EVEN if you’ve had a Sky box for years, you might be making some simple recording mistakes.
It’s a seriously handy feature – but its inner workings aren’t always obvious.
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For instance, if you hit Record on a Sky TV show, you’ll get a series link.
This means every episode in that TV series will be recorded.
Thankfully there’s a way to stop that from happening: maybe you only want to record a single show?
The way to do that is to tap Record again.
This will allow you to convert the show to a Record Once setting.
But that’s not the only Recording trick worth knowing.
You can also find all of your scheduled recordings in Recordings > Scheduled.
This can give you a handy overview of what you’ve set to record.
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And if you want to save some space on your Sky box, consider going into Settings > Preferences and choose SD instead of HD for downloads.
HD is the standard and offers better image quality, but if you want to make a lot of recordings then you’ll be able to squeeze more on the box in SD.
Finally, Sky also has a special folder that lets you save recordings from the great virtual bin.
Recovering recordings lets you watch them again, as if they’d never been deleted.
Finding your deleted recordings is simple enough.
Simply go to Recordings, then into Manage.
Then look for Deleted and select Undelete.
On Sky Q, you should simply be able to go straight from Recordings to Deleted.
This section also lets you permanently delete your recordings.
The Deleted Programs menu was added way back in 2012, so you might have been missing it for years.
Here are some other Sky TV tricks that you might have missed…
Skip ahead!
There are several options to fast forward.
For instance, on a Sky Q touch remote, you can swipe up then swipe right to jump forward.
However, the best method is to simply use voice controls.
For instance, you could say “Skip three minutes”.
Just make sure to press the microphone button on your remote control before you start speaking.
This is a brilliant way to quickly skip past an ad-break on recorded content, for instance.
Go back!
One of the best tricks lets you quickly return to a channel you were previously watching.
It’s a common problem: you start watching something else then instantly regret it.
Or maybe you just needed to tune in to a channel for a very short period of time.
Whatever the case, your Sky Q remote has a simple shortcut to solve your problem.
Simply swipe right on the touchpad remote.
That will bring up a screen at the bottom, allowing you to select your previous channel.
It means you can quickly flick between two channels with minimal fuss.
Turn off your TV
One common complaint is that it’s impossible to turn off your TV using the Sky Q remote.
But that’s simply not true – it just takes a bit of know-how.
It’s correct that pressing the Sky Q remote power button will turn off your Sky box.
However, you can also turn off your TV with a simple tweak.
Instead of doing a quick press, hold the power button on the Sky Q remote for several seconds.
This will turn off your Sky Q box and put the TV in standby too.
Skim through the guide
If you’ve ever used the Sky TV guide, it can sometimes feel like a pain to find exactly what you want.
Thankfully there are a few remote control tricks that let you skip around quickly.
If you hit the Fast Forward button on a Sky Q remote, this will let you skip forward 24 hours on the guide.
That means you can easily see what’s going on tomorrow (and beyond) in seconds.
Similarly, if you hit Rewind then you’ll be transported back 24 hours.
If you get deep into the guide and what to return to what’s on right now, just hit the Play button.
This could shave minutes off your daily browsing, if you remember to use the shortcuts.
Hiding in plain sight
And here’s one more trick.
Your Sky TV remote has a secret button that you probably didn’t know about.
It serves a very helpful purpose: bringing up your recorded TV shows and movies.
It saves you trawling through your box’s various menus to find the content you’ve saved for later.
We’re talking about the Sky logo – yes, it’s a button!
Press it to bring up your recordings, which is anything that you have chosen to download and save for later.
It’s a simple trick but one that many people don’t know – even if they’ve had Sky Q for years.
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This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk
