Actually the DVR dumped me. Bitch. After about 8 years of service my Sky+ HD box finally died recently, the HDD completely dead, and I’ve been using it as the perfect opportunity to see if it’s now possible to survive without a DVR like everyone else under the age of about 20.
BBC iPlayer is excellent of course, Live programming can be picked up on delay, with the vast majority of shows going up very quickly after they air, and there’s now sporadic UHD, so no problems there. Rewinding is a bit more cumbersome than Sky but it’s adequate.
Everything on NowTV is also available on-demand, and should be upgrading to 1080p in the next few months, so no problems there either. Sky News can be rewound on YouTube, BBC News on iPlayer.
Where it falls down is with All4 and the ITV Hub. Admittedly I don’t watch a lot of ITV but the picture quality is terrible on both, the ITV Hub not available on PS4 and is locked to YouView on Sony TVs, All4 not on AppleTV, and you’ve got to endure the adverts. 2018, and nothing is in HD. Add in a juddery framerate and the experience couldn’t be further removed from Sky. Not tried 5 out yet, but I’m not holding out much hope there either.
Another downside to on-demand is you’ve got to watch a lot of stuff within 30 days. Not usually a problem but sometimes it’s nice to have things stored that you don’t then have to rush to watch (films, entire series). I had the whole 2nd season of Lethal Weapon (ITV) on my Sky box and now I’ve lost it all.
Would also be nice if Sky and others started to embrace cloud storage for recordings like in America. This is probably about the 4th time I’ve had a HDD fail on Sky+. Not bad over 17 years but every time you ultimately lose everything on there.
Anyone here survive without a DVR (which in all honesty still requires a knowledge of the TV schedules to be of any use).
I watch Freeview and I have a Freeview hard disk recorder (it's about eleven years old now). I also buy disc box sets (DVD / Blu-Ray) and I like to watch them at my own pace.
When I'm back at work I may explore streaming services but I'm not keen on how programmes are often only available for limited time windows.
Jenuall wrote:I've never used a DVR, I'm not subscribed to anything like Sky or Virgin that might have given me one and never felt the need to buy my own one.
They seemed to come to prominence around the same time that streaming and catch-up TV were arriving anyway so I didn't really see the point in a DVR.
In late 1999/2000 adverts started popping up for this new fangled device called "Tivo", but evidently the whole concept of watching 1 programme whist recording another onto a hard drive didn't really take off until Sky+ in 2001. I have no idea whether the original Tivo required a satellite dish, but I presume so.
We have Sky+ (none of the fancy Q malarky) in just one room. The wife watches this and I watch mainly streaming services in my office. My TV has Netflix and Amazon covered and I was using my PS4 for All4 until I realised it is on my NowTV box (which I use for films).
BID0 wrote:I didn't realise these things were still around. I thought they died shortly after the death of VHS devices when streaming became a thing.
There was a pretty big gap between DVRs becoming popular and streaming taking over.
Sky+ was released in 2001, iPlayer didn’t launch until 2007. Netflix didn’t launch in the UK until 2012.
I have a Sky box and so use the DVR capabilities that are built in. I also use streaming services like Netflix and Amazon and catch up services like iPlayer.
This World Cup was the first time I have struggled in about 7 years of dropping live TV, but it makes all the games more of an event going out to watch them
Zartan wrote:Same as the TV licence thread isn't it?
This World Cup was the first time I have struggled in about 7 years of dropping live TV, but it makes all the games more of an event going out to watch them
How long until Amazon start showing the World Cup?
They've already got a deal with the Premier League for exclusive games now.
Zartan wrote:Same as the TV licence thread isn't it?
This World Cup was the first time I have struggled in about 7 years of dropping live TV, but it makes all the games more of an event going out to watch them
How long until Amazon start showing the World Cup?
They've already got a deal with the Premier League for exclusive games now.
The World Cup has to be shown on free to air TV in the UK. I am not sure Amazon would be willing to pay for the rights only to have to show it to non-Prime scum.
Zartan wrote:Same as the TV licence thread isn't it?
This World Cup was the first time I have struggled in about 7 years of dropping live TV, but it makes all the games more of an event going out to watch them
How long until Amazon start showing the World Cup?
They've already got a deal with the Premier League for exclusive games now.
The World Cup has to be shown on free to air TV in the UK. I am not sure Amazon would be willing to pay for the rights only to have to show it to non-Prime scum.
It's a possible alternative to the licence fee though, especially if younger viewers refuse to pay it (BBC's audience is rapidly aging).
It would result in Amazon making some exceptions to its current model though.
Ofcom's report this week shows a strong trend of young viewers abandoning the likes of the BBC and ITV in favour of Amazon and Netflix. Once baby boomers die off Amazon and Netflix will absolutely dominate UK media.