Sky Plus Upgrade...

[Ric]

I have the version 2 'Amstrad' Sky Plus box, it originally came with a 20GB hard drive, which gives just under 20 hours of recording...

..between Wifey and the anklebiter, I wasn't getting a look in !

For our American cousins SkyPlus is the same as Tivo (but not as good !)

So I decided to open up the box and take the 20 GB drive out and install a 160 GB drive.

That in theory should give me approx 100-160 hrs, recording time. After having a quick Google around, the consensus of opinion was to put in the Samsung SP1604N. there are various different opinions, but this seemed the best bet.

Local PC World had them in stock (store price £75.98 web price £53.99)

For the techies:

7200rpm Spindle Speed | 2Mb Buffer Cache | 8.9 ms Average Seek Time (Read) | Ultra ATA 133 | Brown box version | No cables, manuals or software included

Before starting go to the "Sky+" Setup Menu and turn instant rewind to off, make sure you scroll down and save the settings, then put the box into standby and unplug it.

Best to leave it to cool down for a few minutes. Make sure you have an Anti Stat Wristband then remove the cover, drive out, and put the new one in...10 minutes.

If you can use a screwdriver, then it's easy ! One ribbon cable - One PSU cable.

Plug in the Sky Plus Box, wait for two minutes, then turn on, go to the Services menu, and access the "Installer Menu..."

Press the Services Menu
Then Select Menu '4' (System Setup)
Then press 01 on the Remote
Then press select
You should now be in the "Installer Menu"
Now press 8 "Full System Reset"

Once this has done it should reboot your SkyPlus Box...wait two minutes then turn it on. Turn your instant rewind back on...and off you go !

Mines been running now for 48 hours, have taped loads of random stuff just to check it's working. Currently have 35 hours taped and the Sky Plus box tells me that there is 65 % still free !!!

Sky Plus home page is here...

Their standard box, the same as mine is £89 with a full package subscription...their new box (with a 160 GB Hard Drive) costs £299 (but only gives 80 hours, there drives are doctored only allowing you to use half the space ???)

If any one wants any advice on upgrading theirs let me know !

Didn't take any pictures at the time, but if I get 5 mins I'll wip the lid off and take some pictures !

regards

Ric

 

[Ric]

Still running very well, no problems what so ever !

If anyone needs help with there own Sky plus upgrades let me know.

Its very easy, as long as you can use a screwdiver...you'll have a nice new Sky plus box !

 

[Bob Marsden]

A friend's SkyPlus box just went dead. The unit has to be replaced, thereby losing him everything on the hard drive. Is there any way he can recover the contents? Or is there somewhere on the net he can get advice? (he doesn't have a Mac)

 

[Ric]

Hi there Bob and welcome !

I presume the hard drive is okay !

The theory would be to take the hard drive out of the old Sky Plus Box and then you could either plug it in to your PC as a 'Slave' drive and make a 'disk image', or if you have a hard drive enclosure then you could plug the drive into that so that you can mount it on either a Mac or PC...

...then duplicate the drive, you will either need a lot of free space on the main Hard drive or have another drive that you can copy it to.

Then take out that drive and insert the new one and 'clone' your disk image back to the new drive.

In all honesty I have never tried this ! This is just theory. But there is no reason why it shouldn't work.

I'll have a route around to see if I can find out what the disk format is...

Depending on what they have on their Sky Plus box it may be just easier to record them when they come on again, most things are repeated ;-)

regards

Ric

 

[Bob Marsden]

Thanks Ric
I'll pass this on to him, and anything else you can come up with later.
Bob

 

[Ric]

No problem...

you'll have to let us know how he gets on !

regards

Ric

 

[Ric]

Posted on behalf of frustrated1:

Hi Ric,

I am new to sky plus... only have 20 hours viewing time which as you know isnt great. I assume its a 20gb drive (or sky have halfed the usualability of the 40gb drive)

Can you send me step by step how to upgrade the hard-drive?
I have medium to advanced pc knowledge and have replaced plenty of harddrives in windows and some for unix systems etc..

Any help you can provide would be great.
Do I have to use a particular hard drive or would any i have already do?

 

[Ric]

Hi there,

the first thing we need to know...what make model sky plus box have you got ?

Each box requires a different drive...

regards

Ric

 

[frustrated1]

Hi -

Maybe a stupid question but I only just received my sky plus box. (And looking to upgrade it already ;-)


How can I check what make / model I have... Should there be a label somewhere on the box itself to indicate this?

 

[Ric]

Sorry should have said...

First look at the box...which side is the viewing card slot on ?

Go to the Services Menu and select ...(cant remember the menu !) But you'll see it...

or

Pace 3000 (PVR1) - silver with a black plastic panel on the front

Pace 3100 (PVR2) - all white with Sky card slot on the far left hand side.

Amstrad DRX180 (PVR2) - all white with Sky card slot on the far right hand side.

Thomson DSI6210 Sky+ 160 - label on the front says 160.

Pace TDS470N (PVR3) - all white with Sky card slot in lower left of centre.

Amstrad DRX280 (PVR3) - all white with Sky card slot lower right of centre.

regards

Ric

 

[frustrated1]

Mine is a white box with the sky card in the bottom lower left
Got the wife to check the system settings on the menu at home:

Manufacturer Pace
Model Number 4.018
Version 9F2203
EPG software version Sky plus 4.01a
OS Version number: 1.31AOK

 

[Ric]

You've done well to get a Pace one !

I think this is yours...

http://www.pace.co.uk/corporate/products/prodinfo.asp?PID=Sky3100

It has a 40GB drive, you should get a minimum of 20 hours recording.

Replacing the drive is straight forward.

This is a good visual guide here...

http://www.morlocks.co.uk/disc-change-v2.htm

regards

Ric

 

[Donutposse]

Hi - this would have been a question about upgrading, but I've decided not to bother at the moment.

What I do need to ask about is this...

I have just had to have my Sky+ replaced due to a failing hard drive (still under warranty) and have used Copy Plus to attempt to transfer the salvagable recordings to the new box.

Unfortunately, once I reassembled the new box and plugged it in, I get a message saying "No satellite signal being received" and, obviously, no picture. I tried to go through the setup procedure, and got a message saying that the default transponder could not be found...none of these settings have been changed from when the box was working earlier. I tried swapping the dish feeds around, but this made no difference. The signal quality/strength meters both read decent strength (ie normal).

I have now had to revert to the old box, which does still get a picture, although recording is flaky. I only have this box as the Sky repair guy let me hold on to it for a couple of days while I transfered the programmes over..without his "knowledge".

The new box is the Thompson V3 and the old one was (I think) a Pace V3 (assuming as they both had 160Gb HDs which show up as 80Gb - what's the deal with that!!!??!!)

Any ideas as to how I can fix this problem as Sky may not be too keen on giving me a second new box in the space of a couple of days.

Also, is it worth upgrading a V3 box - I assume any hard drive that you put in will be halved in size?

Cheers

 

[timslim]

I guess this may be a little off topic but.....having read through the threads here it seems that lots of people have failed Sky+ boxes...strangely ours died (I think its a thompson with the 160 on the front) a week after the 1st years warranty ran out. Luckily my wife had taken out the 'extra' cover which guarunteed replacement unit within three days.....of course when we tried it was 'it will be two weeks as we have none in stock'

Perhaps I am just being paranoid...and this technology is realy cool and most peoples Sky+ box lasts longer.....but a years life seems rather short for a simple bit of kit like this....

 

[Ric]

Hi there Donutposse.

best thing I can think of is to stick the proper drive back in and do a full system reset...(you may have done this already ?)

Unplug the power and press the 'backup' button (on the box, keep it held in) then plug the power back in and turn it on...

Wait for the text to come up on the screen...and then let go of the backup button.

This will wipe the drive and put the System Software back on...

It may fix it, back to how it was.

The box you have has 80GB partioned for Sky's 'future' developments...

If it doesn't work, best thing to do explain to the engineer that it's gone pear shaped, and he may just swap it for another, and class it as a 'dead on arrival' machine !

regards

Ric

 

[Donutposse]

Hi it's me again.

My problem is now fixed so don't bother looking anything up!

I just needed to reinstall the software and now it works fine.

On a side note, does anybody know the maximum size hard drive you can put in a Thompson V3 box? Obviously a 250Gb drive would make some difference but I was hoping to get a substantial amount of extra storage for my cash. Alternatively is it possible to reduce the 80Gb used by Sky?

 

[[email protected]]

Hi
I'm having standard Sky installed on Thursday. I already have a Sky plus box so is it possible for me to buy a "splitter" for the cable so i can use my sky plus box.

Regards

Phil

 

[lenodski]

Hi Ric – Excellent advice and guide on ‘how to’ upgrade the HDD.

Please can you recommend a new (larger) HDD for my system. The system details are:

Manufacturer:……………… Amstrad
Model No.:…………………. A21B029
Version No.:………………... 4F2103
O/S Version:……………….. 1.31B00
EPG Software Version:…….. Sky+4.10.C

I am obviously looking for the LARGEST HDD that can possibly fit without problems.

Many thanks - Len

 

[clara]

Hi can anyone help me to find the right hard drive for an Amstrad DRX 180 sky plus box.
Mine is playing up with intermittent sound and jumping picture on recorded shows.
I've tried rebooting etc and nothings helped so I think a HD replacement is needed.
Sky offered an engineer for £65 call out but no gurantee of fixing it, of course my warranty expired recently, sod's law.

If anyone can tell me which HD to buy I'm sure I can replace it.

Thanks
Clara

 

[Ric]

Hi there everyone !

sorry for the delay in replying !

How have you all got on ?

If anyone is still in need of help, let us know.

We are back open again ;-)

regards

Ric