Advice Sky + HD

[sayward]

Don't laugh but I only got Sky+HD a couple of months ago. Why does the box make so much noise? The engineer said it's just one of those things, cos it has 2 fans and it whirs like a computer. But it seems to go dub dub dub all the time quite loudly. It's very intrusive. Or are my ears ultra sensitive?

 

[Wazzerphuk]

Mine was quite loud to start with, much quieter these days now. Think some of them settle after a while. Either that or I stopped noticing it.

 

[Edmond]

Its gonna blow, take it down the garden and poor a bucket of water on it, do not go back to it for 24hrs, it could still go off

 

[Zenith.UK]

/me listens to his recording Sky+HD box.

I'm having trouble hearing it over the sound of how awesome I am my laptop fan.
Seriously, I don't hear any of the stuff you're talking about. What manufacturer is your box coz mine is the newer Amstrad one. The one that Sky gave out for free to update those with the original Thomson boxes (the ones with dodgy PSU caps).

 

[SheepCow]

I've got one of the newer Amstrad ones, can't hear it (it's under the TV so not like it's on my face anyway) from my sofa. I've heard it make HDD noises when it's been powered on from off or if recording and FF'ding at the same time for a long time.

Can't remember if it was noisier when I first got it

 

[DaGaffer]

Amstrad box here too, more or less silent. My PS3 on the other hand, increasingly sounds like a Blackhawk taking off...

 

[soze]

I have to turn mine off a night it is that loud. As soon as the disk comes on the fans start, and if you leave it on standby Sky Anytime starts recording to the disks at might night so the thing sounds like a truck at night

 

[caLLous]

Amstrad here, no noticeable noise at all.

 

[sayward]

Can't see a make on it or the box. Just says Sky+ HD 250 GB. Dolby Digital (I thought that was just the sound?) or maybe HDMI? Is that a make? Old box literally blew up was ages old tho.

Just contorted and it actually says on it 'manufactured by Sky'. It's black and silver.

 

[DaGaffer]

Can't see a make on it or the box. Just says Sky+ HD 250 GB. Dolby Digital (I thought that was just the sound?) or maybe HDMI? Is that a make? Old box literally blew up was ages old tho.

Just contorted and it actually says on it 'manufactured by Sky'. It's black and silver.

That's an Amstrad then. There's something wrong with it.

 

[SheepCow]

I made a video of mine, but then realised it was all silent and useless.

 

[Deebs]

Samsung Sky HD box here, quiet as fuck.

 

[old.user4556]

I have an Amstrad box, it's pretty quiet, sometimes makes a chirp noise and you hear the faint clickity click of the hard disk, but that's it.

 

[sayward]

Samsung Sky HD box here, quiet as fuck.

Not a terribly good analogy!!!xxx

 

[sayward]

Why didn't the cretins offer me the box with the extra memory! This is driving me mad.

If I get the bigger box can you transfer what's stored on the original box?

 

[dysfunction]

Why didn't the cretins offer me the box with the extra memory! This is driving me mad.

If I get the bigger box can you transfer what's stored on the original box?

No unless you have the right equipment!

Sky are bastards.

 

[sayward]

Oh my,that means clearing one first. It's so stupid they're so desperate to sell you other things when I'd've gladly paid for the bigger memory.

 

[gunner440]

Samsung Sky HD box here, quiet as fuck.

Same.

 

[Zenith.UK]

Why didn't the cretins offer me the box with the extra memory! This is driving me mad.

If I get the bigger box can you transfer what's stored on the original box?

YES you can... and what's more you could probably do the upgrade yourself.

If you get yourself a quiet drive with larger capacity (eg. 1TB), you can use these instructions to open up and remove the hard drive from your Sky+HD box.
http://www.skyuser.co.uk/tutorials/amstrad_hd_box_how_to_change_the_hard_drive.html

Once the drive is out of the box, you can put both drives in USB caddies. Use this piece of software to copy from one drive to the other.
http://www.ph-mb.com/products/ExPVR/about
It really is worth the £10 asking price for the full version as I use it to pull off FTA recordings to my PC. The .ts files it pulls off are actually MPEG2 streams. FTA unencrypted files can be played directly in VLC or similar players. You might want to transcode them to save on file size if you want to hang onto them.
I've actually routed the SATA data and power leads out of the rear of the Sky box so the hard drive sits in the caddy attached to eSATA. I just power off the box, unplug the caddy and connect it to my PC to start copying off stuff.

The only expense would be a couple of USB caddies (if you don't already have any), a larger drive and the £10 for the software.

 

[sayward]

I still haven't done this but I had a thought. Novel i know. If I install the Sky+ box with the bigger memory could i not just unplug it and plug in the first one and watch what's stored? or will something magically prevent this? Sorry if I come across as stupid I'm not really.

 

[cHodAX]

Sky are cunts for sending out refurb units and alot of them have fans taken from older boxes that weren't repairable. You definately have issues if it is that loud, log a fault, you are paying the fuckers enough for it.

 

[Raven]

No idea what mine is but we don't hear it. It is in a cabinet with glass doors, under the TV though.

 

[sayward]

I've almost got used to the noise. It's the fact that at the moment I'm only in the country for a couple of days a week and the storage is pathetic. Only takes a couple of rugby games, F1 race and Moto GP and it's overflowing. Am having to transfer stuff to video etc in real time when I am here. Doesn't seem to be a way to play/transfer consecutive programmes either so it's one at a time.

 

[Moriath]

Sky + = wossy and co
Virgin = Stephen Fry

I know where my IQ goes

 

[sayward]

Oh my God I've just found the red copy button. Means at some point I can select the whole lot and empty the box!

 

[Zenith.UK]

All copy does is playback in order without the logos and icons that usually flash up on screen.
You still need a DVDR, media centre or some other AV recorder to archive the video as it plays.

 

[sayward]

But at least I can do more than one programme at a time. Which I've been doing up to now surely I can select 8hrs worth at once?

 

[Zenith.UK]

Yes, you can cue up a number of shows and let rip. My wife cues up a number of kiddy programmes at once, DVD records them, then rips them on her PC. It's not a great way of doing it, but it's okay for SD programmes.

 

[sayward]

Cracked it. Can set it transfering as i go to bed or as I leave the house and clear a huge amount. Means if I decide to get the bigger box I can just clear this one. Whoopie.

 

[sayward]

And ....how many questions can I have! If I'm away, like now and there is a power cut and the box switches itself off will it still record?