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Old 04-07-2012, 12:47
chrisbartley
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Boxes 'should' be available end of of July

BBC LINK

YouView link

Any other likely early adopters around ?
Anyone on the trial ?

Alan Sugar - "He said it would cost £299, but added that he would not be surprised if that fell to £99 in a couple of years."

Not if Humax having anything to do with it
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Old 04-07-2012, 13:11
Nigel Goodwin
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Not if Humax having anything to do with it
If you want cheap crap go elsewhere

Not that I'm a big fan of Humax, but they are far better made than the majority of PVR's out there - although Humax don't seem to have any clue about user interfaces or remote control design (and are appallingly slow on software updates).
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Old 04-07-2012, 13:33
chrisbartley
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(and are appallingly slow on software updates)
that was one of my my concerns

The user interface should have been designed by 'committee' I would think - which in this case could be a good thing, since it might/would dilute Humax influence

in theory this should just be their existing HD pvr with the relevant firmware installed - so h/w should be OK
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Old 04-07-2012, 13:41
chrisbartley
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Another opinion

"Which leaves the platform with a heck of a potential - and one of the best UIs out there - but one that it seems a long way from fulfilling"


LINK
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Old 04-07-2012, 13:49
jjne
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I'd be interested in this -- and the price isn't an issue.

But it has to work, and be less clunky than a Linux PC doing the same thing, and be expandable to future services, and be able to talk to a DLNA server for me.

Otherwise, it's not really a goer. An Android box/AppleTV etc with the player apps installed would be adequate, is expandable and a third the price for a decent one.
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Old 04-07-2012, 13:51
niall campbell
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cheaper with an xbox or PS 3

plus you can stream films / music right throughout the house

and play dvds

it seems so outdated before its launched
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Old 04-07-2012, 13:57
chrisbartley
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Its all about the interface though really, i.e. providing easy access for ALL family members - or not - we'll have to wait and see
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Old 04-07-2012, 14:07
Chris Simon
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Any other likely early adopters around ?
With no terrestrial TV reception and broadband that maxes out at 800kbps, I don't think this service is for me!
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Old 04-07-2012, 14:15
Nigel Goodwin
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With no terrestrial TV reception and broadband that maxes out at 800kbps, I don't think this service is for me!
No, but there wil presumably be Freesat versions in the future - not that it will make any difference to your BB speed
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Old 04-07-2012, 14:22
Chris Simon
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No, but there wil presumably be Freesat versions in the future - not that it will make any difference to your BB speed
Yeah - I was wondering what had happened to the Freesat version of Youview, it even the official Youview specs documents seemed to imply terrestrial.

I do wonder if Youview is a little too late - it was really needed 3 years ago before a myriad of different apps and interfaces became available for different products, all providing the same thing but diffferently...

Anyway, all bets on for which appears first:

1. Freesat Youview
2. Freesat G2
3. Fast broadband in my area
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Old 04-07-2012, 14:45
Nigel Goodwin
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Yeah - I was wondering what had happened to the Freesat version of Youview, it even the official Youview specs documents seemed to imply terrestrial.

I do wonder if Youview is a little too late - it was really needed 3 years ago before a myriad of different apps and interfaces became available for different products, all providing the same thing but diffferently...

Anyway, all bets on for which appears first:

1. Freesat Youview
2. Freesat G2
3. Fast broadband in my area
As any later Freesat boxes seem to have been abandoned until Youview got their act together (which is YEARS late), then almost certainly and new model Freesat PVR's will be Youview versions, there seems little reason to release non-Youview versions?.

Don't expect any this year though, and it might not even be 2013 either - Humax said a LONG time ago that a Youview Freesat box won't even be considered until after the Freeview version is done and dusted.

As for your broadband - welcome to the club :P I presume you don't have a prayer of ever getting decent board either?. Have you put your name down for BT Infinity? - about as much hope as VM running cable where it's needed .
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Old 04-07-2012, 15:06
Chris Simon
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Yes, I've been signing up for every campaign and initiative and information-gathering exercise for the last 7 years! Last year we made progress, Talk Talk unbundled our exchange meaning that I no longer get 500kbps on BT-provided ADSL but a whopping 800kbps on ADSL2! Unfortunately, it does mean that since BT are not now the sole provider, we're out of the "high priority" Market 1 group.

Makes me laugh though - I get marketing info from BT, about one every 3 weeks, trying to persuade me that their broadband is the best!

The average speed in the UK is now around 5-6mbps I believe, but the law of averages means that an awful lot of people are below that - are there really that many people able to take advantage of streaming services? And at more than one location in the house?
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Old 04-07-2012, 16:12
stanandjan
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You are nott too badly off Chris as there are millions within 30 miles of London itself that cannot get much better BBND speed.. or have less than you..Virgin non existent in the Chilterns,,Competition means nothing when it will not provide adequate profits.. Our First and only post is around 1300Hrs as Few Postman to deliver.
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Old 04-07-2012, 16:21
Chris Simon
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You are nott too badly off Chris as there are millions within 30 miles of London itself that cannot get much better BBND speed.. or have less than you..Virgin non existent in the Chilterns,,Competition means nothing when it will not provide adequate profits.. Our First and only post is around 1300Hrs as Few Postman to deliver.
Absolutely. Until ADSL Max happened, only fixed-rate 512kbps was available and my line wasn't good enough to support that so it became very unstable and there was even one period af around 3 months when I couldn't get a connection at all. So in 8 years I've manage to go from a very very unstable 500kbps, through a stable-ish 200kbps-400kbps and now, no thanks to BT, a very stable 800kbps.

But I think to say there are "millions" very close to London who get similar or worse is exaggerating a bit, considering there are only around 24 million households in the UK! On the law of averages, there are 12 million who get below the national average of around 5-6mbps.
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Old 04-07-2012, 17:00
niall campbell
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Its all about the interface though really, i.e. providing easy access for ALL family members - or not - we'll have to wait and see
I would have to say that NO interface suits everyone. Its a matter of personal taste , and with Joe Bloggs having more & more gadgets ; people are getting more tuned into things

and I think Sky are years ahead of this with their downloading service up and running

however we need competition , and the games consoles are a way forward with all their functions

DLNA ???
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Old 04-07-2012, 17:12
grahamlthompson
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[quote=niall campbell;59300977
DLNA ???[/QUOTE]

A way to distribute content across a home network to DNLA compatible kit.

http://www.dlna.org/

eg HD content stored on a HDD (laptop, pvr, NAS etc) streamed to say a PS3 (or a DNLA smart TV) for display on whatever it's connected to. Your broadband connection speed doesn't matter because it's an internal transfer.

For instance say you have a HDR FOX T2 in your lounge and a HD FOX T2 in your bedroom and both are networked.

You can watch recordings made on the HDR FOX T2 in the bedroom while the lounge is viewing other recordings or the HDR FOX T2 live output.
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Old 04-07-2012, 19:23
stanandjan
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Absolutely. Until ADSL Max happened, only fixed-rate 512kbps was available and my line wasn't good enough to support that so it became very unstable and there was even one period af around 3 months when I couldn't get a connection at all. So in 8 years I've manage to go from a very very unstable 500kbps, through a stable-ish 200kbps-400kbps and now, no thanks to BT, a very stable 800kbps.

But I think to say there are "millions" very close to London who get similar or worse is exaggerating a bit, considering there are only around 24 million households in the UK! On the law of averages, there are 12 million who get below the national average of around 5-6mbps.
I lnow it is hard to believe Chris BUT the Inners of the large Cities with colossal speeds bias the avearges unfairly for you and me..BT never say about the number of lines which make the distribution but the Averages in Northern ireland and Scotland are way above the uk average and in Cornwall etc they are into Infinity 3.or some such.
I lived in the South Wales area for some years and BT have to.. by Law ..keep Judges' residences on the main network for phones in way out localities ..which someone has to pay for..and it''s NOT Virgin Customers..The idea that there would ever be competition in the Fixed Communications Field was a nonsense when proposed and still is..
Like the 9 different company GASES that I can choose from..It's derivatives really..
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Old 04-07-2012, 19:39
gomezz
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I would have to say that NO interface suits everyone. Its a matter of personal taste
I can't believe that it is to anyone's taste to have do FIVE key presses to get to their list of recordings and SIX key presses to get to their list of timers!
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Old 04-07-2012, 21:13
David (2)
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thing is, would this sort of service be similar to so called Smart tv interfaces?
If so, i wont worry about it. PC connected to a TV with satellite reception is far better.

And as Youview is to be built into a STB (pvr), surely to keep final price in line, the hardware will have to walk on one leg, not enough money for 2 legs. Even then, what about upgrade potential - you might need this if the software gets a big upgrade, which you just know is going to happen at some point. A specialist Online box like Google TV might be a bit better (all the purchase money spent on one machine), but again, a PC has to be the better complete option, doesnt it? Why run on a mobile 1.1Ghz ARM cpu with limited ability, limited software, no-upgrades, limited memory, when you could use a proper PC?
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Old 04-07-2012, 23:47
chrisbartley
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thing is, would this sort of service be similar to so called Smart tv interfaces?
Lets hope not, most of those seem to be a random jumble of icons for different services

YouView u/i seems to offer to join the dots and make catchup tv just an extension of the EPG - see ScrollBack section on this page
of course, until we get to try it we won;t know

Why run on a mobile 1.1Ghz ARM cpu with limited ability, limited software,
Because it works
PVR hardware is pretty much standard fare now,
I've had a sub £200 Fetch HD PVR running for 2 years, no idea what CPU it has but its coped fine with TV & recording 2 channels & iPlayer,( without buffering) never needed any extra ram and the like ( ok - it did like to be re-booted a lot) and had been software updated on a irregular basis over those 2 years - till they when bust - yes its had its bugs and quirks.

As I said before I think its this common EPG interface that should/could make these services available to all members of the family
Of course a PC will offer more flexability, but what we ( royal we) are really looking for is simplicity

what makes this any less specialist than a google TV box - they will still have to ship a fixed bit of hardware
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Old 05-07-2012, 10:19
Schadenfreud
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Doesn't even have wi-fi built in, so that means a wired cat5/6 cable running to it.

It's dead in the water before it even gets going imo.
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Old 05-07-2012, 10:24
gomezz
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Any serious AV user will have run an ethernet cable to their set up.
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Old 05-07-2012, 12:37
captainkremmen
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I think many here are seeing this from the wrong angle.

Yes, absolutely, today for the average DS TV and Home Entertainment forum users this doesn't seem to bring anything new, and appears a few years too late. Yes games consoles now have access to all the same features generally, and yes a decent HTPC will vastly outperform the YouView boxes.

But we're not generally the market YouView is aimed at. It's aimed at your mum and dad, your brother, your mate and anyone else who has trouble navigating the myriad of different interfaces, or getting to the catch up content they want to watch. Now for them, instead of having to navigate their way through iPlayer, only to find what they want was actually on Channel 5, and maybe their TV doesn't have access to Demand Five or they find the interface confusing, they simply scroll back through the EPG, find what they want to watch and play it.

Granted £299 is quite expensive, but then the 500Gb Humax HDR Fox T2 on which this is based was at that price for a very long time and sold quite well. It's only fairly recently the price dropped to around £225 for the non YouView model. As other manufacturers begin producing boxes prices will drop, especially once Vestel get a box out given their budget origins.
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Old 05-07-2012, 16:14
chrisbartley
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Doesn't even have wi-fi built in, so that means a wired cat5/6 cable running to it.
not heard of homeplugs ?

yes they are more expensive than a bit of cat 5 !
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Old 05-07-2012, 16:50
jjne
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HD material over a WiFi link? Not likely.
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