[justinhow]

Just had a letter from Sky offering a free replacement Sky+ HD box.

Seems pretty good offer although they want to take away old Sky HD bix (originaly 250GB, which I upgraded to 1TB). This is an old Thompson box with new PSU parts after the old ones fried. Shame as have a load of good recording on this. Guess I could replace 1TB disc for a spare disc I have before engineer comes and then transfer contents to new HD box.

The bit that confuses me is they say the new box has twice the storage of my old (250GB) one. If so what disc is likely to be in it? 500GB?

[anniebrion]

The Amstrad (AKA Sky) DRX890 has a 500GB HDD (250GB for user & 250GB for Anytime).

[justinhow]

Thanks for info.

Is it sill fairly easy to upgrade these and if so to what size disk?

[anniebrion]

Originally Posted by justinhow

Thanks for info.

Is it sill fairly easy to upgrade these and if so to what size disk?

Yes and you can put in a 2TB HDD giving ~1.75TB of user space

[Shawfield]

So it sounds to me, as if this is merely an attempt to get people to use the Anytime+ service ?

Which, I think requires you to change to Sky Internet too.

Hmmmm dont think I will bother. A DIY disc upgrade sounds like a far better idea. Unless the 1TB boxes are regarded as 'better' in some way ?

[justinhow]

Damn - I did not realise this - well as I have just moved to Virgin broadband from Sky broadband this is no good for me.

Shame as I could have done with getting my old Thompson box replaced.

[sodafountain]

Originally Posted by justinhow

Damn - I did not realise this - well as I have just moved to Virgin broadband from Sky broadband this is no good for me.

Shame as I could have done with getting my old Thompson box replaced.

If you want your Thomson replacing, just take up the offer, you don't have to take the broadband

[justinhow]

Originally Posted by sodafountain

If you want your Thomson replacing, jsut take up the offer

Sorry - as I understood from post above this offer requires Sky internet - which I do not have and do not want. Am I missing something here?

[AlphaK]

Justin - contact Sky and see if the offer is still valid even if you no longer have SKY BB . Also you can just replace the 500 GB HDD in the new amstrad with the 1TB out of your old box and keep most /all the recordings . One of the FMs here did just that and only lost 3 recordings.Do bear in mind that replacing the HDD will likely invalidate the warranty on the new box.

[Shawfield]

I think that its only the Anytime+ that requires Sky Broadband. Standard HD certainly doesnt & I wont be changing my broadband to Sky.

[justinhow]

Yes - this free upgrade is dependent upon having Sky Broadband.

here is copy of T&Cs

Terms and conditions
Free replacement Sky+HD box offer with free standard set-up and free wired Anytime+ installation exclusive to existing Sky customers only. Current Sky+HD boxes must be returned to the engineer during the installation of the replacement box. Sky TV customers with Sky Broadband in Sky network area only. Available programming will depend on your Sky TV/HD subscription. To watch content from Sky Movies or Sky Sports you must take Sky Movies 1 & 2 or Sky Sports 1 & 2 Packs. Non-standard set-up may cost extra. Calls cost 5.1p per minute (plus 12.5p connection fee) for BT customers. Calls from other providers may vary. Offer ends 23 June 2011. Correct at 12 May 2011.

[Shawfield]

Haha, well I thought that Sky must be getting something out of the deal :-) They never do anything for nothing !

[Masteriser]

Originally Posted by justinhow

The bit that confuses me is they say the new box has twice the storage of my old (250GB) one. If so what disc is likely to be in it? 500GB?

Sky seem to have an extremely poor grip on simple mathematics. The Thomsons have a 300GB disk installed (assuming they have not been upgraded) which has a 160GB Personal / 140 GB Anytime split. The replacement Amstrads have a 500 GB disk in them that is split 50 / 50. Now, unless I am being really thick, double the Thomson's 160GB capacity is 320GB not the 250GB that the Amstrad boxes offer. In a nutshell, the Amstrads do not have 2 x the capacity but actually 1.56 x the capacity.

As others have said, I too have a Thomson with a Satcure Power Supply Unit and a 1TB disk in it and it works really well. I personally I have no interest in Anytime+ so my Thomson is going nowhere fast.

[spudmorley]

you dont have to have sky broadband to have your thompson box replaced.they know you cant get anytime+ on a thompson so they would never need to send you any bumph about sky broadband and anytime.
this way they know you can physically get it in the future.
i have upgraded and its being fitted tuesday.
no mention of having to have sky broadband fitted in order to have it.
while im on the subject is it possible to transfer from thompson box to a amstrad box via copy+ or are the 2 incompatable?

[lateuk]

Few questions before i take the upgrade:

- Will my magic eye still work via one of the RF outs (used in bedroom).
- Will a powermid as the Sky box is in a cupboard.
- What are the physical dimensions of new box (as it need to fit cupboard).

Thanks

[anniebrion]

Magic eye works from RF2 as on any box.

The box is much smaller than earlier boxes.

[Dave-H]

Originally Posted by spudmorley

while im on the subject is it possible to transfer from thompson box to a amstrad box via copy+ or are the 2 incompatable?

I'm sure that's not a problem, although I opted to just put the 1TB drive from my Thomson into the new Amstrad, as someone has mentioned. If you do use Copy+ that will be the last time for the foreseeable future, as the drive will be converted to the new Darwin operating system by the new box on first boot, and Copy+ will no longer work on it.

[lateuk]

Also does it allow for optical audio out with a delay like the current box?

[anniebrion]

Originally Posted by lateuk

Also does it allow for optical audio out with a delay like the current box?

Yes it does.

[Caveman643]

I'm with Virgin Media for my broadband and have had no bother taking up this offer from Sky. I just did it via the web address on the offer letter. My package has remained the same. No Sky broadband offered/added. 3 week lead time until the install though A new box for free, I'm well happy with that as mine has a few little niggles now.

[Macro]

I've just had my new box fitted and I don't have Sky broadband.

[BKM]

Originally Posted by justinhow

Yes - this free upgrade is dependent upon having Sky Broadband.

Mine was NOT! Someone from Sky phoned me, KNEW that I did not have Sky Broadband and said "that's fine - the Thomsons are not supported for any future features and we want them gone!"

[BKM]

Originally Posted by Dave-H

I'm sure that's not a problem, although I opted to just put the 1TB drive from my Thomson into the new Amstrad, as someone has mentioned. If you do use Copy+ that will be the last time for the foreseeable future, as the drive will be converted to the new Darwin operating system by the new box on first boot, and Copy+ will no longer work on it.

I put a new 2Tb drive into my Amstrad DRX890 - and copied from the Thomson (using Copy+). This worked perfectly but, as Dave-H says, the new drive is immediately converted to Darwin when the DRX890 next boots.

[ivanwilson]

Originally Posted by BKM

" Thomsons are not supported for any future features and we want them gone!"

Also wonder if it is anything to do with being able to use component to make HD backups of programmes.

I really like my Thomson box and wonder if I could use my Samsung box as the swap?

[BKM]

Originally Posted by ivanwilson

Also wonder if it is anything to do with being able to use component to make HD backups of programmes.

I don't think that worries them in the slightest!

I really like my Thomson box and wonder if I could use my Samsung box as the swap?

Not on the offer I had! I DID ask if they REALLY wanted the Thomson (or could I just keep it) and my installer was adament!