[TelstraClear] TelstraClear cabled SKY vs SKY vs Freeview

Forums › One New Zealand (including Vodafone, WxC, Farmside) › [TelstraClear] TelstraClear cabled SKY vs SKY vs Freeview

KWG

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Wannabe Geek

#26167 14-Sep-2008 13:14

I'm currently considering migrating from Telecom/XTRA/SKY to a TLC package of phoneline/broadband/TV, essentially to save money, without losing quality.
How does TLC DigitalTV compare with SKY or Freeview in terms of quality? How does cabled compare to satellite signal? The Telstra pitch is that there's no 'rain-fade' What are the cons of TelstraSKY?

Dawg

233 posts

Master Geek

#164537 15-Sep-2008 15:09

From memory the programme guide is not as good with TC.

Some time soon the promised PVR option for HD content seems a good option.

But when that arrives - Who knows?

ZollyMonsta

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#164544 15-Sep-2008 16:17

TCL digital is on par quality wise with Sky (well heading that way as work progresses). Theres also a few channels available that aren't on Sky.

There may be the occassional hiccup with EPG but the EPG is faster and easier to use than Sky. I find the EPG on MySky boxes difficult to follow due to the over-large font they've used.

If you're in Wellington then pop into the store in Courtney Central and have a play with the set top box.

Check out my LPFM Radio Station at www.thecheese.co.nz - Now on iHeart Radio, TuneIn and Radio Garden

As per the usual std disclaimer.. "All thoughts typed here are my own."

cyril7

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#164549 15-Sep-2008 16:28

Whilst some of the channels are on a par with Sky (as they use a digital passthrough transcode rather than decodeing and recoding as they used to) some still look way worse. The box is pretty basic only providing composite and S-video on latter boxs, there is also the downside to having a seperate cable modem attached to the DVB stb to feed it with EPG, this is seperate to the modem for broadband.

And while Sky has rain fade that typcially never lasts more than a minute or two at any time and typially you would only note it once or twice a year, TCL has digger fade, this can last for days although more typically only a few hours, from my neighbours expericence this also can happen once or twice a year, (....cyril hides 5 tonne Hitachi toy out of view). Another thing to keep in mind is that at quite a bit of rain fade is on the uplink, so this will effect both DTH and TCL HFC cusotmers, this is due to TCL taking 95% of its programming off the satellite just like all other Sky subscribers and piping it down the cable. If rain fade effects the Sky uplink or the receiving dish at seaview (which is much bigger than your 65cm dish at home so less likely) then you still get rain fade on the cable service.

The broadband till recently was dogged by ARP storms meaning that performance if you used a router for multiple PCs was terrible.

All that said, both the TV and Broadband service on TCLs HFC service has made serious leaps on performance in the last few months, and a good thing too.

Cyril

KWG

7 posts

Wannabe Geek

#164659 15-Sep-2008 22:46

Thanks guys for the replys.
Overall it seems as if TLC may be worth a shot. I have to do some reading to clear up some of the terminology you guys used (I'm no tech wizz!). In summary it seems as if Telstra are making recognised & real improvements to their system. Most of the issues mentioned seem to be of minor importance (to me anyway).
I may just pop into the Telstra store, but then again the display system will most likely be beefed up to perform at its best. I'm thinking to gear down my SKY to the basic 4 channels and keep it on tap for about a month, in case the TLC service and quality is seriously flawed. I am concerned with the comment that some of the channels look a lot worse.
The other concern is the comment re ARP storms (?) affecting routers, as I am considering installing a router so that I can use my laptop in my lounge away from the modem and printer, and possibly adding a second PC for my son in the future. Maybe the quality or type of router would make a difference?

michaeln

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#164881 16-Sep-2008 17:48

KWG: Thanks guys for the replys.

The other concern is the comment re ARP storms (?) affecting routers, as I am considering installing a router so that I can use my laptop in my lounge away from the modem and printer, and possibly adding a second PC for my son in the future. Maybe the quality or type of router would make a difference?

The ARP torrent is now history: it's been fixed.

What sort of router? Are you wanting WiFi or just wired? There have been a number of discussions on Geekzone concerning which routers are best/

cyril7

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#164906 16-Sep-2008 19:18

kwg, it appear that since tcl partitioned their system into seperate vlans a month or two ago that arp storms have disappeared and the number of users on any sector has significantly reduced. i have also noted that basic domestic routers that would fall over minutes after boot now last for weeks, mostly likely months without misbehaving, so i think its fair to say this issue has been put to rest.

cyril

KWG

7 posts

Wannabe Geek

#164986 17-Sep-2008 05:10

Thanks again.
I was thinking WiFi router because I've got more than enough wires all over the place. The max straight line distance would be 15-20m. I was trying not to spend too many $ but of course foremost I need something that would work consistently. I'm wanting to move to Telstra cabled broadband, which is apparently the best, and so don't want to spoil any gains in speed & otherwise with the router.
I probably need to read the discussions as well.

Quic Broadband

Move to New Zealand's best fibre broadband service (affiliate link). Free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE. Note that to use Quic Broadband you must be comfortable with configuring your own router.

BarTender

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#167581 28-Sep-2008 15:44

I have been busy these last few months so havn't been on GZ for ages but here is my abridged version.

Cable TV. Overall with the supplied STB I believe the experience is slightly worse / on par on TCL than on Sky depending on which channel you watch most often, TV1/2/3 is better quality due to TCL sourcing them directly off TVNZ/Canwest plus you get Wellington add's rather than Auckland ones off Sky, however as Cyril rightly said the best output you can get off the TCL supplied box is S-Video, which for someone who has just gone out and purchased a large flatscreen tv they would hope to have Component. That being said most of the content on Sky you wouldn't notice any difference between component and S-Video due to sky compressing the .... out of their video. The extra Cable modem just for EPG & PPV is a pain as well, would be nice if TCL pumped their EPG down EIT so then you would only need to have the cable modem just for PPV, which would help to save the installers time and an extra cable modem, as I wouldn't want one as I never use PPV.

Internet: Personally I think TCL's internet rocks over DSL, the arp issues are resolved and you get a static IP which is nice. I do recommend having an router instead of plugging your machine directly into the net. You don't need to have a WRT54GL due to the arp problem being resolved, but they are still great routers IMHO. TCL's upstream speeds are great, and more often the latency is pretty low as well. Havn't had an outage here for months.

Just my 2 cents worth... I will go disappear again ;)

ZollyMonsta

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#167586 28-Sep-2008 16:36

Keep in mind it has been mentioned previously by TCL that a new set top box is on the horizon.

Check out my LPFM Radio Station at www.thecheese.co.nz - Now on iHeart Radio, TuneIn and Radio Garden

As per the usual std disclaimer.. "All thoughts typed here are my own."

ZollyMonsta

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#168995 4-Oct-2008 13:57

Just thought I'd mention the remainder of the quality upgrades to Sky channels occurred over the last week... so you should see a marked improvement on all Sky channels now :)

Check out my LPFM Radio Station at www.thecheese.co.nz - Now on iHeart Radio, TuneIn and Radio Garden

As per the usual std disclaimer.. "All thoughts typed here are my own."

cyril7

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#168996 4-Oct-2008 14:02

Thanks for the headsup grant.

Cyril

BarTender

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#169136 5-Oct-2008 16:12

ZollyMonsta: Just thought I'd mention the remainder of the quality upgrades to Sky channels occurred over the last week... so you should see a marked improvement on all Sky channels now :)

Cheers for that... I do now see no more "fat-o-vision" on Food TV.. and Playhouse is now 544x576... so thats great.

So this new STB.. will it be a HD without PVR option for less than $200 install, then people would get a full HD ticket for the same base price including 1/2/3 HD as TCL get their feeds direct from TVNZ/Canwest and then pay the same ticket for Sky Movies/Sport as Sky subbies do.... would be a winner for many IMHO.

lchiu7

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#170113 9-Oct-2008 11:55

A HD PVR would be a great solution for me. It would mean no more playing around with configuring the PC to be able to use the hardware acceleration on video cards to play h.264 content smoothly, dealing with AC-HE audio formats etc. Of course there are two unresolved issues

1. Can I move content off the PVR to another device? If not then I would probably just record the analogue output from the box using my current gbpvr setup or if I need ahead of time I wanted to do that, record the DVB-T streams directly from the FreeviewHD channels

2. How much it it going to cost? Not sure of TCL economic model but if they say charged an additional $10/month for it that would be okay - if what Sky charges for their box, then I would have to think about it

Larry

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.