Vodafone TV Gen 2 in app form for Android TV/ Apple TV etc.

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Apsattv

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#2421960 16-Feb-2020 20:48

I much prefer a throwaway STB than a silly app that has it performance degraded based on the TV/os/cpu engine. We all recall the fiasco of the RWC where different tv's performed poorly as some of the modern smartv's are barely functional in terms of performance.

I would rather chip out $99 for a new stb for that "old" tv that can't do something like the up and coming H266 codec which is likely to be used for 4k and 8K in a few years time.

Actually are Vodafone stream using HEVC (H265) or the older H264 format?

Benoire

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#2424461 20-Feb-2020 12:21

The more I think about this, the more I wonder how sustainable this service is. If VF are expecting money to flow in from Sky subs I wonder how this will affect the viability going forwards when Sky release their own apps. At what point does the free aspects (cloud recording, IPTV distribution etc.) start to become a cost? I presume as part of the general VF broadband offering its added value to encourage use but those not on the VF network would simply be a drain...

wazzageek

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#2424473 20-Feb-2020 12:51

Benoire:

The more I think about this, the more I wonder how sustainable this service is. If VF are expecting money to flow in from Sky subs I wonder how this will affect the viability going forwards when Sky release their own apps. At what point does the free aspects (cloud recording, IPTV distribution etc.) start to become a cost? I presume as part of the general VF broadband offering its added value to encourage use but those not on the VF network would simply be a drain...

I had (naively) thought that there may be a cost to re-transmit on the vodafone tv platform - I'm sure I saw something somewhere that showed the cost of broadcasting via the Freeview platform, but my google-fu fails me currently. The more I think about it though, it does seem somewhat counter-intuitive for Vodafone to charge for transmission. *shrugs*

Benoire

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#2424479 20-Feb-2020 13:03

There will be a cost for the cloud recording function and data transmit will have a minor cost I suspect but it might be the same for 1 user as for 1000 so that probably would be covered by the broad band added value stuff... I guess I hope that hte cost is so minor that either an app purchase cost or bx puchase will give VF enough money to keep this going...

sansom

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#2424552 20-Feb-2020 14:39

Apsattv:

I much prefer a throwaway STB than a silly app that has it performance degraded based on the TV/os/cpu engine. We all recall the fiasco of the RWC where different tv's performed poorly as some of the modern smartv's are barely functional in terms of performance.

I would rather chip out $99 for a new stb for that "old" tv that can't do something like the up and coming H266 codec which is likely to be used for 4k and 8K in a few years time.

Actually are Vodafone stream using HEVC (H265) or the older H264 format?

Hi @Apsattv, agreed, the fragmentation and variability of the Smart TV device market is one of the primary reasons for having a box. With an App-centric approach, only Netflix and increasingly Amazon Prime Video have achieved coverage across the majority of TV hardware devices. Then there is the cost of testing against the supported Smart TVs.

The VTV box, while capable of HEVC, uses H264 currently.

Hamish

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#2424610 20-Feb-2020 17:16

Benoire:

The more I think about this, the more I wonder how sustainable this service is. If VF are expecting money to flow in from Sky subs I wonder how this will affect the viability going forwards when Sky release their own apps. At what point does the free aspects (cloud recording, IPTV distribution etc.) start to become a cost? I presume as part of the general VF broadband offering its added value to encourage use but those not on the VF network would simply be a drain...

Vodafone will be subsidising non-Vodafone customers for the transmission costs but that cost should be easily covered by potential benefits:

a) new Sky subscribers using Vodafone distribution

b) easier onboarding of those customers with nearly instant activation given that the device is already installed

c) customer retention, despite easing the move from Vodafone-supplied broadband because the Vodafone TV service will be available to me for a "small" fixed price. But the net effect right now is that I'm happier to stay put knowing that they have given me this option. Some other customers will have a different view on this.

d) economies of scale. Typically telecommunication has high fixed costs and very low marginal costs so profitability rapidly increases with increasing market share.

e) if they can establish Vodafone TV ubiquity, i.e. have it commonly used in many or most NZ households, then there will be significant benefits from controlling the distribution channel.

I know that monopoly is often bad but I think this is a really smart move when us consumers are facing increasingly fragmented access to content.

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Benoire

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#2424885 21-Feb-2020 10:47

I don't have such a problem about monopolies as long as they don't make excessive profit and with most onshore public companies you can see where the money flow lies. Fragmentation is generally a bad thing so I applaud VF for doing something good! The main reason I want it in single app form is that I hate having multiple remotes that get lost by the kids... and as I use Android TV I can move around from inbuilt to STB as the devices get old but the interface will generally remain the same as well as function...I can understand the various other smart tv types and their limited life spans; I had a 2012 Samsung smart tv that by about 2014 was starting to lose apps and content!

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