Can't view recorded setanta items now subscription is cancelled

[pangela]

Hi there, wondered if anyone could help.

Had a Setanta sport subscription last year and had some footy games recorded which my team were involved in, stored on the sky plus box. I have now cancelled my setanta subscription. Now, when I go into my planner and try to watch my recorded items I simply get the "ring this number to subscribe" screen and cannot access my recordings anymore.

Are they actually still there on the hard drive? They still seem to be taking up space on the hard drive. And how can I get them back?

Thanks.

[NewsreadeR]

The recordings should still be there, just the entitlements to watch them would have been removed through cancellation.

[pangela]

If I subscribed again then do you think I would be able to view them again?

[NewsreadeR]

Yes afaik - But will leave it for someone else to confirm.

[Smithy99]

This is normal and will also happen with the movie channels and any other service you remove.

Although the recording stay on the drive, when you try to play them the receiver checks the card for the permission to decode it, you no longer have that as it has been cancelled.

[Ratcliffes]

As with any encrypted (ie non-free to view) sky+ recording, the recordings are stored on the hard disk as encrypted files and are only decrypted as you watch them. When you cancel a subscription, you cancel the ability to decrypt files (whether recorded or live) and so you will not be able to view your recordings unless or until you take out another subscription to Sultana.

If you don't intend to do this then you might as well delete the recordings.
If you take out a one month Sultana sub, you could then archive the recordings to DVD (using a suitable DVD recorder or a media PC) which would save them for posterity even if you let the sub expire again.