Thomson: Sky+ 160

Your Views

Comments (86)

Tim, Cheltenham on July 2nd, 2005
Had it for a month now,it's so easy to se and problems. Can anyone tell me how to use the SB ports.

Paul, Liverpool on July 9th, 2005
I have had this box since it was launched very few problems with the box and its very easy to use and looks amazing would recommend this to any1 who has sky+.

Peter Henderson, Jordanstown, Co. Antrim on July 13th, 2005
I am now on my second sky plus 160 since it launched in Oct. 2004. The first unit locked in the standby position in March and despite efforts from a very helpful Sky technical advisor I was unable to reboot the receiver. The box was replaced free of charge although I had to wait a couple of weeks. Since then it has generally worked well with few problems. Sometimes a programme fails to record but this happens only very occasionally (I suspect it may be due to the broadcaster moving schedules and the epg not updating) .Also sometimes the epg info gets corrupted (ie the info does not relate to the actual programme that was recorded) but again this only occurs now and again. The extra recording capacity is really excellent.

Andy, Reading on July 14th, 2005
Installed in June 2005. There is a problem with the sound on Sky Movies 1, 2 and 3, particularly bad during a Dolby Digital transmission. Sky are aware of the problem but as of yet have not found a solution. So be warned, if films are your forte! I understand they are still shipping flawed boxes without informing customers.

Alan, Dublin on July 25th, 2005
Have had the Sky + 160 box for 3 months now. In general the box performs well and has plenty of capacity allowing approximately 80 hours of recordings. However the 160 box has major problems playing back movies recorded on Sky movies 1,2, & 3 especially when they are recorded in Dolby Digital. Although these sound problems occur mainly on Sky movies they can also occur on other stations. Sky are selling these boxes to unsuspecting customers even though they still haven't solved the problem...I'm not impressed. I would not reccomend this box if you watch a lot of movies, at least not untill sky solve the problem....if ever.

Andi Ching, Worcester on August 2nd, 2005
Fantastic bit of kit, completely changed the way I view TV. it's almost liberating, whenever I see something advertised that I want to watch I stick it straight in my planner, couple that with the series link and you are libertated from the schedules... it is that easy and there is always something to watch when you're actually in the mood for TV. My Sky Movies subscription pays for itself much more now, before I might watch one or two films a month becuase I was always missing start times, now I just scroll through the lisitings and add all the films I want to watch. My only criticism is that the movies seem to have an intermittent fault with Dolby Digital recordings, some recordings are worse than others but it is quite annoying. The other problem is the rare but catastrophic reset, especially if you are five minutes behind in a programme or in the middle of recording something as both are lost. Both problems are a small price to pay compared to the total unreliability of my old VCR!

Dominic on August 2nd, 2005
I've had 6 boxes and all have had problems freezing up stuck on standby, loss of sound, sky planner getting wiped etc... Don't touch with a barge poll!!!!!!

RSM, London on August 8th, 2005
The Sky+160 works well enough, it comes in to its own when I am away from home for extended periods of time, with plenty of storage space I come home to find plenty of episodes of my favourites to watch. If the Sky guide had at least 14 days of listings then it would be perfect.

D Bhogal on August 9th, 2005
Have had it for about 5 months, started off fine but numerous failed recordings, flakey messages about satalite signal not received, loss of sound and now finally "Stuck on Standby"!!

Mark, London on August 9th, 2005
Second box died today,(stuck in standby) no solution to the sound problems they said they had 'solved' in november.

Matt T, Sussex on August 10th, 2005
I can some up this box very quickly, as my experience of most of Skys hardware is the same. Its CRAP. It crashes, it reboots, the EPG stops working, and its also turned itself off never to come on again, and I had to send it off for repair. All of Skys hardware is badly made, badly tested, almost like it were made by Nokia. HOW can Sky get away with dumping this rubbish on us?

Gary, Newcastle on August 15th, 2005
If you want problems then buy this box. Problems with playback (especially movies), eventually the box crashes and loses all of your recordings. Well worth the £400 i paid. Box number 3 due for swap on the 17th August, next system crash probably end of September. Save yourself the hassle and stick with a Video Recorder.

Vince, Enfield on August 31st, 2005
Had it for about 6 months. *Easy and simple to use *No problems so far *Shame it has no real editing features to record to DVD for backup *Can be upgraded by Sky * Future proof? mmmmm.

Nic, Sittingbourne on September 6th, 2005
Dreadful piece of kit. Sky have been selling this product with a known software fault since last November. Am unable to record anything from Sky Movies 1, 2 or 3 due to sound dropouts. The box has an annoying hum, reboots itself whenever it feels like it, the EPG is extremely slow. The real bummer is that Sky doesn't seem to care about solving the problems just as long as it can keep on selling them to poor schmucks like us.

Steve, Ashby de la Zouch on September 8th, 2005
On my second box, it would be brilliant if it worked properly! As other reviewers the sound keeps dropping out on Movies 1,2,3. Spoke to the lovely Simon from Customer Services and was told that a software download is due within a few weeks? I didn't really believe a word he said as like other Sky employees they tell porkie pies. After 15min of moaning not fit for purpose etc..... I managed to get 2 box office films or £7.50 knocked of the bill until the problem is resolved! Try it.

Richard, Chesterfield on September 9th, 2005
Had fitted 1 month now on second box, enginneer coming out on sunday to investigate problem of sound dropping out on sky movies 1. like below. Suggest everyone complains to WATCHDOG to get somthing done.

Rob, Swansea on September 12th, 2005
On my fourth box in 8 months, DD recording on movies does not work on playback. Cannot recommend !!!!

John, Derbyshire on September 13th, 2005
Had it for six weeks so far and am on my fourth box and this one is the worst of the lot. Sound drop outs on all sky movies playback. Movies are unwatchable, very disapointing. I am cutting my losses and going back to a standard sky+ box.

Prevesh, West Sussex on September 14th, 2005
I bought my Sky+ 160 in Novemver last year for £400. Since I got it I had been complaining to Sky about the movies dropping sound. Sky finally changed my box 10/09/2005. I recorded Troy over the weekend and the problem is still there. The sound continuously dropped of during the movie. This box is not recommended if you want to record movies.

Henri, Glasgow on September 21st, 2005
Had one for 4 weeks, then suddenly stuck on standby. Ended up making 3 separate phone calls to customer service over the course of one night for a total of 3.5 hours spent on the phone (yes absolutely ridiculous) only for them to eventually agree it might be an issue with the box. Utterly appaling!!! Watchdog here I come!!!

Paul, Wickford on September 22nd, 2005
One word for this box CRAP! on my 3rd box just sent back for repair all with the same fault stuck on standby, lost all my Thomas the Tank stuff.!! suspect hard drive fault as you can here the thing trying to spin up, now going to buy the 250GB upgraded pace box and will send the invoice to sky.

Russ, North Yorkshire on September 23rd, 2005
Had Sky PLUS 160 installed on 20th August. Fantastic until yesterday. Went to record Spooks and message re Fault. All stuff recorded gone. Telephone helpline tried to get me to reboot. System now locked in standby. Engineer due tomorrow, but having read all these other posts, now concerned re what I have bought.

Ade Fowler, Tunbridge Wells on September 28th, 2005
My computer has been running 24/7 for nearly a year without a reboot – my Sky+ 160 needs a reboot almost weekly since it was installed in July. Apart from that and a few missed recordings it's been pretty good (touches wood)

Alan Billericay, Essex on September 30th, 2005
Today had replacement No 4. All same problem stuck in standby. Once again all my shows lost!! Sky engineer bullshited about how good this box is!! Don't get this one

Mfemfe on October 3rd, 2005
Sky+ 160 is an absolute piece of c**p. Do not even think about it. Crashing, rebooting, sound drop-outs. It is all true. NEVER "upgrade" to one of these. If the box was not bad enough, the 'Sky' "technicians" (purleease) are even worse. Utter time wasters.

Clive Pontypool on October 4th, 2005
Like many others have said - do not buy!!! The machine is fine when working but too many problems when not working correctly. Had my box for less than 3 months came home last night and stuck in standby. After about an hour on the phone an engineer is coming tomorrow - why do customer services go through rebooting etc when they know of the problem that exists with these machines. I do not hold out any hopes for this machine long term. Stick to the new Sky + box.

John, Hampshire on October 5th, 2005
Just come off the phone to Sky technical support. I had my first 160 replaced when stuck on standby after just 2 months. Ive hobbled along for 6 months since then accepting all the flakey things that happen till just recently when I was getting progrssively worsr performance such as failed recordings, clashes, box freezing, unable to view recorded programmes, unable to view and record a programme at the same time, sound synch problems and more. I succumbed to a programme replanner which worked for a while but today I have had the machine reformatted - so I lost all my recordings. Interesting to hear other views - I am keeping an eye on the warranty which will run out in December unless I can get something in writing.

Ian, Colchester on October 6th, 2005
Sky+ 160 installed Monday 3rd October, bonus I thought as I had not asked for a 160 just standard sky+. My delight was short lived - 2 days later and it suddenly throws a fit, changes channels by itself and then tries to dial out to order a box-office movie (lucky I set the pin-lock then!). After this little 'display' I find I have lost about 2/3rds of the channels - just get 'no satellite signal' error. Check signal indicators - all up at about 85% and I can still get some of the channels. Strange - I can not get any sports, about half the 'family' ones, about 1/3rd of the movies and none of the 551 - 564 block. Spent nearly on hour waiting on the phone to Sky (and they have the nerve to call it customer service - how is keeping you on hold for 55 minutes service!!) and have an engineer coming on Friday. Will be interesting to see if they give me another 160 box and if so whether it lasts any longer than the first one !

Russ, London on October 10th, 2005
We're now on our second Sky+ 160 after the last one got stuck in standby at 7 weeks old. Having had 5 standard Sky+ boxes before that, the 160 seems to be more substantial and quieter in operation; BUT the recent failure has cast serious doubt over the new boxes future reliability. It would be fair to say that our household wishes it had never even considered Sky in the first place. The real shame is that when the boxes work the system is superb. Easy to use, quiet, and giving better image quality than the standard Sky+ box. Buy it, but DON'T RELY ON IT, one minor glitch and you can lose all your recordings.

James, Inverness on October 12th, 2005
Have the same problem with sound cutting out on movies recorded from channels 301,302 & 303. Called customer services who said they are aware and it's a software issue which is being worked on and will automatically be downloaded to the box when they have finished writing the patch.

Mark, Brandon on October 17th, 2005
I've had this box a week now and already it's dropping sound from the movie channels and also it's refusing to run two tv links that my one panasonic box used to run.

Steve, Dundee on October 17th, 2005
Really disappointed in the level of engineering with the Thomson box. Sky installed Thomson DS16210 8 days ago, two sofware lockouts and hard drive is grinding itself to death whilst it tries to reboot. Utterly appalling piece of kit. My original sky box was made by Pace, (and made in Wales), installed 1999, absolutely no problems in just under 6 years. Still cannot get any sucess contacting Sky technical to report the fault. I guess that the box needs to be changed. Would be better if they pulled the thing off the market completely as it doesn't do what it says on the tin.

Alan, Gravesend on October 18th, 2005
On my Second Thompson box and heading for the third!! it packed up last night with the same problem as before - can't record or playback 30 hrs of stuff I 've recorded and I'm only two months into the contract!!! I have contacted Watchdog and waiting for a reply - suggest you all do the same here

Frank, Wexford, Ireland on October 19th, 2005
Had my SKY+ 160 installed October 5th. Poor sound volume on Sky Movies 1,2 & 3. Also sound blanks when these channels are recorded. Contacted Sky by e-mail below was the reply. "I'm sorry you are experiencing technical difficulties with the Sky + equipment, we are about to download new software which will resolve the sound issue your are having at this time." At least they are admitting there is a problem. It remains to be seen if it is software or hardware related.

Kay, Co Durham on October 26th, 2005
Sky+ 160 is fantastic - when it all works!! We are now on to our second box after the first one crashed and lost loads of recordings. Just returned from a 2 week holiday to find lots of failed recordings even though our other basic sky+ box happliy chugged away without any hitches in the other room. I now record everything in duplicate in case it's lost on the 160 box only deleting it on the old box once I've watched it. I don't think it will be long before this one ends up being replaced. Sometimes all the lights are on, sometimes there are no lights on and none of this bears any corelation to whether you are actually recording or watching or in standby mode. Totally ridiculous. I agree with the poster above on 18th October - lets all write to Watchdog and see if anything happens. Oh and we've also had several different engineers out to look at our sky boxes and why is it they all say different things and all claim to know it all when clearly they don't?

Bill McCrea, Belfast on November 3rd, 2005
I just had my third Sky+ 160 box installed today. First one stuck on standby after two weeks, second box lasted 4 months. Engineer told us that the 160 box was no longer getting made due to all the reliabilty issues. He said they were planning to sell a new slimline version of the box.

Laurie Smith, Southampton on November 7th, 2005
Sky+ on the Pace box was brilliant, using optical outputs into a top spec Bose system. Changed to the 160gig Thomson box and the sound is rubbish at times. It clicks when you change channels before it resumes, and sometimes the sound is bloody awful, so you have to change to another channel and then back to cure it. Also loses recordings sometimes. Don't touch it on optical at all!!! So much for top quality.

Brian, Lancashire on November 17th, 2005
Only had this box for a few weeks and I've tarted to experience problems when watching recorded Sky Movies - when ever the screen is majoritively black the sound keeps cutting out... however, if you rewind and replay the sound is okay in te part where it cuts out... and creeps in again later... but its perfect when the screen isnt black. Weird. Its not the Scart cable as I swapped and I experienced the same problem. Any clues?

Rob, Pontefract on November 20th, 2005
Most unreliable piece of kit I've ever bought, needs rebooting every single day, sometimes twice a day, rewind feature hardly ever works, recordings fail for no reason, it cuts ends and starts off programmes DO NOT BUY!!!

Gerry, Kent on November 26th, 2005
My first Thomson 160+ lasted four weeks before freezing in standby; my second one did a lot better, three months, but now it's frozen as well. Great product when it works but, when you come to rely on it, it suddenly bites back! NO MORE! I'm going back to PACE SKY+!!!!!!!

Paul, Carlisle on December 6th, 2005
Ive had my sky+ box and it has been excerlent only problem is that it keeps loosing its second dish input for no reason otherwise no problems

Tracey, Greater Manchester on December 14th, 2005
Just had my amstrad box for one month, loads of noice on hard drive and after the first month kept switching off and failed to record. Engineer now installed a Thomson I wait to see if I get all the problems everyone else seems to be having

Nick, Southampton on December 14th, 2005
Don't know the exact failure rate on these boxes but after reading this whole page, seems pretty high. I recently upgraded to Sky+160 and relocated my old Pace Sky+ box to the bedroom. Was happy with first impressions of the Thomson Sky+160 box (apart from dodgy card slot flap). Anyhow everything seemed fine for 4 days then System fault - no Sky+ facilities called sky, System Full Reset from hidden installation menu (at System Setup menu hit 0,1,Select) - solved problem. 5 days on System Fault as before - reset didn't solve problem.... now Stuck on Standby (sound familiar?) so called sky again, after about 40 minutes+ on phone having tried a software upgrade.... no luck Engineer visit scheduled for Friday - best I can hope for I'm told is a reconditioned box. Then I found this site.... spent another 2hrs+ from Techincal Support to Sales to Customer Services to Installations.... at last someone who could help me know the precedure to downgrade my Sky+160 box to a standard Pace Sky+ box.... luckily I am still in the 30 day cooling off period so with a letter to cancel Sky+160 contract can switch to a good old regular Pace Sky+ box. Conclusion: My advice to anyone wanting to upgrade to Sky+160 is "I wouldn't bother until there is a new Sky+160 box available that you're confident works properly"

Rob, Cardiff on December 15th, 2005
Have now had 2 Sky+160 boxes, the first was faulty with a very shakey still picture, and also very gitterey on fast fwd and rewind. Unfortunately the 2nd box also suffers with the same. My previous Pace SKY+ box delivered perfect results - so the 160 box is a bit of a let down.

Richard, York on December 24th, 2005
First box field after six months, second one failed after 7 months - not happy...

Mike Pentney, Hertfordshire on December 27th, 2005
Just had my 2nd Sky+ 160 box fail. The first box was installed just over 1 year ago and cost £459. The 2nd box arrived in July after the 1st one died ("stuck on standby" - a very common problem it seems). Sky are now refusing to give me a refund or a replacement...be warned!!!

Mark, Welwyn Garden on December 27th, 2005
1st box was noisy beyond belief. 2nd box was even worse. 3rd box in three months and, although not as quiet as the 40 gig box I've lost the will to fight and more and have settled for turning the volume up to compensate for the background hum. I am now on the phone to SKY Technical help (20 mins and counting) in order to get the infrared emitter code for my Sky+ box so I can use a different system to control my sky + box.

Amy, London on January 4th, 2006
Yesterday was our third sky+ box in TWENTY days!!! and thats because of Xmas! WE had our first box and two days after instaliation there was a power cut for 1 second. Went to turn it on and the whole sky box would not turn on. Got it replaced three days latter!!! Then I wanted to record a program on E4 and it said it would but when i went to watch it it said recording inturupted then the whole sky box freezed so on the phone again to sky engernere will come out after new year! So waited all that time fidled around still didnt work!! Swapt the box still didnt work after four hours looking at the dish changing the wires and another sky + box it finally works but for how long ................. we will see. So technically it is 4 boxs in twenty days and thats with the delay between xmas and new year.

Steve, Ipswich on January 5th, 2006
Had my sky plus box since mid sept. Not had any of the bad problems others seem to have suffered. Keeping my fingers crossed. Gripes so far: 1) RF picture quality isn't very good. Signal is either too strong or too weak, either way it don't look right! Scart output is fine though. 2) Noise from the hard disk is louder then you'd like in your lounge. Soon as mine is over a year old I'm planning on swapping the disk. 3) Sound level. I usually have the TV volume set fairly low. Sometimes when turning the TV on, the volume coming from the box is really low.. I have to turn the TV way up. Some times it is really loud and you can't turn the TV volume down enough. A quick trip to standby fixes the problem. Never had this problem from my Panasonic sky box, so i don't think its the TV at fault. 4) No Satellite Signal Received. Had this message twice now in the 4ish months I've had the thing. Checking the signal test shows both signals strong and locked. A power cycle is needed to fix this one. 5) EPG, recording and series link. Sometimes series link doesn't find episodes of something, so you have to manually set the recording of something. Good points: Being able to set it to record stuff with series link is brilliant! Pausing and rewind live TV, excellent! But i think our favourite feature... skipping adverts at 30x fast forward! For me the good points are out weigh the gripes right now. if you can get a reliable 160 box, its well worth it!

Dave Wilson, Saffron, Walden, Essex on January 7th, 2006
Bought this box when first come out, 15 months ago. Have just had 5th replacement box fitted (freezes on standby) and guess what Sky now want £65 call out as year warranty has elapsed. (Warranty is on the deal not the kit) happy to replace box each time but I now have to pay. (Unbelievable) This product is unstable. I am going to try and change for the smaller box and try and get the money difference back from sky. (I am not holding my breath) This box needs to be upgraded and tested before they continue to sell the system. Lost everything I have recorded each time. TEDIOUS

Mary, Ireland on January 11th, 2006
Logged a call with sky as 160 + box stuck on standby... took day off work to wait for all day engineer call out - engineer did not come as out of stock on sky+ 160 boxes.. was on phone to sky to rectify matter - they refuse to compensate for loss of day and refuse to give a time of day when engineeer will replace same. They must really think we are fools to waste day on them.. very poor service.

Min, North Shields on January 18th, 2006
Ive had my sky + for 2 years now and had hiccups at 1st but no major problems. wheever they do downloads to it it usualy plays up for a while but save your money and switch off everything wait 5 mins and reboot usualy works and its all they tell u when u ring up anyway

K Dinshaw, Gerrards Cross on January 23rd, 2006
Got the sky+160 in september. Froze in standby, replaced in November. Yesterday, froze in standby again. Unimpressed with the engineers who have come out so far. Also, Sky had nerve to tell me that this is not a common problem with this box - have they read these pages at all?!?

Alan, Billericay on February 7th, 2006
Has ANYONE found the answer to the "stuck in standby" problem so obviously inherent to this box. Just had box No 5 changed (warranty runs out in 4 wks so big problem). Does anyone know of an alternate. Sky is just not interested and simply lies about the reliability of the 160+ box. They always state we have had a very few reports of this problem. As for the engineers well they simply delivery drivers whose knowledge extends to the installation for new customers, or how to change an existing box. Isn't sky's monopoly a wonderful thing!!

Ron , Whitchurch , Shropshire on February 8th, 2006
Recently aquired a Thomson 160 through the recommend a friend scheme, reading the comments on here whilst waiting for the installation got a bit concerned and as it turned out I was right to worry. I have had a Pace V2 box for 2 years what a clever piece of kit, my wife thinks more of it than she does me and its been really good, just the occasional lock up (easily remedied). The Thomson has been a nightmare freezing, lost recordings,noisy in fact totaly unreliable my wife was putting things in a suitcase! Our belove Pace was reinstalled and tranquility was resumed. Oh and my wife has decided to stay. THOMSON SKY + 160 AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE!

Rob, Great Yarmouth on February 10th, 2006
My Thomson Sky+160 Box is changing channels of its own accord. I am watching a programme when it shows channel numbers being entered by someone in the house with a remote control. But I live alone and no one else is in the house. Sky are not aware of this problem.

Jason, Aylesbury on February 14th, 2006
Obviously much improved from the Amstrad unit aside from the capacity most notably the instant responce to the remote down TVlink. The first digibox suffered the 'stuck-in-standby' problem when engineer tried to install so had to be replaced.

Martin, Oxford on February 14th, 2006
I have lost all faith in the power of the intranet, why can't we find out why this 'stuck in standby' happens and how it can be fixed? Is there a graveyard at this Thompson company where all the Sky plus 160 boxes are dumped, never to come out of the 'stuck in standby' coma?...my 2nd Sky plus 160 just failed again like the first, stuck in standby. I've tried all the tricks, forced the software update, opened it up, checked all conenctions, but it's clear that it won't start becasue the hard disc dosn't start spinning when I plug it in. The only sign of life in this box is the red standby light. Such a pain, these Sky/Thompson people must be made respsonsible!

Shezad, Glasgow on February 15th, 2006
When playing movies most of the sound is missing. I thought it might have been because of bad weather. Now I am wise to the damn problem. Sky engineer said it was good twice when installing it. I ignored him the 1st time when he said it but he repeated now that I think back, I think he was taking the piss.

John, Chelmsford on February 21st, 2006
Now on my 4th 160 box. Sound has dropped out on recorded movies on each box. Last one took 1hr 30minutes on 0870 number queue to just report the fault.

Mike, Milton Keynes on February 21st, 2006
Only 4 weeks old and the HDD cooling fan is making more noise than it should (I can hear it from upstairs!). I e-mailed Sky and they chose to ignore my observation that it is the fan and instead informed me that they will soon be doing a software upgrade that will reduce the "clicking" noise coming from the HDD (I know the difference between drive noise and fan noise! Unfortunately Sky think all their customers are idiots). I have managed to find a 40mm fan and will replace it myself when it arrives.

I Gardner on February 24th, 2006
2nd Sky+ Box just froze. Pity as the concept is fine. Sky responsible under Sale of Goods for faults due to poor design, workmanship, parts etc - possibly for up to 6 years from date of purchase. Class action soon? Or will Watchdog take up?

P Swash, Colchester on February 25th, 2006
Had Sky installed for 4 months. Now onto our second Thomson box. Continues to crash (4 times a week at least and increasing). Sky engineer will come and replace box only to have same problems once again. Latest problem is when deleting recordings, it freezes then you have to do a major reboot. When it comes on again, all previous recordings have failed.

Steve, Portsmouth on March 29th, 2006
I recently got 160 as a "reward" for recommending a friend. It's been more like a punishment. First box was awful, sound was bad, box froze, couldn't toggle through favourites, probles rewinding/ffwding, so now I'm on my second. Sound still "clicks" when I change channel, picture goes out of focus when i RW/FF. It has lots of annoying little things that my previous PACE box didn't. I've written to Sky and am awaiting their reply. I don't want the 160 box anymore, I'm going to put my old PACE box in. Less disk space, but at least it works....

ijd, Surrey on March 31st, 2006
Excellent box, very easy, runs silent (in wooden av unit) never missed a recording, live pause got stuck once, ten minuite phone call to sky resolved this. "sky did a tweak their end, followed by reboot" 5.1 sounds spot on. I can only sing praise for this box, had it for about 8 months now

Scott, Northumberland on April 6th, 2006
had my 160 for about 8 months now onto second box as sound kept dipping on movies.im onto second box had the same problem but went away after few weeks.it started playing up again when sky where doing there overhall in febuary but fine now,touch wood.mine got stuck in standby a while ago but after unplugging about 5 times came back on.but i can suggest a fix to stop this problem,dont put it in standby at all.as i live in large household the box is nearly always on day and night.on the rare ocassion it was put in standby it locked up.i also have epg problems after being in standby.our old box was always on and we never had any trouble with it all five years we had it...also has many of you contacted bbc watchdog about this box with the amount of complaints we have you would think they would do a article about it..

Roger, Chester on April 18th, 2006
Usual problem with my sky+ 160 stuck in standby, its only 6 months old.Bought of a company via the internet who are no longer trading, Thomson and sky don't want to know. this really is a dreadful piece of kit. Replaced it with an 80gig box.Steer clear. As sky are now punting the new HD box I can't see them investing in inprovements ets to the 160's sound and operating issues. You have been warned

Phil, Manchester on May 27th, 2006
Had the box about 2 months. Now it keeps switching itself into STANDBY mode. This happens at least twice a week now. When I managed to get it back on I often find I can only get BBC1 through to Channel 5 then Sky 1, 2 & 3 with nothing else. I lose planned recordings. As the engineer showed me how it worked I didn't need to look at the instruction manual. Since this happened I looked in the box and found that I haven't even had an instruction manual. Can anyone please tell me how the COPY mode on the planner works. For this I had also to upgrade my Sky package which is around £35 a month even though I don't watch the upgraded channels. I wouldn't mind if the box worked OK and was reliable.

Tom, Derby on July 3rd, 2006
Just called sky about a possible upgrade from the standard 80Gb Box to the 160 and they told me that the 160 no longer exists!!! That didn't last long did it!

Mo Styles, Walton on August 19th, 2006
Even when brand new, the 160+ box started to play the sound out of sync with the picture, but now after 14 months the box has chosen to end its days in standby, like it seems most of them do. Sky charge £55 for an engineer to fix a box outside of warranty. Maybe they will fix it or maybe I will enjoy more pleasures and frustration!

Rosie, Corby on August 19th, 2006
Upgraded to Sky+160 Thomson DS16210 in Jan 2006. We thought picture didnt look so sharp right from the start. engineer said as we had kept our other sky + box and moved it into other room he would replace dish to improve picture- it didnt, but his opinion was that existing dish systems just are not designed to run more than one sky+ box.They dont tell you that when you ask about multiroom! It is very noisy, even when its doing nothing! we have also noticed a lot of discrepancy on volume settings particularly on movie channels. Why?! problems have slowly started to appear over the last few months: recordings failing- apparently loss of signal/unknown reason being most common cause, failing to respond to remote and having to be rebooted,( this is starting to happen a lot), but the most recent is beginning to drive us mad- the picture starts to flash, stops and starts and turns black and white for about 20-30 seconds. At first it was only happening on recorded programmes but now it is also occuring on live tv, and just this morning I was reading the news headlines on BBCi when it happened. has anyone else had this problem? I will be contacting Sky once I have watched the recorded material I have, as I know that once they run "housekeeping", I will lose everything. I dont intend to phone them as I am fed up with the waiting. Instead I will send a recorded delivery letter to the CEO of SKY ( just google to find his name) stating that this box is not fit for the purpose for which it was intended- and yes if Sky knew they were selling faulty boxes and the complaints I have read seem to indicate this, you certainly do have six years to claim your money back under the sale of goods act. I was very interested to see the last comment about Sky saying the 160 box doesnt exist any more- I have thought for some time that these boxes were being got rid of quick at Xmas because there was something wrong with them, that and the fact that HD was just around the corner! So people, now is the time to do something- get in touch by letter and/or email with SKY's CEO and show him we are not the mugs he took us for!

Q Mayberry, Scotland on December 4th, 2006
Our Thomson 160 box is exhibiting the same problems everyone else is getting. We are also getting the flashing screen on recordings. i.e. the recorded program goes to a blank screen then back to the recording, it does that about 3 to 5 times at around half second intervals, really irratating.

Martin, Devon on December 26th, 2006
Well, reading this I wonder how long my new purchase will last. I bought it reconditioned from a local supplier, and they have said it is an early model which has a different firmware from the faulty batch? Umm....lets wait and see! So far working very well - and I am working it hard. I have 12 months warrenty, so will take it as it comes for now!

bailey eastbourne on January 10th, 2007
after exacly a year this box is useless sky say it is not repairable they do not install it now as parts are no longer available avoid it with a bargepole

Steve, Cornwall on January 10th, 2007
Well I am a sky engineer, have been doing it over a year now, so I know what I am talking about. I have read most of these comments about the sky plus boxes, firstly I agree that trying to get hold of them is at sometimes a joke....and that these sky plus boxes’ are prone to problems.... but I do think, that problems can occur from number or reasons....maybe the engineer could not source the original/right problem.... is the customer, confident enough to actually work it, have they been given a demo on how to use the box..... you have to all remember its a delicate piece of equipment...there are lots of reasons for different problems, it makes you laugh coz the customer thinks there right but there not always...some of the time its the person and not the product, I’ve had my 2 sky plus boxes’ from new 5 years ago before I started working for them, I’ve had one problem... if you do book a service call, ask for a sky engineer, don’t have a sub contractor.

Colin, Christchurch, Dorset on January 12th, 2007
The Thomson SKY+ box is NO GOOD if you wish to use it with a distribution system fed from the RF2 output. The RF modulator/loop through amplifier's performance is really poor resulting in patterning and grainy pictures. It's worst at channel high channels (68 is the default and really bad) but pretty grim all the way down to 21. IF YOU'RE GOING TO FEED A DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM, DON'T GET THOMSON - THE PACE IS MUCH MUCH BETTER!

Mike, Sittingbourne on January 12th, 2007
Awful - continually freezes. Only option is to reboot at the mains.

Bob, Wales on January 27th, 2007
I suffer from the same as Colin's point above also with regard to the amplification on RF2. Does anyone have any hints on how can help rather than buy a PACE box! ????

Greg, Northern Ireland on February 10th, 2007
I have been having a problem with a Pace2500 sky box will not come out of the reboot mode. So what is wrong? By the way your web site is great and very informative.

Rhys, Cardiff on February 15th, 2007
I have Sky HD and Sky plus in the same open cabinet (feeding different TVs in different rooms). The problem being that the Sky plus remote activates both boxes - the sky HD only activates the Sky HD. Anyone know where the infrared receiver is on a sky HD box; or know how to disable a sky plus handset??

Mike, Knutsford on March 3rd, 2007
The box has worked fine since I got it 8 months ago. The only problem I get is that it stops working on the HDMI output about once every three weeks and needs a complete power off, leave of for a minute and switch back on. Always seems to happen on those rare occasions when there is something good on Sky.

Tim, nr Bath on March 30th, 2007
Not impressed at all by the box. I have had at least one freeze up every week and the EPG is slow, so much so that I keep deleting my saved programmes in error. Finally I experience the SM1, 2, &3 sound issues. Sky+ is fantastic when it works, but this box is too buggy. On demand should be good when I get it though.

Norman, Belfast on May 7th, 2007
I have recently noticed poor sound quality i.e a very annoying hissing from my Thompson Sky+ 160 box the more the volume is increased. Has anyone out there had a similar problem and if so how was it resolved.

Phil, Manchester on July 24th, 2007
I have had the 160 box 2 years now with lots of trouble. Many times it just switches itself into standby mode. The only way to get it to work again is to unplug and replug at the mains. No the picture started jerking and sound screeched so much so that now all I can get is the message NO SATELLITE SIGNAL BEING RECEIVED on a blue screen.

Freddie S, SE London on December 6th, 2007
Towards the end of the 1 year Guarantee period, I was bombarded with calls from an Asian call centre telling me I had to buy an extended warrantee. They got quite pushy and I got quite annoyed that I had to repeat time and again that I did not want to even be contacted about this. Well you can guess the rest. After 18 months I started to get all sorts of hard drive problems. The Sky helpdesk have now informed me that the hard drive needs to be replaced. Of course it’s not related or the fact that you have to keep your phone line connected – a similar thing that I need for remote access that I use in my work when administering servers remotely, applying patches and uploading scripts. Just who do they think they are?

Tam, Scotland on April 23rd, 2008
I have worked on the Sky Tech line now for 2years and I have to say DONT GO FOR SKY!!! Trust me its not worth the money! If you want the Rec and live pause go for the BT Vision Box! same size of hard drive and you dont get the osm No Sat Sig! All the sky boxes tend to do is break if you start getting a freezing pic it will soon come up with No Sat Sig! And dont even start me with the hard drives! If you start getting failed rec switck the box off at the wall take the dish inputs out leave it for a bit, put them back in and switch it on! if that dont work go for a full system reset but that will get rid of everything on the hard drive! services ,4, then 0,1 select! If that dont work DONT PAY for some third party cowboy to come out and bust it even more! Cancel and get a BT Vision box! do the same and they dont bust!