# Sky + - can't play a recorded programme



## thebop (15 Apr 2009)

Can anyone help with this please? Recorded a couple of programmes and they won't play. I've tried powering down the box and switching it off and still no luck. Is this a lost cause or does anyone have a tip?


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## WhoAmI (15 Apr 2009)

I don't have a tip, but you're not alone. The same thing happened to me. I was able to play other programs, but when I tried to view one in particular, it just sat there. In the end, I just deleted the program.


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## thebop (15 Apr 2009)

I've deleted programmes before when this happened but really want to see one of them (House from last wkend, am totally addicted )

Thanks anyway


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## Smashbox (15 Apr 2009)

I would say the item recorded on a 'bad' part of the disc that + records to. If so, you won't be able to play it.

Sometimes when its happened to me, I power it off for a few minutes at the switch, then turn it back on and *sometimes* it works.

Did I moan yet about having to have the Sky engineer out again? He's due Saturday... oh how I hate Sky.


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## thebop (15 Apr 2009)

I know I've been very lucky that the box hasn't been troublesome touch wood but I'm just a bit peeved as I really wanted to see that episode I recorded. Boo hoo I know, people have real problems etc.


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## Smashbox (16 Apr 2009)

I would think its not gonna play for you, such as my experience


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## bigjoe_dub (16 Apr 2009)

get this about once every 2 months or so.
not usually an issue as most things i record are repeated elseware on the likes of sky2/3.
do a seach on your mysky tv listings and you may come across it.
also you may find the odd episode on the web that is streamed.  did the other day for a episode of scrubs I missed on Monday on rte2.


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## Neadyk (16 Apr 2009)

Thebop have you searched the programme listings to see if its on again?  The one thing about Sky is they have plenty of repeats!


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## thebop (16 Apr 2009)

Thanks for the replies guys. The series of house i'm recording on 3e is on hallmark so i think the particular episode i missed is on some day next week. Bloody recession and all the associated staying in has me addicted to telly  cheers again


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## NHG (11 May 2009)

We have cornation st, emerdale etc on series record (sad or what!) a month or so corrie taped but would not play so just deleted and forgot about it, same thing happened on fri nite it taped the first episode and taped the second episode but would only play the second episode - should we ring sky or could we sort it out ourselves


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## Smashbox (11 May 2009)

Smashbox said:


> I would say the item recorded on a 'bad' part of the disc that + records to. If so, you won't be able to play it.
> 
> Sometimes when its happened to me, I power it off for a few minutes at the switch, then turn it back on and *sometimes* it works.


 
Did you try that?


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## NHG (11 May 2009)

We did turn the sky off from the remote control and on again but did power it off fully, but we will do the next time it happens.


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## JoeB (11 May 2009)

I've seen a tip mentioned before that you shouldn't delete these unplayable programs...  because if the problem is with a bad area of the disk then by deleting the program you are freeing up the bad area to be used again.. also if you do ever call an engineer out you would have several unplayable recordings for him to examine..

Cheers


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## NHG (11 May 2009)

That makes complete sense, thank you.

If I remember correctly both times it happened was when corrie was on twice on the one night and it recorded both but only played the second recording not the first, i was just wondering if it had anything to do with that.


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## Smashbox (11 May 2009)

Shouldnt be, it is possibly just a bad area of disc


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## uncorked (12 May 2009)

NHG said:


> We have cornation st, emerdale etc on series record (sad or what!) a month or so corrie taped but would not play so just deleted and forgot about it, same thing happened on fri nite it taped the first episode and taped the second episode but would only play the second episode - should we ring sky or could we sort it out ourselves



I also have Emmerdale and Corrie on Series Record, and it failed to record the first episode last Friday night. The plot thickens!!


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## JoeB (12 May 2009)

Well, maybe there's a bug in the software.. 

Uncorked: Did you also do two recordings in a row like NHG above.. if so maybe there's a bug where the first recording can't be played if a second recording happens before a reset or some other activity.. this could be tested by setting up two recordings during the day say, when you're at work.. and seeing if the first recording can play. 

Or the bug may be more complex.. like recording two different channels in a row.. or some other sequence...

If you could duplicate the problem at will then Sky would solve it... having worked as a computer programmer I know that if a bug can't be duplicated then it is unlikely they will solve it...  on the other hand if it can be duplicated at will then it is easy to solve... intermittent bugs can be very tricky to solve.

Cheers

PS. Other users could try setting up to record Emmy and Corrie on Friday nights... and see if anyone can play the first recording.. if not then you have a repeatable bug which should be fixed quickly. I don't have a Sky box so can't help....


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## NHG (12 May 2009)

There was a double corrie on last night and both episodes played perfect. Must be something to do with a bug in sky's programing.


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## uncorked (12 May 2009)

I have Corrie and Emmerdale on series record for the last year and a half. These programmes are back to back: Emmerdale 7pm Corrie 7.30pm on TV3. On Friday, nothing else was recording at the same time. This problem doesn't happen every week but programmes have failed to play, perhaps ten times, in a year and a half.

JoeBallantin, I'll take your advice and keep the unplayable recordings. Thanks.


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## NHG (26 May 2009)

It happened again last night, first corrie taped (showed 2% used and 29mins) but would'nt play, second corrie played no prob.  I powered off as suggested but no difference.  I did'nt delete it this time incase sky repairs need to call


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## Cashstrapped (26 May 2009)

NHG said:


> It happened again last night, first corrie taped (showed 2% used and 29mins) but would'nt play, second corrie played no prob.  I powered off as suggested but no difference.  I did'nt delete it this time incase sky repairs need to call



I've the very same problem with mine and my box is only 3 months old.  Mine also is powering itself off about twice a day for the last 2 weeks or in the middle of watching a recording and then refuses to play the rest.  I'm waiting on a call back to see if there's a problem with sky in general or if it's my box, hope its not going to cost me a callout charge this early on.


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## hizzy (26 May 2009)

Hi All

This just happened to me for the first time last night, was recording Britains got Talent (there was nothing else on), but now it won't play it, kept trying last night to watch it, but nothing, tried all the suggestions that were discussed on this thread.  Will log a call with them.

Regards

Hizzy


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## NHG (26 May 2009)

I rang sky a few mins ago, as a poster said a while back it is that a section of the hard drive is corrupt. He told me to do the following:

Press services on remote, 
Select No 4 System Set up
Ignore what the screen says
key in 0 1 and press select
highlight No 7 Sky + Planner rebuild
press select 3 Times
Leave sky off for 3 mins and then press the sky button

It will delete the program that won't play but everything else will be saved and it should be sorted then.

I will try it when I get home tonight.


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## Vanilla (26 May 2009)

I was told to press the blue button and it worked.


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## NHG (12 Jun 2009)

Tried the formula that sky gave me... did'nt work.  It happened again on wed night (again corrie) so rang sky, call was answered immediately (many the time I was on hold for over 20 mins), they said that I needed an engineer to call out..  i said that they could take the sky out as I was'nt paying a call out charge... they said that no my a/c was under a 90 day warranty a/c??? so no call out charge and offered me me 3 mths free movies.  I asked to know if I would have to call to turn the movies off and he said no, just that I would have to ring if I wanted to keep them...  how things have changed with sky.


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## BigD (20 Jun 2009)

This is a problem with the "buffer" time which is there to compensate if a programme is starting early or delayed slightly. 
It happens sometimes when you record programmes one after another, so say there is a marathon of a programme on a saturday and there may be 2 episodes back to back. The machine is set to record (eg) 3 minutes before and 3 minutes after a programme is due to start and finish.
When the 2 recordings overlap (programme 1 is still recording 3 minutes after programme, and programme 2 has started recording 3 minutes before it starts) on the same channel this sometimes causes a glitch in the system, and tells you the episode is there, but it wont playback. You can only delete it unfortunately.

You can change these settings but I think I'd prefer not to risk possibly missing out on the end of an episode.


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