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Whats the best thing about homechoice?


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Old 08-10-2004, 12:30
Nikhil
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I'm beginning to get quite excited about my installation on monday (and its been damn hard living without internet for 3 weeks!!)

What do u guys think is the best thing about homechoice??

What is the worst thing about homechoice?

Plus, are they showing nip/tuck on any of the on demand channels??
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Old 08-10-2004, 13:11
lucaspowell
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The best thing for me has got to be the VOD content, particularly the music.
The only fault I have experienced is that the lip synch can be slightly out on the VOD, but can sometimes be corrected by pressing pause.
The broadband is extremely good too (far superior to my last SP, Virgin).
Haven't noticed Nip/Tuck on though
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Old 10-10-2004, 20:24
gareth78
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my installation is Wednesday and can't wait, you may get nip/tuck on 4 Replay, someone else who already has it should be able to confirm.
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Old 10-10-2004, 22:02
Dolly
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No Nip and Tuck. Sorry to disapoint.

Indeed I am very disapointed with the replay tv feature. The range of programs offering this facility are very few.

Right now (Sunday PM) C4 offers : Housetrapped in the Sun (7th Oct), Boy who's skin fell off (Oct 4th), Property ladder (Oct 6th) and NY-LON (Oct 5th). That's it - four programs. Wooppie do.

And BBC1 is only a little better.
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Old 11-10-2004, 10:12
christianh
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Originally Posted by Dolly
Indeed I am very disapointed with the replay tv feature. The range of programs offering this facility are very few.
This isn't Homechoice's fault. They have capacity to offer a much larger range of programmes, but need to have agreements with the broadcasters to be able to do so.

Their ultimate aim is to be able to offer a full VOD service from all channels - so you would be able to come home and watch any programme from any channel from the past few days (ie. a full PVR service, without the need to tell it to record anything). But there are loads of copyright and other issues that raises, so this will take time to achieve. Current service is therefore only a small taster of things to come (we hope). My suspicion is that they are testing the feature to see how many people watch it and when before rolling out....

You'll note that in all cases programmes are those produced by the channel concerned (ie. not imports).
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Old 11-10-2004, 11:24
Denuvo
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Originally Posted by christianh
My suspicion is that they are testing the feature to see how many people watch it and when before rolling out....
Which, if true, is downright silly. I'm never going to watch it until it has any programmes I care about, and if it's never going to have programmes I care about unless I watch it...
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Old 11-10-2004, 13:50
Dolly
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Denuvo - I agree with you. I got HC because of the 'Replay TV' and am now very disappointed.

Replay TV is HC's USP - one that they trumpet continually. A business would never advertise a service like this is they were only 'testing it' prior to roll-out.

All I am left with are more questions....

Q: Will the number of shows on replay increase as subscriber numbers increase?

Q: Will they ever manage to source 'foreign' content?

Q: Will they drop the feature as people sign up and are disillusioned by the lack of content?
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Old 11-10-2004, 13:53
christianh
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Originally Posted by Denuvo
Which, if true, is downright silly. I'm never going to watch it until it has any programmes I care about, and if it's never going to have programmes I care about unless I watch it...
I agree entirely and hope I'm completely wrong about this. I have been a Homechoice subscriber for some time and holding on waiting in the hope they'll get this sorted.

I already have Sky and Tivo so I get all the shows I want. What would be awesome for me would be not having to worry about setting Tivo and knowing that if I did miss something HC would still have it. Also great for those shows you never knew you'd missed until someone told you about it.

HC - if you're reading these forums, then we'd love more timeshifted stuff....
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Old 11-10-2004, 15:06
Denuvo
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Originally Posted by Dolly
Replay TV is HC's USP - one that they trumpet continually.
I'd put it a bit more generally: VOD is the USP, and the VOD currently leaves a lot to be desired. The replay function as it stands is effectively useless (not being an Eastenders fan), and all the other VOD channels suffer from a ridiculously small library. You want to give me an effective on-demand service? Give me *permanent* access to Futuruma - don't stick it up there for 5-6 weeks then take it down again. That's just a joke.

And the VOD movies are all encoded in 4:3 aspect ratio. No thanks.
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Old 11-10-2004, 15:08
Denuvo
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(Although, that said, V:MX is brilliant. If HomeChoice could bring the rest of their on-demand services up to the calibre of the music video channels they'd be unstoppable.)
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Old 11-10-2004, 15:35
christianh
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Originally Posted by Denuvo
You want to give me an effective on-demand service? Give me *permanent* access to Futuruma - don't stick it up there for 5-6 weeks then take it down again. That's just a joke.

And the VOD movies are all encoded in 4:3 aspect ratio. No thanks.
Agree entirely. Library size and quality are critical. If it is to become my provider of choice, then it needs to have that cutting edge - and VOD is it.
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Old 11-10-2004, 18:04
Dolly
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The V:MX stuff is good because music videos are essentially free.
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Old 11-10-2004, 19:41
Denuvo
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Originally Posted by Dolly
The V:MX stuff is good because music videos are essentially free.
Their problem, not mine. They want me to think that their video-on-demand services are the cat's pyjamas, but that is not and never will be the case until their library has a lot more depth than it does now.
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Old 13-10-2004, 20:12
srsr
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Originally Posted by Dolly
Indeed I am very disappointed with the replay tv feature. The range of programs offering this facility are very few.
I was also very disappointed with Replay TV - the advertising creates the impression that you can catch up on almost any program - ha!
I was also miserable about the picture quality - fool I was to think that a TV picture coming down a line would be better than my my old set-top aerial!
BUT... having had Homechoice for a few months now - I'm too hooked to give it all up.
What HC should consider though is the 'word-of-mouth' factor - whenever I get asked about the service by someone, I feel I have to dump all my gripes on them so that they're not too disappointed if they ever join up.
The best thing about Homechoice?
1) VMX Dance ++ 'Add to Favourites'
2) My 1meg internet connection
3) BBC News on Replay
4) ...despite the moans - great value for money...
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Old 13-10-2004, 22:59
Dolly
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Definitely HC is good value for money.

I doub't it would take many more programs for us to all change our opinions of Replay TV. 4 or 5 more and I'd really start to change my mind. Also.....I can't understand why we have Titchmarshe's 3 Billion years prgram but not Palin's Himalayas,

Thinking a bit more. Why BBC1 and not BB2/3 or 4? If they have to pay for each program - then why restrict the range to BBC1? I'd love to see Little Britain on Replay TV - but there's a] no chance that would show on BBC1 and b] no chance it would be a replay program.
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Old 14-10-2004, 10:16
mbear
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Yeah the replay TV thing is definitely the biggest let down on Homechoice. Especially as it's advertised as being more wide ranging than it actually is. At least all the big drama series on C4 and BBC should be covered and documentaries etc. Not effing Property Ladder.

Also the C-One content could be much better. Got some classic old comedy on there but where's The A-Team, Knightrider, Quantum Leap, Macgyver. That kind of thing. And why are we limited to one old series of them and not more?

More content please Homechoice!
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