Just pulled the plug on SKY+ - alternatives?
Discussion
I was basically paying £400 pa to watch free to air channels.
BT is pushing me their BT TV for £200 pa - looks like most of that fee is for BT Sport which I'll never watch. This also comes with a (YouView?) PVR but needs a Freeview aerial - I have only the quad LNB dish. They also dont state how many tuners its got/how many recordings at once. I also wonder if this broadband connected box just passes Netflix and Prime programmes 'as produced' without dropping or repeating frames for US or cinema framerates like my Firestick annoyingly does?
I have a dusty 4 yr old Freesat Humax box but wondered if this will be as good as SKY+ - which was one of the key reasons I kept paying the SKY sub? Good software!
Any thoughts/experiences welcome. Thanks.
BT is pushing me their BT TV for £200 pa - looks like most of that fee is for BT Sport which I'll never watch. This also comes with a (YouView?) PVR but needs a Freeview aerial - I have only the quad LNB dish. They also dont state how many tuners its got/how many recordings at once. I also wonder if this broadband connected box just passes Netflix and Prime programmes 'as produced' without dropping or repeating frames for US or cinema framerates like my Firestick annoyingly does?
I have a dusty 4 yr old Freesat Humax box but wondered if this will be as good as SKY+ - which was one of the key reasons I kept paying the SKY sub? Good software!
Any thoughts/experiences welcome. Thanks.
I do rate the SKY+ box and software even though its about 4 years old now (and I have popped a 1Tb HDD in it for huge storage). Have my old Humax 1000 freesat PVR redundant underneath it. Think I'll flatten that and give it a restart to see how it copes resurrected - they were never as slick as SKY mind...
Niche question...is there a way to get the new series of Games of Thrones via Prime or any Firestick apps - or even the Humax Freesat PVR - when the next series starts (April?). BT TV say you can buy the series for about £20 day after SKY premiere...
Thanks for the advice guys.
Niche question...is there a way to get the new series of Games of Thrones via Prime or any Firestick apps - or even the Humax Freesat PVR - when the next series starts (April?). BT TV say you can buy the series for about £20 day after SKY premiere...
Thanks for the advice guys.
I have a 9 yr old Kuro plasma (still think its stunning pic daily...) but nothing 'smart' about it and no dumb auto contrast or smeary interpolation either - yuk!
Another option I just found is buying the BT Youview box for about £100 (not UHD) and no monthly sub. Has Netflix and Prime apps and Catch Up for the FTA channels and I think you can buy GoT via a BT pay per view streaming account. No WiFi so needs hardwiring PLUS a DTV aerial.
Might be worth a call to BT TV to see if I can get a deal on the UHD box where the minimum term sub is not much more than the hardware cost?
Another option I just found is buying the BT Youview box for about £100 (not UHD) and no monthly sub. Has Netflix and Prime apps and Catch Up for the FTA channels and I think you can buy GoT via a BT pay per view streaming account. No WiFi so needs hardwiring PLUS a DTV aerial.
Might be worth a call to BT TV to see if I can get a deal on the UHD box where the minimum term sub is not much more than the hardware cost?
Dave J said:
You used to have to pay to enable recording facilities, not sure if that's still the case though.
£10 per month gets you all the functionality of the sky plus box with freeview channels
Yes - still the case. But I own the hardware right? And I recorded programmes on my 1Tb (that are actually free to air) during my SKY subscription. Guess what? They block the playback if you don't have a sub. Grrr! £10 per month gets you all the functionality of the sky plus box with freeview channels
JustALooseScrew said:
You could get yourself a ZGemma box and plug an HDD.
There are firmwares ( OpenVIX is the last one I looked at) out there that completely mimic the Sky+ functionality.
It can also download the weekly EPG and to all intents and purposes looks and behaves exactly like a Sky+ box.
One major bonus with it is that it understands satellite transponders correctly - so it can record multiple TV programs if they are on the same transponder; unlike the Sky box which will only allow you to watch 1 record 1.
Nice bit of kit but takes a bit or research to get setup. It also does IPTV as well too.
Cracking bit of kit!
(ETA) Do some reading before you commit.
HTH
Interesting! I'm geeky enough to be interested in Linux but looks like a lot of effort after a days work (fighting editing computers I've built)! You'd add an USB ext HDD to one of those and they become a PVR rather than receivers only?There are firmwares ( OpenVIX is the last one I looked at) out there that completely mimic the Sky+ functionality.
It can also download the weekly EPG and to all intents and purposes looks and behaves exactly like a Sky+ box.
One major bonus with it is that it understands satellite transponders correctly - so it can record multiple TV programs if they are on the same transponder; unlike the Sky box which will only allow you to watch 1 record 1.
Nice bit of kit but takes a bit or research to get setup. It also does IPTV as well too.
Cracking bit of kit!
(ETA) Do some reading before you commit.
HTH
Edited by JustALooseScrew on Thursday 13th December 13:05
I WAS leaning towards buying a BT TV UHD box (£120) as reviews are good on the functionality and then paying for the odd rental like GoT but was just told you HAVE to have a monthly sub to get that facility. As per top tip above could I run Now TV on the BT UHD box instead to get that?
Sorry for the gazillions of questions, and thanks for the help - off to resurrect the Humax 1000 now to see if it is a bit pants!
Well I recommissioned my Humax 1100 Freesat box that had been dormant for about 3 years. It's on a freshly formatted disk and about 20 later version software now. Really happy with it - it even has a Netflix app now 
Its very slightly slower on menus than the SKY box but its sharper on fast forwards and rewinds and can jump forwards in blocks - handy for skipping ad breaks. The 'play from start' function is handy for some shows if you miss the start - how do they do that as usually its a 24hr delay until stuff is available for streaming...?
The only thing is that the channel order is annoying - ITV SD is on position 3 rather than ITV HD. Is there a way to set favourites or remove channels you will never watch in the Freesat mode?
Thanks again for the advice.
Its very slightly slower on menus than the SKY box but its sharper on fast forwards and rewinds and can jump forwards in blocks - handy for skipping ad breaks. The 'play from start' function is handy for some shows if you miss the start - how do they do that as usually its a 24hr delay until stuff is available for streaming...?
The only thing is that the channel order is annoying - ITV SD is on position 3 rather than ITV HD. Is there a way to set favourites or remove channels you will never watch in the Freesat mode?
Thanks again for the advice.
OMG they called my bluff and now won#t leave me alone. They offered a £24 deal that I declined at the time. This is my third one of these:
Have to say the old recommissioned Humax box works great. Whacked it up from Version 1 software to Ver 3 and it works great - Netflix and that handy 'play from start' function for stuff that isn't recorded but that you may have missed the start of is great. No US frame dropping issues on Netflix like the Firestick too!! That drove me potty on gentle pans!
V happy and £400 a year better off.
Have to say the old recommissioned Humax box works great. Whacked it up from Version 1 software to Ver 3 and it works great - Netflix and that handy 'play from start' function for stuff that isn't recorded but that you may have missed the start of is great. No US frame dropping issues on Netflix like the Firestick too!! That drove me potty on gentle pans!
V happy and £400 a year better off.
I'd have to agree mate and I was dreading it a little having read stuff here. I fully and vastly prefer it to the Sky+ box. The only drawback seems to be no remote record facility via the app and no SKY Go - we didn't use either.
Sky made me buy the box (then) and then charge you min £10 for the recording function for free to air programmes you have already paid for! I gather a Sky Q HD box is included in the minimum £22 sub these days though if you do it over min 18 months. This makes my £12 sub offer seem right if that £22 sub covers the new box outlay? My offer was like still making payments for your mobile hardware after your min contract period has ended. [Mate has just done that for 4 years for an iPhone 4!!! Ouch]
Sky made me buy the box (then) and then charge you min £10 for the recording function for free to air programmes you have already paid for! I gather a Sky Q HD box is included in the minimum £22 sub these days though if you do it over min 18 months. This makes my £12 sub offer seem right if that £22 sub covers the new box outlay? My offer was like still making payments for your mobile hardware after your min contract period has ended. [Mate has just done that for 4 years for an iPhone 4!!! Ouch]
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hstewie said:
hstewie said: Sky want £87 in a couple of months.
Is there anything other than a Humax worth buying?
If I could get Freeview/Freest, NowTV and TV Player on a single box I think I'd be set to tell them to get stuffed.
The Zgemma's are interesting but too DIY.
Ouch!Is there anything other than a Humax worth buying?
If I could get Freeview/Freest, NowTV and TV Player on a single box I think I'd be set to tell them to get stuffed.
The Zgemma's are interesting but too DIY.
I didn't really find anything to be honest - seems a HUGE gap in the market? Lots of linux/android type Chinese boxes out there but fighting IT is the last thing I want after coming home!
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