TiVo Service ending on 31 October 2017

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#1729392 3-Mar-2017 13:27

stone2: Can someone explain to me what Freeview plus is? Sounds like a good replacement.

There are three FTA OD services, TVNZ, 3Now and Maori TV. These OnDEmand apps are included in FreeView Plus, so you can watch and record live TV, and use OD for catchup on one remote. These apps elsewhere are not on every platform. So saves having 2 other devices having to be used. My ATV4 has everything I need but not TVNZ, i then have to airplay it, annoying.

mattwnz

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#1729399 3-Mar-2017 13:29

stone2: Can someone explain to me what Freeview plus is? Sounds like a good replacement.

It isn't. Basically it is similar to watching onDemand via their website. . But I found the interface sucks and is laggy. Plus you can't skip ads. Also can get error messages. But that maybe partly the freeview box I have got. Also you can't store the recordings and on demand stuff is only available for a short period of time

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#1729400 3-Mar-2017 13:29

DMCM:

Pricing for the sky freeview only plan

If you bought the Sky Box (its not bought, its still theirs) that drops the rental, so you can have a FTA recorder with season pass for $18-70 per month.

If you dont have a dish, you probably have to pay the install fee

tdgeek

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#1729405 3-Mar-2017 13:33

mattwnz:
stone2: Can someone explain to me what Freeview plus is? Sounds like a good replacement.

It isn't. Basically it is similar to watching onDemand via their website. . But I found the interface sucks and is laggy. Plus you can't skip ads. Also can get error messages. But that maybe partly the freeview box I have got. Also you can't store the recordings and on demand stuff is only available for a short period of time

Oh. Not that great then, apart from a true catchup only service, rather than a "I'm bored, I'll see what heaps of OD there are to watch" ?

Is that TVNZ and 3Now issue re short avaiability or the FV+ version?

DMCM

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#1729419 3-Mar-2017 14:05

Has anyone used one of these?

AerialBox T2200

There's a huge thread on it but I don't want to wade through all 64 pages....

sbiddle

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#1729422 3-Mar-2017 14:14

stone2: Can someone explain to me what Freeview plus is? Sounds like a good replacement.

Freeview Plus is a application for viewing on demand content through your TV. If you have a modern TV that supports HbbTV addons the Freeview Plus application will appear on your TV and allow you to scroll through the EPG and play back previous shows over the internet without needing to use an on demand app for TVNZ / Media Works like you used to have to do.

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trig42

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#1729424 3-Mar-2017 14:29

DMCM:

Has anyone used one of these?

AerialBox T2200

There's a huge thread on it but I don't want to wade through all 64 pages....

There is nothing really wrong with the DishTV units. They just aren't as 'nice' UI-wise as the TiVo or MySky.

I have a DishTV T2100 (so no HDD and only one tuner) and it works perfectly well. The UI is OK, and I would happily get another one. The Remotes are a bit poop, but I use mine with a Harmony remote and it is fine with that.

I also have a MagicTV 3700 in the lounge. It is OK too. The UI is easy enough to navigate and read, but it just isn't quite as friendly as the MySky it replaced. Pretty close, but a few things that could be better.

My main gripe with the Freeview units is the slowness of bringing up the guide, and the lack of the full 7 day guide grid that the MySky has (see all channels as a table, not one channel at a time).

mattwnz

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#1729431 3-Mar-2017 14:33

trig42:

My main gripe with the Freeview units is the slowness of bringing up the guide, and the lack of the full 7 day guide grid that the MySky has (see all channels as a table, not one channel at a time).

The freeview EPG is actually a major flaw, and the lag of it just makes me not want to use it . You wonder if they actually did usability tests before they introduced it. You should be able to see all programs and channels on a grid, like the tivo does. Infact freeviews own ios app now even does this. I am wondering if they will update the Freeview EPG in the future , or if that is possible?

Dynamic

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#1729441 3-Mar-2017 14:51

mattwnz: The freeview EPG is actually a major flaw, and the lag of it just makes me not want to use it . You wonder if they actually did usability tests before they introduced it. You should be able to see all programs and channels on a grid, like the tivo does. Infact freeviews own ios app now even does this. I am wondering if they will update the Freeview EPG in the future , or if that is possible?

I would have thought the guide is harvested by the box and the Freeview-compatible device formats the guide the way the box is programmed. I would not have thought that the Freeview company would specify the way the guide has to be presented to the consumer.

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sbiddle

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#1729452 3-Mar-2017 15:05

Dynamic:

mattwnz: The freeview EPG is actually a major flaw, and the lag of it just makes me not want to use it . You wonder if they actually did usability tests before they introduced it. You should be able to see all programs and channels on a grid, like the tivo does. Infact freeviews own ios app now even does this. I am wondering if they will update the Freeview EPG in the future , or if that is possible?

I would have thought the guide is harvested by the box and the Freeview-compatible device formats the guide the way the box is programmed. I would not have thought that the Freeview company would specify the way the guide has to be presented to the consumer.

The EPG is a MHEG5 application. It's easily updateable, and was actually updated to a HD version a few years back that improved the clarity of the details.

Jaxson

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#1729456 3-Mar-2017 15:12

Dynamic:

I would have thought the guide is harvested by the box and the Freeview-compatible device formats the guide the way the box is programmed. I would not have thought that the Freeview company would specify the way the guide has to be presented to the consumer.

Completely the opposite. Freeview want a standardised interface, so all units are forced to use the same slow freeview MHEG5 EPG.

In fact, units like the magic TV box had excellent EPG's but these had to be neutered when they brought it to NZ.

The Magic TV native EPG looked like this, before it was released with the freeview EPG here in NZ:

Freeview does not release the data to units to display as they'd like to, and this has hampered the deployment of many hardware and software options here in NZ.

In some cases there have been workarounds, like the Windows EPG scraper that extracts (from the official MHEG5 EPG) and provides the data to media centre, which is expecting it in plain on EIT data format.

On a great day something similar could be put in place for our TIVO devices, with redirects pointing the units to the new site location to receive the EPG data.

Freeview plus is (as others have mentioned above) a way of viewing all the various channel on demand web services, right from within your device.

The fact that it's presented on an EPG schedule makes it pretty cool, but the quality is limited to what you'd get if you went to the equivalent tv channel web page to view on demand there.

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richms

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#1729457 3-Mar-2017 15:12

Still slow as anything.

I turned HBB off on my lg because it was just so annoying with giant things on-screen on channel changes.

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#1729458 3-Mar-2017 15:16

sbiddle: The EPG is a MHEG5 application. It's easily updateable, and was actually updated to a HD version a few years back that improved the clarity of the details.

That really surprises me. I would have expected something like a streamed XML file that just dumps the EPG text to the receiver, so the receiver can do what it likes with the EPG info, displaying it in whatever way the receiving appliance developer pleases.

Jaxson: Completely the opposite. Freeview want a standardised interface, so all units are forced to use the same slow freeview MHEG5 EPG.

Wow. That's one way to stifle innovation, FreeviewNZ!

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Jaxson

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#1729462 3-Mar-2017 15:22

richms: Still slow as anything.

I turned HBB off on my lg because it was just so annoying with giant things on-screen on channel changes.

Is the HBB you speak of that crap that comes in from the left hand side when the TV starts etc?

For elderly it's all awfully confusing/distracting, even if it's not particularly difficult.

mattwnz

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#1729485 3-Mar-2017 15:47

Dynamic:
sbiddle: The EPG is a MHEG5 application. It's easily updateable, and was actually updated to a HD version a few years back that improved the clarity of the details.

That really surprises me. I would have expected something like a streamed XML file that just dumps the EPG text to the receiver, so the receiver can do what it likes with the EPG info, displaying it in whatever way the receiving appliance developer pleases.

Jaxson: Completely the opposite. Freeview want a standardised interface, so all units are forced to use the same slow freeview MHEG5 EPG.

Wow. That's one way to stifle innovation, FreeviewNZ!

Maybe it is about controlling the branding and having a consistent epg on all devices. But it is one reason I don't use the freeview epg. I don't know what it currently looks like but presume it looks the same as when it first came out.

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