Well I have to say that this forum is quiet... It seemed that when HC re-launched themselves some time ago and added some great channels, like National Geo and FX etc it all seemed that HC was headed in the right direction.
They had a clever, funny and huge marketing campaign!

But to be honest I am in the process of buying a new home and this one is not listed and will allow a dish on the back of the house. The problem HC has is that i genuinly believe that they are falling well short of creating a servie people will choose (if they have the choice) over Sky! Especially Sky HD! At the moment Sky, NTL and Telewest are all making a big deal about HD TV they are making a big deal out of PVR's but HC still going on about the launce of an African movie channel, and their not fantastic very very limited Replay service! I dont watch Eastenders, i dont watch top gear, i dont watch emmerdale or coronation street (i'm sure people do) but not me! When i'm working nights and have to miss the big arsenal game i want to be able to choose for that to be automatically recorded! I want my TV provider to supply a box with my own PVR. HC in my view will never do this.

I would like to watch the Simpsons on a sunday, or see the new series of 24!

What happens in 4 weeks when the World cup is on and BBC and ITV offer "RED button" interactivity and you choose what game to watch! We cant see it as HC subscribers.
What happens when Sky Box office show a big boxing match? we cant watch it as HC subscribers!

I'm afraid i have given HC well over a year of my time now and when things looked promising, its all gone quiest again.

I know there will be many that disagree with these comments but there is some truth in a lot of it. I'm afraid that HC has not been a winner in my book and if they dont change their approach then they will be headed to digital TV heaven and join KIT as a good idea that never took off as they simply did not keep up with the times!

Just my 2pence

There are about 1 milion + Africans in the UK (800,000 in London) who would be quite happy about the announcement on the launch of an African Movie Channel.

Oh i do realise that!
Please dont get me wrong your more than right.
But what i am saying is there are also millions and millions of people on a national level who will not sign up to HC and will opt for SKY if the only steps HC is making are the ones currently.

...let's not turn this into a race debate.

I'm sure that most Africans living in the UK, using Homechoice would be far more interested in a PVR service and the use of the red button than a channel carrying programs of questionable quality anyway?

I agree with the point here. The service is falling behind despite the backend being more advanced than all it's rivals. The fact that Homechoice don't even put the 301, 302 and 303 freeview channels up so that we can at least enjoy the red button choice if not the GUI. Homechoice will be getting the sack very soon, I have a PVR freeview box in my bedroom which costs nothing to run and get's watched more...

Got to agree, my house is on the market and I'm actually making the ability to get a satellite dish one of the search criteria. This is in no small part because I want HD but at the same time I want the ability to watch what I want when I want, not what HC can manage to persuade broadcasters to let them show.

I know that it is not their fault that they can't get more content, I'm sure they'd record everthing if they could, but even then its nice to be able to record an entire series and watch half a dozen episodes during a lazy weekend.

HC if you read this forum wake up and smell the coffe, I'm sure most HC subscribers will pay the price of a PVR if needs be, but we want the ability everyone else out there has, without the worry of plugging in an off the shelf recorder which then records static after the HC box times out.

even if HC give us the services you guys are talking about, right now ive been experiencing alot of problems with HC BB and TV and they keep blaming the BT phone lines saying that they could not handle this. They are basically not doing anything about it i am subscribed to the Max pack and for the past month ive been phoning HC bcuz of the problems i am having frequent disconnections tv freezing and connection dropping to 56k. It is not reliable. So i could not imagine them going for an HD service. i beleive the tv service is still encoded on mpeg2 and yet i face all these problems.

anyone else having these problems?

I am supposed to be on 2Mg broadband but rarely peak over 1!

Its a shame for HC and as all of you who know me and have read my posts before i am a firm believer in the system and the HC way! The problem is that watching the same old BBC crap has now lost its appeal!

Yeah C1 shows Friends S8 and Buffy and some other cool content but i want to be able to record that movie i've not seen for years that is on at 2am on my PVR i dont want HC to decided that the only stuff worth being on replay is the BBC rubbish that to be honest i never ever want to watch! I can honestly say hand on heart that the one and only thing i have ever watched on replay is the winter olympics and the apprentice! apart from that there is nothing on there.

The world is going HD and HC are not.
The world is also going IPTV and very soon the majority of big players will offer VOD alongside their existing well established brands. Sky will soon be HD VOD IPTV and will give HC no chance!

f HC had got there act together some time ago... with dedicated Sports VOD, with better free to air movie channels, with channels like Liiving, sky one, with content available on Replay that the general subscriber really does want to watch, with Interactive services, then they may be up there. But they are not and my patience after 15mths is now at an end. I really hope my offer is accepted for my new property as the first thing i will be doing is signing up to 3mths half price for SKY HD with their new SKY+ HD box! and will be saying goodbye to HC and i may get critiscised for saying this but unless you live in a flat or building that does not allow a sky dish why, oh why would anyone choose HC over SKY???? I really dont think they would!

If anyone from HC does read this then i'm afraid you need to keep up with the times.

I am fed up about hearing, but its about what they are licensed to show, its not that easy to aqquire all that kind of content?! Well when you have a public baying for blood and only wanting the best of the best then you have to perform! Its cut throat out there and Sky have it all. HC need to match them. They had C4 on relay! C4 is a fantastic channel with some great content! But HC lost it with them! Why?

i totally agree with you bennat, and i really do hope someone from HC would read this and something would happen very soon. I have only been with HC for a few months i love the service but the problems im getting with them now is really making me reconsider.

there is a 3rd party maintenance going on tonight on some of the exchanges ive noticed that on the HC website any idea what the maintenance is for as they do not say what it is?

Yeah probably maintenance to allow for another brightness setting on the blue light to be installed! Good old HC always with their priorities in the right place!

^^^ LMAO! ^^^ - So true!