Unless sky bring out a new box and stop sending updates to the one you haven't plugged in for years I suppose?
Even after Sky stop developing new software for a particular model of box, they continue to carry out sweep up switched to force boxes on older software to update.
How often they do this usually decreases as the age of the box increases. But they still do this every so often even for the early boxes. The exception is the Thomson Sky+HD box which is officially un-supported and obsolete due to technical reasons.
Eventually they'll stop doing sweep ups for certain older boxes, but I'd imagine that will be when they're eventually classed as obsolete. It's at that point that there's no chance of the box updating, but the box probably won't be worth using at that point.
At the moment only the DRX890 and DRX895 varieties will be getting this new R011 update. Older boxes are still working with the older R010 firmware at the moment and the obsolete Thompson boxes have been abandoned so should continue to work while the old firmware is compatible with the current transmissions as long as the dodgy power supply doesn't give in.
Have Sky killed off blue card recording/playback with the latest software update?
My box (Amstrad DRX890) has been a bit dodgy lately and after the update record and playback have stopped working - now displays message to contact Sky.
Have Sky killed off blue card recording/playback with the latest software update?
My box (Amstrad DRX890) has been a bit dodgy lately and after the update record and playback have stopped working - now displays message to contact Sky.
Have you read this thread?
As this is what it's about, the latest update stopping recording with old cards!
Have Sky killed off blue card recording/playback with the latest software update?
My box (Amstrad DRX890) has been a bit dodgy lately and after the update record and playback have stopped working - now displays message to contact Sky.
Yes they have. You will no longer be able to record or playback unless you have a valid subscription.
Even after Sky stop developing new software for a particular model of box, they continue to carry out sweep up switched to force boxes on older software to update.
How often they do this usually decreases as the age of the box increases. But they still do this every so often even for the early boxes. The exception is the Thomson Sky+HD box which is officially un-supported and obsolete due to technical reasons.
Eventually they'll stop doing sweep ups for certain older boxes, but I'd imagine that will be when they're eventually classed as obsolete. It's at that point that there's no chance of the box updating, but the box probably won't be worth using at that point.
It's interesting how an HD box is considered obsolete yet they're still happy to let you use your 1998 Pace doorstop that will take about an hour to display the programme guide.
It's interesting how an HD box is considered obsolete yet they're still happy to let you use your 1998 Pace doorstop that will take about an hour to display the programme guide.
Its down to technical aspects with HD encryption I understand, and features in the HD EPG.
The standard SD EPG spec has hardly changed since 98. I had a Pace 98 box up until 2010.:D Dog dog slow.
Its down to technical aspects with HD encryption I understand, and features in the HD EPG.
The standard SD EPG spec has hardly changed since 98. I had a Pace 98 box up until 2010.:D Dog dog slow.
I might be completely wrong with that.
That might be true - but the SD boxes have had "memory problems" for something like a decade which means that new SD channels can't launch. And as you say, they're slow. Hardly a good advertisement for the platform and it's surely going to create dissatisfaction
You'd think it'd be a good investment for Sky to hand out free HD boxes to subscribers (Sky+HD for Sky+ users, Sky HD for normal SD) so that they can cut the legacy crap from the 90s and move the platform forward. A freebie for customers who may have been thinking about cancelling might help keep them on side, too. They had no problem replacing everyone's Thomson HD box. There can't be too many subscribers with ancient SD boxes now, and perhaps they'll get a bit of money from people signing up to the HD pack or premium channels or buying on demand content
Always a shame when they can just render equipment near-unusable like that. I know the commercial reasons but think of the planet and my wallet .
Off to find a Freesat PVR then...
To be fair, you never should have been able to record without a subscription anyway. I wonder if they'd offer a free replacement if you were paying for the recording facility only?
But Freesat seems to be old enough for boxes to start appearing for slightly saner prices in charity shops and the like. The local BHF shop has a FOXSAT-HDR for £60. I was almost tempted.
It's interesting how an HD box is considered obsolete yet they're still happy to let you use your 1998 Pace doorstop that will take about an hour to display the programme guide.
There's a number of reasons why Thomson HD boxes are obsolete.
Around 2010 Sky made some major changes to the software which powers it's HD boxes, the main thing being that they switched from OpenTV middleware to the Linux based NDS Fusion middleware. This was known as project Darwin and enabled Sky to launch its Pull VOD service Anytime+, unfortunately the Thomson HD box was technically incapable of running this new software and so this box never received any further software updates.
Last year Sky made some changes to both the pairing and encryption used on HD boxes. Essentially the box can now encrypt the communication between it and the viewing card, this encryption is only mandatory for encrypted HD channels but will happen for all channels in a compatible box.
Because this encryption is software driven and the Thomson HD boxes no longer receive software updates they would become incapable of viewing encrypted HD channels once this change was made.
A year before this change Sky started a program to replace subscribers Thomson HD boxes for free in preparation. This was partly funded by a lawsuit Sky won against a un-named HD STB manufacturer.
The majority of HD channels have also switched to 8PSK modulation, the Thomson HD box has also not been updated to support this and so is now incapable of viewing most HD channels including FTA/FTV HD channels.
Right, but those same things mostly apply to the SD boxes too.
They run OpenTV (not updated and probably requires them to pay continued licensing costs), and they don't support more efficient modulation and compression schemes. Being able to move to DVB-S2 and MPEG4 even for SD will be a good thing.
Jettisoning the old SD boxes would have a lot of positives - and not many negatives except for a large one-off cost (which as I say I doubt will be too large considering Sky makes the boxes themselves and there won't be too many boxes to replace)
Just to reiterate the cards do work in the drx780 just nothing newer , ive lost what was on the drx 890 due to the software update but all ok again on the 780.
Its down to technical aspects with HD encryption I understand, and features in the HD EPG.
The standard SD EPG spec has hardly changed since 98. I had a Pace 98 box up until 2010.:D Dog dog slow.
I might be completely wrong with that.
A friend had a Pace 98 box right up to about 6 months ago, he only upgraded to Sky HD because the modem packed in. He still has it but does not use it, but he told me he want's it for a spare
A friend had a Pace 98 box right up to about 6 months ago, he only upgraded to Sky HD because the modem packed in. He still has it but does not use it, but he told me he want's it for a spare
It literally took about 6 seconds to change channel.:D
A friend had a Pace 98 box right up to about 6 months ago, he only upgraded to Sky HD because the modem packed in. He still has it but does not use it, but he told me he want's it for a spare
It really doesn't make any sense considering boxes that are about 15 years newer can be had for less than £20
Just to reiterate the cards do work in the drx780 just nothing newer , ive lost what was on the drx 890 due to the software update but all ok again on the 780.
What firmware version is your 780 running? My mother's Samsung I think has just updated and now does not record. It is an r10 version but don't know which. I believe all HD boxes except Thomsons will be dated to R010.070.91.00P which I think is disabling the blue card recording. :-(
What firmware version is your 780 running? My mother's Samsung I think has just updated and now does not record. It is an r10 version but don't know which. I believe all HD boxes except Thomsons will be dated to R010.070.91.00P which I think is disabling the blue card recording. :-(
Blue card recording is only disabled on R011. All Samsung, Pace and Amstrad 780 still record on R010.
How were people able to carry on using the Sky+ recording facility after cancelling their subscription? Was it just a fluke that meant some boxes still worked until this software upgrade?
I'm assuming that previously recorded material would be inaccessible and that it would only record FTA and FTV channels after the cancellation of the subscription?
How were people able to carry on using the Sky+ recording facility after cancelling their subscription? Was it just a fluke that meant some boxes still worked until this software upgrade?
I'm assuming that previously recorded material would be inaccessible and that it would only record FTA and FTV channels after the cancellation of the subscription?
It worked because those cards needed a signal to turn the recording facilities off, so when they got swapped for the current cards they were still able to record.
As you say though only FTA and FTV channels though.
I guess when people actually realised that the cards still worked like that they used them in a spare box.
Now the new software is stopping this they are only useful in older boxes.
It worked because those cards needed a signal to turn the recording facilities off, so when they got swapped for the current cards they were still able to record.
As you say though only FTA and FTV channels though.
I guess when people actually realised that the cards still worked like that they used them in a spare box.
Now the new software is stopping this they are only useful in older boxes.
They actually worked by people cancelling, then removing their card's from the boxes before the cancellation date, and leaving them removed fora bout 3 months, this is when Sky stopped transmitting the Sky+ cancel signal to the card.
They used to work for FTA & FTV channels, but after the last card swap, when the encryption changed, they stopped working for FTV channels, as the card would no longer decrypt them.
Comments
It won't, it will pick up the update eventually when you start using it again.
So you can't stop it even if you leave the box until after the next update comes out? Or will it just go to that instead?
It will just go to the newer version.
You could have it turned off for years and it will still switch to the latest version when Sky send the signal.
Unless sky bring out a new box and stop sending updates to the one you haven't plugged in for years I suppose?
Even after Sky stop developing new software for a particular model of box, they continue to carry out sweep up switched to force boxes on older software to update.
How often they do this usually decreases as the age of the box increases. But they still do this every so often even for the early boxes. The exception is the Thomson Sky+HD box which is officially un-supported and obsolete due to technical reasons.
Eventually they'll stop doing sweep ups for certain older boxes, but I'd imagine that will be when they're eventually classed as obsolete. It's at that point that there's no chance of the box updating, but the box probably won't be worth using at that point.
My box (Amstrad DRX890) has been a bit dodgy lately and after the update record and playback have stopped working - now displays message to contact Sky.
Have you read this thread?
As this is what it's about, the latest update stopping recording with old cards!
Yes they have. You will no longer be able to record or playback unless you have a valid subscription.
It's interesting how an HD box is considered obsolete yet they're still happy to let you use your 1998 Pace doorstop that will take about an hour to display the programme guide.
Its down to technical aspects with HD encryption I understand, and features in the HD EPG.
The standard SD EPG spec has hardly changed since 98. I had a Pace 98 box up until 2010.:D Dog dog slow.
I might be completely wrong with that.
Thanks. I skim-read the thread on my mobile yesterday and it just seemed like speculation.
Thanks for the confirmation.
Always a shame when they can just render equipment near-unusable like that. I know the commercial reasons but think of the planet
Off to find a Freesat PVR then...
That might be true - but the SD boxes have had "memory problems" for something like a decade which means that new SD channels can't launch. And as you say, they're slow. Hardly a good advertisement for the platform and it's surely going to create dissatisfaction
You'd think it'd be a good investment for Sky to hand out free HD boxes to subscribers (Sky+HD for Sky+ users, Sky HD for normal SD) so that they can cut the legacy crap from the 90s and move the platform forward. A freebie for customers who may have been thinking about cancelling might help keep them on side, too. They had no problem replacing everyone's Thomson HD box. There can't be too many subscribers with ancient SD boxes now, and perhaps they'll get a bit of money from people signing up to the HD pack or premium channels or buying on demand content
To be fair, you never should have been able to record without a subscription anyway. I wonder if they'd offer a free replacement if you were paying for the recording facility only?
But Freesat seems to be old enough for boxes to start appearing for slightly saner prices in charity shops and the like. The local BHF shop has a FOXSAT-HDR for £60. I was almost tempted.
There's a number of reasons why Thomson HD boxes are obsolete.
Around 2010 Sky made some major changes to the software which powers it's HD boxes, the main thing being that they switched from OpenTV middleware to the Linux based NDS Fusion middleware. This was known as project Darwin and enabled Sky to launch its Pull VOD service Anytime+, unfortunately the Thomson HD box was technically incapable of running this new software and so this box never received any further software updates.
Last year Sky made some changes to both the pairing and encryption used on HD boxes. Essentially the box can now encrypt the communication between it and the viewing card, this encryption is only mandatory for encrypted HD channels but will happen for all channels in a compatible box.
Because this encryption is software driven and the Thomson HD boxes no longer receive software updates they would become incapable of viewing encrypted HD channels once this change was made.
A year before this change Sky started a program to replace subscribers Thomson HD boxes for free in preparation. This was partly funded by a lawsuit Sky won against a un-named HD STB manufacturer.
The majority of HD channels have also switched to 8PSK modulation, the Thomson HD box has also not been updated to support this and so is now incapable of viewing most HD channels including FTA/FTV HD channels.
They run OpenTV (not updated and probably requires them to pay continued licensing costs), and they don't support more efficient modulation and compression schemes. Being able to move to DVB-S2 and MPEG4 even for SD will be a good thing.
Jettisoning the old SD boxes would have a lot of positives - and not many negatives except for a large one-off cost (which as I say I doubt will be too large considering Sky makes the boxes themselves and there won't be too many boxes to replace)
A friend had a Pace 98 box right up to about 6 months ago, he only upgraded to Sky HD because the modem packed in. He still has it but does not use it, but he told me he want's it for a spare
It literally took about 6 seconds to change channel.:D
It really doesn't make any sense considering boxes that are about 15 years newer can be had for less than £20
What firmware version is your 780 running? My mother's Samsung I think has just updated and now does not record. It is an r10 version but don't know which. I believe all HD boxes except Thomsons will be dated to R010.070.91.00P which I think is disabling the blue card recording. :-(
Blue card recording is only disabled on R011. All Samsung, Pace and Amstrad 780 still record on R010.
For a complete list of firmware releases -
http://skyepginfo.co.uk/Firmware/SkyPlusHD.php
That is a very good website well worth a read.
I'm assuming that previously recorded material would be inaccessible and that it would only record FTA and FTV channels after the cancellation of the subscription?
It worked because those cards needed a signal to turn the recording facilities off, so when they got swapped for the current cards they were still able to record.
As you say though only FTA and FTV channels though.
I guess when people actually realised that the cards still worked like that they used them in a spare box.
Now the new software is stopping this they are only useful in older boxes.
They actually worked by people cancelling, then removing their card's from the boxes before the cancellation date, and leaving them removed fora bout 3 months, this is when Sky stopped transmitting the Sky+ cancel signal to the card.
They used to work for FTA & FTV channels, but after the last card swap, when the encryption changed, they stopped working for FTV channels, as the card would no longer decrypt them.