[TelstraClear] TCL Getting Faster & PVR Service

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JonC

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#13245 30-Apr-2007 15:29

Yeah - TCL have finally released details of a much anticipated speed upgrade (to 25Mbps). This is to counter Telecom's ADSL2+ service - amazing what competition does. Also mentioned is the availability of a PVR-type service. Interestingly the article says it will be done without a set-top box. So programmes will be recorded centrally on their servers? Will I be able to watch anything that's been played before, or do I have to specifically "record" it. Never heard of this before.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4043167a28.html

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#68948 30-Apr-2007 17:36

I can imagine that the PVR would also be a decoder, much like MySky.
I just hope that the TCL offering is better than the Sky one.

JonC

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#68951 30-Apr-2007 18:12

munchkin: I can imagine that the PVR would also be a decoder, much like MySky.
I just hope that the TCL offering is better than the Sky one.

That's what I would have thought, but if the quote from their head of marketing is to be believed ("Mr Jackson says TelstraClear is looking into providing PVR capability in its network, so customers could record programmes and pause and replay live TV without expensive set-top boxes.") then it will be done without any client hardware.

I haven't heard of anything like this, that's why I'm curious to see if anyone has any more details. Might just be I'm reading too much into the quote. It would make sense to host this centrally - the costs would be greatly reduced by having the hard-drive storage in a central repository rather than on a myriad of client-side PVRs. The content would then be streamed on-demand when you want to watch a previously "recorded" programme. Possibly all that is needed is a software update to the current STB to provide an interface to the central storage??? I'm just speculating, of course.

chiefie

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#68952 30-Apr-2007 18:14

perhaps with modem built in?

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tknz

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#68996 1-May-2007 00:27

can't wait for the new speeds, when I used to be on the 2 megabit and we got the free upgrade to 4megabits I am hoping that they will do the same thing for those of us on the ten megabit plans. :D

digitalepsilon

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#69344 3-May-2007 00:04

I just hope they continue their generous data caps and no slowdowns for excess usage.

I'm sure I'm a minority, but I do use every bit of my 80GB data cap every month, and often just a bit over. If TelstraClear offered an even higher data cap, I'd be happy to pay more for it since I don't mind paying for a good service, but again I think I'd be a minority there too in preferring service over price. I do envy those on the unlimited plans for employees :(

ZollyMonsta

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#69359 3-May-2007 09:00

digitalepsilon: I just hope they continue their generous data caps and no slowdowns for excess usage.

I'm sure I'm a minority, but I do use every bit of my 80GB data cap every month, and often just a bit over. If TelstraClear offered an even higher data cap, I'd be happy to pay more for it since I don't mind paying for a good service, but again I think I'd be a minority there too in preferring service over price. I do envy those on the unlimited plans for employees :(

Unlimited plans for employees? Gawd, do I wish that was the case.... it isn't :(

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digitalepsilon

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#69367 3-May-2007 09:30

ZollyMonsta:
digitalepsilon: I just hope they continue their generous data caps and no slowdowns for excess usage.

I'm sure I'm a minority, but I do use every bit of my 80GB data cap every month, and often just a bit over. If TelstraClear offered an even higher data cap, I'd be happy to pay more for it since I don't mind paying for a good service, but again I think I'd be a minority there too in preferring service over price. I do envy those on the unlimited plans for employees :(

Unlimited plans for employees? Gawd, do I wish that was the case.... it isn't :(

I thought there were, but not necessarily offered by TelstraClear. Are there any other companies selling services over the Christchurch cable infrastructure? I know of someone on a "whatever the network can offer" speed plan with no data cap, but it isn't a TelstraClear plan, but he insists it is cable. Am I misunderstanding him?

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ZollyMonsta

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#69370 3-May-2007 09:44

digitalepsilon:I thought there were, but not necessarily offered by TelstraClear. Are there any other companies selling services over the Christchurch cable infrastructure? I know of someone on a "whatever the network can offer" speed plan with no data cap, but it isn't a TelstraClear plan, but he insists it is cable. Am I misunderstanding him?

Then it's highly likely there may be a local ISP on-selling TCL services, if he's insisting its a cable modem :)

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timmmay

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#69741 6-May-2007 23:17

digitalepsilon: I just hope they continue their generous data caps and no slowdowns for excess usage.

I'm sure I'm a minority, but I do use every bit of my 80GB data cap every month, and often just a bit over. If TelstraClear offered an even higher data cap, I'd be happy to pay more for it since I don't mind paying for a good service, but again I think I'd be a minority there too in preferring service over price. I do envy those on the unlimited plans for employees :(

Dude, you must download a ton of movies. I'm a heavy user of the net, a bit of youtube and lots of work related stuff, but the only time I ever get near my 10GB cap is when I download media content.

One day everything will come over the cable, and data caps will be gone.

digitalepsilon

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#69744 6-May-2007 23:25

I share the connection with 3 others, and when you throw high definition content into the mix, it's used up very fast. I don't download movies myself though.

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#69745 6-May-2007 23:28

We live on the Internet here. I have an Exchange Server, we have two desktops, one laptop at home. I have two Pocket PC Phone Edition constantly synchronising to my Exchange Server over the cellular network (both TNZ and VFNZ), I have two people accesing the Exchange Server from outside my LAN, and I have a full download of a DB backup plus all files from the Geekzone server - every night... I am on the 80GB plan and using about 45GB a month.

Some people download too much!

timmmay

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#69746 6-May-2007 23:29

Definitely. Maybe you should install monitoring software ;)

Having a PVR in the network would be fantastic. Having said that though i'm about to ditch TC digital TV and use the free to air stuff coming in over the cable because I watch about an hour of TV a week - Boston Legal :)

KellyP

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#69937 8-May-2007 15:56

Tuikapo: can't wait for the new speeds, when I used to be on the 2 megabit and we got the free upgrade to 4megabits I am hoping that they will do the same thing for those of us on the ten megabit plans. :D

Would be real nice to get a cap upgrade instead of a speed upgrade.

munchkin

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#69949 8-May-2007 17:59

James Bond:
Tuikapo: can't wait for the new speeds, when I used to be on the 2 megabit and we got the free upgrade to 4megabits I am hoping that they will do the same thing for those of us on the ten megabit plans. :D

Would be real nice to get a cap upgrade instead of a speed upgrade.

I second that.

digitalepsilon

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#69953 8-May-2007 18:18

If TCL has excess capacity to burn, it couldn't hurt them to double the bitrate on a few of their digital channels (well, not a few... all of them). A couple do look even worse than a bad 1990s ASF file :(

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