John Grove - Sky Plus

	We've had Sky+ the hard disk recording system from Sky Television since September 2003. This is the most efficient way to watch TV by far - especially if you haven't the hours in a day!
The standard Sky+ Box comes with a 40GB hard drive, enabling 20 hours of recording. I've upgraded my box to a 250GB, enabling me to record up to 125 hours - around about a month's worth of viewing for a family of four with different tastes! See Hummer's web site to see how it's done. The advantages of Sky+ are huge: No need to change tapes - the disc management system ensures that only the oldest (and watched) items are recorded over first. There's a "keep" function that works like a record lug on a VHS tape. With a remote in another room, the Sky+ box effectively becomes a central server for all recorded TV. It is possible to record TWO programmes at the same time AND watch a third recorded earlier! Picture quality is BETTER than recorded on a DVD Recorder, as Sky+ stores unencoded pictures to its hard drive. The recorded programme only goes through the decoding process when you play back from the Sky+ box. There are of course many other features, such as serial link on TV series, Dolby 5.1 sound, and many more. See the Sky+ web site for more information.