[Sussex] Heres a Question. not linux but open source related.

[Paul Tansom]

** nik butler <nik at reducedhackers.com> [2005-10-25 09:27]:
> I own a SKY+ Digibox ( the Pace version ) Up until September of this 
> Year it was working real well and no problems. Then Sky sent it its 
> Update and suddenly some key Features . Live Pause, Instand Rewind and 
> Recording are proving to be barely functional. I should say they work, 
> then dont, then do ... then dont and its quite random.
** end quote [nik butler]

In my experience SKY boxes are the most unreliable pieces of electronic
equipment I have ever had the misfortune to own. They are also
responsible for the only time I have ever taken out an extended
warranty. I've not tried SKY+ and this fact coupled with the need to pay
an extra tenner a month for the privilege of being able to record and
watch at the same time are the reasons I have no intention of getting
one (I am way to used to the traditional license based approach of
paying for access to the channels rather than the pay to watch a single
channel out of many concept). The cost of an extended warranty is
cheaper than a new SKY box each year :(

I am on my third box and likely about to move onto the fourth, so that
averages one a year, and initially you had to report three faults and
got a replacement on the fourth, so that averages out at one fault per
quarter! This has covered a range of manufacturers, not just the one,
Pace, Amstrad, Grundig, and one other iirc. From speaking to the
original engineer we had the fault (same symptoms each time) is in the
custom SKY software chip and is not uncommon. It is not unusual to
return a box as fixed and get a call an hour later to say it has the
fault again apparently. His view was that NTL boxes were less reliable,
but had the advantage that switching off for 10 minutes fixed the most
common faults temporarily (sounds like an OS I know!).

If it wasn't for the fact that I can't get some channels I watch on
Freeview I would have abandoned SKY by now. Sadly NTL are more expensive
than SKY (last time I checked) and from my experience of their internet
services I suspect SKY are the lesser of two evils! The fact that it
doesn't take that much rain to kill the SKY signal does make me consider
switching on a fairly regular basis though!

Any suggestions on alternatives welcome!!!

Sadly not much help on the problem at hand, but I went for a DVD
recorder that supported DVD-RAM. Much cheaper than an HD one, but still
manages the play and record simultaneously features I wanted. The only
drawback is recording time on the disks. I usually use the 2hr per disk
mode, although up to 8 hours is possible. The lower quality doesn't do
too well on the very poor reception I get though (I really must sort out
a better terrestrial aerial in a better location on the roof!).

DVD-RAM is a much underrated format imho, I've just purchased four more
drives to manage backup in my servers :)

Oh, another possible draw back on DVD-RAM in a DVD recorder is lack of
support in players, but since the player I have is compatible that was a
non-issue for me :)

-- 
Paul Tansom | Aptanet Ltd. | http://www.aptanet.com