Mis-information from Telecom and return of TiVo

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kiwipeter

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# 46939 10-Nov-2009 10:19

Hi all, well one of the reasons I went for TiVo is the CASPA content. I made special mention of this when asking about TiVo at my local Telecom store and was told that movies would be in HD (720p or higher). I now find that downloads are SD - and this has been confirmed by TiVo support following an email to them this morning.

I now feel a little let-down by the whole thing.

Is anyone else feeling that they were mis-sold?

Thanks,
Peter

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# 271563 10-Nov-2009 10:24

It's always been disclosed as being SD - and we had this discussion even before the product launch.

freitasm

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# 271566 10-Nov-2009 10:29

Of course, we knowing this beforehand doesn't mean the stores shouldn't know about it - or provide incorrect information.

josephhinvest

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# 271575 10-Nov-2009 10:44

kiwipeter: Hi all, well one of the reasons I went for TiVo is the CASPA content. I made special mention of this when asking about TiVo at my local Telecom store and was told that movies would be in HD (720p or higher). I now find that downloads are SD - and this has been confirmed by TiVo support following an email to them this morning.

I now feel a little let-down by the whole thing.

Is anyone else feeling that they were mis-sold?

Thanks,
Peter

It does sound like you were misinformed by Telecom, I've had a trawl through the mytivo.co.nz and telecom.co.nz pages regarding CASPA, and there doesn't seem to be any mention, anywhere, of the quality of the CASPA programming.

Cheers,
Joseph

[edit]
I guess it's quite possible that 720p content will be available in the future? I wouldn't think there would be any technical reason (other than larger file sizes) why content could not be served in both SD and HD.

kiwipeter

146 posts

Master Geek

# 271577 10-Nov-2009 10:47

I asked the guy face-to-face (at the Telecom store!) "are CASPA movies in HD?" He replied "yes they are!"

Surely some staff training would've been handy!

kiwipeter

146 posts

Master Geek

# 271581 10-Nov-2009 10:57

freitasm: It's always been disclosed as being SD - and we had this discussion even before the product launch.

Well, some of you may have known, but certainly there is nothing on the official TiVo websites that I can find to say it is HD or SD.

I wonder how many other people have been suckered in on the basis of the downloadable content?

chiefie

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# 271585 10-Nov-2009 11:10

Well I won't be suckered into it as Telecom isn't my ISP so it's pointless to get TiVo when I won't benefit from downloadable content anyway... Looking forward to TCL's HomeMediaPVR though.

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rscole86

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# 271588 10-Nov-2009 11:13

I assume TiVo will not say what quality the content will be, as it is up to the content providers? Why say it will be SD, when someone might sign on, and provide 720p content?

kiwipeter

146 posts

Master Geek

# 271590 10-Nov-2009 11:17

Here is the reply I got from TiVo Techincal Support (support@mytivo.co.nz)

"CASPA movies quality as good as dvd quality so it SD not HD

Regards

TiVo Support"

Nikoftime

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# 271602 10-Nov-2009 12:08

how long does it take to download a 90 min SD movie to the TIVO box, do you have to set it up to download an hour or so before you start viewing?

rscole86

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# 271603 10-Nov-2009 12:10

How long is a piece of string?
It all depends on your internet connection. Faster speeds, mean faster downloads. Also, assuming your connection is faster than the play speed of the download, you can start watching before it finishes. So in theory, you can finish watching it within 10 minutes of the download finishing.

Oblivian

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# 271619 10-Nov-2009 12:58

This is another one of those 'depends on who you ask' things I guess.

It was recently taken up with Sky about similar HD/upscaling issue. Sadly, it would appear .au/.nz don't appear to recognise JUST 720+ as HD but some like to include 576.

480 however, IS considered SD by em

In Australia, the 625-line digital progressive system (with 576 active lines) is officially recognized as high definition.

^^ Wikipedia

On the flipside, Freeview recently cleared their view up and modified their glossary to state they feel 576 (broadcast tv) is standard Definition.

frednz

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# 271673 10-Nov-2009 15:31

Oblivian: This is another one of those 'depends on who you ask' things I guess.

It was recently taken up with Sky about similar HD/upscaling issue. Sadly, it would appear .au/.nz don't appear to recognise JUST 720+ as HD but some like to include 576.

480 however, IS considered SD by em

In Australia, the 625-line digital progressive system (with 576 active lines) is officially recognized as high definition.

^^ Wikipedia

On the flipside, Freeview recently cleared their view up and modified their glossary to state they feel 576 (broadcast tv) is standard Definition.

Under the heading “What is HDTV”? it says on the Freeview site that:

“HDTV is now available in New Zealand with Freeview|HD®. Nearly all internationally produced movies and most television programmes are now HD. This means they have a higher resolution (either 720 or 1080 vertical lines in the picture) than standard definition (576 lines). 1080i and 720p are the two common broadcast formats; ‘p’ stands for progressive and ‘i’ interlace scanning. The resulting picture quality is therefore considerably better and HD also provides other benefits such as smoother motion, richer and more natural colours and surround sound."

http://www.freeviewnz.tv/index.php/setup_support/questions_answers/category/about_digital_tv/#what_is_hdtv

So “standard definition” is clearly stated as “576 lines”. As I mentioned in another thread, I contacted a Telecom retail outlet, and I asked whether the Caspa movies are in standard or high definition. The “official” reply was that the movies are in high definition because they are delivered in 720p.

Note that this NZ Herald article also says that a Caspa movie was demonstrated at 720p resolution:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/technology/news/article.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10606142

So, is it possible for some movies to display at 720p and others to display at 576p?

Regards

Fred

Oblivian

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# 271689 10-Nov-2009 16:04

Uhhm.. You just double quoted me what I had already said?. Look at my previous last line.

And yes. There is 2 formats at play here. Download to watch could be any old format being spat at you. It only tends to be broadcast tv that do re-scaling to fit their constant streams.

frednz

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# 271706 10-Nov-2009 16:55

Oblivian: Uhhm.. You just double quoted me what I had already said?. Look at my previous last line.

And yes. There is 2 formats at play here. Download to watch could be any old format being spat at you. It only tends to be broadcast tv that do re-scaling to fit their constant streams.

Thanks for your reply, yes, I thought I would give a web reference and a quotation from Freeview in support of your post, I wasn't trying "to steel your thunder"!

So, if "download to watch could be any old format being spat at you", would it be difficult / practical for Telecom to ensure that Caspa movies etc. are downloaded with sufficient data for a 720p display? Do you think this would increase the file download size / time significantly compared with what Telecom is downloading for Caspa content at present? In other words, mightn't it be a little early to actually consider returning the unit because movies are being displayed at 576p instead of the expectations of some people that they would be in 720p?

In any event, is there really a huge visual difference in the quality between 576p and 720p? Even 720p would be below the 1080i that I think Sky achieves with it's HD movies?

Regards
Fred

frednz

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# 271707 10-Nov-2009 16:56

frednz:
Oblivian: Uhhm.. You just double quoted me what I had already said?. Look at my previous last line.

And yes. There is 2 formats at play here. Download to watch could be any old format being spat at you. It only tends to be broadcast tv that do re-scaling to fit their constant streams.

Thanks for your reply, yes, I thought I would give a web reference and a quotation from Freeview in support of your post, I wasn't trying "to steel your thunder"!

So, if "download to watch could be any old format being spat at you", would it be difficult / practical for Telecom to ensure that Caspa movies etc. are downloaded with sufficient data for a 720p display? Do you think this would increase the file download size / time significantly compared with what Telecom is downloading for Caspa content at present? In other words, mightn't it be a little early to actually consider returning the unit because movies are being displayed at 576p instead of the expectations of some people that they would be in 720p (or higher)?

In any event, is there really a huge visual difference in the quality between 576p and 720p? Even 720p would be below the 1080i that I think Sky achieves with it's HD movies?

Regards
Fred

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