Well have been looking at the BT Vision site as am in my 4mths free and will be making the jump from HC after christmas if things dont improve.

Has anyone else drawn any conclusions on BT vision vs HC?

On looking at the site it appears they are offering all the freeview channels (like HC) only you get Sky 3, sky news and Sky sports news.

Also it appears BT have struck a deal with Universal and momentum for films! They also have Replay for Channel 4 content and it appears (only guessing) that for £14 p/m you get all their VOD content including music, tv etc.

BT vision also have rights to football! Oh yes football! I know HC has prem plus but at £8 per game its far too expensive and shows rubbish games most the time!

On top of all that you of course for £90 installation fee get a PVR with BT so replay is obselete as its down to you what you watch!

Any views????
Last edited by bennat : 07-12-2006 at 17:20

I looked at it, as also in my 4 months and thought HC still looked the better option.

Other than the Freeview channels there are no other linear services - just pushed VoD. I like the fact that I get both linear Discovery and Discovery VOD with HC.

I am told by CS that there will be a whole new service in the new year, including a new STB. I think it will probably be a PVR - but that is speculation on my part.

Feedback so far on picture quality with BT Vision isnt great either.

Have you looked at TopUpTV Anytime? Its new, has linear and VoD, only £9 per month and offers Sentana for that football. www.topuptv.com

I haven't seen all the details yet but my understanding is that the Freeview Channels such as Sky 3 & Sky Sports News will be received over Freeview, not IPTV!

Judging from the new DS form that's been setup in the DTT Forum, BT are being a bit slow contacting people as well.

Will be moving in the next 6 months so need to make a decision before then anyway. Can get HC from the new house but can also get BSkyB...

Yeah Freeview channels come through the aerial. Only the VoD via IPTV.

Also, I think the only Replay is Channel 4 at the moment, not BBC or ITV.

The thing is, if HC had a PVR then to be honest most the problems I have with HC would be solved.

C1 is good and the VMX stuff is cool! But it is a bit of a novelty that runs out after a while. I reckon that of the VOD channels and the Replay programmes combined I prob watch as little as 10-20% of it!

For me a PVR means that I can have "on demand" 100% of what I want when I want and the C1, C2 etc can be an added bonus!

Some of you may say "then go and buy a PVR" but the thing is that they are still not cheap and there are compatability problems and issues with them working with the HC tv guide + HC turns itself off! If there was a dedicated HC PVR then that would be great! It seems sad that HC a service that could be great would lose cust's mealy over the fact that they dont have a PVR!

Every other company has one now and offers them as standard. Replay is a nice feature and would have been something to boast about 5yrs ago before Sky+ etc! Now is is useless.

Also how is it a little known cable company;
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/displaye...?platform=omne
can have all sky movie channels, all sports channels, sky one, bravo, living etc and HC cant seem to negociate it!??!!

Can't comment on Sky channels but Omne (now Wightcable?) doesn't compete with ntl telewest who own Flextech so it makes no sense to withhold channels from them. On the plus side, media reports claim Tiscali are currently in talks with NTL Telewest about launching a Virgin branded IPTV service in non-cable areas, this closer co-operation may result in HC finally getting Living TV, Bravo etc.
Last edited by addy : 07-12-2006 at 19:25

A PVR would make perfect sense for HC's next move.

It would mean extra server space as they wouldnt have to offer any Replay service from linear channels such BBC etc. Also they wouldnt have to pay broadcasters for the rights to provide Replays.

Win, Win!

People will still want replay. There are lots of things you wouldn't bother to record but are great discoveries on replay. They should increase the amount of replay, not decrease it, but a PVR as part of the new STB would be a great move. If they made it a free PVR (wishful thinking) that would get their customer base up, especially if the picture quality becomes as good as freeview.

I think BT should have gone for full IPTV or nothing at all. IPTV is great for poor freeview reception areas (they are everywhere, even in the middle of London) and is a niche that has more potential than piggy-backing on freeview.
Last edited by joshua321 : 07-12-2006 at 22:45

I am lucky in that I have TiVo, which knows me well enough to suggest and automatically record programmes I MAY be interested in. It knows me so well sometimes its spooky! hehe

This STB will probably be identical to what HC bring out. The boxes can be used for IPTV, cable,Sat or DS.

I hope BT Vision succeeds but its expensive and not as good as HC when it comes to channels. One odd thing was that a trial user (BT employee) said that the service went down and he lost everything - freeview channels as well. No HDTV yet either and they are going slow on rollout, which is good.
BT Vision seems perfect for existing BT customers but not so for anyone else.

For me the best thing that HC can do in the new year is supply their own PVR for the new year!

The difference that will make (certainly to my own) loyalty to HC will be huge!

I do like HC, I may slag them off a bit but that is what a forum is for! At the end of the day a PVR would be great as would a SPORTS VOD CHANNEL! HC if you read this please get on these things they are winning ideas (well i reckon so)

Hey wonder if HC will do MOVIES NOW CLUB for free again this christmas, like they have done the last 2 yrs??

Just hope this year they actually put christmas movies on the channel... we will see....

Out of curiosity how does HC work is everything sent down the phone line so its true IPTV or is it more like cable with a cable

Yes its IPTV using your telephone line.

I still don't know if I should change or not to BT. I am more interested in whats on offer in terms of content.

What channels have replay ?

Do they have a version of HC's channel 6, if so whats on it ?

Channel 4


Nope.