Don't be daft! I've got special equipment baby

I bet you have.
For what it's worth, the OH never did twiddle my wires properly and I'm still missing a few channels. Should I call you or get Sky to come and install the Plus box for an extra few euro?

I can come round and untangle your wires if you want no problem. Are Sky offering you any deals on the Sky plus box? We have it and although it's not as good as Tivo, we couldn't go back to the normal Sky. With the Sky plus box you'd need a new LNB (usually a quad) anyway which would most likely resolve the issue with the missing channels.
Let me know, ciao x

Hi Duffer,

just spoke to Sky and for a one off payment of 45 euro I can upgrade to the Sky HD plus box. The techie guy will come out and change all the stuff over and add the new line all free of charge.

Nonni gave me some money for my birthday so I'll get the plus box installed.

Thanks a lot for your offer of help. I appreciate it.

Nice one, it's worth having it, it will change your viewing experience certainly for the better. Not sure if Sky Italia does the same as Sky UK but you setup remote record so that you can set you Sky box to record something from your mobile or from the internet. Also, series link is great for recording stuff easily without having to flaff around with setting a timer for each episode, etc.

Well that was easy!
Tech guy rang yesterday evening and asked if he could come at 8.15 this morning.
He arrived at 8.20.
He didn't even install a second line. He fixed some new gadget to the dish, stuck my ariel cable into some kind of USB stick thing and shoved that into the back of the Sky Plus box.

I thought I'd have to pull the furniture out so he could run a second line along the skirting boards and behind the bookcases etc. but I didn't.

He never touched the old line or replaced it and all the channels I was missing before have come back and now of course I have all the HD ones too.

So a couple of weeks ago, Sky told me I'd have to wiggle the dish or change the cable to get the channels back and their technician would cost me 54 euro.

Today I got a Sky Plus HD box and everything working for 45 euro.

Did he stick the new gadget onto the arm sticking out on the front of the dish? If so, that is the LNB. The one you had before probably got roasted hence the missing channels.

But do you have 2 cables running from the dish or to the back of your new Sky box? Are you able to record stuff whilst watching something else?

Yes, he did stick the gadget onto that arm on the dish.

Do not have 2 cables. He never touched any cables or installed any cables.

Have not tried to watch and record. Will go try that now.

So does that mean you can see BBC3 now?

No. This is Sky Italia. I errmmm hopped onto this thread to speak to Duffer. Ooops.

And Duffer, yes I can record and switch to watching a different channel.

I wonder when we'll get a duffer channel?

That's great if your My Sky is working perfectly with just 1 cable, the UK version requires 2 cables otherwise you wouldn't be able to record 1 channel and watch another channel at the same time. With 1 channel you would just interrupt the recording.

It's an encrypted service. You can subscribe if you want, just give me your credit card details please.

A friend of mine on the other side of Vicenza got the Plus box last week on a one off payment as a replacemenet for her old box which broke (which is who I got the idea from) and I'm sure she said the guy ran another line into her house. Perhaps her tech guy doesn't have this newer version yet?

In theory you need 2 cables because the My Sky box has 2 tuners inside, 1 tuner will be for what you are watching currently and the other tuner will be used for recording stuff at the same time. You could record 2 different channels at the same time and watch a third if it's recorded stuff as well.

I say in theory because there are 1 or 2 instances when only 1 cable is required but this depends on the actual channels and which part of the satellite that they are broadcasting from.

Just make sure that the stuff you record when you are watching another channel has actually recorded and you're able to view it, you might get a failed recording message.

Or perhaps you have the twin cable, i.e. 1 plastic cable but with 2 wires inside. You'd see the 2 wires on the back of your Sky box however.