# Recording from SKY satellite



## pensionista (Sep 6, 2010)

Hello...we have'nt been long here in Catalunya and I am having difficulty buying a DVD recorder/player.
Every shop we go into tell us that if we buy a DVD "grabador" it will only record "TDT"..ie Spanish television. We have Spanish tv but we also have SKY TV by satellite and want the option to record when we are out. We are not particularly bothered about recording Spanish tv...only SKY.
We find it hard to believe that we can't achieve this. 
Does anyone have experience of this problem ? We would appreciate any help or advice.


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## dunmovin (Dec 19, 2008)

I think you might have been given the wrong advice about the recorders. We can record by using the AV setting on the digital receiver. The set up for it is a bit difficult to explain, but it can be done, the problem is that you can only record the prograsm on the screen at the time. This is fine if you want to record something when you are away, but impossible to record one channel and watch another at the same time


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## DunWorkin (Sep 2, 2010)

We have a Spanish TV, Spanish DVD recorder and a Sky Box. We have no problem recording from SKY.

I can't answer technical questions on how it is set up but it is certainly possible


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

The easiest way is to get a SkyPlus box. This receives and records -no need for DVDs etc.
They are very cheap now.


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## pensionista (Sep 6, 2010)

mrypg9 said:


> The easiest way is to get a SkyPlus box. This receives and records -no need for DVDs etc.
> They are very cheap now.


This sounds promising. How do I go about getting one....and cost? mas o menos.


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## Stravinsky (Aug 12, 2007)

pensionista said:


> This sounds promising. How do I go about getting one....and cost? mas o menos.


Well you cant get one from SKY direct because you will have to have it connected to a phone line, and that isnt going to be possible.

I know of people who have bought from Ebay, and also "The Guy" on here is a useful contact as he is in the business and has done a good job for us
You will need a card as well


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

pensionista said:


> This sounds promising. How do I go about getting one....and cost? mas o menos.


I'm not sure but they will be fairly cheap as most people are getting Sky HD boxes now. Look in your local English language paper and you will find loads of firms advertising them.
I'm assuming you already have a card and that you are registered with Sky at a UK address? You will need to contact Sky to get SkyPlus activated when you get your box. It doesn't cost any extra on your monthly Sky subs.
SkyPlus is good, you get Sky AnyTime as well as the recording facility. You can record two programmes simultaneously or record one programme while you are watching another.

I was told by a Skydigital.cz technician to beware when buying Sky boxes on EBay. I personally wouldn't.


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## DunWorkin (Sep 2, 2010)

Don't forget that, technically, it is illegal to receive SKY TV in Spain. They only have a licence for the UK.

In practice, who is going to complain? Not SKY, they are taking your money.

You do need to be cautious though if you contact SKY not to accentuate that you are outside UK.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

DunWorkin said:


> Don't forget that, technically, it is illegal to receive SKY TV in Spain. They only have a licence for the UK.
> 
> In practice, who is going to complain? Not SKY, they are taking your money.
> You do need to be cautious though if you contact SKY not to accentuate that you are outside UK.


That's right....they could cut you off if they find you are outside the UK. So caution is advised.
However......we have kept our Sky since we left the UK, had it in Prague and now here in Spain. There are people all over Europe and North Africa receiving Sky and companies in every European country offering Sky services, boxes, dishes etc..
I contact them via e-mail and Skype on the few occasions I need to.


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## Stravinsky (Aug 12, 2007)

mrypg9 said:


> I'm not sure but they will be fairly cheap as most people are getting Sky HD boxes now. Look in your local English language paper and you will find loads of firms advertising them.
> I'm assuming you already have a card and that you are registered with Sky at a UK address? You will need to contact Sky to get SkyPlus activated when you get your box. It doesn't cost any extra on your monthly Sky subs.
> SkyPlus is good, you get Sky AnyTime as well as the recording facility. You can record two programmes simultaneously or record one programme while you are watching another.
> 
> I was told by a Skydigital.cz technician to beware when buying Sky boxes on EBay. I personally wouldn't.


The only thing you have to be careful of when buying off Ebay is that you dont buy a box that is described as almost new and is already under contract in the UK. Some people are naughty that way 
I know someone who bought an HD box off Ebay, no problems.

By the way, the way its described to me its not "illegal" to receive SKY here, its actually against the terms and conditions that you signed up to when you originally had SKY. They aren't licenced to broadcast here though, and thats why if you tell them you are in Spain they have no alternative but to terminate you 

I'm also not 100% sure, but if you have a normal sky card I'm not sure if you have to be issued with a new one when you upgrade to SKY+. You did when I did it, but that was some years ago.


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## sat (Jul 20, 2008)

Re DVD recorder.

You simply connect your sky box to the DVD....

So the TV SCART OUTPUT on the Sky Box is connected to the AV2 or EXT2 scart on the DVDR.
Then the AV1/EXT1/TV scart on the DVDr is connected to your TV.

If you want to record from Sky, then select AV2/EXT2 on the DVDr and record.

But you MUST programme your sky box to be on the correct channel (Autoview in the planner!), and programme the DVDr to the time and AV2/EXT2 channel - remember int the sky box will have the UK time and not Spain time!!!

Re Sky+

A Sky+ box will allow you to watch one channel and record another. You need two cables from your dish to the Sky+ box. You also need a subscription to activate the hard drive function of the sky+ box.

In many cases Sky will just upgrades your exisitng card to the subscription package you want and activate the card for Sky+ functions. They tend to only send a new card out if after several attempt they cannot start your current card....

As mentioned, buying from Sky will tie you down to their T&Cs...hence why Sky can give them away for free - but you have to comply with the T&Cs for that subsidised boxes. Outside of the UK, you but a nonsubsidised box at the market price.

Some times, people sell boxes on Ebay. Many new HD boxes are on there. Some sellers have been selling boxes that have been installed by Sky and are under discounted installation agreements with Sky. So if they are then resold, Sky refuse to do anything with the box as it is contracted for at least a year to one card....known this to have happened to at least 3 seople in Spain now..

Also, some boxes sold on ebay may be suitable for UK use, where the satellite signal is best, but sometimes, if the tuner inside the receiver is damaged or performing badly, when used in Spain the box may not work 100% - knwon this to happen a few time when people have bought boxes on ebay. Also, when shipping, becareful as the hard drive inside can be damaged, and cause the box to fail - although HDD replacements is a fairly straight forward process these days.

As Strav said, it is not illegal to use a card outside the UK and ROI - just against the T&Cs of your sky card contract - there are no rules about using a BOX in Spain, just the card (unless the box is part of a discounted install agreement of multiroom contract in the Uk!!!). And remember that you dont need a sky box for the free to air BBCs ITVs C4....they are free to air and available on just about ALL digital satllite receivers without a sky card....If using a sky card were "illegal" in Spain, then the Guardia would be arresting just about every brit in Spain!!! And just about all other nationalities also!! 

Consider a Freesat PVR - HD and hard drive for the free to air channels only....

Or other non sky and non freesat boxes that allow you to record to USB drives...
(But a many nonsky boxes are not sky card compatiable)

And many DVDrs are very picky about the DVD disks they can use...consider a HDD / DVD.... use the HDD for day to day recording, and transfer from HDD to DVD for archiving. (HDD hard disk drive) - or the USB option...

And thats that in a large nutshell!!

Strav: On here I am "sat", on t'other i am "the guy!". Its confusing with these multiple personalities mitz...!!


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## pensionista (Sep 6, 2010)

Stravinsky said:


> The only thing you have to be careful of when buying off Ebay is that you dont buy a box that is described as almost new and is already under contract in the UK. Some people are naughty that way
> I know someone who bought an HD box off Ebay, no problems.
> 
> By the way, the way its described to me its not "illegal" to receive SKY here, its actually against the terms and conditions that you signed up to when you originally had SKY. They aren't licenced to broadcast here though, and thats why if you tell them you are in Spain they have no alternative but to terminate you
> ...


Thank you all for your replies. I have a Sky card and box. Just the bog standard bundle really, but we want to upgrade. We have a UK address. So...summing up...it seems we need a sky + box..(maybe a card ?? ) and get them activated by Sky using our UK address.


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## sat (Jul 20, 2008)

pensionista said:


> Thank you all for your replies. I have a Sky card and box. Just the bog standard bundle really, but we want to upgrade. We have a UK address. So...summing up...it seems we need a sky + box..(maybe a card ?? ) and get them activated by Sky using our UK address.


You will need to arrrnage a sky subscription.

You can actiavte the HDD functions ONLY of a Sky+ box for £10 per month.

Or you pay £19 per month and go for some Sky pay channels also....

And make sure you have two cables from the LNB / Dish to the receiver....otherewise you will not be able to watch one channel and record another channel at the same time, and doing "future" recording by the planner with one cable is messy (strav knows this!)


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Stravinsky said:


> The only thing you have to be careful of when buying off Ebay is that you dont buy a box that is described as almost new and is already under contract in the UK. Some people are naughty that way
> I know someone who bought an HD box off Ebay, no problems.
> 
> By the way, the way its described to me its not "illegal" to receive SKY here, its actually against the terms and conditions that you signed up to when you originally had SKY. They aren't licenced to broadcast here though, and thats why if you tell them you are in Spain they have no alternative but to terminate you
> ...


Oh, that's why some people had problems with Sky boxes from e-bay.
How can you tell whether a box from there is 'safe' or not, though??
I don't think it's illegal either, in spite of what some people say. I was once told the Guardia would put me in prison if I was 'caught' watching Sky
I can't remember if I needed a new card but I don't think so. 
If you get one here you can end up paying an exorbitant 'management' fee.
Caution advised...


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## Guest (Sep 6, 2010)

You don´t do installations down this way do you?


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## sat (Jul 20, 2008)

ShinyAndy said:


> You don´t do installations down this way do you?


Its a bit too far south for me I am afraid!!!


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## Guest (Sep 6, 2010)

I´ll buy you a beer!


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## sat (Jul 20, 2008)

mrypg9 said:


> How can you tell whether a box from there is 'safe' or not, though??


YOu cant, until Sky say its contraxcted to another card for the next x months....or make sure you ask the seller if it is contracted or not...



mrypg9 said:


> If you get one here you can end up paying an exorbitant 'management' fee.
> ...


Thats if you allow the agents to set the card up using the agents UK address. you should be OK if you use your own Uk address and bank details...


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

sat said:


> YOu cant, until Sky say its contraxcted to another card for the next x months....or make sure you ask the seller if it is contracted or not...
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I did!! You also9 have control over your payments should you wish to cancel.


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## Stravinsky (Aug 12, 2007)

Pensionista, another thing to point out is that you may well need a bigger dish down here. I have a 1.8 (which is the bain of Sats life). It's on the roof and it looks like some kind of secret government monitoring station. It's horrible. I hate it. I'm going to paint it sky blue (not)

The way we did it was we upgraded to sky+ in the UK. Then when we moved we bought all the stuff with us and just set up out here with a new dish and resgistered a new UK address with them. We kept the subscription running from our UK bank, and luckily we have the UK address for when the new card came out earlier in the year

Its simple and there is no hassle. The only way they will find out is if you tell them. Make sure if you have anything like multi room that you cancel it before you come out, because that DOES need a telephone line at all times ...... its so you dont use one of your boxes to bring out to Spain it seems


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## sat (Jul 20, 2008)

If Pensionista is in Catalunya like his profile says, then in many areas of Catalunya you can pretty much get all UK TV channels 24/7 on something like an 80cm dish!!! Lucky things....


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## Stravinsky (Aug 12, 2007)

sat said:


> If Pensionista is in Catalunya like his profile says, then in many areas of Catalunya you can pretty much get all UK TV channels 24/7 on something like an 80cm dish!!! Lucky things....



Yeah right!
And I can see Barcelona from my Balcony


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## pensionista (Sep 6, 2010)

Stravinsky said:


> Yeah right!
> And I can see Barcelona from my Balcony


We're 150 km north of Barca. reception is great..(except when it rains ). We don't have any problems at all...TDT plus satellite...we just want to be able to record from the sat when necessary. Will look around and see what's available locally. Once again..many thanks to all.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

We get excellent Sky reception on all channels, BBC and ITV, with a medium-sized dish...not one of those huge things.
Yet we are down south.
Why is that?


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## sat (Jul 20, 2008)

mrypg9 said:


> We get excellent Sky reception on all channels, BBC and ITV, with a medium-sized dish...not one of those huge things.
> Yet we are down south.
> Why is that?


Simple answer: by mistake!

Long answer : Because it is reported that the Astra 2d satellite, that carries the free to air BBC and ITVs, had a manufacture problem that resulted in this "side lobe" of its footprint. So this error in production meant its "signal footprint" is not what was ordered, and resulted in this stronger signal in the south of Spain.

Not, as some think, that it was so Gibralter could get BBC!


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Thankyou. I wish you lived nearer too. 
Jo's OH helped sort out an 'idiot' problem with a new tv I bought but I can't expect him to come over and sort out all my viewing problems.
As I know zilch about satellite/tv stuff I'm wary of being ripped-off by unscrupulous companies who will instantly spot my ignorance and take advantage of it....


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## Stravinsky (Aug 12, 2007)

pensionista said:


> We're 150 km north of Barca. reception is great..(except when it rains ). We don't have any problems at all...TDT plus satellite...we just want to be able to record from the sat when necessary. Will look around and see what's available locally. Once again..many thanks to all.


He heh ... no that was a joke. We're actually about 450 kms South of Barcelona and although I can see a long long way up the coast, I dont think it's quite that far.

Reception is pretty good for us, but we lose certain programmes at certain times of the day.


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