BT Vision, advice required

forrestgump

Prominent Member
Joined
Oct 31, 2000
Messages
1,428
Reaction score
49
Points
328
Age
60
Location
huddersfield
BT keep phoning me to see if I want a Vision box, noticed I can get the box for £60 without taking out a subscription, question is is the picture quality OK, does it have HDMI and does it output 1080i?

THX
 
It has HDMI but its a freeview box so highest res from a programme is 720x576 setting the box to 1080i is unlikely to be of any benefit unles your screen has a crap scaler. PQ seems to as good as other FV boxes menu is ok not the greatest i have seen it does need connecting to your BT huib hub by ethernet (which BT wont install the cable for)
 
It has HDMI but its a freeview box so highest res from a programme is 720x576 setting the box to 1080i is unlikely to be of any benefit unles your screen has a crap scaler. PQ seems to as good as other FV boxes menu is ok not the greatest i have seen it does need connecting to your BT huib hub by ethernet (which BT wont install the cable for)

thx for the quick reply, I have ethernet via the mains so that is no problem, was going to get the Humax freesat PVR when it comes out but as there are only 2 HD channels on it and un-likely to be any more I needed soemthing to record programmes on so for £60 it seems a no brainer, I know it will never be HD capable but I have HD-DVD's an`d BD's galore anyway.
 
I have just installed the BT Vision box.
Set to 1080i, good picture via Freeview.
On Demand stuff looks good but not tested in ernest.
Best deal is to get the twin Package £7 for 3 months then £14/month (I would choose Movies and Sport and Setanta is thrown in free for a extra £10 viewing card. So it is either £60 up front or £157 in the first year.
You also have available on demand movies. They are also starting movies in HD on demand.
 
I've had the Humax 9200 for about 3 years and BT Vision for 18 months.

I'd say that I've had a lot more reliability problems with the BTV Box in that time than in the whole time I've owned a Humax. The BTV Box has to stay connected to BT's Platform via ethernet constantly and that can cause problems. You have to think of it like a network application rather than a standalone box.

I've missed more than a few recordings because of errors at BT's end not mine (and had to wipe the hard drive on at least one occasion, under the advice of their technial support when it was a problem at their end not mine).

I'm glad I still have the Humax because I can "double team" any programmes that are really important to record.

I think it's a straight toss-up between an expensive box that seems to work very well and a cheaper box that doesn't work so well (in my experience). Although obviously there will be people out there who have had major problems with their Humax and trouble-free life with their BTV box.

On the plus side, the BTV box does have quite a bit of downloadable content at quite reasonable prices (99p per episode of many TV programmes) and they are rolling out HD movies, but there's only about 6 at the moment.
 

The latest video from AVForums

Is 4K Blu-ray Worth It?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom