BT Vision.

[Pudgerboy]

hi there,

Anyone know what sort of outputs to expect on the BT vision V-box? all i can find is the blurb on the bt site which is not terribly detailed. thanks

[Greg]

I was interested in this until I noticed it requires you to have their 'free' BT Home Hub installed aswell.

That makes it a no no for me as I have yet to hear from anyone that has had success with that piece of crap. From constant disconnects and slow line speeds to high pings for gaming etc etc.

[Pudgerboy]

i didnt know that about the home hub, but dismissed it purely for the reason that they admit the call quality on VoIP is cr*p in the small print. surely they'd have a digital or component output for (fture) hi def content? I run a media centre also but dont watch enough films to merit a subscription service like sky. So it seems a good idea in principle. Anyone know what to expect with this service? has it actually been launched yet or are they just touting the wares?

[Pudgerboy]

very brief info here, stating it will be HD ready but no indication as to hardware specs. It might just be too early for a review yet.

http://www.radioandtelly.co.uk/btvision/box.html

[sdjames]

It is thought that this is the V-Box

[Pudgerboy]

that certainly looks like the fella. Thanks!

[Greg]

Link doesn't work for me.

[m4rky]

Try this

http://www.consumer.philips.com/cons...SHQNHKFSESI5P#

[Pudgerboy]

link to the pdf -

http://www.p4c.philips.com/files/d/d...05_pss_eng.pdf

[Greg]

Thanks for the link. It looks interesting.

Although BT are claiming its free, you still pay £60 for installation and £30 connection. What they are charging £60 for some guy to come and plug it in and connect it to your TV for is beyond me. Why don't they just say the box costs £90 and be done with it?

The prices for things look good such as films for £1.99 and TV shows for 79p. But it does say FROM for all the prices so who knows what current films would cost.

But the thing that will probably put me off this most is resigning up to another 12month contract for broadband. BT are already far too expensive compared to other providers and I probably would change when my current contract runs out to a cheaper provider. Plus not forgetting the crappy BT Home Hub which I mentioned in my other post above.

[m4rky]

I am a bit annoyed with the stealth charges for the v-box. I don't want to pay £60 for a bloke to turn up and plug a few cables in. Its not rocket science. Now setting up the Home hub is tricky!!!

The BT Home Hub isn't too bad providing you don't use the drivers/software provided by BT. I had loads of problems with loosing the Wireless connection and it needed resetting.

So I uninstalled the BT software and drivers and just configured my machine using normal Windows XP drivers.

Not had a single problem since.

Yes BT are more expensive than plenty of other providers but I have no issues with the broadband service for years (apart from the home hub stuff).
So I am willing to pay more for no hassle.

[Greg]

Originally Posted by m4rky

Yes BT are more expensive than plenty of other providers but I have no issues with the broadband service for years (apart from the home hub stuff).
So I am willing to pay more for no hassle.

True there. I very rarely have problems with BT. Maybe a disconnection every week or so. May have to seriously consider that when compared to other cheaper providers.

[Pudgerboy]

I'd agree wholeheartedly with that. A couple of people at my work made the mistake of trying to switch their broadband to 'cheaper' suppliers. The level of service was terrible and they both ended up by being without internet for two months. They've since reverted to BT. I know everyone has just as many tales contrary to this but i certainly havent had any problems. Where it was good was that i've moved house twice recently and it was no problems transfering it. Still not sure how much good it is. Does it stream the content to you or does it do some DRM mularky that allows you one watch?

[BenchyUK]

I have had the BT home hub pacake for a couple of weeks now and it works perfectly. I even get speeds which are faster than what they said i would have.

I saw this box mentioned in T3 magazine back around August and they did say it had both Component and HDMI for HD material that will be available

Any idea when we can buy this as i don't have SKY (can't get it where i am) and paying the odd £2 here and there for a movie sounds good.

[m4rky]

You can apply to get the v-box now. But BT have to install it for you (stealth charge) and the currently it looking like mid-January before an engineer can visit!

Go here and register...

http://www.btvision.bt.com/