New Feature (from stuff.co.nz)

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wingbat45

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Topic # 173502 25-May-2015 20:46

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/68816724/sky-tv-to-let-viewers-scroll-back-to-the-future

Thoughts peoples?

"Sky Television plans to let subscribers scroll back in time through its television planner so they can watch programmes they might have missed. If a subscriber realised they had forgotten to record a screening of Back to the Future on Prime the previous weekend, for example, they could use their remote to click back through the channel's listings and select it. Spokeswoman Kirsty Way said Sky aimed to have its "reverse EPG" (electronic programming guide) feature available next year. Freeview will make the same feature available on the major free-to-air channels before then, though in its case viewers will need a new set-top box or a "smart television" bought this year that supports its soon to be introduced FreeviewPlus service."

Jase2985

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Reply # 1311618 25-May-2015 21:13

bit of formatting would have been nice. :)

sbiddle

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Reply # 1311619 25-May-2015 21:15

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It's simply Sky launching what other countries have had for a number of years.

It's a very cool feature, and once you have it on a box you wonder how you lived without it.

Jase2985

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Reply # 1311623 25-May-2015 21:21

my question is they were planning on March/april to roll out their ethernet connectivity for the sky boxes. they keep announcing new features, but dont say when its actually going to be avaliable.

wingbat45

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Reply # 1311679 25-May-2015 22:13

Jase2985: bit of formatting would have been nice. :)

Yea My bad sorry ( looked ok on my side )

skewt

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Reply # 1311681 25-May-2015 22:34

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They want all decoders swapped out by August 2016 with new models

They have shown us they can't provide quality streams on the Internet. I doubt they could pull this off

JamesL

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Reply # 1311695 25-May-2015 22:59

This new feature will be followed closely by another price increase which they've tried really hard not to pass onto customers

davidcole

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Reply # 1311787 26-May-2015 08:20

While this may be a feature that round the world has had for years, at least its a point of distinction from all the on demand services we currently have.

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Scott3

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Reply # 1313190 27-May-2015 23:25

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Wonder how this affects Vodafone TV.

Vodafone TV should be a "killer app" for UFB, able to supply better quality (due to increased bit rate), and more HD channels that is economically feasible over fibre. However it appears the execution is not as slick as mysky. Now sky boxes are going to be web connected could there be an ability for mysky to receve with IP multicast rather than satellite?

I was surprised about the comments about mailing out wifi units to allow the sky boxes to connect to wifi. This seems like a high risk strategy for a large roll out. I bet sky is going to get a lot of service calls due to wifi range & interference issues. I would have recommended wired , then power line networking, with wifi only as a last resort.

I think best practise for UFB installs was to put the router next to the TV (unless the house has structured wiring with a drop to the TV - (I have 4 drops to the TV :)), so in a few years a decent chunk of the country should be able to just plug in an Ethernet cable.

Getting rid of the old MPEG2 boxes should free up the satellite bandwidth sky was using to send out duplicate channels, and allow it to step up it's quality game. It's 2015. I expect 1080p quality as standard on all modern content. Its what I get on Youtube and Netflix. HD is a basic expectation not a premium service you can charge $10 for.

NonprayingMantis

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Reply # 1313201 27-May-2015 23:41

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Scott3: Wonder how this affects Vodafone TV.

Vodafone TV should be a "killer app" for UFB, able to supply better quality (due to increased bit rate), and more HD channels that is economically feasible over fibre. However it appears the execution is not as slick as mysky. Now sky boxes are going to be web connected could there be an ability for mysky to receve with IP multicast rather than satellite?

I was surprised about the comments about mailing out wifi units to allow the sky boxes to connect to wifi. This seems like a high risk strategy for a large roll out. I bet sky is going to get a lot of service calls due to wifi range & interference issues. I would have recommended wired , then power line networking, with wifi only as a last resort.

I think best practise for UFB installs was to put the router next to the TV (unless the house has structured wiring with a drop to the TV - (I have 4 drops to the TV :)), so in a few years a decent chunk of the country should be able to just plug in an Ethernet cable.

Getting rid of the old MPEG2 boxes should free up the satellite bandwidth sky was using to send out duplicate channels, and allow it to step up it's quality game. It's 2015. I expect 1080p quality as standard on all modern content. Its what I get on Youtube and Netflix. HD is a basic expectation not a premium service you can charge $10 for.

the problem with 'Vodafone TV' is that it is still basically linear broadcast - which is about the worst way you can watch something.

YEs you get more HD and maybe more channels, but you still have to wait for stuff to be broadcast, you're still limited to whatever VF/Sky decide you can watch on the, still limited, channels they offer. and then you still have ads, or, if you record it and wait, you still have to ffwd through the ads, which is still annoying. And then it still requires a giant set top box to work - which means its limited to watching only on your main TV. more TVs = more cost, and there is no capacity for watching on iPad or similar ro anyting outside your home.

With streaming services like NEtflix, Lightbox, you can binge watch entire series if you want, and the content selections are massively bigger than you can watch on the linear service. you can watch on many many devices, either in your home or out.

this service from the OP is a step in the right direction, but its still fundamentally linear based, and therefore 'old world' thinking. they will only have maybe up to 3 weeks of content available so you can't go back and watch an entire season, which you can do with Lightbox or Netflix.

Scott3

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Reply # 1316491 2-Jun-2015 22:46

NonprayingMantis:

the problem with 'Vodafone TV' is that it is still basically linear broadcast - which is about the worst way you can watch something.

Some things are really well suited to broadcast (probability makes up about 20% of my viewing). Particularly "Live" content, It's intrinsically linear in nature, and broadcast methods can deal with infinite viewers, making it suitable for really popular stuff. Not really much choice when you live with an live sports fan, and require an easy and reliable solution. Actually we have an old SD sky decoder. Tempted to go to Vodafone TV solely for the better quality.

I have a netflix subscription, and a multi terabyte NAS for local content, so generally view the vast majority of my non-live content "on demand".

linw

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Reply # 1316819 3-Jun-2015 13:57

JamesL: This new feature will be followed closely by another price increase which they've tried really hard not to pass onto customers

Surely not. How can you be so cynical?

mattwnz

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Reply # 1316821 3-Jun-2015 14:04

Or they could move into the 21st century just make all programs ondemand, so there is no need to have to worry about EPGs etc.

tdgeek

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Reply # 1316860 3-Jun-2015 15:33

mattwnz: Or they could move into the 21st century just make all programs ondemand, so there is no need to have to worry about EPGs etc.

They will react, and consumers will win overall with a range of good options to choose from, or to use one or more

antoniosk

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Reply # 1316886 3-Jun-2015 16:42

Scott3: Wonder how this affects Vodafone TV.

Vodafone TV should be a "killer app" for UFB, able to supply better quality (due to increased bit rate), and more HD channels that is economically feasible over fibre. However it appears the execution is not as slick as mysky. Now sky boxes are going to be web connected could there be an ability for mysky to receve with IP multicast rather than satellite?

I was surprised about the comments about mailing out wifi units to allow the sky boxes to connect to wifi. This seems like a high risk strategy for a large roll out. I bet sky is going to get a lot of service calls due to wifi range & interference issues. I would have recommended wired , then power line networking, with wifi only as a last resort.

I think best practise for UFB installs was to put the router next to the TV (unless the house has structured wiring with a drop to the TV - (I have 4 drops to the TV :)), so in a few years a decent chunk of the country should be able to just plug in an Ethernet cable.

Getting rid of the old MPEG2 boxes should free up the satellite bandwidth sky was using to send out duplicate channels, and allow it to step up it's quality game. It's 2015. I expect 1080p quality as standard on all modern content. Its what I get on Youtube and Netflix. HD is a basic expectation not a premium service you can charge $10 for.

It'll be great. Voda will abandon what they have acquired and replace with the Sky offering. Why try to replicate what somebody else is doing better than you?

Mind you, I've been without VodaTV for 6 weeks now.... not really missing it....

________

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