Saving Sky HD box programmes to SkyQ

[DaveGrohl]

Hi, not sure if this is the right section for this but may be. Now we've got a reasonably decent broadband connection in our house I'm ready to speak to Sky to quit (obv!) at which point they'll try to keep us by giving us a good deal on a SkyQ setup. We'll give in of course, but my question is how can we keep the programmes that are on our Sky HD hard drive? Can they be transferred or is there some other way of doing it?

[craig1912]

Simple answer is no.

[DaveGrohl]

I may regret this but what's the complicated answer?

[pidsy]

Purchased items - films etc - yes.

Stuff you’ve recorded - no.

Call sky when you have done the swap - they can restore your purchases to the Q drive.

[sgrimshaw]

DaveGrohl said:

I may regret this but what's the complicated answer?

It's also "No"

[Teddy Lop]

They won't bother asking for the old box back, and I think if you disconnect all forms that skyHQ can commicate with it - LNB, phone and internet - then it shouldn't get the deactivate nod and you can keep it as an extra device while you watch through your stash.

[Blown2CV]

you cannot. In fact Sky Q presents an entire shift in how they commercially engage with customers, which is a bigger constraint than the technology. Sky owns the lot and you lease it. Maintenance and repairs are all free, but that means they own everything... so when they install Q, they take your Sky HD box away, programmes and all.

[drmotorsport]

I looked into this a couple of years ago as I have some programmes (featuring me!) recorded on my SkyHD box. At some point i'll get around to it but essentially the only way to get the content off the box is to play it to a PC with HDMI/SCART connectors and the approprate recording software.

[Funk]

Blown2CV said:

you cannot. In fact Sky Q presents an entire shift in how they commercially engage with customers, which is a bigger constraint than the technology. Sky owns the lot and you lease it. Maintenance and repairs are all free, but that means they own everything... so when they install Q, they take your Sky HD box away, programmes and all.

What if you bought a spare HD box off eBay and gave them that..? Can't imagine they'll check too closely other than "SKY HD Box returned = [TICK]"?

[Blown2CV]

Funk said:

Blown2CV said:

you cannot. In fact Sky Q presents an entire shift in how they commercially engage with customers, which is a bigger constraint than the technology. Sky owns the lot and you lease it. Maintenance and repairs are all free, but that means they own everything... so when they install Q, they take your Sky HD box away, programmes and all.

What if you bought a spare HD box off eBay and gave them that..? Can't imagine they'll check too closely other than "SKY HD Box returned = [TICK]"?

look i dunno mate. I still don't think it's possible to transfer the programmes across.

[Funk]

Blown2CV said:

Funk said:

Blown2CV said:

you cannot. In fact Sky Q presents an entire shift in how they commercially engage with customers, which is a bigger constraint than the technology. Sky owns the lot and you lease it. Maintenance and repairs are all free, but that means they own everything... so when they install Q, they take your Sky HD box away, programmes and all.

What if you bought a spare HD box off eBay and gave them that..? Can't imagine they'll check too closely other than "SKY HD Box returned = [TICK]"?

look i dunno mate. I still don't think it's possible to transfer the programmes across.

No, but in my scenario he could keep the old box offline with the programmes on it. Not sure whether you could watch them or not without it 'phoning home' though.

[DaveGrohl]

Thanks for the replies. I seem to have in my fading memory that the hard drive could be taken out of the box (before HD became a thing) and held in an external device maybe so that you could access both old and new drives? Have I made that up? I can't remember which forum Imsaw that on but it was a considerable time ago.

Looks like I'm gonna have to do something with a laptop then?

[Teddy Lop]

DaveGrohl said:

Thanks for the replies. I seem to have in my fading memory that the hard drive could be taken out of the box (before HD became a thing) and held in an external device maybe so that you could access both old and new drives? Have I made that up? I can't remember which forum Imsaw that on but it was a considerable time ago.

Looks like I'm gonna have to do something with a laptop then?

don't think its possible for anything but sky equipment to read what's on the disc. (Although you could copy it if hacking a larger hard drive)

[MissChief]

Teddy Lop said:

DaveGrohl said:

Thanks for the replies. I seem to have in my fading memory that the hard drive could be taken out of the box (before HD became a thing) and held in an external device maybe so that you could access both old and new drives? Have I made that up? I can't remember which forum Imsaw that on but it was a considerable time ago.

Looks like I'm gonna have to do something with a laptop then?

don't think its possible for anything but sky equipment to read what's on the disc. (Although you could copy it if hacking a larger hard drive)

Many moons ago such a device existed for Transfer from +HD box to +HD box. It won't work for +HD to Q I'm afraid.

Your +HD box remains your property and you can ask the Sky Engineer to leave it if you wish but it's not going to be much use as the LNB on the dish will be swapped for an incompatible version with Sky+HD anyway. You can request a Hybrid LNB if you say you're going to put the Sky+HD box into another room for freesat viewing but he won't cable it up and you won't be able to watch any recordings on it either.

All that said, they're not doing new installs or upgrades at the moment anyway.

[Teddy Lop]

MissChief said:

Teddy Lop said:

DaveGrohl said:

Thanks for the replies. I seem to have in my fading memory that the hard drive could be taken out of the box (before HD became a thing) and held in an external device maybe so that you could access both old and new drives? Have I made that up? I can't remember which forum Imsaw that on but it was a considerable time ago.

Looks like I'm gonna have to do something with a laptop then?

don't think its possible for anything but sky equipment to read what's on the disc. (Although you could copy it if hacking a larger hard drive)

Many moons ago such a device existed for Transfer from +HD box to +HD box. It won't work for +HD to Q I'm afraid.

Your +HD box remains your property and you can ask the Sky Engineer to leave it if you wish but it's not going to be much use as the LNB on the dish will be swapped for an incompatible version with Sky+HD anyway. You can request a Hybrid LNB if you say you're going to put the Sky+HD box into another room for freesat viewing but he won't cable it up and you won't be able to watch any recordings on it either.

All that said, they're not doing new installs or upgrades at the moment anyway.

no, the context i read it was was upgrading the hdd in a sky+ box for a larger one.

If he keeps the box to watch out his contents then the last thing he wants is it connected to an lnb/kill signal (although I say kill, if you stopped paying sky they'd sent out a instruction and the box will lose hdd functionality and make viewing possible on channels 1-5 only, was how it used to be)

[wiggy001]

I considered this when I moved to Sky Q from HD.

I quickly found that everyone on the old box could either be downloaded again from the Sky Q catch up and On Demand options, or was that old that I probably didn't need it anyway.

Is there anything in particular that you'll miss?

[alorotom]

Blown2CV said:

you cannot. In fact Sky Q presents an entire shift in how they commercially engage with customers, which is a bigger constraint than the technology. Sky owns the lot and you lease it. Maintenance and repairs are all free, but that means they own everything... so when they install Q, they take your Sky HD box away, programmes and all.

Yes and know.

All the stuff right up to them taking the HD box away is correct. The HD box is owned by the customer. It’s not Skys to take unless you have already agreed to this.

[DaveGrohl]

wiggy001 said:

I considered this when I moved to Sky Q from HD.

I quickly found that everyone on the old box could either be downloaded again from the Sky Q catch up and On Demand options, or was that old that I probably didn't need it anyway.

Is there anything in particular that you'll miss?

Well yes there is. I realise that a lot of stuff can be downloaded again or watched on catchup but there's one thing in particular that I very much doubt could be. I think I'll have to get in touch with the BBC to see if there's any way I could access it, even if I hve to pay for the privelige. It was when the Foo Fighters played at the big weekend many moons ago. It was a very special weekend for me and my now wife and I'd be gutted if I had to lose the coverage.

[MissChief]

DaveGrohl said:

wiggy001 said:

I considered this when I moved to Sky Q from HD.

I quickly found that everyone on the old box could either be downloaded again from the Sky Q catch up and On Demand options, or was that old that I probably didn't need it anyway.

Is there anything in particular that you'll miss?

Well yes there is. I realise that a lot of stuff can be downloaded again or watched on catchup but there's one thing in particular that I very much doubt could be. I think I'll have to get in touch with the BBC to see if there's any way I could access it, even if I hve to pay for the privelige. It was when the Foo Fighters played at the big weekend many moons ago. It was a very special weekend for me and my now wife and I'd be gutted if I had to lose the coverage.

You can copy off the +HD box onto recordable dvd or video tape?

[bristolracer]

MissChief said:

You can copy off the +HD box onto recordable dvd or video tape?

Only via the scart socket, so it will be in standard definition, and you will need a recorder that has an external input. Many don't.