Few Questions regarding SKY +

Ok im a newbie to sky plus so here is few more questions i have regarding
recording

1. How reliable is sky + as i am still taping on video aswell as sky +
incase sky doesn't record, i have seen on here that some programs only tape
a few mins and finish and I want to on reliability before i stop recording
on my vhs.

2. in the sky + setup it gives you the option of mins before and after the
programme and i have noticed a few i have done up to now have been 3-4 mins
before and after is it worth me setting these to 1 min.

3. finally what happens if a programme before the one i am recording runs
late will my box account for this as the sky doesn't understand that the
programme might run late last minute if you know what i mean

cheers guys and girls in advance

dave

On Mon, 19 Jul 2004 01:45:10 GMT, "Dragon"
wrote:


1. How reliable is sky + as i am still taping on video aswell as sky +
incase sky doesn't record, i have seen on here that some programs only tape
a few mins and finish and I want to on reliability before i stop recording
on my vhs.

I've had mine for a couple of months. So far it has never failed to
complete recording a programme that was listed on the planner,
including some of those like Holby City that others seem to have had
problems with, and including when two programmes have been recorded at
the same time.

The only situation I have had was last night's Alias not appearing in
the planner after the previous week's finished but I think that was a
case of Bravo not putting the Series Link info on this week's episode
and I check for those things regularly just in case.

1. How reliable is sky + as i am still taping on video aswell as sky +
incase sky doesn't record, i have seen on here that some programs only tape
a few mins and finish and I want to on reliability before i stop recording
on my vhs.

Very rarely has Sky+ not recorded a programme, in my experience (I've
had it a year and record almost every day). Some other people's
experience would seem not to be so good, according to them.

2. in the sky + setup it gives you the option of mins before and after the
programme and i have noticed a few i have done up to now have been 3-4 mins
before and after is it worth me setting these to 1 min.

Some channels are better than other with updating the EPG at the right
time. This lies with the broadcasters, not Sky. If you want to
record programme X, it'll record that programme as long as the EPG
says its on. Whether the EPG is right or not is another matter.
Generally, it's not bad, but I have set mine to record 5 minutes
after, as ITV are particularly bad at over-running - as in, the
programme running later than scheduled - and then changing the EPG at
the time that the next programme was supposed to start at. Very
annoying, to miss the last crucial 2 minutes.

3. finally what happens if a programme before the one i am recording runs
late will my box account for this as the sky doesn't understand that the
programme might run late last minute if you know what i mean

As as I said above, it will record the programme as long as the EPG
says it's on. This is particularly useful for live sports programmes
that run late. As the Sky+ box can record 2 programmes at once, it's
then only a problem if you want to watch another live broadcast at the
same time. You can watch something you've previously recorded whilst
recording 2 programmes, or indeed, one of the programmes that you're
currently recording. None of this waiting around for the programme to
finish before you start watching it, oh no.

Having re-read your question, I may have missed the point. I think
you were asking about a schedule change. Well, again, it comes down
to the EPG - if the programme you wish to record gets pushed back due
to an earlier programme, and the EPG gets updated to reflect that,
it'll still record it.

As you're still recording on VHS, you should try a little comparison -
switch between a Sky+ recording and a VHS recording of the same
programme, to see the difference in quality. My video's been used
about 3 times since I got Sky+, I think, for those very rare occasions
when there were 3 programmes on at the same time that I needed to
record. There's no difference in quality on Sky+ between recordings
and live broadcast. Unlike other systems, which can't benefit from
direct access to the Sky feed, there's no decompression and
recompression going on - it just records the feed direct from the
satellite, and decodes it when you actually watch it.

Sorry, rabitted on a bit there, didn't I? You can probably tell that
I like it.

Simon Kempster

Hi Simon

No problem you didn't rabbit on it was very useful info, but you say EPG is
on, do i do that and if so how or should the engineer whom installed it
should have done that

cheers once again dave

"Simon Kempster" wrote in message
om...
1. How reliable is sky + as i am still taping on video aswell as sky +
incase sky doesn't record, i have seen on here that some programs only
tape
a few mins and finish and I want to on reliability before i stop
recording
on my vhs.

Very rarely has Sky+ not recorded a programme, in my experience (I've
had it a year and record almost every day). Some other people's
experience would seem not to be so good, according to them.

2. in the sky + setup it gives you the option of mins before and after
the
programme and i have noticed a few i have done up to now have been 3-4
mins
before and after is it worth me setting these to 1 min.

Some channels are better than other with updating the EPG at the right
time. This lies with the broadcasters, not Sky. If you want to
record programme X, it'll record that programme as long as the EPG
says its on. Whether the EPG is right or not is another matter.
Generally, it's not bad, but I have set mine to record 5 minutes
after, as ITV are particularly bad at over-running - as in, the
programme running later than scheduled - and then changing the EPG at
the time that the next programme was supposed to start at. Very
annoying, to miss the last crucial 2 minutes.

3. finally what happens if a programme before the one i am recording
runs
late will my box account for this as the sky doesn't understand that the
programme might run late last minute if you know what i mean

As as I said above, it will record the programme as long as the EPG
says it's on. This is particularly useful for live sports programmes
that run late. As the Sky+ box can record 2 programmes at once, it's
then only a problem if you want to watch another live broadcast at the
same time. You can watch something you've previously recorded whilst
recording 2 programmes, or indeed, one of the programmes that you're
currently recording. None of this waiting around for the programme to
finish before you start watching it, oh no.

Having re-read your question, I may have missed the point. I think
you were asking about a schedule change. Well, again, it comes down
to the EPG - if the programme you wish to record gets pushed back due
to an earlier programme, and the EPG gets updated to reflect that,
it'll still record it.

As you're still recording on VHS, you should try a little comparison -
switch between a Sky+ recording and a VHS recording of the same
programme, to see the difference in quality. My video's been used
about 3 times since I got Sky+, I think, for those very rare occasions
when there were 3 programmes on at the same time that I needed to
record. There's no difference in quality on Sky+ between recordings
and live broadcast. Unlike other systems, which can't benefit from
direct access to the Sky feed, there's no decompression and
recompression going on - it just records the feed direct from the
satellite, and decodes it when you actually watch it.

Sorry, rabitted on a bit there, didn't I? You can probably tell that
I like it.

Simon Kempster

In article , Simon
Kempster writes
1. How reliable is sky + as i am still taping on video aswell as sky +
incase sky doesn't record, i have seen on here that some programs only tape
a few mins and finish and I want to on reliability before i stop recording
on my vhs.

Very rarely has Sky+ not recorded a programme, in my experience (I've
had it a year and record almost every day). Some other people's
experience would seem not to be so good, according to them.

Yes, most of the time it's correct, but not 100% of the time.

2. in the sky + setup it gives you the option of mins before and after the
programme and i have noticed a few i have done up to now have been 3-4 mins
before and after is it worth me setting these to 1 min.

Some channels are better than other with updating the EPG at the right
time. This lies with the broadcasters, not Sky. If you want to
record programme X, it'll record that programme as long as the EPG
says its on. Whether the EPG is right or not is another matter.
Generally, it's not bad, but I have set mine to record 5 minutes
after, as ITV are particularly bad at over-running - as in, the
programme running later than scheduled - and then changing the EPG at
the time that the next programme was supposed to start at. Very
annoying, to miss the last crucial 2 minutes.

I quite agree about ITV. I've also set my overrun to 5 mins. I've kept
the start at the default of two mins. rarely it requires more the one
but on occasions I've missed the start, but rarely. As stated it
depends on the broadcaster and the setting applies to all recordings, it
cannot be set per broadcaster.

3. finally what happens if a programme before the one i am recording runs
late will my box account for this as the sky doesn't understand that the
programme might run late last minute if you know what i mean

As as I said above, it will record the programme as long as the EPG
says it's on. This is particularly useful for live sports programmes
that run late.

Now I've just noticed an oddity as the result of this. Yesterday the
golf over-ran and the Time Machine (pt 2) got cancelled. I went to the
EPG to see if next week was going to show pt 2 or 3 but the details were
unavailable - I presume they were still making up their minds. I set
the planner. When I checked it today it said pt 3 but when I looked at
the EPG it said pt 2. The two screens did not agree. Surely they are
derived from the same data.

As the Sky+ box can record 2 programmes at once, it's
then only a problem if you want to watch another live broadcast at the
same time. You can watch something you've previously recorded whilst
recording 2 programmes, or indeed, one of the programmes that you're
currently recording.

I find it safer in this case to wait for the recordings to start before
selecting the programme to watch otherwise it gets confused over which
tuner to use. Also take extra care if the dual recording follows
another recording, again it can get confused.

None of this waiting around for the programme to
finish before you start watching it, oh no.

That's certainly a great bonus over tape.
--
Peter Pratten
Please reply in group only

No problem you didn't rabbit on it was very useful info, but you say EPG is
on, do i do that and if so how or should the engineer whom installed it
should have done that

The EPG is the Electronic Programme Guide - the programme information
for upcoming programmes that you see when you press the TV Guide
button, and the search-and-scan banner you get when you press Select
while watching a programme. There's nothing you need to do, you've
got it already.

Simon Kempster

"Simon Kempster" wrote in message
om...
No problem you didn't rabbit on it was very useful info, but you say EPG
is
on, do i do that and if so how or should the engineer whom installed it
should have done that

The EPG is the Electronic Programme Guide - the programme information
for upcoming programmes that you see when you press the TV Guide
button, and the search-and-scan banner you get when you press Select
while watching a programme. There's nothing you need to do, you've
got it already.

Simon Kempster


cheers for that m8

dave