BT Vision Again

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carl310166

Guest
I have just had an email from BT offering me BT Vision for free!

I am confused by the subscription changes, are there any to watch standard Freeview etc? On the website it said it's £6 per month for TV, what does this mean?

Thanks for any replies.
 
I have just had an email from BT offering me BT Vision for free!

I am confused by the subscription changes, are there any to watch standard Freeview etc? On the website it said it's £6 per month for TV, what does this mean?

Thanks for any replies.



From what I have been seeing and reading, you pay a installation charge of I think £90, and then you don't have to pay anything else what so ever if you don't want to and the freeview channels are free. You can pay a subscription for Video on Demand which is video that will come over your phone line or use it on a pay as you go system.

Be warned, BTvision still have a lot of problems, with people complaining about the box freezing, problems with the EPG, not recording and also the lack of content on VOD.

The idea is good, but you really need a a fast Internet connection at least above 4Mbits, but Bt says says above 2 will work.

This is new technology and if I was looking at it, | would wait for a while, but saying that if you are using Bt broadband anyway then it is a cheap way to get a PVR.

But and this is the big but, what happens if you decided to leave BT broadband, the EPG of the box comes down over the net and t6he box is more or less controlled from the net, so if you leave BT broadband, you may not be able to use the box anymore, even for freeview.
 
From what I have been seeing and reading, you pay a installation charge of I think £90, and then you don't have to pay anything else what so ever if you don't want to and the freeview channels are free. You can pay a subscription for Video on Demand which is video that will come over your phone line or use it on a pay as you go system.

Be warned, BTvision still have a lot of problems, with people complaining about the box freezing, problems with the EPG, not recording and also the lack of content on VOD.

The idea is good, but you really need a a fast Internet connection at least above 4Mbits, but Bt says says above 2 will work.

This is new technology and if I was looking at it, | would wait for a while, but saying that if you are using Bt broadband anyway then it is a cheap way to get a PVR.

But and this is the big but, what happens if you decided to leave BT broadband, the EPG of the box comes down over the net and t6he box is more or less controlled from the net, so if you leave BT broadband, you may not be able to use the box anymore, even for freeview.

Just the reply i was looking for!
 
Just the reply i was looking for!

Good. To Be honest I would not touch Bt vision with a barge pole, but then I will not touch anything to do with Bt with a barge pole. I hate the fact that to get a phone service and Internet connection to my property that I have to use Bt phone lines. But the Bt Vision Technology seems good, but it is early days, themain problem is that to be honest ADSL in this country is a load of rubbish. I live not even a couple of mile from our Exchange and yet I am lucky if I get 2Mbits, because Bt was a lazy bunch of cowboys when they built the new exchange and could not be bothered to re-route out cables, so they now double back.

I know people who lives almost on top of te exchange and gets 4 Mbits if that and yet other people I know who lives further than I do can get 6-7Mbits.

Before TVoIp takes off in this country we really need a decent broadband system. Not that I would use a TVoIp system anyway,
 
Lets hope the 21st Century Network BT is betting on provides the nationwide coverage we need to make IPTV based services really viable. Mind you that's 2010 for me and well SKY ADSL2+ or VM will be getting my internet money in the meantime not BT.
 
Lets hope the 21st Century Network BT is betting on provides the nationwide coverage we need to make IPTV based services really viable. Mind you that's 2010 for me and well SKY ADSL2+ or VM will be getting my internet money in the meantime not BT.

Lets hope so some of us got it already in Cardiff. I'm due in May but that will probably get put back :)
 
Good. To Be honest I would not touch Bt vision with a barge pole, but then I will not touch anything to do with Bt with a barge pole. I hate the fact that to get a phone service and Internet connection to my property that I have to use Bt phone lines. But the Bt Vision Technology seems good, but it is early days, themain problem is that to be honest ADSL in this country is a load of rubbish. I live not even a couple of mile from our Exchange and yet I am lucky if I get 2Mbits, because Bt was a lazy bunch of cowboys when they built the new exchange and could not be bothered to re-route out cables, so they now double back.

I know people who lives almost on top of te exchange and gets 4 Mbits if that and yet other people I know who lives further than I do can get 6-7Mbits.

Before TVoIp takes off in this country we really need a decent broadband system. Not that I would use a TVoIp system anyway,
Distance from the exchange is just one of many factors that will alter your broadband speed.

Think of it this way:
If BT had been "energetic" enough to spend thousands of pounds re-routing the cables the cost would obviously have to be passed on to either the customer or the shareholders.

Blue chip companies have to be incredibly careful in spending customers/shareholders money to improve a service when that company constantly ends up being top of "happy customer" surveys.
 
BT's stragegy is "walking backwards slowly". They resist every innovation for as long as they possibly can in order to wring the last penny profit from a system we have bought and paid for many times over and to keep all newcomers away from "their" market for as long as possible.

They are aided and abetted in this by a supine regulator and a government that doesn't understand or have any interest in technology and the impact it can have - for good or ill - on a nation's economic progress and well being.

France - that dirigiste, sclerotic, rotten economy (or so we're told anyway) - has 24mbps dsl and has had it for two or three years. The whole of Europe will move to 100mbps Internet II and Britain will be left behind as usual.

Australia simply took the pstn infrastructure into public ownership and asked the Australian BT if they were interested in maintaining it; for a fee. They were, of course, and because it's now in their interest to drive technology forward (because they now make money out of change) Australia has one of the most go-ahead networks in the world.

Our local BT exchange - Kentish Town - can't supply any more sDSL channels because it's run out of capacity! Vive le difference eh?
 
BT's stragegy is "walking backwards slowly". They resist every innovation for as long as they possibly can in order to wring the last penny profit from a system we have bought and paid for many times over and to keep all newcomers away from "their" market for as long as possible.

They are aided and abetted in this by a supine regulator and a government that doesn't understand or have any interest in technology and the impact it can have - for good or ill - on a nation's economic progress and well being.

France - that dirigiste, sclerotic, rotten economy (or so we're told anyway) - has 24mbps dsl and has had it for two or three years. The whole of Europe will move to 100mbps Internet II and Britain will be left behind as usual.

Australia simply took the pstn infrastructure into public ownership and asked the Australian BT if they were interested in maintaining it; for a fee. They were, of course, and because it's now in their interest to drive technology forward (because they now make money out of change) Australia has one of the most go-ahead networks in the world.

Our local BT exchange - Kentish Town - can't supply any more sDSL channels because it's run out of capacity! Vive le difference eh?


You are not a fan then!:smashin:
 
The main problem with the network here is the sheer age of it!

ALL exchanges are being rolled over onto the 21CN, that has started this year. The 21 CN is a first for any country on the planet and already many countries across the globe are showing interest in this new type of service.

There is nearly 20bn going into investment in the 21 CN over the next 3 years!!

BT has been slow in development of the network but 2007 is the first year that have been granted the right to do that by Ofcom, they are still the most regulated comms provider in the UK and possibly the world. Due to the Ofcom regulations which were loosened this year every single comms company in the UK has equal rights to own and develop the UK network. Ofcom has set the price the all companies have to pay to buy exchange space to do this and not BT.

Since privatisation of the network in the UK Ofcom has been there to make sure all companies have an equal chance to grow as service providers. This involved the sale of the network and to also stop BT from dropping their prices in any way which would make it unfair on other comms companies.

I don't work for BT but I do personally deal with tech issues like these every work day. One of the things that really annoys me up is when people who are so quick to follow the tabloid sensationalism and blame BT for the slow development of the network when all legislation concerning the network is under the complete control of Ofcom and for BT to change the legislation on even minor issues can take months if not years to change with Ofcom.

I'm certainly not saying that the company is faultless in everything because they aren't but this country is looking to be the second to have 100% broadband coverage (about 99% now), NI were the first and that was done was done by BT also.

You are right about the speed of Frances network but the problem with speeds like that on such an antiquated network is it's instability for their customers, the need to be continually repairing it and when the future proof 21 CN is nationwide here their network will just not be able to keep up with our services and will need to be replaced by something similar to the 21 CN.

As to the government:
They have been slow also due to the cost of upgrading the network but across the UK now the "wireless cities" program is having billions spent on it.

If you are so unhappy about your local exchange not being able to support any more broadband switches and you're not happy to wait for the BT upgrade you could always suggest to any other ISP that perhaps they do that for you as they have an equal right of ownership to that exchange that BT do and would actually get the license for it at a lower cost than BT do due to Ofcoms regulations.

BT are such an easy target to pick on...but not so easy if you actually know the facts. It's lazy and inaccurate to blame BT because the UK currently has one of the weakest (but fastest growing) networks in the world.
 
Lets hope the 21st Century Network BT is betting on provides the nationwide coverage we need to make IPTV based services really viable. Mind you that's 2010 for me and well SKY ADSL2+ or VM will be getting my internet money in the meantime not BT.



TO be honest I am not bothered, my view is that I get my T.V over the airwaves via an aerial, TVoIP don't appeal to me at all. I use my internet for browsing, emailing , maybe watching the odd You Tube video, but watching a full film over the net don't really appeal to me.

I rent DVDs from Lovefilms and they keep on at me about their download a film service, but that don't interest me either. The Ch4 and the BBC system uses a peer to peer system, which will be a pain if you have a cap on your internet.

I know Bt vision will not make any difference if you have a cap or an unlimited internet connection, because it is all Bt based, but surely if a lot of people are using BT Vision and since ADSL is a shared system anyway, is that not going to affect other peoples browsing?
 
TO be honest I am not bothered, my view is that I get my T.V over the airwaves via an aerial, TVoIP don't appeal to me at all. I use my internet for browsing, emailing , maybe watching the odd You Tube video, but watching a full film over the net don't really appeal to me.

I rent DVDs from Lovefilms and they keep on at me about their download a film service, but that don't interest me either. The Ch4 and the BBC system uses a peer to peer system, which will be a pain if you have a cap on your internet.

I know Bt vision will not make any difference if you have a cap or an unlimited internet connection, because it is all Bt based, but surely if a lot of people are using BT Vision and since ADSL is a shared system anyway, is that not going to affect other peoples browsing?





At the mo yes but ITPV once fully established will be no different in principle to watching TV via digital cable, you switch it on and it's there, that of course won't be happening anytime soon but the 2012 analogue switch off is perhaps in the ballpark. Tiscali TV and BT Vision are really early as yet unrealised versions of what IPTV can become and the p2p and other streaming services from UK broadcasters are simply no comparison.

Eventually the way content gets into your home becomes a non-issue be it via a landline, OTA or from a satellite, it's all the same to the user.

The current business model of both advertising funded and subscription funded TV have their limits. Ad funding especially has been shrinking thanks to the increase in the number of channels and the use of the DVR plus the subscription channels taking audience share.
I believe I am on safe ground in saying that what we have now won't be what we have by the time 21CN is rolled out nationwide since it won't have the limitations that both ADSL and ADSL2+ suffer from in terms of bottlenecks and bandwidth costs.

Nothing will convince me that current network performance makes IPTV viable yet thousands do have Tiscali (Homechoice).
 
At the mo yes but ITPV once fully established will be no different in principle to watching TV via digital cable, you switch it on and it's there, that of course won't be happening anytime soon but the 2012 analogue switch off is perhaps in the ballpark. Tiscali TV and BT Vision are really early as yet unrealised versions of what IPTV can become and the p2p and other streaming services from UK broadcasters are simply no comparison.

Eventually the way content gets into your home becomes a non-issue be it via a landline, OTA or from a satellite, it's all the same to the user.

The current business model of both advertising funded and subscription funded TV have their limits. Ad funding especially has been shrinking thanks to the increase in the number of channels and the use of the DVR plus the subscription channels taking audience share.
I believe I am on safe ground in saying that what we have now won't be what we have by the time 21CN is rolled out nationwide since it won't have the limitations that both ADSL and ADSL2+ suffer from in terms of bottlenecks and bandwidth costs.

Nothing will convince me that current network performance makes IPTV viable yet thousands do have Tiscali (Homechoice).


at the moment we have not even got any Isp who is willing to unbundle our exchange, which just shows how interested any ISp, including Tiscali is in my city. So the chances of having a decent network for IPtv is very slim here. 21Cn will be rolled out here in 2012, that is of cause if Bt can make it work on a large scale and they don't muck it up. I am still not convinced that this 21 CN system will work on a large scale and at a decent speed.

The other problem with IPTv is that it will be subscription based, since Ihad Sky at one point and thought that the amount of money I paid for the service was not worth it, I decided there and then never to subscribe to T.V again.

I suppose we will just have to wait and see, but doubt if I will bother with TVoIP, I am not that impressed with VOip either, The only reason I use that is because I can chat for free to the U.S
 
at the moment we have not even got any Isp who is willing to unbundle our exchange, which just shows how interested any ISp, including Tiscali is in my city. So the chances of having a decent network for IPtv is very slim here. 21Cn will be rolled out here in 2012, that is of cause if Bt can make it work on a large scale and they don't muck it up. I am still not convinced that this 21 CN system will work on a large scale and at a decent speed.

The other problem with IPTv is that it will be subscription based, since Ihad Sky at one point and thought that the amount of money I paid for the service was not worth it, I decided there and then never to subscribe to T.V again.

I suppose we will just have to wait and see, but doubt if I will bother with TVoIP, I am not that impressed with VOip either, The only reason I use that is because I can chat for free to the U.S
I may not be the best person to comment on this as I must watch about 20 hours of TV a year as a maximum:)!! For me it's always disc based (DVD/Blu-ray).

You're right about the advertising in the industry though. I think what we all think of as "TV" at the moment will be completely unrecognisable 10 years from now. I wouldn't be surprised to see everything be either subscription or pay per view with free TV being non existent.
 
I may not be the best person to comment on this as I must watch about 20 hours of TV a year as a maximum:)!! For me it's always disc based (DVD/Blu-ray).

You're right about the advertising in the industry though. I think what we all think of as "TV" at the moment will be completely unrecognisable 10 years from now. I wouldn't be surprised to see everything be either subscription or pay per view with free TV being non existent.

I seen a film on HDDVD at a mates place, it did look good, but I think the price he paid for the projector as it was a HD projector he had and also the cost of the player made it over priced. I know these prices will come down, but at the moment I think buying any HD DVD system is a big risk, as it is just Beatmax and VHS all over again. What we also did was take the DVD unit into the living room and stuck it on his 32 inch HD samsung LCD set. It looked ok, but to me the diffeence in quality was not that much better than a normal DVD. So on a massive screen HD is fine, but on 32 inch set which is what most people will have it is not really worth bothering with.

That is why I said that I have no need for a HD compatible T.V set.

No one knows what will happen in ten years time, but if we still have to pay the T.v licence fee and a subscription then I am afraid the T.V will be chucked out from here. I hate paying the license fee as it is because apart frm the odd thing BBC is just not worth the cost. subscription is fine if you can choose the channels just like the way on Digital did, Sky uses a system which to me is naff, if they said I could pay £10 a month annd choose so many channels, then I may be interested, but sticking them into groups and saying you will get channels in that group if you want them or not for a certain amount is not my idea of personalised T.V

BT Vision is really just a freeview PVR with VOD added on, which is fine if the price is right and you can get the quality over the ADSL link.

Top up T.v is just a waste of time, we will send you programmes to your box, from different channels, but we will pick out what we want you to watch, then a few weeks later we will send the same stuff to you again, just in case you want to watch it again.

As I said my idea subscription system, would be either a PAYG system or one that I can choose what channels I want to watch.
 
I seen a film on HDDVD at a mates place, it did look good, but I think the price he paid for the projector as it was a HD projector he had and also the cost of the player made it over priced. I know these prices will come down, but at the moment I think buying any HD DVD system is a big risk, as it is just Beatmax and VHS all over again. What we also did was take the DVD unit into the living room and stuck it on his 32 inch HD samsung LCD set. It looked ok, but to me the diffeence in quality was not that much better than a normal DVD. So on a massive screen HD is fine, but on 32 inch set which is what most people will have it is not really worth bothering with.

That is why I said that I have no need for a HD compatible T.V set.

No one knows what will happen in ten years time, but if we still have to pay the T.v licence fee and a subscription then I am afraid the T.V will be chucked out from here. I hate paying the license fee as it is because apart frm the odd thing BBC is just not worth the cost. subscription is fine if you can choose the channels just like the way on Digital did, Sky uses a system which to me is naff, if they said I could pay £10 a month annd choose so many channels, then I may be interested, but sticking them into groups and saying you will get channels in that group if you want them or not for a certain amount is not my idea of personalised T.V

BT Vision is really just a freeview PVR with VOD added on, which is fine if the price is right and you can get the quality over the ADSL link.

Top up T.v is just a waste of time, we will send you programmes to your box, from different channels, but we will pick out what we want you to watch, then a few weeks later we will send the same stuff to you again, just in case you want to watch it again.

As I said my idea subscription system, would be either a PAYG system or one that I can choose what channels I want to watch.

I've just signed up for BT Vision and it hasn't cost me a penny. (Normally £90 for the equipment and install). I currently have BT broadband which I'm paying £26.99 a month for. My contract ends in a couple of weeks so I called to see what they're offering. They're now giving me their Option 2, including free evening and weekend calls for £19.99 per month, an upgrade to a Home Hub, a BT Vision PVR (though I already have freesat and freeview built into my TV) I wouldn't have gone for it if it wasn't free, but it'll mean I can record freesat (Sky SD) on my DVD HD, pause live TV on the PVR and watch freeview through the TV (after using a Y-splitter from the wall) at the same time. I also like they're OD movie system, as it's only £1.99 (cheaper than renting a DVD) and the PVR has optical out and HDMI (though, the HDMI isn't active yet, but according to the BT guy I spoke to the software upgrade is coming in the next month or so and HD content ((mainly movies at first)) will be following). I'll post again once I've got it installed and let you know what it's like.
 
Reading this out of interest - I am about to become a BT Vision installer (aaarghhh, change!) and am wondering how many people have tried working in a really busy environment and maintaining service. Let's say 21CN rollout is going to be at least as hard as digging up the entire M25 and maintaining traffic flow around London.....
Try working on a nationwide network that has to have 99.9% uptime in order to maintain emergency services provision to the entire country and was built decades ago... then try doing it with Ofcom on your back!
 
the PVR has optical out and HDMI (though, the HDMI isn't active yet, but according to the BT guy I spoke to the software upgrade is coming in the next month or so and HD content ((mainly movies at first)) will be following). I'll post again once I've got it installed and let you know what it's like.

The HDMI port is active and i use it. Its simply not supported. the guy who sold it to me told me the same as you and so did the installer but having a spare cabel around i gave it a try while the installer was here. He said they had no training but would now start recommending its use as it really improves pic quality compared to scart.
 
France - that dirigiste, sclerotic, rotten economy (or so we're told anyway) - has 24mbps dsl and has had it for two or three years. The whole of Europe will move to 100mbps Internet II and Britain will be left behind as usual.

I just had a read of the BT website about 21CN, most of the blurb is undecipherable gobbledegook; the main useful piece of information seemed to be that it will give a reliable speed of 24 Mbit/s. I would have thought that if they are completely rebuilding the network, then they would move to the 100Mbits available elsewhere.... :rolleyes:
 
whats all this 21CN stuff if they spending all this money to upgrade why not go fibre optic? or is this fibre optics?

i hear the 3pm kick off will be available after 10pm on sats for £4 a month which is a great price but waiting til 10pm is hell

i would have liked it much more if it was just a 2 hour wait or something but 10pm :(
 

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