Hi.
I have received an email from Sky informing me that my Sky+HD box is no longer going to receive software updates.
They would like me to have a Sky Q box.
However, as I understand it the programmes I have recorded on the +HD box cannot be transferred to the Q box.
If I decided to go down the Q box route is there away of saving the HD programmes I have on the +HD box to another box/device? If so what equipment, leads, parts etc are recommended to do this?
I have heard of something called “screen capture” is this a viable option? If so, again what equipment, leads, parts etc would I require.
Any other advice most welcome.
Thank you
I remember that was an issue with DirectTV here in the states. They retired the old set-top boxes I had but I had hundreds of hours of recorded stuff I hadn’t yet watched.
I finally drew a line in the sand and said I can do without all the recorded video. But I didn’t get new boxes from DirecTV. I cancelled the service altogether and switched to streaming video: Netflix, Hulu, AppleTV+ and such. My wife uses all that more than I do, but I honestly don’t miss anything I discarded. I was just clinging to it without good reason, until I stopped clinging.
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Sadly I think there is no viable way to transfer programmes from an old box to a new one.
The concept of “screen capture” is basically that if you play every programme to a TV, they are unencrypted at that point and you could theoretically record that video and audio onto another device. You might be able to do it with another recorder, like a DVD recorder, but you can’t do it with a Sky box because there is no way to capture the programme and get the new Sky box to record it.
My Sky HD box broke down, switched to Sky Q and it is far better.
There was only one thing I missed which was a live and very raunchy production of the Rocky Horror Picture Show , found it on YouTube and thanks to super fast broadband can watch it.
I think you have two options either keep the old box knowing it isn’t supported or as a urologist would say “ go with the flow”
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It is possible to get the video off if you are even only mildly technically inclined. There are articles and YouTube video about how to remove the hard drive and move free-to-view (not locked) content off it for viewing elsewhere.
Personally, I just plug a USB HDD into the TV rather than use a separate box and when the TV changes just plug the drive into another TV. This assumes the TV supports programmed recording direct to USB storage.
Have Sky asked you to return the old box.
As it’s obsolete they might not want it back. Or let you keep it for a small fee.
Probably still work as a player, but not a recorder.
i’m fairly sure that in the days of sky+, you bought the kit so it is his. It was only with the introduction of skyQ that sky retains ownership of the kit, and has the right to ask for the kit back.
Hi Roger, over the years using Sky+HD I have had a few boxes fail (mainly been the network cards, although one was a hard disk starting to fail causing problems but using the ExPVR software mentioned below I recovered the data to a new disk) and was always in the situation of quite a few programs recorded that needed to be saved, I found a piece of software “ExPVR” that was developed by an ex Sky engineer I believe that would allow you transfer between the various iterations of Sky+HD boxes (involved taking the hard disk out and attaching to a PC and transferring) worked quite good 99% of the time, it didn’t however have the ability to decrypt the files from the Sky format and save as separate programmes/films.
If your Sky+HD box is of the type with the twin Scart sockets there is a way of recording from one of these to another device, I use a Pioneer DVD/Hard Disk Recorder, outputting from the Sky Box to the Pioneer via Scart on to the Pioneers Hard Disk, I can then if I want output to a DVD for archive or just watch from the Hard Disk.
It’s not the quickest to do as I have to play the programme on the Sky Box to record on the Pioneer but when I need to transfer something I usually set it going when going to bed and its done next morning, setting an approximate recording time on the Pioneer to cover the length of the Sky recording (I can edit any overrun out on the Pioneer).
I haven’t yet had the message from Sky but have no doubt it will be coming 
Hope this helps
Richard
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If you purchased any films from sky store they should still be available on the new box. Otherwise if still available you could re download progs to new box. The other thing is if you have stuff you have not seen yet on the old box, would you really miss it. The new Sky Q box is much better than the old one and i am sure you will soon get over anything you had on the old box. I did.
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Why can’t you just use the old box attached to another HDMI input to watch that’s recorded.
Because the Sky box periodically checks that you have a current subscription and if it finds you haven’t then playback of the programmes recorded on the boxes hard disc will be blocked.
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I must admit, I’ve not had sky for a few years.
But, would removing the card from new Sky q box and inserting in the old Sky+ box not work.
Doubtful. The recordings are very likely keyed to the physical device and unusable without the proper hardware handshake.
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Ok, I ditched Sky many years ago and went to Freesat.
I meant the credit card sized card that is inserted into the front of the sky box.
Presumably if you have Sky subscription, the card is active and can be used it in any sky box.
No, when we had Sky and got upgraded to Sky Q we needed a new card. But Sky got binned about 6 months ago as it just wasn’t worth the money.
Did you try the new card in the old box.
The sky viewing card is now paired to the sky box so would only work in one box.
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We didn’t as we just asked the installer to take the old Sky+ HD box away for recycling. Six months Sky-free now and I’m not missing it in the slightest. They keep sending letters out asking us to come back offering Sky Signature and Sky Sports for about £35 a month but even at that price I’m not interested
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If you look on the caravan forums (this was a new experience for me!), this is discussed at length because people used to take their Sky HD+ card from home and put it into another box installed in their caravan. Now they have Sky Q at home, do they need to put a Sky Q box in their caravan?
These days the subscription card is paired to the box, whether it’s HD+ or Q. But you can change the pairing using the Sky app on your phone. Apparently Sky doesn’t like people doing this, but it works and no-one has reported Sky stopping this from happening. And yes you can take a Q card and use it in an HD+ box, but you have to pair it each time you move it.
So in the OP’s situation, he could do what you suggest, but he would have to pair the card with whichever box he wanted to watch at the time. Irs not just a case of swapping the card over.
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