Goodbye Sky

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#1555663 19-May-2016 15:23

Mspec:

MikeB4:

What is the state of PVR's in the Freeview world like these days?

Just bought one of these today , going to review it over the weekend.

http://www.panasonic.com/nz/consumer/tvs-home-theatre-and-audio/blu-ray-dvd/blu-ray-recorders/dmr-hwt260.html

Very nice, I will be keen to hear how this goes.

kingjj

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#1555672 19-May-2016 15:48

Emailed Sky 2 days ago when the price rise was announced. Got a confirmation email 30 minutes later saying accounts would be in contact. Just had a call from accounts today to confirm cancellation. Was offered: a) 3 months free Sports and Movies with no contract or B) put account on hold and keep box/free to air and 2 random basic channels for up to 3 months. Opted for C) complete cancellation (strangely not pushed by the operator). All in all very polite and friendly I have to say. Confirmed dates and when final bill would arrive over the phone.

Will miss Sky Sports on occasion, won't miss the rest.

frankv

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#1555683 19-May-2016 16:18

Was offered: a) 3 months free Sports and Movies with no contract or B) put account on hold and keep box/free to air and 2 random basic channels for up to 3 months. Opted for C) complete cancellation (strangely not pushed by the operator).

Interestingly, I've been with Sky for a while, paying via Vodafone (in exchange for free HD). I switched my landline from Vodafone a few months ago, and eventually VF accounts cancelled the Sky payment. Sky called me and just for not cancelling I'm now also getting free Sports for 3 months.

Long story short... it looks like Sky is quite amenable at the moment to giving 3 months of free Sport. :)

I'm now thinking about what I'll do in 3 months time... is there somewhere on the Net I can stream live video of the good stuff that I currently get from Sky Sport... F1, Bathurst, All Blacks, Black Caps, maybe Super Rugby?

MikeB4

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#1555686 19-May-2016 16:21

frankv:

Was offered: a) 3 months free Sports and Movies with no contract or B) put account on hold and keep box/free to air and 2 random basic channels for up to 3 months. Opted for C) complete cancellation (strangely not pushed by the operator).

Interestingly, I've been with Sky for a while, paying via Vodafone (in exchange for free HD). I switched my landline from Vodafone a few months ago, and eventually VF accounts cancelled the Sky payment. Sky called me and just for not cancelling I'm now also getting free Sports for 3 months.

Long story short... it looks like Sky is quite amenable at the moment to giving 3 months of free Sport. :)

I'm now thinking about what I'll do in 3 months time... is there somewhere on the Net I can stream live video of the good stuff that I currently get from Sky Sport... F1, Bathurst, All Blacks, Black Caps, maybe Super Rugby?

Legally? only what is done by the rights owners

wingbat45

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#1555704 19-May-2016 16:52

I had a argument with someone (not from sky) and they were telling me how much sky actually pays (he heard) for the rights to the super rugby and v8 and league. He did not say the actual amount but it was eye watering (also a line the spokeswoman from sky used in a article recently)

For sky to use the words "eye wateringly expensive" you know its got to be big.

geekIT

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#1555781 19-May-2016 19:25

Guys, could someone please bring me up to speed on the alternatives to Sky?

My viewing arrangements consist of a TV set, a MySky box and Sky dish with a basic Sky package, a WD media player and a large amount of content that we download on our several computers.

So what's changed? I see lots of chat about stuff like Freeview, Netflix, PVRs etc etc but have no idea if I should be getting to grips with new and different equipment.

I had a Freeview tuner about 10 years back, and seem to recall that it was picking up its stuff (only TV1, TV2, TV3?) from an old TV coat-hanger aerial. I thought Freeview would disappear eventually, but I see that it's still around, so I guess it must still be useful technology.

So what's hot these days?

'Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.' Voltaire

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Hammerer

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#1555799 19-May-2016 19:58

geekIT:

Guys, could someone please bring me up to speed on the alternatives to Sky?

My viewing arrangements consist of a TV set, a MySky box and Sky dish with a basic Sky package, a WD media player and a large amount of content that we download on our several computers.

So what's changed? I see lots of chat about stuff like Freeview, Netflix, PVRs etc etc but have no idea if I should be getting to grips with new and different equipment.

I had a Freeview tuner about 10 years back, and seem to recall that it was picking up its stuff (only TV1, TV2, TV3?) from an old TV coat-hanger aerial. I thought Freeview would disappear eventually, but I see that it's still around, so I guess it must still be useful technology.

So what's hot these days?

What's hot? Read the many topics.

But I'd say getting the content you want and being able to view it at your convenience ... at the right price.

I don't think you need any more equipment but it all depends upon what you are trying to achieve. So you'd need to provide more info on that.

Freeview was never going to disappear because it was the digital platform to replace the old analogue broadcast network. Don't know how you'd get the idea it was on its way out.

In general terms, streaming is the way to go but it is frustrating that you can't get as much in one place as you can with Sky. On the other hand the convenience of watching streaming is much greater than broadcast services like Sky and Freeview.

We've used multiple streaming services (Netflix (global through Getflix), Lightbox, etc) and exhausted their catalogues quite quickly. Netflix took less than six months before we were stalking the new releases; Lightbox and others took less than that.

Much of the TV catalogue is old stuff we don't need to see again.
Movies are a limited selection - we still go to the video store particularly for movies we can't get anywhere easily online - ten for $10 for 8 days.

As you know, it is faster to watch most things streamed (/downloaded) because:

You get viewer ratings and reviews for each program which are really useful because they allow you to be more discerning.
You can watch in smaller increments.
The playback speed can be increased. For example, I can comfortably watch many documentaries at double speed.
You can preview scenes quickly and skip boring/irrelevant bits.

We're bucking the trend in spending more on Sky. We've already got Sky TV in the household (one person's bedroom) but we've just signed up for it for our main TV with free Sky Sports over cable from Vodafone. We'll compare them both and switch out the worst performing with a second unit for the better platform.

[P.S. Extra blank line are inserted for the bulleted lists]

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frankv

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#1555925 20-May-2016 08:28

MikeB4:

frankv:

I'm now thinking about what I'll do in 3 months time... is there somewhere on the Net I can stream live video of the good stuff that I currently get from Sky Sport... F1, Bathurst, All Blacks, Black Caps, maybe Super Rugby?

Legally? only what is done by the rights owners

Legally? I'm not fussed. I'm happy to pay a reasonable price for the sports (as I have been doing for some time), but if it's not available reasonably priced, I'll look at the alternatives.

Does Sky also sell it's sports coverage via streaming? Or does someone else provide it? I recall that a while back, live coverage of the Black Caps was available via some South African website.

MikeB4

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#1555934 20-May-2016 08:41

frankv:

MikeB4:

frankv:

I'm now thinking about what I'll do in 3 months time... is there somewhere on the Net I can stream live video of the good stuff that I currently get from Sky Sport... F1, Bathurst, All Blacks, Black Caps, maybe Super Rugby?

Legally? only what is done by the rights owners

Legally? I'm not fussed. I'm happy to pay a reasonable price for the sports (as I have been doing for some time), but if it's not available reasonably priced, I'll look at the alternatives.

Does Sky also sell it's sports coverage via streaming? Or does someone else provide it? I recall that a while back, live coverage of the Black Caps was available via some South African website.

They have Fan Pass, I don't know a lot about it or its quality, the prices have always said to me "yeah Nah"

https://fanpass.co.nz/packages?type=0

frankv

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#1555954 20-May-2016 09:25

Bizarre!

Sky Sport package is $28.29 per month for the 4 Sky Sport channels (plus some rubbish).

Fan Pass is $55.99 per month for just the 4 Sky Sport channels.

Yeah... Na!

trig42

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#1555965 20-May-2016 09:39

frankv:

Bizarre!

Sky Sport package is $28.29 per month for the 4 Sky Sport channels (plus some rubbish).

Fan Pass is $55.99 per month for just the 4 Sky Sport channels.

Yeah... Na!

Which is because to get Sky Sport over Satellite, you are already paying $50 for the 'basic' package (which subsidises Sport) and probably $15 for MySky and $10 for HD, so really, for Sport, you are paying $100 a month (if you want a PVR and HD). $55.99 for a month on Fanpass isn't so bad then.

IMO, Sky should dump the Subsidy that Basic users pay for Sport (even if they don't subscribe to Sport) and charge those who subscribe to Sport the full amount that Sport costs Sky (Which, if you go with the Fanpass costs, would be around $55 a month, making Basic about $27 a month). That might make me go back to Sky (they'd also have to drop the HD ticket price to nothing and allow me to pay a one-off, or rent to buy the MySky).

tdgeek

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#1555969 20-May-2016 09:46

MikeB4:

frankv:

MikeB4:

frankv:

I'm now thinking about what I'll do in 3 months time... is there somewhere on the Net I can stream live video of the good stuff that I currently get from Sky Sport... F1, Bathurst, All Blacks, Black Caps, maybe Super Rugby?

Legally? only what is done by the rights owners

Legally? I'm not fussed. I'm happy to pay a reasonable price for the sports (as I have been doing for some time), but if it's not available reasonably priced, I'll look at the alternatives.

Does Sky also sell it's sports coverage via streaming? Or does someone else provide it? I recall that a while back, live coverage of the Black Caps was available via some South African website.

They have Fan Pass, I don't know a lot about it or its quality, the prices have always said to me "yeah Nah"

https://fanpass.co.nz/packages?type=0

I've asked re quality, its pretty good apparently. The price of sport overseas is circa NZ$60, and as we know Sport here is subsidised, Fanpass seems a fair price,

Plus you can pay $56 a month or have lite months where its a day or two or a week or two, or none.

xontech

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#1556019 20-May-2016 10:20

Last October I ran Fan Pass for Bathurst all day at HD (not sure the actual resolution, but looked good on a projector) without a glitch. That's is on UFB. I usually use it for a day at a time for a specific event, always works well for me. Totally different to Sky Go, two totally different offerings that I don't think are comparable.

Rikkitic

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#1556061 20-May-2016 10:49

geekIT:

Guys, could someone please bring me up to speed on the alternatives to Sky?

My viewing arrangements consist of a TV set, a MySky box and Sky dish with a basic Sky package, a WD media player and a large amount of content that we download on our several computers.

So what's changed? I see lots of chat about stuff like Freeview, Netflix, PVRs etc etc but have no idea if I should be getting to grips with new and different equipment.

I had a Freeview tuner about 10 years back, and seem to recall that it was picking up its stuff (only TV1, TV2, TV3?) from an old TV coat-hanger aerial. I thought Freeview would disappear eventually, but I see that it's still around, so I guess it must still be useful technology.

So what's hot these days?

If you are referring to content, what’s hot depends on your taste. The range of streaming content now available, both free and paid, is almost unlimited. A PC will work fine for that, though most people seem to use various gadgets and boxes, like Chromecast and Apple TV. However, I have found that a simple streaming PC meets my needs fairly well so I cannot speak about those.

Other than streaming, you could easily use your Sky dish for Freeview (without Sky) if you wanted to. There are modern PVRs like the Panasonic that have hard drives and dual tuners for recording. These don’t interest me much because there isn’t much on Freeview that I watch anyway. TVs and other devices with built-in tuners are usually limited in one way or another so I have separate dedicated boxes for satellite, UHF and Sky. My satellite receiver gets all the Freeview channels as well as everything else on satellites D1, D2 and Intelsat 19, all of which I can get on my Sky dish. Most of the unscrambled stuff isn’t very interesting, though. Mainly I just use it for the Dutch BVN satellite, but all of that content I can now also get via streaming.

I also put up a UHF antenna several years ago and I have a cheap Chinese box for that. This allows me to receive a couple of extra Freeview channels not available on satellite, as well as HD. In the past I used to record some films on the UHF receiver but even on the HD channels they are often only broadcast in SD with stereo sound and I haven’t bothered for some time. The latest thing, which requires a different receiver, is Freeview Plus. Someone else will have to tell you about that.

Since I started streaming that has become my main alternative to Sky. Most ordinary PCs can handle the processing requirements unless they are very old and I use a Compaq someone gave me. I only needed to add a graphics card with HDMI out and some RAM. With that I could just plug the computer into the TV but I have also added some other things to make it more usable, mainly an HDMI recorder and HDCP stripper and some other bits. The recorder, a Hauppauge HD-PVR2, lets me record high definition video and the stripper means I can use any source without copy protection getting in the way. I don’t actually use it much, though, since I can just stream whatever I want to watch.

I have some external USB drives for any video I do record. They are plugged into the computer and the two receiver boxes. I also bought a sound card for the computer and connected it to the recorder with a digital cable because the HDMI audio didn’t work well with my system. A universal remote switches both the audio through my HT receiver and the video through an IR HDMI switch. These last things have given me more quality and flexibility, but they aren’t really necessary. With what you already have you could do most of this.

As with content, what’s hot in devices depends on your requirements and budget. All that I have I did on the cheap. The most expensive purchase, not counting the TV and the older HT receiver, was probably the HDMI recorder, which I think cost around $150 or so if I remember correctly. The biggest limitation to my set-up is the lack of EPG. Again, it depends on what you consider essential. You can also easily spend hundreds or even thousands but others will have to advise you on the more specialised gadgets as I have no experience of those.

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

geekIT

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#1556279 20-May-2016 14:06

Thanks, guys. OK, from your replies I see a one-word term that pretty much sums up what I've largely ignored about recent technology - 'streaming'.

I'm an ex-IT guy so I understand the origin of the term.

(In fact, my WD Media Player has the capability of picking up streaming data from my PC if I plug a USB wireless connector into it. As it is, I download data to the PC then transfer it to a cased 2.5" hard drive that's connected to the media player via USB)

But I've never bothered to investigate streaming with respect to TV.

So, do I understand that we're talking about data (movies etc) that are coming into the house via broadband modem, rather than satellite, as with Sky?

With that data then being watched and\or handled on one's computer? And\or being watched on TV?

If so, it must bump up the data usage of anyone who doesn't have a no-limit broadband plan.

I have this plan. Sounds like I'm not actually missing anything, then.

'Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.' Voltaire

'A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government.' Edward Abbey

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