10 things your Sky remote controller can do

The Sky+ remote controller is ubiquitous and most of us use it every single day without giving it a second thought, once we'd learnt how to use it to control the TV! Yet, while the main controls are easy to use and understand, it contains a number of features you might not have come across before.

Here are our favourite hidden functions...

Slow-motion replays

You can create your own slow motion footage by holding down the ‘play’ button on your remote for a couple of seconds when you are watching a recording. 

This automatically slows the action right down, which is great for disputed goals, high-action movie sequences, or trying to discover how your favourite magician did that trick. If you are watching live TV then you’ll need to rewind for a few seconds and then hold down the ‘play’ button. 

Just press the ‘play’ button again to get back to watching your programme at normal speed.

Press the red button to bookmark

Set bookmarks in a recorded programme

Jump back to a recording

If you’re watching a recorded programme, and then change over to take a glimpse at live TV, you can return to the point you stopped watching by pressing the ‘play’ button three times.

Accessibility

You might already know that you can download an app for your tablet and smartphone (Apple iOS and Google Android) to control your Sky+ box – and one of its best features is that you can start downloads remotely, so they’re waiting for you when you get home – but did you know that the latest version of the app contains voice over technology specifically designed to make the experience easier for people with visual impairment?

Sky’s accessibility page contains further details, along with guides on how to tailor your Sky box to better suits your individual needs.

Beam me up

You can also use the Sky+ app to beam the photos from your smartphone to your TV, which is a great way to share your holiday snaps with friends and family; they are much easier to see when they’re on a big TV screen rather than the fiddly little one on your phone!

What is the best way to watch digital TV?

Subtitles

You can turn subtitles on and off quickly by pressing the ‘help’ key on the Sky remote.

Control your TV

You can cut down the number of remote controls you have by programming your Sky+ remote to control your TV too. This article from Sky shows you how to set it up.

Do you need a TV licence for streaming?

Fast rewind

Holding down the ‘rewind’ or ‘fast forward’ for at least two seconds will take you to the very beginning or the very end of a recorded programme, so you’ll never have to sit there for ages watching it spool backwards at x30!

Using the arrows

You can use the ‘up’ or ‘down’ arrows (the ones around the ‘select’ button) to see what’s on another channel while continuing to watch an existing programme.

You can also fast forward or rewind at different speeds by using the ‘left’ and ‘right’ arrows: One press will set it going forwards or backwards at x2, another will go to x6, and so on up to a maximum of x30. Just press the opposite button to go back down an increment.

Never accidently delete a programme again

Not really a remote control trick, but if you set all your recorded programmes to ‘keep’, you have to confirm when you want to delete them. 

This means that you have to press a button twice – or even enter a PIN if you’ve set it up that way - making it almost impossible to accidentally delete a programme your other half hasn’t watched. Don’t ask me how I discovered this one…

However, as long as your Sky+ hard-drive isn’t full you should be able to recover recently deleted programmes. Just highlight the deleted tab and press ‘select’. Then highlight the programme you’d like to recover, and press the green button.

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