Replacement Sky+ HD box

[ey143]

I'm looking to replace an old Sky+ HD box for my elderly mother's home which intermittently works. We don't want a freesat or other free to air clone box as we want the free to air channels on Sky which my mother is more familiar using. We never used the recording function of the old box as we never subscribed to any channels (only wanted the free cultural ones).

I cannot seem to find a Sky+ box without recording function. Are there any? The heat and noise with the Sky+ HD drives with recording capabilities just use more energy when I've never used them so this time around I just want a silent low powered Sky box.

Any suggestions pls?

 

[Lucid]

If you're okay with non-HD then one of these will do the trick

https://www.for-sale.co.uk/r/Details/standard-sky-box/standard sky box_gumtree_gumtree1437531008


For HD, then you need to be looking for the DRX595 which looks like this

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sky-DRX595-AMSTRAD-DRX-595-Tuner-black/dp/B005RYCLP6


The thing is you'll rarely find people in personal classified ads referring to these by model number. They don't know them, so you have to search by image.

 

[mattylad]

If you ask on your local Freegle/Freecycle/Facebook give away pages there is usually someone with an old Sky+ box that they will give away for free.
I have several in a cupboard somewhere.

 

[winston1]

We don't want a freesat or other free to air clone box as we want the free to air channels on Sky which my mother is more familiar using.

The free to air channels on a sky box are available on any free to air box though.

 

[Sureitsoff?]

The free to air channels on a sky box are available on any free to air box though.

I think the OPs mother wants the sky style prog guide that she is familiar with hence the requirement for a similiar box.

Car boots usually have some every week (well the do round here) I have bought several of the 2 Tb boxes just for the hard drives... in the past. I think the last one cost me £2.50

 

[ey143]

Sorry for the delay, just returned from hols.

Yes, looking for a sky box because mother is used to the menu system and also the channel numbers. Also I have tried several of the other non-brand receivers and even the Manhattan one on Amazon, but the menu system is a little more complicated if you want to view some of the cultural channels. It's outside their standard channel list and you have to press other buttons to find it. Weird to explain.

I see the DRX890 box for £30 odd on Amazon refurbished, I could just get one of those, but I figured I dont need hard drive recording and such a bulky box will consume (or has consumed over the years with our old box) more energy. I do like HD but I dont subscribe to any channels as I'm not really into linear channel viewing any more.

Does the HD in "Sky+HD" mean hard drive or high definition? What does the "+" refer to?

 

[ey143]

SKY PLUS + HD BOX - SKY AMSTRAD DRX890/DRX595 | eBay

DRX890 3D READY unit only price. DRX595, drx890c, drx890r, drx890w, drx895, drx895w, subject to availability. NO HARD DRIVE, CAN BE USED FOR FREEVIEW/FREESAT.

www.ebay.co.uk

Looking at ebay, this seller is selling the same box and states it works without the hard drive. Is there a function in the menu settings to then switch off the hard drive so that it does not whirr up make noise or consume energy. When owning the last box from ebay for 6+ years, we never once used the hard drive.

 

[mattylad]

HD means high definition although I'm sure it won't make much difference to your mother if it's in HD or normal resolution.

 

[ey143]

HD means high definition although I'm sure it won't make much difference to your mother if it's in HD or normal resolution.

Nope, but I like to watch the telly too

 

[winston1]

I would avoid an eBay seller that says a sky box can be used for Freeview. What else does he not know?

 

[ey143]

Point taken, but it's understood what he mean i.e. free to air channels which are also on Freeview / Freesat.

 

[Sureitsoff?]

As i said in my above post get yourself off to a few car boot sales as there as usually a few around as people sell them if they upgrade to sky Q

and check facebook marketplace and gumtree locally
or

SKY HD BOX DRX595 WITH REMOTE & CABLES | eBay

SKY HD BOX DRX595 WITH REMOTE & CABLES (POWER & HDMI).

www.ebay.co.uk

 

[Lucid]

Sky+HD

As @mattylad mentioned, HD = Hi Def. That's 1080i just incase there's any confusion.

The '+' bit is the recording feature. This came in a few years before HD launched, so the original Sky digital boxes were either non-recording SD or, after the launch of Sky+, recording SD.

You can tell the non-HD boxes because they lack a HDMI out. That's a real handicap with today's flatscreen TVs that lack a SCART input.

Regarding HD channels; there are HD channels in Sky's free-to-view service.

 

[mattylad]

Try your local Freegle group (ilovefreegle.org) and ask for one, I have 3 in the cupboard - so I'm sure that several others around London have some because once they are upgraded or the contract has finished they were ours to keep (not the case now).
Being a junk hoarder I have kept them for some reason or other lol

What I did not know is that they can be used without the hard drive in, which is what the ebay seller is suggesting - interesting.

 

[Sureitsoff?]

wonder if this seller has sold many?............

Amstrad Sky HD Box with Recordable 2 TB Hard Drive

2017 Sky HD recordable Box 2tb Hard drive The 'SKY+ High Definition' PVR has all the functionality of SKY+ with the added advantage of its High Definition capability. Single scart and HDMI connections make this the box of choice for SKY

www.bing.com