recording sky sports

[satandpcguy]

Got the card today... and no joy! Same message on DVD player. !

Very strange. Its definately something to do with the Sky box and the recorder not interacting correctly. As you say perhaps something to do with how the DVDR is handling the copyprotection between the two. Although I have found a huge amount of websites with reviewes from people having many issues with a sky box (not just the 2600) and this particular DVD unit - including no pictures (but sound) being recorded - of which many just got a new DVDR and the problem went away!

Like I said before, on my 2600 it works fine with my DVDR, so its something specifi to that combination of unit with Sky box.

So I'm gonna go for the Sky plus box... but I have a couple of doubts. I'm looking at the Amstrad DXR890 slimline hd recorder. Could anyone tell me if it is possible to send the signal from the box out via hdmi and via scart at the same time? I want to be able to send the signal to my lounge tv via hdmi but also to my kitchen tv via scart.!

Yes. It sends the signal to both HDMI AND SCART at the same time.

Does it also have a powered rf out port? (for my distribution system)

According to the spec sheets, the DRX890 has 2 RF outputs, with output 2 being the powered one.

Also,would I need to plug it into a phone line for the sky plus recording functionality to work? I read somewhere I would ... bit of a deal breaker here in Spain.

Sky+ recording functions work without any phone line connection to a UK phoneline - which has always been the case, so no idea who is saying that you do need a phone connection - they are wrong. Especially as there are so many Sky+ and Sky+HD units being used outside the UK and ROI!!!

You do ned a phone connection if you are IN THE UK, if you want to order Box Office movies, buy of QVC, vote on zlist reality programmes, or if you get your box as part of a discounted Sky installation, or part of a Sky multiroom deal.

But a phone line connection is not required for Sky functionality.

Nor does it have to be connected to the phone line for software updates (another rumour I keep seeing!)

[chrisdoc]

Cool! Thanks so much! It will be interesting to see if the hd box will let me record out to the DVD....

[satandpcguy]

I have heard that some HD content is not able to be transfered to an external source....including FTA HD stuff...but that was a few months ago

[chrisdoc]

Well I'm not going to upgrade my sky sub to hd and as I have a clarke tech hd receiver for freesat I generally record the FTA HD stuff out on that... its just normal SD skysports that I wanna put on DVDs... It will be nice to be able to record onto the hard drive of the Skyplus box but it would be handy too if I can then transfer recorded matches to a DVD basically so I can watch them on the laptop while my wifes watching the living room telly...

[satandpcguy]

I am sure you can do it from SCART on the SKy+HD box to DVDR (works fine on my DVDR - but then that means nothing as your original problem was fine on my DVDR!) , but not too sure if it will work OK from HDMI to HD DVDR...

[chrisdoc]

Well the hd box arrived a couple of days ago... got it all set up, card paired etc and success! .. I can record all channels out to my DVD recorder without any problems at all... so the issue was clearly the sd satellite receiver. However I now have another problem... the hd box records onto its hard drive ok but when I try to play them back, I just get a blue screen, the dreaded BSOD. I've tried rebuilding the planner to no avail... gonna go for a full system reset later. Hope it works, I'm starting to get really quite fed up.....

[satandpcguy]

I assume you are using the Sky HD box connected directly to the TV via HDMI input? In which case I can see no issue there.

The rebuild does work and clears most issues - sometimes - its like a PCs defrag.
The full system reset is a format of the drive.

PS Hopew you have not a Thomson SKy HD box....as that will be the problem - its very poor and very prone to all sorts of problems.

[chrisdoc]

The rebuild didn't work but the system reset did so now fully functional! Hope it stays that way!! Next up, a quad LNB and (yet) more cables... just hope that the new satellites going up soon have the same reception as 1N, would be such a shame to see "no satellite signal being received" after so much hassle and expense...
Thanks for all!

[satandpcguy]

1N was designed for a different orbital slot - 19 east. You cannot really use 1N as a comparison for anything at 28 east, as 1N was not designed for 28 east. It is there as a temporary measure, to provide urgent additional capacity. According to the blurb, the new satellites will have a mixture of Pan European, UK, and Middle East / Africa beams - just as the current 5 UK TV satellites do. However, their footprints and reception will be pure guesswork and speculation until just after launch when they are usuall published.

[chrisdoc]

Yeah I know... thats what worries me. You don't sound very optimistic!