I had a Sky+ box, paid a lot for it, plus the monthly subs, it died literally days after the 12 months were up! Had a call from Sky recently telling me how fantastic their Sky+ HD was, told them about my previous Sky+ box & was surprised to get a response - "gosh, that never usually happens with Sky+ boxes, how strange, did you call us and try to reset it?" lol, of course i did, but then i found out how you make them to last 12 months and not much longer!
now got a 2nd hand box which has lasted a lot longer than the box I paid for.