Buy Sky+ or Sky HD box?

[David_D]

Hi folks,

I currently have a bog standard Pace sky box and am planning to upgrade to Sky plus now but with view to upgrading to sky HD sometime in the future (when there seems to be enough content to warrant it)

I plan to install the new box myself and I've recently noticed new HD boxes for sale on ebay.

My question is (are!)
Should I buy a sky+ box now and part-ex it when I want HD, or buy an HD box now but don't pay the £10 subscription for a while. Is this possible? Is the HD box reliable & stable? Are Pace (or anyone else) likely to be making a mk2 HD box

Cheers
David

[Wheelie]

Welcome to the site David

I am not sure how that would work buying off Ebay that is, but if you intend to use the + feature you would have to pay £10 a months for the privilege if you don't have multi room added and that cost £10 a month anyway plus it would cost you an extra £10 a month for the HD on top of all that once you do decided to do it.

[spike7451]

You'd also need a QUAD LNB & to run a extra CT100 IF cable from the dish to the stb for the extra transponder.Quad LNB's are around £30-40 a pop.

[David_D]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the replies,

My current Sky subscription is high enough that I won't have to pay more for sky+ and I've already provided the additional LNB & cabling etc.

I guess what I'm really asking is; could I buy an HD box now but only use it to watch non-HD channels thereby not needing to pay Sky the £10pm HD subscription and then when HD has matured and there is plenty of content I could start paying for it knowing that I already have the appropriate kit in place.

[David_D]

Bad form to reply to your own post but ...

It's technically possible to do what I ask but sky won't enable the sky + functionality unless the HD subscription is paid

[spike7451]

I'm a ex-Sky installer & I've put in HD boxes.Quite often the recording facility is swithched on before the HD sub.But,I'd wait off.NTL are releasing their own PVR system over the next few weeks,By XMas hopefully,so talk when I was with Sky was that they'll be giving the Sky+ boxes away to compete.

[Wheelie]

Thats figures I always buy and a year or 2 later they end up giving them away or charging peanuts for them so if I am lucky by the time I am ready for HD they will be giving them away as well

[mart!]

There is an interesting rumour here:

Sky HD January price drop? - Digital Spy Forums

It basically says that from 7th Jan the HD box will be £199 and the £10 sky+ fee will be dropped for everyone. It also suggests that the £10 HD fee may be dropped, but I'm sceptical about that one? If true, it is likely that the standard sky digibox will be dropped and the sky+ box will be given away free as standard?

I would hold off until next year if I was you!

[feriakhtari]

I also have a bog standard sky box. If I bought a sky+ box(not hd) from ebay say, can I just connect it up and use the features such as recording etc, or do I have to pay more to sky to be able to do this?

[Smithy99]

As long as you have at least the minimum Sky TV subscription the Sky+ features are free, you will need to ensure you have a quad LNB and a second cable from the dish to use the recording features etc as the Sky+ & HD both need two feeds to work properly.

Once you have connected up the new receiver and put in your card you will need to ring Sky to get them to pair it with the receiver and also turn on the Sky+ features.