Forums Forums Enthusiast Forums A - Z Gadgets & Tech a few sky/virgin/BT Questions

Sky Digital Subscription - you subscribe to Sky. Simple lol.

Im not 100% over the FTV HD channels, but I believe the FTV ones will be free regardless of whether you have a HD sub or not...

Cant guarantee this until it actually launches, Sky need to make money on the extra bandwidth being used, so it may only be FTV for HD subscribers.

FTV for HD subscribers, that doesnt make sense, you can watch this HD channel for free if you pay £10pm for the HD package, so then it wouldnt be "Free" to view, lol

Will they not charge ITV and c4 to air their channels?

Well like I say I dont know. It could be without subscription, it may need one. Wait and see.

I just cant see Sky wanting to put all FTV channels on a non-HD sub basis. As the likes of Channel 4, ITV-HD and BBC-HD (when it finally gets into gear) could well deter customers from paying the HD sub.

How it could work, is with a HD sub, you only get the channels that you subscribe to the normal counterparts... so a FTV HD channel could quite easily be just that, you get it automatically with a HD subscription because the counterpart channel is FTV.

For instance you wouldnt get Discovery Channel HD, National Geographic HD or History Channel HD unless you subscribe to the factual mix, even though you are paying for the HD subscription.

you put your thinking cap on there matty, thats proberbly how they will do it, As I said earlier, Wasnt really impressed with the quality difference in currys other than on Sky Sports HD and bbcHD, maybe the programmes on them were proper HD programmes shot in HD tho and the other channels were just upscaled programmes etc. the bbc content I watched (spooks and heroes) was on SKY+ as bbcHD is currently only a part time channel.

Heroes and spooks blew me away with the explosions and special effects. and you could see individual facial hairs on the rugby players when it zoomed in close on a small group. and when zoomed in on players on the football on the other SKY sports HD, I think it was yeovil, was impressive but not over-impressive as a whole picture when zoomed out to show the game,

So Im gonna get the skyHD box, depending on whether they will let me buy one without subscribing to the HD package for 12months.
then sign up to HD for a month when more channels are launched, mainly c4 and itv.
if its any good keep it, if not unsubscribe, I will still keep bbcHD tho, yipee.
Get 8Mb/s BB
Get SKY landline and freetalk

Am I right in saying that only the skyHD is going to be capable of the TVoD service?

Yes, the SkyHD box is the only one that will be able to use TVoD when it launches next year. This is because its the only box with the hardware capabilities and the power, and even if the other box had that, the HD box is the only box with the ethernet connection lol, which will be vital for TVoD.

So thats that.

could take a Sky landline as I had no current BT landline, and therefore had to get BT to reconnect me and sign a 12month contract.

SO BT are coming out a week on monday to reconnect my landline.

Phoned Sky, with the combination of the voucher off Matty and the National trust HD offer.

The NT HD offer has some small print, to get the HD box for £199 you must also purchase a SKY+ box for £99 and pay £10pm multiroom.

So I went for the free SKY+ box and install offered on the Voucher of Matty, and the operator told me unofficially to "watch this space" for HD offers for exsisting SKY customers in the coming weeks or months.

They are coming out a day after BT to install. I thought that was pretty quick. any tips on questions to ask the installer to get any freebies etc.

Thanks again Matty, you converted me from VM to Sky.

No problem fella, soryy about the landline, usual BT procedure (just keep an eye on how much BT charge you) - you should be able to move to Sky Talk in a couple of months if not sooner, but probably not for the landline. Ask them though, it may be BT making crap up to keep you as a customer, as im pretty sure you are allowed to choose any service nowadays, could be a 12 month thing though realistically.

Apologies about the HD box also, its only a matter of time before they come down in price, atm Sky are pushing the Sky+, probably in an effort to get more people onto the Sky+ service, expect a HUGE push of SkyHD when the TVoD launches next year, its the only way they can do it. £149 boxes can't be too far away im sure of it!

I hope ye enjoy the service as much as I have, did you take broadband with it?

BTW, when the engineer comes out to do the Sky install, ask him if he is giving you an Amstrad box, and if so, ask if there is any Pace or Thomson boxes instead. There isnt many problems with the Amstrad PVR3 since it was launched, but I feel Pace and Thomson are far superior, as Amstrad have had massive problems with the PVR2 (which I have lol).

I heard SKY bought amstrad tho....

No need to apologise mate, you have done more than enough to get me a good deal, just this hidden small print, the operator said that existing SKY cunstomers will be getting a very good HD offer soon.

I have to call SKY about broadband and SKYtalk once the landline has been activated by BT, he did a test thingy over the phone with the postcode, should get circa 5mb from the 8mb service.

Yeah Sky bought Amstrad a few months back (pending Ofcom and competition commission approval now though), but Sky are still contracted with Pace and Thomson (very minor with Thomson though not sure if they had anything since the Sky+ 160 boxes were out) to provide their boxes, so they should still have plenty of alternatives to Amstrad at the depot.

Its worth a try in any case.

5Mbps sounds a good speed, they said mine was around 4Mbps and i reguarly push 8Mbps without problems, lets hope its the same for you hehe!

Glad to have been of some use, sometimes I wonder why I take an interest in all this crap, its only when it actually comes in useful to someone that it actually pays off lol!

which is the best box and why.

None in particular. You will just get a PVR3. Iirc, most are actually Amstrad, but they do have Paces too.

The only reason I say steer clear of Amstrad if at all possible, is because of all the PVR2 boxes, the only ones with any significant problems are the Amstrad's.

Basically, since a software update about 2 years ago, the sound has randomly skipped on recordings, to the point where people have had to force Sky to replace the entire box by emailing James Murdoch himself and telling him about the problems. I can vouch myself, that the problems didnt exist before it, and I too have had the problems intermittently.

There is a 150+ page thread on Digital Spy, listing all the serial numbers affected etc, and the only boxes affected by the problem are Amstrad PVR2's. A lot of the time they record things fine, then some of the time its just stupid the amount of breaks in sound. A few members on Digital Spy have actually been interviewed by BBC Panorama who may be investigating the issue in the near future.

Its not known to affect PVR3's, but people just generally feel Amstrad's are of somehwat lower quality. For instance, when Sky Digital first came out, Amstrad's they were giving out lastest a maximum of 18 months, after which they died. Also, when you look at the boot-up times of Amstrad PVR2's compared to Pace PVR2's, the Amstrads take upto a minute, whereas the Pace take 15 - 25 seconds. Noticeable difference.

I would hope that the new Amstrad's have caught up with Pace, their boxes are also prone to some problems of course, but I think the industry in general has lost a fair bit of faith with Amstrad kit and although the PVR3's yet to have any notable problems, it will take time for the reputation to be rebuilt.