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The Sky+ £10 fee letter hath arrived
Ian F. wrote:
"Gaz" wrote in message ... Tivo reached for the moon, Sky+ barely manages s****horpe. Sky+ is just superb IMO - let's the Americans enjoy their creaky, clunky, outdated technology, Tivo, which fell at the first fence in this country. Ian What a truly ignorant post. |
The Sky+ £10 fee letter hath arrived
In article ,
says... at least I can set recordings of different qualities so I can do radio stations in basic quality (since it only affects the picture) and maximise the hard drive space that way (since Sky+ only records at one quality setting). The SKY+ "dumps" the broadcast to disk. This is actually helpful as most broadcasts are low bitrate crap. It's the perfect way of getting "adaptive" recording where the space taken up on the disk reflects the quality of the broadcast. Going off the TiVo vs Sky+ debate for a bit, this is my bugbear with HD being plugged all over the place. SD could look a damn sight better than it does but the broadcasters have dropped the quality, and they've clearly done that (in 2000 for BBC, for example, as I've mentioned many times before) so they can sell us HD later on which is apparently 4-5 times better than SD.... so, really, HD is about twice as good as what we were watching back in 2000. So, everyone, go out and buy HD, then they'll reduce the quality of that and sell you something else later on, and so on. Back to the debate, though, and I like having different settings for when I want to record something like radio programmes, and also when my hard drive's getting full I can lower the quality of programmes where the quality doesn't matter as much (eg. a soap opera) until I clear some space. -- Dom Robinson Gamertag: DVDfever email: dom at dvdfever dot co dot uk /* http://DVDfever.co.uk (editor) /* 1132 DVDs, 347 games, 314 CDs, 110 cinema films, 42 concerts, videos & news /* antibodies, steve hillage, burning crusade, sega psp, norah jones, kylie New music charts - http://dvdfever.co.uk/music.shtml Youtube - http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=DVDfeverDom |
The Sky+ £10 fee letter hath arrived
In article .com,
says... On May 27, 9:40 pm, "John Russell" wrote: at least I can set recordings of different qualities so I can do radio stations in basic quality (since it only affects the picture) and maximise the hard drive space that way (since Sky+ only records at one quality setting). The SKY+ "dumps" the broadcast to disk. This is actually helpful as most broadcasts are low bitrate crap. It's the perfect way of getting "adaptive" recording where the space taken up on the disk reflects the quality of the broadcast. I'm sure I'll get flamed for this, but I love my sky plus machine. It's pathetically simple to use - even my 6 year old navigates the menus like a pro, it can be set to record via the sky web site or by text message. Now i know its a little tricky for people from Preston, but what else do you need it to do? I dont want it 'suggesting' things I might like recording and I dont want sky stealing half my hard drive for sky's 'suggestions' either, but that's about the only problem I have with it. Sky+ doesn't have suggestions, it just fills your hard drive with stuff to make you subscribe to channels you don't currently get so you can watch the stuff you thought you could (ie. it's a marketing tool). TiVo's Suggestions is actually a very useful feature and you'd only get how good that is once you've used the box for 2-3 weeks and seen that it bases these on the data of programmes you've watched already. I've certainly ended up recording things regularly that were once suggestions. Also, the suggestions don't take up any space that you've already set for your own programmes so no harm done* (*the only time they screwed up was over the episode of Dossa and Joe, as has been documented some years ago, but even still it wasn't using up disc space allocated to you) -- Dom Robinson Gamertag: DVDfever email: dom at dvdfever dot co dot uk /* http://DVDfever.co.uk (editor) /* 1132 DVDs, 347 games, 314 CDs, 110 cinema films, 42 concerts, videos & news /* antibodies, steve hillage, burning crusade, sega psp, norah jones, kylie New music charts - http://dvdfever.co.uk/music.shtml Youtube - http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=DVDfeverDom |
The Sky+ £10 fee letter hath arrived
In article ,
says... "the dog from that film you saw" wrote in message ... "Ed" wrote in message oups.com... I'm sure I'll get flamed for this, but I love my sky plus machine. It's pathetically simple to use - even my 6 year old navigates the menus like a pro, it can be set to record via the sky web site or by text message. Now i know its a little tricky for people from Preston, but what else do you need it to do? I dont want it 'suggesting' things I might like recording and I dont want sky stealing half my hard drive for sky's 'suggestions' either, but that's about the only problem I have with it. the main scope for improvement is in the season pass department etc - it's pretty annoying when the sky+ box forgets the season pass due to the show being off for a week. with tivo i could set the pass, the series ends, then a new series starts 6 months later and it remembers. also if there was a film i wanted that had a habit of turning up on late night tv once every 2 years i could enter it as a wishlist, and in 3 years time when it finally gets aired, there it is - recorded for me. it's only when you use the tivo software that you can see the difference. i dearly wish it could be loaded onto my sky+ box - best of both worlds. Most of these things are patented by Tivo. So lets have a go at Tivo for monopolising the best ideas and stopping others using them without coughing up huge wages of cash. Since no-one's making TiVos in the UK any more, and haven't for years, I'd love for TiVo to work with PVR manufacturers so we can all have the best of both worlds, since they've moved on to a big HD box with loads more space. -- Dom Robinson Gamertag: DVDfever email: dom at dvdfever dot co dot uk /* http://DVDfever.co.uk (editor) /* 1132 DVDs, 347 games, 314 CDs, 110 cinema films, 42 concerts, videos & news /* antibodies, steve hillage, burning crusade, sega psp, norah jones, kylie New music charts - http://dvdfever.co.uk/music.shtml Youtube - http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=DVDfeverDom |
The Sky+ £10 fee letter hath arrived
In article , says...
On Sun, 27 May 2007 23:32:32 +0100, Mike wrote: On Sun, 27 May 2007 14:29:36 +0100, "Gaz" wrote: Imagine xp media centre with cam access to sky and skyhd? It would give incredible picture and flexibility. No, the picture "quality" would be typical Sky, i.e full of MPEG artifacts. Quality in respect of broadcast TV went irretrievably down the pan about two decades ago. Next Sky are only one of many satellite broadcasters. Picture quality on a great number of channels is excellent BBC One & five in standard defintion are particularly good. BBC on Sky is dreadful compared what it used to be, back before the 2000 Olympics (do a google in Google Groups for 'bbc bitrate 2000 olympics' and you'll find my posts on this subject) -- Dom Robinson Gamertag: DVDfever email: dom at dvdfever dot co dot uk /* http://DVDfever.co.uk (editor) /* 1132 DVDs, 347 games, 314 CDs, 110 cinema films, 42 concerts, videos & news /* antibodies, steve hillage, burning crusade, sega psp, norah jones, kylie New music charts - http://dvdfever.co.uk/music.shtml Youtube - http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=DVDfeverDom |
The Sky+ £10 fee letter hath arrived
In article ,
says... "Nigel Barker" wrote in message ... On Mon, 28 May 2007 12:44:14 +0100, "John Russell" wrote: "Nigel Barker" wrote in message . .. On Mon, 28 May 2007 11:43:18 +0100, "Gaz" wrote: John Russell wrote: "neil h" wrote in message ... Most People? Most people turn things on and use them as they are, usually at crap default settings! You would be amazed at the number of houses i go into, who have their nice shiny new widescreen tv, stretching a 4:3 picture because they havent changed the options in the sky box. But you have to strectch the 4:3 picture to get rid of those annoying black bars either side. What's the point of spendinf all that money on a widescreen TV & then only using 2/3 of the screen? What's the point of buying a car that goes faster than the speed limit? The purpose of a widescreen tv is to display widescreen content when it's available. I want to watch 4:3 undistorted if you don't mind. Sense of humour failure? Perhaps I should have appended the :-):-):-) audience laughter track? Unfortunately there are people who do indeed distort everything to fill their widescreen TV. I've seen people post demanding that DVD movies are 16:9 rather than Movie Format letterbox! One friend I visited had his Sky box set up to 16:9 letterbox on his widescreen TV, so while he and his fiancee were in the kitchen I changed it. They didn't even notice when they came out, but at least I was happy watching their TV now :) -- Dom Robinson Gamertag: DVDfever email: dom at dvdfever dot co dot uk /* http://DVDfever.co.uk (editor) /* 1132 DVDs, 347 games, 314 CDs, 110 cinema films, 42 concerts, videos & news /* antibodies, steve hillage, burning crusade, sega psp, norah jones, kylie New music charts - http://dvdfever.co.uk/music.shtml Youtube - http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=DVDfeverDom |
The Sky+ £10 fee letter hath arrived
In article ,
says... John Russell wrote: "neil h" wrote in message ... Nigel Barker wrote: On Sun, 27 May 2007 19:59:22 +0100, "John Russell" wrote: "Nigel Barker" wrote in message ... On Sun, 27 May 2007 18:33:58 +0100, "John Russell" wrote: "Nigel Barker" wrote in message ... On Sun, 27 May 2007 15:58:04 +0100, "Gaz" wrote: John Russell wrote: Sky contract the design of box's to their spec for use by SKY customers. SKY are not in the business of producing box's for general use. SKY are not responsible for the crap design of non SKY box's! Sky will not allow the use of their cam in non approved boxes, to keep a tight reign on what will be the future pvr market. Sky+ is a truly awful retarded product, which has had little innovation over the last few years, using outdated technology and interface. It will not change, because it doesnt have to, it is the only game in town, because nobody else has access to the cam. The User Interface for Sky & SKy+ has not changed since launch. It looks very old & clunky compared to Vista Media Center for example. The UI for the Sky HD box is just the same. It's crazy as by definition the user must have an HDTV so why is the UI designed for an SDTV? If you don't like it get Virgin Media! Not an option for the majority of the population in the UK. -- Life's a bitch! I suggest you start your own company if accepting the limitations of being a customer is getting you down. My comments on the ugly Sky+ interface were more of an observation than a complaint. It does the job but it's a shame that they didn't ake the opportunity to rework the GUI with the launch of the HD model. That was the major attraction of the Topfield box for me - if you don't like the GUI just install another one and customize it however you like it. Most people take it for granted that they can tweak the appearance of their computers and mobiles, so why not something like a PVR? Most People? Most people turn things on and use them as they are, usually at crap default settings! How come there are companies making so much money from selling alternate ring tones and wallpapers for mobile phones then? Who hasn't set a different picture for their desktop background at some point? Ring tones are sold to teenagers. Most people over 30 spend their wages on a mortgage, not a new wallpaper for their mobile phone. -- Dom Robinson Gamertag: DVDfever email: dom at dvdfever dot co dot uk /* http://DVDfever.co.uk (editor) /* 1132 DVDs, 347 games, 314 CDs, 110 cinema films, 42 concerts, videos & news /* antibodies, steve hillage, burning crusade, sega psp, norah jones, kylie New music charts - http://dvdfever.co.uk/music.shtml Youtube - http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=DVDfeverDom |
The Sky+ £10 fee letter hath arrived
In article , says...
Dom Robinson wrote: In article , says... "Dom Robinson" wrote in message ... Exactly. The SKY+ is designed for those who want SKY channels. One minute posters condemn SKY's kit for being crap, the next they can't find anything as good as the SKY+ elsewhere and blame SKY for that as well. TiVo - that's better than Sky+ in software by a mile, in hardware nowhere near - inferior picture and sound, only 1 tuner. Here we go again... Best Quality on a TiVo is a negligible difference to the original quality, and at least I can set recordings of different qualities so I can do radio stations in basic quality (since it only affects the picture) and maximise the hard drive space that way (since Sky+ only records at one quality setting). But this is not true. Mode 0 is very good etc, but you cannot escape the fact that often you are re-mpeg encoding an mpeg encoded video stream, and doing it on the fly. This creates visual problems that are most certainly noticable on a big screen (well my 55inch shows it all up now). I use a 32" WS TV. While a bigger screen would be nice, homemade DVDs where I've put 3hrs of a show on a single-layer DVD (since dual layer ones were stupidly expensive last time I checked, and about 10x the cost of a single layer disc, unless of course you know different..... Doc.) would show up artifacts badly, as would a lot of other things I watch. And if I had a 55" TV I'd have to sit much further back, rather cancelling out the point of having a bigger TV. Sure, an extra tuner would be nice, and we'd have it if TiVo had taken off in the UK since they're on a lovely HD model in the US, but the majority of stuff I want to record is repeated within the week and TiVo searches out the alternate broadcasts very easily. Yes, tivo is magic at that..... Tivo seems to be like the Americans reaching for the moon in 1969, and then happy to continue circling the earth in a daft shuttle for the rest of time. Tivo reached for the moon, Sky+ barely manages s****horpe. LOL! TiVo eclipsed the moon in the US, but ****-poor marketing over here failed a great piece of equipment, as I've described before, and before they could attempt to get established properly, Sky+ stepped in and took over thanks to Murdoch's bottomless pockets. -- Dom Robinson Gamertag: DVDfever email: dom at dvdfever dot co dot uk /* http://DVDfever.co.uk (editor) /* 1132 DVDs, 347 games, 314 CDs, 110 cinema films, 42 concerts, videos & news /* antibodies, steve hillage, burning crusade, sega psp, norah jones, kylie New music charts - http://dvdfever.co.uk/music.shtml Youtube - http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=DVDfeverDom |
The Sky+ £10 fee letter hath arrived
In article ,
says... "Gaz" wrote in message ... Dom Robinson wrote: In article , says... "Dom Robinson" wrote in message ... Exactly. The SKY+ is designed for those who want SKY channels. One minute posters condemn SKY's kit for being crap, the next they can't find anything as good as the SKY+ elsewhere and blame SKY for that as well. TiVo - that's better than Sky+ in software by a mile, in hardware nowhere near - inferior picture and sound, only 1 tuner. Here we go again... Best Quality on a TiVo is a negligible difference to the original quality, and at least I can set recordings of different qualities so I can do radio stations in basic quality (since it only affects the picture) and maximise the hard drive space that way (since Sky+ only records at one quality setting). But this is not true. Mode 0 is very good etc, but you cannot escape the fact that often you are re-mpeg encoding an mpeg encoded video stream, and doing it on the fly. This creates visual problems that are most certainly noticable on a big screen (well my 55inch shows it all up now). Sure, an extra tuner would be nice, and we'd have it if TiVo had taken off in the UK since they're on a lovely HD model in the US, but the majority of stuff I want to record is repeated within the week and TiVo searches out the alternate broadcasts very easily. Yes, tivo is magic at that..... Tivo seems to be like the Americans reaching for the moon in 1969, and then happy to continue circling the earth in a daft shuttle for the rest of time. Tivo reached for the moon, Sky+ barely manages s****horpe. Gaz SKY+ is a well liked product. Compared to the complexity of most VCR's it offers fantastic functionality via an easy to use interface. Even my Technophobe wife can use it! And with a TiVo she wouldn't have had a problem with that either, then, whilst appreciating the additional functionality. -- Dom Robinson Gamertag: DVDfever email: dom at dvdfever dot co dot uk /* http://DVDfever.co.uk (editor) /* 1132 DVDs, 347 games, 314 CDs, 110 cinema films, 42 concerts, videos & news /* antibodies, steve hillage, burning crusade, sega psp, norah jones, kylie New music charts - http://dvdfever.co.uk/music.shtml Youtube - http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=DVDfeverDom |
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