Best Sky box

[Lee H]

Apologies if this has been done before but....

My Sky HD box is on it's last legs. It's a good few years old now so it's no real surprise. Losing signal on one input or the other, failed recordings and frankly with more HD channels now the planner fills up rather quickly.

If I want to replace it, which "make" of box should I look out for and which should I avoid? Ideally I'll be looking for the 1TB model

 

[daveh75]

You don't get a choice with 1TB boxes, it's Amstrad or nothing.

Makes no difference anyway, all the boxes were built to a price, under licence to Skys specs, and therefore all have had issues of some kind..

 

[Lee H]

Any thoughts on the other makes (Samsung, Pace, Thomson) that you see on eBay with an upgraded hard drive?

 

[daveh75]

I wouldn't buy a Thomson unless it's had its PSU upgraded, other than that it makes little difference which box you go for, IMO!

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

There's a guy on ebay (specialist-electronics) who sells upgraded sky boxes.

He lives quite close to me and put a 1TB hard drive in to my sky HD box, which has been no problem.

Seemed like a genuine kind of guy, and he always has well priced upgraded boxes on ebay.

Might be worth a try

 

[The_Lhc]

BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW:
There's a guy on ebay (specialist-electronics) who sells upgraded sky boxes.
He lives quite close to me and put a 1TB hard drive in to my sky HD box, which has been no problem.

I hope he didn't charge you much for that, that's about the simplest upgrade there is, anyone could do it (genuinely).

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

Can't remember how much I paid, but I had looked in to the price of 1TB hard drives and doing it myself, and when he quoted me, it was similar in price to a hard drive on it's own.

He also transferred all the existing recordings on to the new hard drive too.

Only slight problem I have is that the hard drive can be a bit noisy, but with all the extra recording space, I don't really care.

Are the new sky 1TB boxes quite quiet?

 

[RobinKidderminster]

I am very pleased with my 1TB Amstrad. Quiet. Coolish (always use a small 80mm fan). No failed recordings in last few months. £150 self install took seconds. No probs. And space ? 50% so far and still trying.

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

Thanks. Interesting. I might go for it in the new year, though I was thinking of cancelling the movies package as I never watch them.

I love movies, but I'm not a blockbusters kind of guy, and sky don't show enough of what I like to justify the money every month.