Question about becoming a Virgin+

[miketv]

Originally Posted by Matth

You need a subscription for V+, £5 on top of TV:M or TV:L, free if you have TV:XL
You need a subscription for Sky+, either any Sky channel mix, or a subscription to maintain recording capability if you are only on FTA channels.

Freesat may be expensive to begin, but no further charges other than insurance/repair.

Thanks Matth - I didn't realise you need a subscription to be able to use the recording capability on sky+.

[sammyjayuk]

Originally Posted by miketv

Thanks Matth - I didn't realise you need a subscription to be able to use the recording capability on sky+.

Yes, you need a subscription to maintain much of the core functionality of a box you actually bought!

To clarify, if you want Sky+ without a subscription to Sky TV, it's £199 to buy the box with an additional £10pcm to maintain the recording features, and £30 setup (perhaps more, their website isn't very clear on that). Also, Sky advertise the Sky+ as only being able to store 40 hours of programmes, as opposed to the V+'s 80 hours.

Cost of Sky+, without a Sky TV subscription, over 5 years (199+30+(10*12*5)) is £829!! Non-sub Sky+HD is either the same, or £30 less - again, their website is vague) due to the Sky+HD box also costing £199.

Sam (who hopes he's been informative if not interesting!)

[miketv]

Originally Posted by sammyjayuk

Yes, you need a subscription to maintain much of the core functionality of a box you actually bought!

To clarify, if you want Sky+ without a subscription to Sky TV, it's £199 to buy the box with an additional £10pcm to maintain the recording features, and £30 setup (perhaps more, their website isn't very clear on that). Also, Sky advertise the Sky+ as only being able to store 40 hours of programmes, as opposed to the V+'s 80 hours.

Cost of Sky+, without a Sky TV subscription, over 5 years (199+30+(10*12*5)) is £829!! Non-sub Sky+HD is either the same, or £30 less - again, their website is vague) due to the Sky+HD box also costing £199.

Sam (who hopes he's been informative if not interesting!)

---------- Post added at 17:29 ---------- Previous post was at 17:26 ----------

Yes - have now decided to rake in the pennies and buy a humax foxsat pvr, it sounds as though it's worth the investment (I didn't realise it had twin tuner functionality) although I will also need to get a twin LNB - it sounds as though it's fairly straight forward to fit it.

[sammyjayuk]

Originally Posted by miketv

---------- Post added at 17:29 ---------- Previous post was at 17:26 ----------

Yes - have now decided to rake in the pennies and buy a humax foxsat pvr, it sounds as though it's worth the investment (I didn't realise it had twin tuner functionality) although I will also need to get a twin LNB - it sounds as though it's fairly straight forward to fit it.

Humax boxes certainly seem to be worth the extra - after my mum had a year of hell with a Thomson Freeview recorder, I decided to spend a bit more money and get her a Humax (via some awful Goodmans thing from Tesco's, which we only had for about 12 hours because it missed 3 recordings out of 5!).

The interface is really, really idiosyncratic - there seem to be two ways of doing some things, and I'm buggered if I can figure out how to work the editing features - but it can search the guide and is (almost) as solid as a rock, which is obviously the most important thing about a recorder!

Twin tuners seem to have become the de facto standard for digital recorders - I wouldn't buy a single tuner hard drive recorder, if I could even find one (although, in fairness, I haven't looked).

LNBs are supposed to be fairly easy to change (although I seem to remember that the LNB fits onto a Sky dish's arm differently than it would to any other dish, but I can't really remember - perhaps ask on Digital Spy) - but remember that you'll need to run another cable. Also, depending on how high up the dish is, it might be safer to get an installer to do it - even the professionals can have accidents!

Sam

[miketv]

Originally Posted by sammyjayuk

Humax boxes certainly seem to be worth the extra - after my mum had a year of hell with a Thomson Freeview recorder, I decided to spend a bit more money and get her a Humax (via some awful Goodmans thing from Tesco's, which we only had for about 12 hours because it missed 3 recordings out of 5!).

The interface is really, really idiosyncratic - there seem to be two ways of doing some things, and I'm buggered if I can figure out how to work the editing features - but it can search the guide and is (almost) as solid as a rock, which is obviously the most important thing about a recorder!

Twin tuners seem to have become the de facto standard for digital recorders - I wouldn't buy a single tuner hard drive recorder, if I could even find one (although, in fairness, I haven't looked).

LNBs are supposed to be fairly easy to change (although I seem to remember that the LNB fits onto a Sky dish's arm differently than it would to any other dish, but I can't really remember - perhaps ask on Digital Spy) - but remember that you'll need to run another cable. Also, depending on how high up the dish is, it might be safer to get an installer to do it - even the professionals can have accidents!

Sam

---------- Post added at 17:55 ---------- Previous post was at 17:46 ----------

Thanks for the word of caution on installation - poor guy! Luckily my dish is only halfway up, so should be pretty safe to do!

Originally Posted by demented

Not until November 2009+ they aren't. Nor do DVB-T2 boxes physically exist yet.

maybe not free'view' but free'sat' boxes do

as far as OP is concerned it just semantics


you'll also need a free sat dish but no monthly sunsbscription, uposcaled via HDMI, 400 gig HDD, series links and ability to record H/Def channels (as per V+)