Just for Jane - it will bore the rest of you

Jane, I know you only want to spread the benefit of your technical knowhow to us ignoramuses, but you really haven't understood the problem. I didn't either till I called Philips. I originally thought the problem was with my HDD/DVD recorder, on which I recorded the episodes directly from Sky+. When I tried to transfer it to DVD, I kept getting the "copy protected" message, and thought I had inadvertantly done something. When I could not put right what I thought I'd done, I phoned Philips, the manufacturer. They went through it all with me, and eventually concluded that it was a random restriction imposed by Sky. I asked them about using a switchable input/output scart plug to transfer the video copy on to the HDD (my TV-video combi is also Philips) and that was when they told me that there is no output signal from the unit, so I couldn't send it to the HDD no matter what bells and whistles I added. That's when I got out the old video recorder/dvd player combi and fiddled with the various scart plugs (I have a multi-scart socket so I can run extra things through my TV) till the signal got through to the HDD. Thus I recorded the episode to the HDD, edited it, and put it on DVD. I have to do that again to get the last Bobby episode on to a DVD. It has nothing to do with US recordings, it came via Sky and was recorded on Sky+.

The idea of Sky+ is to record a programme to watch later, not to transfer it and keep it. When we do that we are in breach of copyright laws, though of course everyone does it. This is probably just their way of keeping the progamme makers happy on the copyright front. It's very nice of you to tell me I should be able to do it as we live on the same island, but the facts are as I have told them. It is not do-able. The solution is as I have told it. The reason why I can't record my NTSC tapes to HDD/DVD is the lack of output of my TV/video, which has the NTSC capability, not the copyright protection, though that may figure if I ever found a vehicle to transfer it with.

Actually, I have another TV/video which I have just had repaired, and which also plays NTSC videos, so I may try and see if that has an output, then all my problems would be solved! But pretending they don't exist because someone else with different equipment doesn't have them is just a waste of time.