A Sky box or Sky Digibox as it's also known, is a digital satellite TV receiver marketed by Sky in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. Put simply, the Sky box decodes signals from satellites high up in space above the UK and displays digital satellite TV on our televisions at home. The Sky box is connected to a satellite dish (Sky calls its small dishes minidishes) which receives the signals from space.

There are three different types of the Sky box

Sky box - standard option

The Sky box is the standard option for Sky customers. It doesn't have enhanced features such as recording - which is only available on Sky+ or Sky+ HD boxes.

The basic features you can get with a Sky box are:

* Access to your chosen Sky Digital TV package;

* The Sky Digital EPG;

* Interactive services.

The Sky box gives you access to games and interactive services such as Sky Active. You can also order movies and major sporting events from your remote control with Sky Box Office. These features are only available if your Sky box is plugged into a working landline telephone socket.

Remember that if you do have your Sky box connected to a phone line and you have broadband at home, you should fit an ADSL filter to your Sky box to reduce interference on your broadband connection and home phone line.

A Sky box is a great way to access the world of Sky TV. But if you want better features such as recording and high-definition digital TV viewing you should consider a Sky+ or Sky+ HD Box.

Sky+ box

The Sky+ box has revolutionised the way we watch digital TV. A Sky+ box has all the basic features of the Sky box but its main feature is recording. The Sky+ box enables you to pause, rewind and record live digital TV, record an entire series of your favourite show using series link, record one digital TV programme while watching another and record two digital TV programmes while playing back a recorded digital TV programme. Programmes are recorded to a hard drive in the Sky+ box so there's no need for tapes or discs. The Sky+ box also includes one touch recording and the on-demand Sky Anytime service.

Another great service for Sky+ is Sky+ Remote Record. This allows you to set your Sky+ to record a programme using your mobile phone when you're out - so there's no excuse for missing your favourite shows!

Sky+ HD box

Sky+ HD combines all the best features of Sky+ and tops it off with stunning high definition digital TV.
When you compare the Sky+ HD picture quality to your standard Sky+ box picture you probably won't be going back to standard definition ever again!

With a Sky+ HD box you get:

* Access to 35 HD digital TV channels

* Sky Anytime

* Enhanced Sky+ HD EPG

* Double the hard drive space for recording

To watch Sky+ HD channels you need a HD ready TV.