Sky+ and Sky+160 Boxes: Any differences?

The Sky website is saying the standard box comes with a 20 gig hard drive
and the other box with a 160 gig drive. Not withstanding the fact I have
heard the standard boxes now have 40 gig hard drives - are there any other
differences between the boxes because there seems to be a hell of a price
hike between the two boxes?

I am currently with Telewest but their technology is now woefully left
behind by what Sky can do

Tricky

"Tricky Dicky" wrote in message
...
The Sky website is saying the standard box comes with a 20 gig hard drive
and the other box with a 160 gig drive. Not withstanding the fact I have
heard the standard boxes now have 40 gig hard drives - are there any other
differences between the boxes because there seems to be a hell of a price
hike between the two boxes?

I am currently with Telewest but their technology is now woefully left
behind by what Sky can do

Tricky


The standard SKY+ records 20hrs using a 40gb drive, hence the confusion over
the "20" value. The new SKY+ 160 records 80hrs, and has some extra sockets
such as USB2 for "future" developments, whatever they may be.

The "hike", as you say, is not unexpected considering the origonal price of
the ordinary SKY+. The problem for Thomson is that the "market" for these
box's is reduced by the fact so many "potential" users already have SKY+,
and that means higher unit costs. The arrival of something new also means
that current SKY+ loses some "value", hence the SKY offer to install one for
£149, compared to earlier offers of £299!

"Tricky Dicky" wrote in message
...
The Sky website is saying the standard box comes with a 20 gig hard drive
and the other box with a 160 gig drive.


Hmm...I thought that it was twenty hours of recording time?


--
MESSAGE ENDS.
John Porcella

"John Porcella" wrote in message
...

"Tricky Dicky" wrote in message
...
The Sky website is saying the standard box comes with a 20 gig hard drive
and the other box with a 160 gig drive.


Hmm...I thought that it was twenty hours of recording time?


--
MESSAGE ENDS.
John Porcella


160 refers to the GB of the drive, which at an average rate of 2gb/hr is 80
hrs.

"John Russell" wrote in message
...

"Tricky Dicky" wrote in message
...
The Sky website is saying the standard box comes with a 20 gig hard drive
and the other box with a 160 gig drive. Not withstanding the fact I have
heard the standard boxes now have 40 gig hard drives - are there any
other differences between the boxes because there seems to be a hell of a
price hike between the two boxes?

I am currently with Telewest but their technology is now woefully left
behind by what Sky can do

Tricky


The standard SKY+ records 20hrs using a 40gb drive, hence the confusion
over the "20" value. The new SKY+ 160 records 80hrs, and has some extra
sockets such as USB2 for "future" developments, whatever they may be.

The "hike", as you say, is not unexpected considering the origonal price
of the ordinary SKY+. The problem for Thomson is that the "market" for
these box's is reduced by the fact so many "potential" users already have
SKY+, and that means higher unit costs. The arrival of something new also
means that current SKY+ loses some "value", hence the SKY offer to install
one for £149, compared to earlier offers of £299!





P.S. SKY+ box's share the same "generic" software. The imminent arrival of
the 160 has meant that bug's related to users upgrading their disks in the
standard SKY+ have been fixed. So you could get a normal SKY+, and then in
a years time when the warrenty is over change the hard drive for yourself to
160gb, or even higher!

"John Russell" wrote in message
...

"John Russell" wrote in message
...

"Tricky Dicky" wrote in message
...
The Sky website is saying the standard box comes with a 20 gig hard
drive and the other box with a 160 gig drive. Not withstanding the fact
I have heard the standard boxes now have 40 gig hard drives - are there
any other differences between the boxes because there seems to be a hell
of a price hike between the two boxes?

I am currently with Telewest but their technology is now woefully left
behind by what Sky can do

Tricky


The standard SKY+ records 20hrs using a 40gb drive, hence the confusion
over the "20" value. The new SKY+ 160 records 80hrs, and has some extra
sockets such as USB2 for "future" developments, whatever they may be.

The "hike", as you say, is not unexpected considering the origonal price
of the ordinary SKY+. The problem for Thomson is that the "market" for
these box's is reduced by the fact so many "potential" users already have
SKY+, and that means higher unit costs. The arrival of something new also
means that current SKY+ loses some "value", hence the SKY offer to
install one for £149, compared to earlier offers of £299!





P.S. SKY+ box's share the same "generic" software. The imminent arrival of
the 160 has meant that bug's related to users upgrading their disks in the
standard SKY+ have been fixed. So you could get a normal SKY+, and then
in a years time when the warrenty is over change the hard drive for
yourself to 160gb, or even higher!


Now that does sound an intriguing option

Many thanks

Tricky

"John Russell" wrote in message ...

"John Russell" wrote in message
...

"Tricky Dicky" wrote in message
...
The Sky website is saying the standard box comes with a 20 gig hard drive
and the other box with a 160 gig drive. Not withstanding the fact I have
heard the standard boxes now have 40 gig hard drives - are there any
other differences between the boxes because there seems to be a hell of a
price hike between the two boxes?

As others have said, the old Sky box is 40 gig, or approx 20 hours of recordings.

I have the Sky+ 160. The only other difference in the spec is that the 160 has 2 USB
ports "for future use" as Sky puts it, but then others have pointed out that the
original Sky+ box had a digital connector for future expansion that has never to
this day been used by Sky so I wouldn't hold your breath for exciting add-on gadgets
to plug into these USB ports any time soon.

The one other big difference, having just spent Christmas at my parents who have
one of the old Sky+ boxes, is that as many people have reported I can also
confirm that the Sky+ 160 is considerably noisier than the original Sky+ boxes,
Thomson seem to have made no attempt to soundproof the thing. If I had my time
again I would probably go for a non-160 box and just upgrade the drive.

- Julian

"Julian" wrote in message
...
"John Russell" wrote in message
...

"John Russell" wrote in message
...

"Tricky Dicky" wrote in message
...
The Sky website is saying the standard box comes with a 20 gig hard
drive
and the other box with a 160 gig drive. Not withstanding the fact I
have
heard the standard boxes now have 40 gig hard drives - are there any
other differences between the boxes because there seems to be a hell
of a
price hike between the two boxes?

As others have said, the old Sky box is 40 gig, or approx 20 hours of
recordings.

I have the Sky+ 160. The only other difference in the spec is that the 160
has 2 USB
ports "for future use" as Sky puts it, but then others have pointed out
that the
original Sky+ box had a digital connector for future expansion that has
never to
this day been used by Sky so I wouldn't hold your breath for exciting
add-on gadgets
to plug into these USB ports any time soon.

The one other big difference, having just spent Christmas at my parents
who have
one of the old Sky+ boxes, is that as many people have reported I can also
confirm that the Sky+ 160 is considerably noisier than the original Sky+
boxes,
Thomson seem to have made no attempt to soundproof the thing. If I had my
time
again I would probably go for a non-160 box and just upgrade the drive.

- Julian



And if you do it yourself you can choose a quiet, cool running hard drive.
There was always hot air coming form the fan if I held my hand near by.
Since removing the Maxtor and replacing it with a Samsung Spinright nothing
but cool air comes out, and it's a lot quieter.