Getting MySky next week... let the flame war and mud-slinging begin...

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › Getting MySky next week... let the flame war and mud-slinging begin...

tonyhughes

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#16236 30-Sep-2007 23:19

Alrighty then.

Coupla years ago, got a disc only DVD recorder.
Upgraded to a Panasonic HDD unit.
Then a Gigabyte HA91 XP MCE Single tuner.

Recently built a multi tuner DVB-S + Analogue unit, but it never went into 'production' in the lounge, because I am having issues with getting any of the major PVR packages to play nice with everything I want it to do.

All I want is dual tuner - I would be happy with FV, but missus wants Sky (and dual tuner, and EPG).

To appease her, I am simply going to get mySky, as it really is the cheapest way of going about it, if you are going to have Sky Digital anyway, and from what I can tell, has the least aggravation factor!! (And high W.A.F.)

HD doesnt bother me, I only have an SD plasma, and not about to upgrade it anytime soon.

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#88831 30-Sep-2007 23:39

Having had Mysky for a good while my assessment is it works pretty well in general though can be a bit buggy.

Once you buy the unit (sorry,pay the installation charge) of course you don't really have the option of opting out of the Sky service if you are unhappy with it.

As I can't be bothered deleting watched shows I use it on auto where it automatically deletes the earliest watched show to make space for new recordings. However, the unit doesn't operate that well with the drive full so this feature can be a bit wobbly too.

tonyhughes

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#88850 1-Oct-2007 06:58

stuzzo: Once you buy the unit (sorry,pay the installation charge) of course you don't really have the option of opting out of the Sky service if you are unhappy with it.

If they fail to meet their obligations inder the CGA then its all on...

old3eyes

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#88862 1-Oct-2007 08:42

I refuse to pay Sky's monopoly installion fee od $600 when you consider that across the ditch Foxtel that has the same box chanrges free or $120 depending what plan you are on to have it installed .

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Old3eyes

tonyhughes

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#88866 1-Oct-2007 09:04

old3eyes: I refuse to pay Sky's monopoly installion fee od $600 when you consider that across the ditch Foxtel that has the same box chanrges free or $120 depending what plan you are on to have it installed .

Cant get Foxtel here though, and considering the relatively hassle-free system, with dual Sky tuners, which has high approval factor from 'er indoors, is half the cost of a topfield dual tuner freeview pvr, I actually think that overall its pretty good value for money.

If the missus didnt want to keep sky, I would go for the topfield unit in a heartbeat.

I am time poor lately, and have done my dash with PC based PVR for a while (though it has served me well till now). Will revisit when its a little more mature.

tonyhughes

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#88867 1-Oct-2007 09:07

old3eyes: I refuse to pay Sky's monopoly installion fee od $600

And lets face it, despite everyone moaning about the cost upfront, and not getting to own the box, remember these keys points:

* Sky is a business with a legal obligation to do right by its shareholders.

* Why would they lower the cost massively if they make enough money out of supplying at the higher price?

* If you could own the box for that price, would you? I would much rather it be under permanent warranty, with the onus of updates etc on Sky...

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Snowflake

#88868 1-Oct-2007 09:28

although i dont personally find any value in subscribing to sky channels (i buy fatso and a season ticket to eden park instead).... i still think the mysky boxes are great. not everyone can build their own PVR and some people really do get value from the sky channels.

when there are some freeview hdd recorder devices out there with integrated guides then i'd be recommending them alongside the mysky's to less technically inclined people.

dvd and hdd recorders are ok, but the integrated guide adds *all* the value to the mysky. The home built pvr's have the edge though if you really want to have music, dvds, internet etc on there alongside the TV, the downside being that they are typically not idiotproof and tend to cost a hell of a lot more to put together.

no flames from me :p

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allstarnz

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#88874 1-Oct-2007 10:36

i am still wondering why haven't even slightly dropped the price of this to say $350-400. Do they really not care about more people getting MySky?

I'd love the service but can't justify the $600 they are ripping us off for it. Especially when certain elements of it are still quite flaky.

stuzzo

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#88880 1-Oct-2007 10:56

Actually the take up of MySky hasn't been that great has it? I recall reading about 20000 units had gone out which is not many compared to their subscriber base.

BarTender

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#88882 1-Oct-2007 11:03

I say get a Dreambox, everything you get with a MySky (including all the channels you are subscribed to with your Sky Subscriber Card), and it records onto your PC in MPEG2 so it can be easily burnt to a DVD etc.

There are guys in Aus who have modded a dreambox so it takes a Laptop DVD Writer so you have the best of all worlds.

For me the biggest drawbacks of the MySky are:

1) The Cost
2) The ease of getting media on and off the box, IE you cant.

If you were going to go for a legal Dreambox DM7025 which has dual tuners, and then mod it for a DVD writer you would set you back first 375Pounds as of here.. then the DVD writer mod is about $60 Aus on an Aus Site I saw...... not a whole lot of price difference between that and a MySky, and you own this box afterwards..

Just my shameless plug for the Dreambox... :).

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Snowflake

#88938 1-Oct-2007 17:19

BarTender: I say get a Dreambox, everything you get with a MySky (including all the channels you are subscribed to with your Sky Subscriber Card

Can you be a little clearer as to what you mean here? Do you mean you can stick your SKY card into a slot in the dream box and record sky channels, or do you mean you can plug an existing SKY decoder into an input in the unit (in which case the dreambox could record only a single sky channel at once and would require a ir blaster to change sky channel)?

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tonyhughes

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#88952 1-Oct-2007 18:20

BarTender: For me the biggest drawbacks of the MySky are:

1) The Cost
2) The ease of getting media on and off the box, IE you cant.

I have had the capability of getting media on and off my pvr for nearly two years, and I think I have used it twice. For other people.

And the cost is very low. $600 is half the price of the latest topfield pvr, about the same price as a good dvd recorder, cheaper than a decent mce box. Hadnt heard of dreambox before, but $600 for a completely integrated device is actually pretty good value imo.

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#88974 1-Oct-2007 20:36

tonyhughes:
BarTender: For me the biggest drawbacks of the MySky are:

1) The Cost
2) The ease of getting media on and off the box, IE you cant.

I have had the capability of getting media on and off my pvr for nearly two years, and I think I have used it twice. For other people.

And the cost is very low. $600 is half the price of the latest topfield pvr, about the same price as a good dvd recorder, cheaper than a decent mce box. Hadnt heard of dreambox before, but $600 for a completely integrated device is actually pretty good value imo.

Odd. I suppose because it is so hard you might not do it.

With our product, myPVR, it is really easy to copy freeview or other sources to DVD. Hence our customers do it a lot.

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

old3eyes

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#89027 2-Oct-2007 08:22

tonyhughes:
BarTender: For me the biggest drawbacks of the MySky are:

1) The Cost
2) The ease of getting media on and off the box, IE you cant.

I have had the capability of getting media on and off my pvr for nearly two years, and I think I have used it twice. For other people.

And the cost is very low. $600 is half the price of the latest topfield pvr, about the same price as a good dvd recorder, cheaper than a decent mce box. Hadnt heard of dreambox before, but $600 for a completely integrated device is actually pretty good value imo.

I consider the cost pf $600 a rip off. Just shows what a monopoly can charge in this country compared to what providers in a competitive market like Ozz or the US charge. If you thingk that $600 is a minor amount then I suspect that you have gotten too much dispoable income. Some of us have to justify things like this.

Regards,

Old3eyes

tonyhughes

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#89029 2-Oct-2007 08:28

old3eyes: I consider the cost pf $600 a rip off. Just shows what a monopoly can charge in this country compared to what providers in a competitive market like Ozz or the US charge. If you thingk that $600 is a minor amount then I suspect that you have gotten too much dispoable income. Some of us have to justify things like this.

I thought I explained myself fairly well. If I was starting from scratch, wanting dual tuners with sky coming through both tuners, how could I do it cheaper?

If someone tells me, I will probably cancel the MySky install...

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Snowflake

#89041 2-Oct-2007 09:40

old3eyes:
I consider the cost pf $600 a rip off. Just shows what a monopoly can charge in this country compared to what providers in a competitive market like Ozz or the US charge. If you thingk that $600 is a minor amount then I suspect that you have gotten too much dispoable income. Some of us have to justify things like this.

there is isnt much chance that you can create a DVB-S based PVR for less than $600 (e.g. hauppauge cards cost $180 each for example)

a quick look at dse.co.nz displays a range of HDD recorders (remember, no integrated guide and only single channel recording) from about $470 and up

the cheapest PVR at freeviewshop.co.nz is $399 and that doesnt even include the hard disk drive. the integrated models start at $850. I'm not sure if any of these can do an integrated guide for SKY recording and if they could they would be limited to recording a single channel

while you don't necessarily own the MySKY device at $600, if you keep it for two or more years you will probably get good value out of it. Throw depreciation into the mix and any of the units above will be virtually worthless after two years thus meaning that the MySKY box was cheaper (obviously excluding the subscription cost that you would have had to pay for the SKY channels anyway).

SKY Website:
As with the SKY decoder, “MY SKY” will remain the property of SKY. This means the “MY SKY” warranty will never run out and that SKY will service the box if there are any faults. SKY also has the ability to continually upgrade “MY SKY” ensuring subscribers have access to the latest technology, functionality and features which SKY will continue to introduce

If they do indeed upgrade the box, e.g. when they launch their HD services, then surely that would make it a very good price. (i would be surprised if an HD upgrade is fee-free though.....)

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