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Trying to understand BT Vision
tdenson
Posts: 5,773 Forum Member
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I am thinking of signing up to BT Vision. This will be at a second home I use for business purposes a couple of days a week.
I currently have Virgin V+ and a Topfield Freeview PVR at my main home, and also a second Topfield at the house in question.
I think what I really want at this second house is BT Vision as then I don't have to premeditate what I am going to record. However, I am boxing fog reading the BT website describing it.
As I understand it, it consists of all Freeview channels live and with record/live pause facilities, a 7 day catchup facility, and content on demand.
My questions are -
1. the 7 day catchup - exactly what programs does this include and how does it relate to iPlayer,4OD etc.
2. What does content on demand cost ? I couldn't see any actual real examples of costs.
3. Exactly what premium channels can be subscribed to and what do they cost.
Why BT don't just present it as a large grid/table instead of all the jazzy marketing stuff defeats me, but then that's the modern way ....
My further questions concern the actual BT Vision box and this one is a little harder to be objective about. Just how good is it as a PVR ? In particular how easy is it to navigate programs. My gold standard is the original Tivo which I had for 8 years. I have subsequently owned Humaxes, Topfields, and V+. None of them come anywhere near the Tivo.
I currently have Virgin V+ and a Topfield Freeview PVR at my main home, and also a second Topfield at the house in question.
I think what I really want at this second house is BT Vision as then I don't have to premeditate what I am going to record. However, I am boxing fog reading the BT website describing it.
As I understand it, it consists of all Freeview channels live and with record/live pause facilities, a 7 day catchup facility, and content on demand.
My questions are -
1. the 7 day catchup - exactly what programs does this include and how does it relate to iPlayer,4OD etc.
2. What does content on demand cost ? I couldn't see any actual real examples of costs.
3. Exactly what premium channels can be subscribed to and what do they cost.
Why BT don't just present it as a large grid/table instead of all the jazzy marketing stuff defeats me, but then that's the modern way ....
My further questions concern the actual BT Vision box and this one is a little harder to be objective about. Just how good is it as a PVR ? In particular how easy is it to navigate programs. My gold standard is the original Tivo which I had for 8 years. I have subsequently owned Humaxes, Topfields, and V+. None of them come anywhere near the Tivo.
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Doubtless you'll get some replies soon to praise Bt Vision and explain it fully. Additionally you will get some replies which state that it is complete rubbish. Hopefully by reading between the lines you'll get a balanced view...
Meanwhile, on your question above its worth knowing that in Which magazine's recent test they awarded the BT Vision PVR the top score for reliability. Only Which subscribers can see the result, but the contenders are listed below:
http://www.which.co.uk/technology/tv-and-dvd/reviews/pvrs/page/reliability/
Having had the Thomson Tivo box myself when they were originally released I can say that no-one has matched its voting facilities due to the patent protection. It was/is a great device.
I consider the BT Vision PVR to be very easy to use. The 14 day EPG is fast and well designed. You can skip between days or jump straight to any day. You can also search by title as well as cast & crew. i.e. enter "Tom Hanks" and you'll get a list of all current programmes he features in - from the Freeview channels as well as the VOD library.
Once you've found the programme you want to record, a single press of the record button will schedule it. A second press of the record button will record all episodes of that programme if its a series. A third press will cancel the recording.
If you try to record more than 2 programmes simultaneously it will ask you which programme you'd like to record.
Once you've the recordings have been made they can be listed by title or by date. Unless you specifically protect recordings from deletion, once the disk gets full the system will automatically delete the oldest recordings to make disk space (but it warns you that this is about to occur).
Not much more to say really - it works fine for my household.
Hi,
1. It is the only service to provide catch-up TV from all five major terrestrial channels.
Please note - BBC iPlayer is not included. But it does show BBC catch-up programmes.
2. It starts from £14 a mth. With the first three mths half price. This will give you access to two packs. ie TV series and Music. With this you will also get free ESPN, but the pictures crap.
Please note - The TV content is old. Stuff thats already been on TV, like CH4's Flashforward. But there are some absolute gems on there, some of which are years old.
3. The only premium channels available are Sky Sports 1 & 2.
What these cost depends upon how long you sign-up for.
I renewed my service for twelve mths and got both for £17 a mth. And the picture is surprisingly good.
In regard to your comments about the website, your right, it's absoulute shite.
All jazz and no ABC usefull content. Even we have problems negotiating it. And sometimes have to come on here for help.
Agree with the post above, the PVR is excellent but nothing on the market today matches the old TiVo. Though I see your service is getting a new VM TiVo box, but no one knows how much it will cost.
If your savy and a good negotiator, you should be able to get a Vision box for free. ie explain your a VM customer who is THINKING about getting Vision.
You have to have BT Broadband and BTVision is not available on BT Business Broadband.
Not anymore, it would appear....
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=1363569
Hi
To answer your questions: BT try to avoid you finding about their content because it is so poor. I fell for it, and suffered a nightmare year.
The BTV box is terribly unreliable. Mine was useless, either as a PVR, Freeview box or anything else for 3 months within my contract tenure.
Others will disagree here. But in a BT Vision forum, that's to be expected. But for me, given my experience, I'd say, if you are unable to use a premium supplier (Sky or VM), then you'd be better-off sticking to Freeview.
On the downside, the TV subscription costs suck a bit, the Video on Demand content is a but pricey, esp. the replay stuff, it's a bit 'eager' in over-recording stuff - even on First Run only you can get 2 x same show. Need a bit more 'smarts' in the advanced series link function.
Personally, I would get it as a cheap, but top quality, Freeview recorder, and ignore the rest. Ours is an 'overflow box' from our SkyHD box.
If BT want to subsidise the cost of a givibg you a decent freeview box on the hope that can sell you additional stuff, or tie you down to BT Boradband, that is their choice. As an additional component on a phone/broadband deal it is not too bad.
Until Sky have an epiphany, and finally realise their povery Video-on demand rubbish Sky Anytime is a steaming pile of shite, and enable proper VOD and internet based EPG up the (currently disabled) SkyHD ethernet port, BT have a pretty clear run at the market here.
Do not have the same opinion. If you think the BTV box is rubbish, complain/call them and get them to swap it out, but retain your rights to reject it observing you beleive it is 'inherently faulty'/'not fit for purpose'/'not of satisfactory quality/durability' - a letter sent record delivery here will do wonders for any 'Trading standards' style complaint in the future - within the 6 months down to them to disprove it is crap, not for you to prove.
The only real gripe I have is the over-eagerness in recording stuff multiple times. Agree the on-demand is poor, but BT gave me a dead eay to use, reliable Freeview plus box for next to nothing.
Mine is still going strong after 3 years, only swapped once due to a shagged hard disc.
Compared to my long rejected (and refunded in full by sky) original Thomson Manufactured SkyHD v1 box, it has been a 'model child', compared to a 'wayward crack addict off-spring'. Have a current Model SkyHD now, which is somehwere between fine and good.
Or a bad Home Hub ? (like crappy SkyHD v1 boxes:rolleyes:, also made by Thomson).
Is your BTV hardwired ethernet, or via the powerline adapters they are including in the pack these days ?
@s' off at BT for months had no effect until, funnily enough, a BT person in here picked up my case and solved it pretty quickly for which I remain grateful. Overall though. Shite service, third division TV service.
Yeah, a whole year of it. Nice. :rolleyes:
3rd division.........yes/no.
Freeview, plus Sky and ESPN Sports options, plus less than inspiring Video on demand.
If you want loads of channels, you want Sky, or Virgin if you are in within their reach...but you also get their monthly sub for a basic package from £19 Sky or £12.50 Virgin/month.
I had 10 months of SkyHD hell - 7 Thomson MkI Sky HD boxes, about a dozen engineer visits, 2 full recables (Inc one by the 'Sky In House' engineer escalation team, not sub-contractor monkeys either, 3 dishes, 2 LNB's, about 250 hours of trashed recordings lost on various boxes corrupted or swapped out :eek:
In the end, Sky (to their credit) rolled over and gave a full refund, for an 'inherently faulty' product, th9ough I would have gone Trading Standards/Consumer Credit Act if they hadn't.
--
* NB Have a Mk3 Amstrad/Sky HD box now, and it works fine now on the same cabling, LNB and Dish :rolleyes:
You're quite right, but BTV try to market themselves as equals, as the OP says they hide the truth of their content consistently. They did for me, and stupidly. I fell for it. I just want to warn others, just how bad it is.
Content - depends what you want.
If movies, most would probably be better off with a LoveFilm sub, that includes the new streaming option.Likely to get even better, if Amazon.co.uk complete their takeover of them too.
I have Lovefilm through my TV as it is an IP connected set. The films that are available are old. There's few that I would watch but the majority are pants. I'll stick to good old fashioned rental via the post for my HD films.
I've also rented a few HD films on BTVision recently and the experience was excellent.
I rented 3 films for 1p each when they messed up and buggered the recording service up for a large number of people over a weekend a few months back - network outage ?
Simple, trouble free.
Would not pay full price of £2.99 a pop though for that, or a Sky Box Office either.. I would get a Sky Movies or LoveFilm sub in that case, as you get more for your money.
I also in general donl't flush my money buying the DVD of every last thing available - Why people spend good money on CSi boxsets (for example) makes me despair...as it is on wall-2-wall on Five/Living.
I buy the occasional film, but only when in the <£3-4 shitbin @ Amazon/Zavvi/HMV etc, with the exception of Avatar as a prezzie recently, and the full Mr Bean boxset for £15 for my daughter as a requested reward for doing well at School.
Simple.
higher quality / possible HD version
no adverts
can watch it whenever
can skip episodes if you know some are pointless. (lost had a terrible habbit for that)
looks nicely presented
can watch again
Although I do agree with you, some people spend way too much on boxsets.
the only boxset i have is the original star wars Trilogy NTSC AC3 laserdisc.... special edition. so has leather like case, perfect inserts etc etc.
Good plan.
I agree again, though those who want very old American repeats must be few and far between. Though they do exist and fight their corner quite enthusiastically.
Lack of customers.
Appaling churn rate.
Poor content.
Diminishing content.
Bad service.
Unreliable STB
Soon to be superceeded.
BT's continued use of smoke & mirrors to disguise the content in their marketing.
And the fact that if I didn't poke you in the ribs every now and then, the tumbleweeds would take over this forum.
It's a dead man walking.
It won't get a shot in the arm, it will be replaced.
Most of this is personal opinion from someone who spends alot his sparetime dissing BTVision. Can you explain why you spend most of your DS forum time posting here ? - I'd love to know.
Linkage please.