The great BBC Sky+ lock-up mystery

Recorded Top Gear on Sunday (moment of madness, I know) but when I went
to play it back it refused, and worse, locked-up the box requiring a
power down to get it going again.

But worse than that, the experience caused some previously recorded
programmes to not play back properly, despite them playing perfectly
several times in the past.

Being right royally peed off about it I went looking on Digital Spy's
forum for anything similar happening, and sure enough there's a long
six page thread about precisely the same problem happening all over
the country, and almost exclusively to BBC recordings. It seems to have
started around about the time the Beeb went free to air.

Both Sky and the BBC offer different responses depending on who you
talk to. Some freely acknowledge there's a problem and it will be fixed
in the next firmware upgrade, others deny there's any problem, and yet
others put it down to individual hardware failings.

From what I can gather forcing a software download, doing a full system
reset, which reformats the drive (and thus wipes anything on there), and
then NOT recording anything from the BBC (especially using the Link
program) will probably give you trouble free viewing again.

Conspiracy theorists amongst you can put it down to either Sky trying to
get people to stop watching BBC programs, or the BBC trying to sabotage
Sky+. Whatever the case, it's not a good state of affairs.

Regards

Mark

In article ,
Mark A wrote:
Being right royally peed off about it I went looking on Digital Spy's
forum for anything similar happening, and sure enough there's a long
six page thread about precisely the same problem happening all over
the country, and almost exclusively to BBC recordings. It seems to have
started around about the time the Beeb went free to air.

Well, I'm recording tons of BBC stuff every week, and it works fine, so
it's a bit puzzling as to why some people consistently have a problem.

Dave
--
Email: MSN Messenger:

David Marshall wrote:

Well, I'm recording tons of BBC stuff every week, and it works fine,
so it's a bit puzzling as to why some people consistently have a
problem.

Well, I have to say that it's the first time it's happened to me with
reference to BBC recordings, but it is slightly alarming to see so many
similar instances up and down the country. Even the Beeb has said on its
own web page that they think there might be a problem and that hopefully
the impending Sky software update will cure the problem.

Curious.

Regards

Mark

Recorded Top Gear fine no problems.
"Mark A" wrote in message
...
Recorded Top Gear on Sunday (moment of madness, I know) but when I went
to play it back it refused, and worse, locked-up the box requiring a
power down to get it going again.

But worse than that, the experience caused some previously recorded
programmes to not play back properly, despite them playing perfectly
several times in the past.

Being right royally peed off about it I went looking on Digital Spy's
forum for anything similar happening, and sure enough there's a long
six page thread about precisely the same problem happening all over
the country, and almost exclusively to BBC recordings. It seems to have
started around about the time the Beeb went free to air.

Both Sky and the BBC offer different responses depending on who you
talk to. Some freely acknowledge there's a problem and it will be fixed
in the next firmware upgrade, others deny there's any problem, and yet
others put it down to individual hardware failings.

From what I can gather forcing a software download, doing a full system
reset, which reformats the drive (and thus wipes anything on there), and
then NOT recording anything from the BBC (especially using the Link
program) will probably give you trouble free viewing again.

Conspiracy theorists amongst you can put it down to either Sky trying to
get people to stop watching BBC programs, or the BBC trying to sabotage
Sky+. Whatever the case, it's not a good state of affairs.

Regards

Mark

"Mark A" wrote in message
...
Recorded Top Gear on Sunday (moment of madness, I know) but when I went
to play it back it refused, and worse, locked-up the box requiring a
power down to get it going again.

But worse than that, the experience caused some previously recorded
programmes to not play back properly, despite them playing perfectly
several times in the past.

Being right royally peed off about it I went looking on Digital Spy's
forum for anything similar happening, and sure enough there's a long
six page thread about precisely the same problem happening all over
the country, and almost exclusively to BBC recordings. It seems to have
started around about the time the Beeb went free to air.

Both Sky and the BBC offer different responses depending on who you
talk to. Some freely acknowledge there's a problem and it will be fixed
in the next firmware upgrade, others deny there's any problem, and yet
others put it down to individual hardware failings.

From what I can gather forcing a software download, doing a full system
reset, which reformats the drive (and thus wipes anything on there), and
then NOT recording anything from the BBC (especially using the Link
program) will probably give you trouble free viewing again.

Conspiracy theorists amongst you can put it down to either Sky trying to
get people to stop watching BBC programs, or the BBC trying to sabotage
Sky+. Whatever the case, it's not a good state of affairs.

What possible reason would the BBC have of trying to sabotage Sky+?

Mark A wrote:

Conspiracy theorists amongst you can put it down to either Sky trying to
get people to stop watching BBC programs, or the BBC trying to sabotage
Sky+.

Now, which of those two groups has a long and colourful history of
sabotaging and otherwise generally shafting competitors and/or
"business partners"? Is it the BBC? I don't think so.

--
Digibox problem? : A reboot solves 90% of these.
The Sky Digital FAQ: http://tinyurl.com/tez5
How to get UK TV overseas: http://tinyurl.com/6p73
Fed up with logos / red buttons? : http://logofreetv.org/
BBC gone? : http://www.astra2d.co.uk/
----
Only the truth as I see it.
No monies return'd. ;-)

David Marshall wrote:

Well, I'm recording tons of BBC stuff every week, and it works fine, so
it's a bit puzzling as to why some people consistently have a problem.

Different software version/model?

--
Digibox problem? : A reboot solves 90% of these.
The Sky Digital FAQ: http://tinyurl.com/tez5
How to get UK TV overseas: http://tinyurl.com/6p73
Fed up with logos / red buttons? : http://logofreetv.org/
BBC gone? : http://www.astra2d.co.uk/
----
Only the truth as I see it.
No monies return'd. ;-)

In article ,
Jomtien wrote:
Well, I'm recording tons of BBC stuff every week, and it works fine, so
it's a bit puzzling as to why some people consistently have a problem.
Different software version/model?

That's the only thing it could be, really. Though you'd hope they couldn't
introduce something so bad.

Mine's an original V1 box.

Dave
--
Email: MSN Messenger:

Re-downloading the software after clearing affected recordings worked =
for me.

Andy

On Thu, 13 Nov 2003 08:17:27 GMT, Jomtien wrote:

David Marshall wrote:

Well, I'm recording tons of BBC stuff every week, and it works fine, so
it's a bit puzzling as to why some people consistently have a problem.

Different software version/model?

Different BBC region? (Possibly a problem with the encoding which is
only affecting a certain group of regions?)