As you may know, I’m the web developer for the Copy+ software, a freeware Sky HD backup and copying tool. The developer, Stuart McConnachie, used to work with me many years ago – he writes the software and I keep the website going. It’s a relationship that works well and Copy+ has been of use to many people in that time.

Recently, Sky has started upgrading its Sky HD firmware and users have been found that recordings copied with Copy+ are not always playing back properly. At first, people started contacting Sky, thinking it was their firmware. However, they have now posted an official response.

1Tb Sky+HD Issues – Update 13/10/2010 – 19:00

Investigations continue into the issues reported by a minority of Sky+HD 1Tb customers.

We now understand the root cause of an issue with Copy+ software used on the set top box prior to the latest software update that can cause an error in the filesystem which is critical to the new software, causing corruption to planner and recorded content. We are aware that many of the issues reported by customers are not caused by Copy+ but customers who have used Copy+ will need to perform a full system reset. We regret that some of our customers are suffering from this, but reiterate that Copy+ is not a Sky product and is not supported or endorsed by us.

Further updates will be provided as the investigations continue.

Because of this, Stuart has put out an official statement.

We would like to sincerely apologise to all of our users with “1TB” boxes, and also to Sky, for the inconvenience caused by this issue, which does indeed appear t be caused by a filesystem discrepancy introduced by Copy+.

We appreciate that Sky can not be responsible for testing for compatibility with a third party application such as Copy+, but then equally it is impossible for us to test against future Sky software releases as we have no advance knowledge of what they may contain. It is an unfortunate situation for all concerned.

We fully accept that the best course of action for effected users would be to perform a Full System Reset as suggested by Sky. However we accept that some users my have recordings which they do not wish to lose, and so wish to offer a possible, if somewhat more technical, alternative.

To that end we are continuing to investigate and believe we are close to developing an application to fix the inconsistencies in pre and post update recordings so that they no longer risk overwriting each other. Please note that any such “fix” will not be able to recover already lost or damaged content, however it will prevent further losses in the future. Any such fix, as with using Copy+ in the first place, would of course be entirely at the users own risk. While we finalise testing this tool, users can minimise the risk of overwriting further recordings, by avoiding making new recordings or deleting content. However we fully understand if users would prefer to follow Sky’s advice and regrettably have to FSR their system.

Once again we would like to sincerely apologise to all our users effected by this unfortunate incident and the subsequent loss of recordings.

I’ve updated our Twitter feed and posted a link to the above statement of Stuarts on the download page.

I have regularly contact with Alex Lane from What Satellite magazine, so made him aware. Today, they have posted their own news story (currently, gulp, their leading news story). I even get a name check, although incorrectly.

All of this puts Copy+ into the spotlight a little.

All Stuart can do now is to try and understand (if he can) what’s caused this. The important thing to note is that this issue doesn’t occur on the old firmware. None-the-less, new recordings made on the new firmware don’t have an issue.

To me, and this is just my personal opinion, this suggests a change in the Sky firmware. A friend has suggested that maybe Sky have done this to “nobble” Copy+, but I think that’s overly cynical – this will have given Sky bad press as much as Copy+.

Maybe Stuart will find a way to correct for the issue on old recordings. At the very least we need to correct for whatever it is for new usage.

But Alex made a very good point…

I have an awful lot of development work on my lap right now. And that’s the non-work related stuff!

First up, my Java book has turned up, so I intend to start learning that. Once learnt, I’ll then be ordering another book this time for how to create Android Apps using my previously learnt Java skills.

I also still have my Visual Basic book to get through as well (do you think I could do both at the same time or would that get confusing?).

I’ve recently launched an initial website for a new product named navPOInt – a SatNav POI editor for Audi/VW owners. A video is being produced of it in action, which I will then be embedding on the site. Once the software development for this is complete (which I’m not doing, I should add) I’ll then need to build a complete site, complete with instructions, forums and the usual gubbins.

I also have planned changes to make to this site and the Copy+ site.

I’m also still working on my WordPress plugins. My caching function (as used by a number of my plugins) is being completely re-written, I have some ideas for new plugins and I’m in the process of updating a number of the existing ones.

First up, though, is an update to Simple Social Bookmarks to add Google Buzz¹.

And somewhere in all of that I need to squeeze in some blogs about recommended Android Apps, a review of the most popular Android Twitter Apps and a post of recommended HTC Hero accessories.

1. which I’m underwhelmed with. Even the ability to share links on Buzz is being done via a “back door” method as Google hasn’t provided the facility to do it. [↩]

Hmmm. For those who remember my previous post about Digiarty Software contacting me for various software reviews, I’ve been contacted again.

Now, let me just state for the record that I welcome requests for reviews. The problem here is my bar for an acceptable quality level for those contacting me, stating to be a professional organisation. Having said that, they are now adding their contact details, including address, at the bottom of their emails which is a start.

Anyway, their new email. It gets off badly..

Thank you very much for reviewing on our Software.

I don’t think I have.

We are pleased to inform you that a good news.

Whatever made me think originally that they might be a foreign company?

The mysterious Sophia (mysterious because I don’t believe that is her name) goes on to tell me that one of their commercial products is available for free for the rest of the month. They then go on to provide me with a URL to use and tell me I can promote this on my site. Great. But then they finish with…

Please kindly let me know if you are interested in this offer. We would be more than happy to discuss with you further about this.

Oh. Ok. I have to tell them first? Or not. What do I need to discuss?

I’m going to go out on a limb and say that I can promote this. I’ve not reviewed the product, but there’s lot of “awards” for it on the page – just make sure you check them out first¹.

So, here’s the details…

WinX DVD Ripper Platinum is a professional DVD ripping software tool which could backup your DVD video to your personal PC or put into your portable devices. It offers fast ripping speed, stable ripping process and best video/audio quality.

Use this link to get it for free – no registration is required. The offer lasts until September 30th.

1. I’m not singling out this company, you should obviously do this for any product [↩]