Vodafone TV - new Gen2 box

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448 posts

Ultimate Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#2560094 8-Sep-2020 09:51

Benoire:
This service is most likely a loss leader for Vodafone if people don't sign up for Sky as it iwll cost them to maintain the service; if they don't make money from it, prepare for it to have reduced outputs... I hope I'm wrong as I'm still interested in the service as a concept but the current issues I'm reading about put me off.

I find it interesting that there is no other platform for getting free to air Freeview over the Internet, probably for the reasons you cite. Certainly very hard to see what motivation Vodafone to improve the Freeview offering.
We use MythTV to record stuff over UHF, particularly movies. Seems silly to me that we could just ask our teenager to download all the movies we would want. We try to play by the rules, and the rights-owners make it difficult.
Aside from the appalling user interface design

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Benoire

2754 posts

Uber Geek

#2560100 8-Sep-2020 10:01

I currently use TVheadend and Kodi and decode my sky card using it so I get multi-room etc. without the additional payments and can record what I need but I don't have an aerial so dropping Sky means dropping the HD channels and going back to Freeview over DVB-S which is just poor quality... the VTV unit would give me HD channels without the need to install or purchase an additional DVB-T IP based tuner which is why I like the idea but I think I would struggle with the 'reduced' programme availabity if I miss it plus the current instaiblity and quality of the streams doesn't seem that good.

KDee

71 posts

Master Geek

#2560116 8-Sep-2020 10:24

Juddering aside - the VTV is a 9.5/10 experience for me. I haven't actually had to record anything in the 6+ months I've had it because the catchup and 3-day rewind/archive is brilliant. I haven't encountered a situation where I've not been able to catch up on something, although we don't watch a huge amount of TV so that reduced the chances of wanting to watch something which is not covered under the 90%.

Loved the VTV so much I bought another box the the bedroom, and dumped the SKY TV decoder which was only used for Sky Sports and now get Sky Sports through the VTV.

There are a few quality of life things which would be cool to add like a customisable home screen, however certainly not a game breaker.

BUT....

The judder issue is really annoying and takes the experience down to a 6.5/10. It's still watchable and sometimes goes a few hours without a stop>buffer>judder>channel dance occurrence, but more often than not it's an hourly, sometimes half-hourly occurrance.

What is causing this still seems to be completely unknown. Some people experience it, some don't. Could it be my ISP? Could it be because I have more than one VTV on the same account? Just looking for outliers here because I can't see it being an issue with the actual stream. It's not the quality of my internet connection. It must be client side, right? But I have the latest software update, so it must be hardware related? Is it a hardware defect and batch related? Can this be tracked down? Will this ever be fixed?

I would lodge a support ticket with Vodafone...but I value my time and sanity.

@sansom - any ideas mate?

mclean

581 posts

Ultimate Geek

Subscriber

#2560118 8-Sep-2020 10:25

SteveC: We consider it lucky we can 'record' the news! Can't record or catch up Project, Magnum P.I. NCIS whatever, or Hawaii Five-O, or pretty much any movie except Māori TV. Very annoying. All down to whatever rights Vodafone has negotiated. Perhaps MediaWorks tied down these contracts to avoid outstanding rights been seen as a liability by a future purchaser. Discovery might have a better attitude.
As for Vodafone's marketing - "Record 90% of total content, 50% of what you actually want to watch."

Interesting. I can't find Magnum PI right now, but I have no problem recording or catching up the others.

Rickles

2905 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#2560121 8-Sep-2020 10:31

What really seems odd is the bad performance of some units/usage .... mine is still perfectly fine including recording, FFWD, real-time viewing, Amazon prime, etc etc.

Logically therefore, it is either a run of dud units, or the user's own set up (home network, ISP etc)??

Hammerer

2476 posts

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Lifetime subscriber

#2560150 8-Sep-2020 11:06

Benoire:

... prepare for it to have reduced outputs... I hope I'm wrong as I'm still interested in the service as a concept but the current issues I'm reading about put me off.

FUD (= fear, uncertainty and doubt) doesn't make your scenario any more likely. Or do you have some insider knowledge?

* Their TV service has been operating for over a decade and Vodafone has continued that for eight years since they took over TelstraClear in 2012. For most of that time I have received the service as part of a relatively cheap broadband service. They successfully converted from cable TV to IP TV more recently but end-users don't generally notice that change.

* The cost of the service is not that expensive considering that Vodafone use it to retain customers on the more expensive plans (higher speed/unlimited capacity). And it keeps getting cheaper. It retailed at $15 a month in 2013. Now my "Vodafone TV - Intro" credit is $4.35 per month. Or I could buy it upfront for $100-200.

* The future technology options aren't limited either e.g. Vodafone Australia use an Android TV box.

Vodafone TV is a real success for me and most users. I recommend it. I'd just avoid WiFi because it is inherently less reliable and appears to be about half the problems people have.

The changing recording rights with the latest box was a massive bump in the road but, in practice, we don't record anything now because everything we watch them all on 3-day catch-up or using the installed apps for TVNZ Ondemand, Netflix, etc.

Benoire

2754 posts

Uber Geek

#2560171 8-Sep-2020 11:37

Hammerer:

Benoire:

... prepare for it to have reduced outputs... I hope I'm wrong as I'm still interested in the service as a concept but the current issues I'm reading about put me off.

FUD (= fear, uncertainty and doubt) doesn't make your scenario any more likely. Or do you have some insider knowledge?

* Their TV service has been operating for over a decade and Vodafone has continued that for eight years since they took over TelstraClear in 2012. For most of that time I have received the service as part of a relatively cheap broadband service. They successfully converted from cable TV to IP TV more recently but end-users don't generally notice that change.

* The cost of the service is not that expensive considering that Vodafone use it to retain customers on the more expensive plans (higher speed/unlimited capacity). And it keeps getting cheaper. It retailed at $15 a month in 2013. Now my "Vodafone TV - Intro" credit is $4.35 per month. Or I could buy it upfront for $100-200.

* The future technology options aren't limited either e.g. Vodafone Australia use an Android TV box.

Vodafone TV is a real success for me and most users. I recommend it. I'd just avoid WiFi because it is inherently less reliable and appears to be about half the problems people have.

The changing recording rights with the latest box was a massive bump in the road but, in practice, we don't record anything now because everything we watch them all on 3-day catch-up or using the installed apps for TVNZ Ondemand, Netflix, etc.

Isn't this thread about the Gen2 box and I thought that wasn't bundled? Either way, for me as a non-vodafone subscriber, VTV would lose money to vodafone over the lifecycle surely... I pay a price for the box, which as a retail item has costs attached, I get access to the streams that they host, cloud storage that they host, updates and time spent on the app and firmware, for $0 monthly cost if I only use it for freeview. These all cost money.. now as a fixed cost, once a certain threshold has been reached they cost very little to maintain etc. but as we're not paying a sub for the basic service the monthly costs of keeping the service current must be less than the revenue generated by the sales... That's what I'm referring to.

Don't get me wrong, I'm impressed by the service offering and its a good idea but with all things that are sub free and not locked to vodafone internet users, there is a break even point and in this climate it will be harder I suspect... Now as an app for Android TV etc. it will likely be more effective as the hardware side is reduced.

Lightbulb

116 posts

Master Geek

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#2561299 9-Sep-2020 19:21

I've had a vodafone tv for a couple of months. It works perfectly on our fibre network at home. However, when we take it to our holiday home we get the following:

- works perfectly when viewing netflix and youtube

- however on it continually disconnects when we try and watch TV1 and TV2 and then reconnects a couple of minutes later

The internet at our holiday home is adsl, so presumably that's a problem, although why only TV1 and 2 is affected and not netflix / youtube is a puzzle (not tried TV3 btw)

When it disconnects, the box says that the internet connection is lost (or words to that effect). When I look in settings/more settings/network, there's a mysterious 5Ghz network starting with TNCAP.... but our wireless network is not showing. However, we're a couple of hundred metres away from the nearest house, so presumably we can't be picking up a neighbours wifi - especially since the TNCAP.... network is showing as having full bars.

After a few minutes, connection comes back. But then repeat all over again.....

Just wondering what this TNCAP.... network is and what I can do to make the connection more stable. I've tried changing channels, but makes no difference.

And yes, I know that the vodafone TV is supposed to be only used on a fibre network, but why only a problem on TV1,2 etc

Many thanks for any help.....

Lightbulb

116 posts

Master Geek

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#2561300 9-Sep-2020 19:23

Just one more thing.

- when the vodafone tv is showing as disconnected, we have normal wifi internet connections of iphones and our laptop

tripp

3848 posts

Uber Geek

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Lifetime subscriber

#2561311 9-Sep-2020 20:22

Vodafone tv needs a min of vdsl to get fta channels etc. Your adsl won't cut it and this will be the issue.

As for the wireless tncap network, turn your router off and see if it's still there, I expect your router may have a guest mode.

Apsattv

2362 posts

Uber Geek

#2561432 10-Sep-2020 04:55

Just saw a software updated pushed out around 4.45a.m

mines now on version 5.1.571402

Hammerer

2476 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#2561593 10-Sep-2020 10:45

Benoire:

Isn't this thread about the Gen2 box and I thought that wasn't bundled?

The economics are very similar.

* The Gen2 and Gen1 boxes share the same Vodafone TV streaming infrastructure except that Gen1 boxes are only on Vodafone broadband connections.

* I used the Vodafone subscriber charges to show that the all up cost of the Gen1 service has dropped dramatically. The actual cost is probably a lot less considering that the Gen1 service is normally bundled for free.

* So I expect that Vodafone are probably already covering the costs of the Gen2 service based on acquiring new SkyTV and Vodafone broadband subscribers.

Linux

11194 posts

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#2561887 10-Sep-2020 19:29

Anyone else missing channels 2, 3, 4 tonight?

rugrat

3088 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#2561892 10-Sep-2020 19:47

Linux:
Anyone else missing channels 2, 3, 4 tonight?

They are there for me. Take it channel 4 Prime.
I may be on old software as had unplugged last month. Just plugged in.
Software version 5.1.5714.06jfv(nz)

If I go to update it says up to date though.

Linux

11194 posts

Uber Geek

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Lifetime subscriber

#2561897 10-Sep-2020 20:16

I just resolved the issue by changing the unsubscribed channels setting option to show back to hide

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