Sky HD box feels like it's on it's last legs
Discussion
Folks, our Sky HD box has started really playing up over the last few days, I'm pretty sure that the disk is on it's way out, as you can't watch anything on time slip, or anything that you have recorded. Additionally the Menu system just freezes from time to time. Have tried
- Planner Rebuild
- Complete Device reset
and neither help.
it's well out of warranty, is there any point me calling Sky, or will they just want to be to fork out £200 for a new one? Interested to hear from others that have found themselves in the same predicament.
.. oh , it's a Thompson model, if that makes a difference to anything.
We don't have any of the premium channels like sport, so I have half a mind to jump to FreeSat unless they just replace it.
Cheers
-ace
- Planner Rebuild
- Complete Device reset
and neither help.
it's well out of warranty, is there any point me calling Sky, or will they just want to be to fork out £200 for a new one? Interested to hear from others that have found themselves in the same predicament.
.. oh , it's a Thompson model, if that makes a difference to anything.
We don't have any of the premium channels like sport, so I have half a mind to jump to FreeSat unless they just replace it.
Cheers
-ace
Call Sky and threaten to leave, they may capitulate and send you a new one, or they may charge you £65 to replace it with a refurbed box. The Thompson boxes are notorious for power supply failures and can be fixed.
As for going to Freesat, well if you don't have any premium channels and don't watch all the crap that Sky broadcast then why not, get yourself a Freesat HD+ box. You will lose a lot of the HD content on Sky though, depends how much you value that I suppose.
As for going to Freesat, well if you don't have any premium channels and don't watch all the crap that Sky broadcast then why not, get yourself a Freesat HD+ box. You will lose a lot of the HD content on Sky though, depends how much you value that I suppose.
Edited by cjs on Sunday 17th October 10:50
If it's an old Thomson box it tends to be the PSU at fault which is very cheap and easy to sort , takes about 10 minutes to remove and refit, i've done 2 using this chap and it sorted both - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&am... If it's the hard drive it's just as easy, here's a guide - http://www.skyuser.co.uk/tutorials/thomson_hd_box_... , makes sense sticking a 1tb drive in as well as they are now less than £40 delivered from a couple of retailers.
Pipster1969 said:
If it's an old Thomson box it tends to be the PSU at fault which is very cheap and easy to sort , takes about 10 minutes to remove and refit, i've done 2 using this chap and it sorted both - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&am...
I have a Pace HD box, operates fine but occasionally it has a time of the month, and screen freezes and has pictue drop outs, will then be fine for weeks after. Will this guy be the solution?After a few calls with them today; they have sent an engineer out - which cost the aforementioned £65. the lady on the phone was actually quite good and didn't treat me like a 5 year old. She mentioned that most of the problems they had were down to disk fragmentation, and they were looking to ship sky HD machines with SSD's - I didn't have the heart to ask her about NAND degradation!
-Ace
-Ace
phatmanace said:
She mentioned that most of the problems they had were down to disk fragmentation, and they were looking to ship sky HD machines with SSD's - I didn't have the heart to ask her about NAND degradation!
-Ace
Wouldn't be too sure of that, have you seen large capacity SSD prices? £480 for a 256Gb SSD. Can't see Sky putting 1Tb worth of SSD into STBs.-Ace
they came and changed the box for a refurb for £65 - interestingly, the cash is for the visit, not the box. I guess that they got fed up with being challenged by people to fork out for faulty hardware!
The difference is night and day. I think that the thing that I hadn't really noticed was that it had become much more "stuttery" doing forward and rewind - esp during watching live TV - it's back to being silky smooth now, so now I'm aware, I hope I can spot the degradation next time!
The difference is night and day. I think that the thing that I hadn't really noticed was that it had become much more "stuttery" doing forward and rewind - esp during watching live TV - it's back to being silky smooth now, so now I'm aware, I hope I can spot the degradation next time!
I rang Sky up a few days ago as my Thomson box threw a wobbly (probably PSU) about 2 weeks ago, mentioned that I couldnt justify paying Sky £65 to repair and that I would like to cancel my Sky subs and the lady said they would send an engineer to swapout for free. I was honest and said I would probably still cancel Sky anyway. No problem. . .and I have a new Amstrad box now.
Edited by Digger on Saturday 23 October 00:12
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