Back in the day, when we had 40GB Sky+ disks (the ones that screeched after a few weeks) and you could go out, get drunk, have fish and chips on the way home and still have change from sixpence, I tended to have little sympathy for people who lost their recordings because the box needed to be initialised. I didn't see Sky+ as a method of archiving recordings to keep, it was for simple time-shifting.
However, with the bigger boxes and greater time capacity, I now have sympathy for people who lose 226 recordings. This is no longer a device for time shifting or catching up after two weeks in Benidorm.
I wish Sky would supply a method for saving the files to an external device. NO, I am not asking for the ability to play them somewhere else and I realise this may not work too well when boxes have to be replaced (mind you, recordings could be tied to the card, which are then paired to the box, so ignore that worry), but the ability to copy files off and then back on again would help a lot of people.
I kind of agree but at the same time i think its perhaps a bit foolish to trust and depend on sky for the long term storage of tv shows and movies, theres loads of possibilities for it to go wrong like box failure, updates, crashes etc, if anyone is that serious about keeping their recordings i think its time they looked elsewhere, because don't think you'll be able to keep your sky recordings forever, something will come up and it will probably happen quicker than you think.
Are there any real alternatives? With only one HDMI port how can you (easily) copy/record off to an external device?
You can't thats the point, the recording functionality is really only meant to be a temporary convenience, because we don't own anything we record, though as long as we subscribe we can watch things as many times as we like, if we want to own something then dvd boxsets and other services are the only sensible option.
The hardest part is getting the drive out of the Sky box!
I have a Thompson box and it wasn't that tricky, worth a go I'd say.
There is a forum thread knocking about where someone disconnected the SATA cable from the internal drive and dangled it out the back of the box for connection to an external drive. He was able to swap drives as required.
I have a Thompson box and it wasn't that tricky, worth a go I'd say.
There is a forum thread knocking about where someone disconnected the SATA cable from the internal drive and dangled it out the back of the box for connection to an external drive. He was able to swap drives as required.
Yes I have done that, but it's a bit unsightly unless you go to the bother of having the hard drive in some sort of enclosure/caddy. But it can be done.
Still, as my field is electronics I can have my box open in less time than I can say "Where's mi concrete breaker?"
but now that they have an open source based OS maybe, just maybe, these ports could be enabled by default.....
maybe, just maybe they could do that and rewrite patches for it to allow a 29500 symbol rate to be manually selected and every other gadget and function we could ever want.
I await this deluge of user updates and way to get them on the Sky box with baited breath.
I think the discovery of Unicorns will come first!
The box has been upgraded with a 1TB Western Digital WD10EVCS drive. l did read earlier that someone suggested the new software might not be compatible with some drives... Does anyone know if that's a proven issue?
My Amstrad 890 has a 1TB WD drive in it and barring a couple of formerly good recordings that came up as failed, the upgrade was smooth and all is working well.
Comments
I kind of agree but at the same time i think its perhaps a bit foolish to trust and depend on sky for the long term storage of tv shows and movies, theres loads of possibilities for it to go wrong like box failure, updates, crashes etc, if anyone is that serious about keeping their recordings i think its time they looked elsewhere, because don't think you'll be able to keep your sky recordings forever, something will come up and it will probably happen quicker than you think.
You attach the Sky HDD to a PC.
I remember trying to dismantle a dead box to get the HDD drivreout - started out with tools and finished with a hammer :rolleyes:
You can't thats the point, the recording functionality is really only meant to be a temporary convenience, because we don't own anything we record, though as long as we subscribe we can watch things as many times as we like, if we want to own something then dvd boxsets and other services are the only sensible option.
I have a Thompson box and it wasn't that tricky, worth a go I'd say.
There is a forum thread knocking about where someone disconnected the SATA cable from the internal drive and dangled it out the back of the box for connection to an external drive. He was able to swap drives as required.
So if anything they could enable that and all you would need is an external SATA cable.
Chances of that happening? About the same as me getting the update yesterday!
Yes I have done that, but it's a bit unsightly unless you go to the bother of having the hard drive in some sort of enclosure/caddy. But it can be done.
Still, as my field is electronics I can have my box open in less time than I can say "Where's mi concrete breaker?"
but now that they have an open source based OS maybe, just maybe, these ports could be enabled by default.....
maybe, just maybe they could do that and rewrite patches for it to allow a 29500 symbol rate to be manually selected and every other gadget and function we could ever want.
I await this deluge of user updates and way to get them on the Sky box with baited breath.
I think the discovery of Unicorns will come first!
My Amstrad 890 has a 1TB WD drive in it and barring a couple of formerly good recordings that came up as failed, the upgrade was smooth and all is working well.
Just got home to find that my Pace box has had the new software rolled out to it again. Here's hoping it works this time!
Info for those interested:
Version number - 9F3002
OS Version - SYSF26.35
EPG Software Version - 39.0.4.2
But that's MY box and I've had NOTHING!
Runs off to do a forced update................................see you in 10 mins!
Worth noting that this is a different EPG version to what Pace owners reported with the previous update.
http://twitpic.com/2su4tq
Mine says "OK" with a Sky router.
Pace:
Version number - 9F3002
OS Version - 1.32B12
EPG Software Version - sky+9.10.13a
STILL!
Mine says OK with a Be* router
What actual model number is your box?
Mine has said nothing after being connected to a genuine sky router for 1 and a half months!
I suppose the update would improve that no end!
Hmmmmmm