Sky+ recording

[Tycho]

ymwoods said:

When your still in the 12 month contract with a discounted box it sends viewing figures, what tv channels you watched, how long for, the shows that you watched etc.

Sorry but that is utter rubbish.

No viewing data is sent at all and all the viewing stats are sent by people who have special equipment and agree to do this for discounts.

The phone line is so that the box can call back to verify that it is at the contract address and so you can use the interactive services. If this wasn't done people could get multiroom and then give the box to someone who doesn't have Sky which isn't good for sales. Also it is used so people can't take the box abroad and leave it in a holiday home in France etc. This is because Sky don't have broadcasting rights for the outside of the UK even though the satellite footprint is across Europe.

If you don't have the phone line plugged in then you can still get PPV events but you have to call the customer service centre. The authorisation then gets sent as a message over the air. Software downloads are also done over the air and not via the phone line as people can think.

[Marcellus]

Tycho said:

Also it is used so people can't take the box abroad and leave it in a holiday home in France etc. This is because Sky don't have broadcasting rights for the outside of the UK even though the satellite footprint is across Europe

surely no one would even consider doing something like that would they?

[Tycho]

Marcellus said:

Tycho said:

Also it is used so people can't take the box abroad and leave it in a holiday home in France etc. This is because Sky don't have broadcasting rights for the outside of the UK even though the satellite footprint is across Europe

surely no one would even consider doing something like that would they?

More than you think. Won't stop you taking your box with you if you go on holiday though. Just there to stop people permanently doing it. All to do with broadcasting rights.

[Marcellus]

Tycho said:

Marcellus said:

Tycho said:

Also it is used so people can't take the box abroad and leave it in a holiday home in France etc. This is because Sky don't have broadcasting rights for the outside of the UK even though the satellite footprint is across Europe

surely no one would even consider doing something like that would they?

More than you think. Won't stop you taking your box with you if you go on holiday though. Just there to stop people permanently doing it. All to do with broadcasting rights.

what you mean there might be ex-pats out there using a sky box??

I wonder if sky+ would work and could they record one programme whilst watching another if they had a dual feed of their dish?

[Tycho]

Marcellus said:

Tycho said:

Marcellus said:

Tycho said:

Also it is used so people can't take the box abroad and leave it in a holiday home in France etc. This is because Sky don't have broadcasting rights for the outside of the UK even though the satellite footprint is across Europe

surely no one would even consider doing something like that would they?

More than you think. Won't stop you taking your box with you if you go on holiday though. Just there to stop people permanently doing it. All to do with broadcasting rights.

what you mean there might be ex-pats out there using a sky box??

I wonder if sky+ would work and could they record one programme whilst watching another if they had a dual feed of their dish?

Recording would work. The fact that the boxes are abroad would be of no consequence to Sky if they were allowed to broadcast outside the UK but if these processes were not in place then they could be seen as being complicit in allowing people to watch outside the UK which violates the broadcasting contract they entered into.

[Marcellus]

OK so we now know we don't need a phone line to get sky+ functionality, but a further question;

Do you need a subscription package or can sky+ work with just a freeview card?

[GregE240]

Marcellus said:

Tycho said:

Marcellus said:

Tycho said:

Also it is used so people can't take the box abroad and leave it in a holiday home in France etc. This is because Sky don't have broadcasting rights for the outside of the UK even though the satellite footprint is across Europe

surely no one would even consider doing something like that would they?

More than you think. Won't stop you taking your box with you if you go on holiday though. Just there to stop people permanently doing it. All to do with broadcasting rights.

what you mean there might be ex-pats out there using a sky box??

I wonder if sky+ would work and could they record one programme whilst watching another if they had a dual feed of their dish?

When I got the father in laws place in Spain sorted out, they asked if we wanted one or two leads for Sky / Sky +.

Its only running Freesat off an old Pacer box so Sky + wasn't needed.

Brother in law has had Sky+ working at one point whilst living in Gib.

So yes.

[Marcellus]

Thank you all.... looks like we'll be upgrading soon then!!

[ymwoods]

Tycho said:

ymwoods said:

When your still in the 12 month contract with a discounted box it sends viewing figures, what tv channels you watched, how long for, the shows that you watched etc.

Sorry but that is utter rubbish.

No viewing data is sent at all and all the viewing stats are sent by people who have special equipment and agree to do this for discounts.

The phone line is so that the box can call back to verify that it is at the contract address and so you can use the interactive services. If this wasn't done people could get multiroom and then give the box to someone who doesn't have Sky which isn't good for sales. Also it is used so people can't take the box abroad and leave it in a holiday home in France etc. This is because Sky don't have broadcasting rights for the outside of the UK even though the satellite footprint is across Europe.

If you don't have the phone line plugged in then you can still get PPV events but you have to call the customer service centre. The authorisation then gets sent as a message over the air. Software downloads are also done over the air and not via the phone line as people can think.

Well what I explained is exactly what happened to us and was written into our contract a few years ago...dont still have it though now. But bassicly it stated to keep the dicounted rate we must keep the phone line connected and we must allow the box to periodicly upload usage and viewing data. We disconected the phone line thinking we don't want that happening...about 3 months later we got a letter telling us we had 14 days to reconnect the phone line or we would be charged the full price. Maybe it has been changed recently and is rubbish but I at one time had the contract sitting infront of me spelling it out.

The multi-room and abroad stuff also does sound plausible however.