Sky + is useless for radio

[watervole]

After playing around with Sky +, I'm now wondering whether to cancel. It's totally useless for recording radio. I want to record my favourite radio programs on a regular basis. Tivo does this with no trouble as it keeps a program database for radio 4. Sky doesn't appear to list any radio programs at all.

Are we living in the bloody dark ages?

Given the choice of Sky 1 and the SF channel or Radio 3 and 4, I'll take the radio any day.

('Listen again' isn't any practical use to me as I can't use my computer in the lounge where I like to listen to the radio)

Comments

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Sky+ can do this: you set it to record at same hour every week, like with an old VCR, rather than trying to series link a specific programme (which you can't do for radio, as I think you've found out). But it won't catch the programme if the time is slightly different, which is indeed annoying.

[rockwell-666.livejournal.com]

If you go to the Services menu and select Sky+ Setup you can change the "Add to Start of recording" and "Add to End of Recording" values from "Automatic" to up to 10 minutes.

[rockwell-666.livejournal.com]

PS A quick bit of googling suggests that there's various WiFi systems that can pick up streamed broadcasts from your computer and replay them elsewhere.

[watervole.livejournal.com]

Sadly, we're too skint to consider that kind of thing at present, though it's certainly one to bear in mind for the future.

[the-magician.livejournal.com]

Virgin Media are no better for recording radio on their V+ box ... you can see the schedule and set a reminder, but you can't record the programme ...

... what I've had to do is set the V+ box to change channels for the programme, and then use the external DVD/HD recorder (on timer) to record the output of the V+ box.

I do have a Netgear MP101 box which allows me to play music (including internet radio) on the PC and have it piped through to the living room hifi (by ethernet cable or wifi) ... what I used to do was just use a long headphone cable and a pair of walkman speakers in the living room and run the lead through to the computer in the other room, so I could listen to music on the computer but in a different room to the computer.

Now I carry the laptop into the other room and listen/watch Listen Again using the laptop (watched University Challenge that way a couple of weeks ago, just took the laptop downstairs and sat with my landlord, who is a quiz expert!)

Are you using the OPD2D software I recommended before to create MP3 versions of the radio programmes (using Listen Again to start them) so you can listen to them on your MP3 player?

[watervole.livejournal.com]

I tried the OPD2D thing but was never able to get to grips with it.

The long cable is a good idea. That's one I might think about in the long run. It would have to be a pretty long cable and we might have to make some holes to route it.

I don't own a laptop - when I'm rich, I suspect that will be my preferred solution.

[the-magician.livejournal.com]

"never able to get to grips with it" ... as I use it several times a week to record things like The Now Show and sometimes Mike Harding, once it is set up (which is pretty easy, really, if you've done it before!) then I can help you with it if you wish ... and I can talk Richard or someone through the setting up if that is where things went difficult ... but as I don't remember you saying you had problems, I didn't know you needed help ... do you remember where you gave up?

[vicarage.livejournal.com]

Have you checked whether the things you want are available as podcasts? Then you could auto download them and put them on an mp3 player

[watervole.livejournal.com]

I've had a look. Some are available as podcasts, but not all. Hopefully this will increase over time.

[inamac.livejournal.com]

And this is yet another reason why we do not have Sky.

Can't you downlaod the listen again to an mp3 player (if, unlike me, you have one?)

Or even go back to the dark ages and set up a recorder with the computer going...

Agrees about Radio 4 (and 5live in my case)

[gaspodex.livejournal.com]

we use the Tivo and the sky box together still ...

[hobbitblue.livejournal.com]

Mum manages to record from the radio on skyplus, does it loads to send to a friend, I think she ssaid something about the "Manual record" thing, I've not poked at it to try, but you can set the thing to record a specific time and day and channel; dunno about repeats..

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Can you get Freeview? -- we've had two different Freeview PVRs which were happy to record radio programmes by name like this.

[watervole.livejournal.com]

I was on Freesat and could easily go back to it. I hadn't thought about Freeview PVRs. What sort of features do they have? Are the interfaces easy to use? Are the costs one off, or ongoing?

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

One-off: prices vary quite a bit depending on disk size and other functionality stuff, but they start below £100. The range of channels isn't as great as with the satellite systems, but it includes all the important ones.

The interfaces vary quite a bit between mfrs. We first had a Humaz which was a bit fiddly to negotiate and search. Now have a BT Vision which is pretty good -- not quite as good as TiVo, and it doesn't have the thumbs up / down recommendation system. But others might.

If you've still got the Freesat eqpt, I think you can also get one-off-payment standalone PVRs that will work with that, which would open up the choice further. (Although, I wasn't aware, there's a difference between real Freesat (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freesat) and "Freesat from Sky (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freesat_from_Sky)". What that might mean, I don't know.)

[watervole.livejournal.com]

Looks like Freesat PVRs are an option I may look at in the future. At present, as Tivo have just fixed the thumbs up problem they'd had hte last few months, my decision has suddenly become an easy one.

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Thumbs up to them!

[sam-t.livejournal.com]

I've got a Humax, which I like (standard aerial, not satellite). I find the interface OK, but one of my older relatives also has one and finds it difficult (how much of that is refusal to read the manual/try things out to see if it helps, I don't know). One reason I went for the Humax when I bought it was that they are pretty good at putting out updates to firmware, whereas a lot of models at the time stayed static from the time you bought them. I don't know what the state of the market is now, however.

You still can't do series link with radio programmes but you can definitely set it to record a programme in advance.

[watervole.livejournal.com]

No series link sucks. Tivo has a standing order for the Archers and Gardeners Question Time.