MYSKY pricing

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Mik_Man

4 posts

Wannabe Geek

#11560 30-Jan-2007 21:36

Does anyone have any information on whether SKY are considering reducing the price of MYSKY. On principle I objext to donating $599 to them to "borrow" their decoder while paying them a monthly subscription. If they want to sell me one for say 250 - 300 I will upgrade tomorrow......

grant_k

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#59288 30-Jan-2007 21:59

Apparently there is an HD version of MySky due out later this year so logic would dictate that they may drop of the pricing of the existing SD version at that stage.

I agree with what you're saying regarding a $599 "donation" to Sky for the privilege of renting their decoder. It is quite a steep price given that you're already paying a monthly sub.

However, to be fair, the monthly sub doesn't increase for MySky subscribers compared to others who just have the standard decoder and I would rather stump up with a one-off cost than pay ongoing amounts every month.

Having had MySky for just over a year now, I would never go back to not having a PVR of some sort. Given that Sky will not release the EPG to any other providers of PVRs in NZ, your options are pretty limited unless you want to mess around with XMLTVNZ or whatever they call it. That is far from a seamless/foolproof solution from what I can gather, and it would drive my wife nuts. She just wants it to work, and on that score, you cannot fault MySky

My 2c worth anyway...

sbiddle

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Biddle Corp

Lifetime subscriber

#59313 31-Jan-2007 06:48

Unfortunately Sky is a business and a business needs to make money. The fact so many people have taken up MySky suggests that Sky have no reason to change anything at present..

OrangeDrink

51 posts

Master Geek

#59474 1-Feb-2007 12:14

Grant17: She just wants it to work, and on that score, you cannot fault MySky

Well frankly that's where I fault MySky bigtime. It only has something like a 70% success rate for me unless I nanny the recordings and check it's recording things at the right time and not cutting out after 2 minutes.

I find MySky so abysmal I've got myself a TiVo and even though it relies on some potentially shaky software (from what I read it actually seems to work pretty well and a friend with it says it works great for him) the added functionality and software that actually does what it's supposed to makes it a far better bet.

I'm utterly sick of sitting down to watch something I really wanted to watch to find it's either forgotten my Series Link or has recorded the first 2 minutes of the programme only. Sorry but to anyone out there I cannot recommend MySky at all.

grant_k

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#59476 1-Feb-2007 12:36

What you describe is very peculiar Ben (OrangeDrink). I just checked in our Planner and there are 14 programmes set up to record in some cases 2 or 3 times per week. All of those recordings work without fail, or else I would hear about it from my wife spitting tacks. She records about 8 or 10 programmes for every one that I record.

What do SkyTV have to say about the problems you are having?

OrangeDrink

51 posts

Master Geek

#59477 1-Feb-2007 12:46

They never answer my queries to my satisfaction. Another reason to remove them from the loop. What I'm describing has happened to a lot of MySky customers. From what I can tell if I set a series link and watch the one it records then delete that episode it seems to forget the series link. But were I to keep an episode on the HD even though I've seen it it usually keeps the link.

Had a lot of trouble recording Rugby matches, Sky have a habit of changing the names of the programmes so if you set it up too early in the week they could change the programme names and it loses the link to the programme. Then you have to re-set the recordings.

It's crap for me.

Reon

69 posts

Master Geek

#59481 1-Feb-2007 13:17

I'm pretty much in agreement with you Orangedrink.

I've had MySky for just over a year now and its gradually got worse and worse.

Not so much worried about losing Series Links but issues like spontaneously rebooting while watching something, locking up and especially finding out that even though it says it recording something it has in fact stopped recording.

For example last night I recorded Lost and Prison Break and both of them stopped recording well before the end, luckily as I've now canceled my Sky account and because I don't trust the MySky box I was also recording both programmes on a VCR.

Funny ringing the Help Desk about the spontaneous rebooting because they couldn't suggest to me "Oh try pressing the 2 buttons to reboot it and see how that goes" instead they said "Oh because your problem is not currently happening we can't help you, but call back if you have any more problems"

Couldn't be bothered with having to get a technician out who would try a few things and say see how that goes then have to get them out again to try replacing the unit.

grant_k

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#59484 1-Feb-2007 14:05

It sounds like you both have faulty MySky boxes.

SkyTV should be giving you new boxes as the problems you are experiencing are completely unacceptable.

Obviously you will need to take this issue up with Sky but one of the regulars here may be able to suggest the best point of contact to get this problem sorted quickly:

Cyril7?

Manaia?

Sharesies

Trade NZ and US shares and funds with Sharesies (affiliate link).

OrangeDrink

51 posts

Master Geek

#59489 1-Feb-2007 14:17

I don't think the boxes are faulty, but it's hard to tell like I said customer services is crap to non existant. I think it's poor software for the job in hand. I get the impression there's ways and means around the problems I'm experiencing but they seem to involve constantly checking your Planner and Guide to check it's going to record the right stuff. I just don't have the patience so I'm getting a TiVo which I know will do a better job because I had one in the UK and it was awesome. The thing is the MySky box itself is a marvellous piece of kit and should be capable of everything TiVo's used to do and more (2 tuners!) but the software is so poorly thought out and implemented that it ruins what could be a fantastic product for me.

stuzzo

534 posts

Ultimate Geek

#59668 3-Feb-2007 00:32

I've had very similar problems to that described above. Series link wouldn't work past the first recording unless software reset.
Tech has just replaced the unit. They seem very fault prone. Ditto on the software.

grant_k

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#59690 3-Feb-2007 10:16

It sounds like we've been pretty lucky with our MySky box then

Fingers crossed that it stays that way.