if you've programmed the link facility on the original entry.

<cough> myth box </cough>

I used to have a UK TiVo and it drove me nuts - constantly changing the Sky channel to record things that it thought I might be interested in, even though I was already watching something.

So I sold it and bought Sky+ and haven't looked back. It is so well integrated with the Sky EPG and works really well. I rarely watch "live" TV any more - it really does change your viewing habbits. I rarely watch adverts now either

There's a good Sky+ forum here:

http://forum.digitalspy.co.uk/board/index.php

Er! Me is not very bright And I can't even use boxer's get out clause of meaning something else!!

I swear that it did have 14 days once when I checked, because I remember being very impressed with Sky adding it so quietly! Ah well!

I keep looking at the Myth TV website, as I like the idea of making a box to do that one day.

Nick

I've finally finished my myth box. I'll post some piccies tomorrow.

> piccies tomorrow

can't wait!

-brendan

Mythtv is getting better and better. Mine is now at 0.14 (too many changes at the moment in CVS for itunes) on FC1.

PVR250 card for input, and Geforce for output, its cool. Just trying to get the empeg/mythtv MP3 syncing sorted to make my life wonderful

I swear that it did have 14 days once when I checked

I imagine all Sky+ owners have been checking out their boxes overnight!
Hopefully what you saw was something Sky+ are working on for the next upgrade, I can't find more than 7 days anywhere.

I'm currently running CVS because the DVB code is improving on a daily basis. But i've got two DVB-T cards and I run it all through a VGA to composite-sync RGB scan convertor into my TV.

I've borrowed the office camera so I'll post it in all its noisy glory.

Well, there are some pictures over on riocar.org

Looks good! I've just hit a problem with mine as I've just got around to DVD ripping my little boys Rolie Polie Olie DVD's and his Bob the Builders, and they insist in ripping in 4:3, not 16:9, im probably an idiot, but thats my job to fix this weekend

On the back of this thread I have just finished hacking my TiVo!

It wasn't a smooth ride, I'm putting this largly down to me being a total Linux Muppet!

I thought I had made a backup of my original drive, but after messing it up found out it hadn't worked. This left me without a working TiVo for about a week until some kind person sent me a back up on CDR.

I now have 120Gb (about 40 hours at best quality - £65), TurboNet (100Mbps ethernet card - £70) and WAP-TiVoNet installed. All this means I can now use my web browser or WAP mobile to play about with my TiVo and revord things at a decent quality!

I'm happy, but I did loose all my settings etc... It's an easy job to do if you know Linux, but for a first time user (or muppet) like me it was all a lttle complex.

Thanks for this thread, it's spured me into something I should have done ages ago.

Cheers

Cris.