Sky+ & Sky+HD box recording problems

[feglios]

Hi, hopefully someone will be able to offer some advice on this as it's starting to drive me nuts.

A few months ago I started to have a problem with my Sky+ box where recordings weren't working correctly. It wasn't coming up with a failed message though and it was using the expected memory % usage for the recording and I could "play" the recording but all I got was a blue screen. It only seemed to happen on certain channels though, the satellite subscription ones such as Sky Sports and Sky One. Channel 4, BBC & ITV were all recording ok.

I recently upgraded to Sky+ HD and I told the engineer when he came out and he fitted me a new dish at the same time.

Sadly the problem has persisted on my new box and after contacting the engineer again he told me it must be something to do with the cables from the dish to the box and a faulty second feed. So I swapped the connectors over on my box to see if that solved the recording problem. No joy.

I ran a brand new cable feed to the box and still no joy. I then moved the box to my bedroom for a week fitting another cable run which was less than 2m long, switched off my wireless telephone and wifi router too whilst recording yet the problem continues.

I'm really at a loss here as to what else to do. I've rung the engineer again and he's going to come out and have a look with me at the problem, in fairness he's being really helpful but I was wondering if anyone else has had a similar problem.

One thing I did notice when trying to test some recordings earlier in the week was it brought up the message "Initialising new Sky viewing card" when trying to access them from the Sky+ Planner menu. Pulling out the card then re-inserting stopped the message appearing but the recordings were still blue screen. There are times when it will record and during playback about 10-30 seconds of the programme will play then the picture will freeze for up to 10 minutes during then play a little and freeze again.

Could it be a faulty card that is the source of the problem or is there some potential interference coming from somewhere else. I can't be sure of the timing as I can't recall the dates, but they issued new cards out a while ago, not sure if this is connected?

The engineer is hopefully coming to see me on Friday but if I can get any advice before then it would be really useful. Please can someone help me, I'm tearing my hair out with this.

[Smithy99]

It does sound like a faulty card, they can cause all sorts of funny problems and would explain why the problem is following you around with the different setups.

[Kenedin]

The common factor with the problem on both your boxes is the viewing card, especially as the problem channels are subscription channels for which a card is required for decryption/playback purposes.. Could be the chip on the card. Maybe the card reader itself, but on two boxes? Anyone's guess. Get onto Sky Tech about it. New card may be needed.

[feglios]

Thanks for the feedback guys. Never got the call to visit from the engineer on Friday. I was calling him direct rather than having him booked through the Customer Support so I think I'm going to have to keep chasing him. Don't want to be paying £65 just for the priveledge of a visit.

Got a friend who lives nearby on exactly the same package as me, going to swap boxes with him for a night (so he has my card too) to see whether he can record on my box and card from his house and see if I can't using his equipment, will eliminate if it's a problem with the card that way anyway. Reckon I might have that done before I get a visit.

I will update on the results.