GRcade

In terms of software the general opinion seems to be YouView, Sky, Virgin. Sky recently changed their EPG so Sport & PPV is far more prevalent, & it now takes two button presses to get to the TV guide.

The Virgin box is, weird, especially after being used to Sky for a very long time... However there are a lot of positives about it (unless you want films, then you're screwed)...

It gets points for skipping back a few seconds after you've fast-forwarded any recorded show, no more missing the first few seconds!

It is a hell load cheaper than any of Sky's offerings though (unless you add Movies and Sports in, but I haven't for the sake of not wanting the bill to double in price), dat Big Kahuna Bundle

And the broadband is waaay faster.

Cable boxes have always been slower than either Freeview or Satellite for some bizarre reason. Telewest and NTL Digital boxes were unbelievably cumbersome. Even Sky's interactive services (which admittedly nobody gives a gooseberry fool about any more) are slower loading than Freeview.

I think its because of the amount they try to pile onto them with the cheapest possible hardware.

*Checks monthly cost of Sky HD Package*

So, I'm on the HD Package and I'm paying £31.75 per month at the moment, which I think is okay, considering all my favourite shows are on Sky. If it goes up by £1 it won't be the end of the world. I can live with that.

Cal wrote:So, I'm on the HD Package and I'm paying £31.75 per month at the moment, which I think is okay, considering all my favourite shows are on Sky. If it goes up by £1 it won't be the end of the world. I can live with that.

Is that the family package? If so, I'm getting over charged.

Lagamorph wrote:

Falsey wrote:Completely unbiased opinion:

You should all take out Virgin Media's superior contracts

And use that shitty Tivo box? strawberry float off.

Sky is far superior and everyone should get Sky.

Ahh,

Your subscription must get you access to the sooper dooper exclusive sky box that is better than TiVo. How do the rest of us mugs that pay Murdock get access to one?

KKLEIN wrote:In terms of software the general opinion seems to be YouView, Sky, Virgin. Sky recently changed their EPG so Sport & PPV is far more prevalent, & it now takes two button presses to get to the TV guide.

They messed around with the backup button. A good old fashioned "mash" of it no longer bails you back to the TV - but rather puts you into some horrid enqued driven mess that ends up on some menu you don't care about.

And the new EPG is awful on older boxes. SLooooooooooooooooooooooooow. And no Rupert - not paying you 200 quid to get a half functioning one. I'd rather you left the old EPG on that actually worked at a reasonable speed instead of cramming a load of bloatware onto it that is pointless.

Death's Head wrote:

Cal wrote:So, I'm on the HD Package and I'm paying £31.75 per month at the moment, which I think is okay, considering all my favourite shows are on Sky. If it goes up by £1 it won't be the end of the world. I can live with that.

Is that the family package? If so, I'm getting over charged.

Sky changed their package structure a few years ago. I'm on Variety, Sports & the HD pack which is the same channel wise, I think, as their current Family pack. They changed it so the separate HD pack (which was £10) was scrapped for new customers & included in Family. To get Sky Sports in HD now you have to have the Family pack & the new HD pack which is just for Sky Movies/Sports & is about £5.50 or something like that.

Sky F1 used to be available individually I think...I dunno, I've lost track of their clusterfuck of a tier system. I've now got kids & music channels when I don't bloody want them.

Death's Head wrote:

Cal wrote:So, I'm on the HD Package and I'm paying £31.75 per month at the moment, which I think is okay, considering all my favourite shows are on Sky. If it goes up by £1 it won't be the end of the world. I can live with that.

Is that the family package? If so, I'm getting over charged.

No just the basic Sky Package, but the HD version.

Jeremy Clarkson will bump the cost up next year too.

PUSS (Plex, Usenet, SABnzbd, Sicbeard) > Sky

I just wish there was an easier way to watch sports without using dodgy Russian sites or watching terrible quality streams.

Man I hope the term 'PUSS' takes off. It worked for LAMP.

I suppose you could always get a big fuck-off dish & erect it on the lawn.

Yeah cancelled sky TV about 6 months ago. They gave us a free year of sky and free year of broadband or £10 a month for fibre, not bad.

Putting price aside I love the Sky program system and general usability, it's really improved a load over the years.

But I reckon they are going to have a lot of thinking to do over the next 5 years, the viewing landscape will change - cheaper alternatives will continue to nag away at them.

Coreopsis wrote:Putting price aside I love the Sky program system and general usability, it's really improved a load over the years.

But I reckon they are going to have a lot of thinking to do over the next 5 years, the viewing landscape will change - cheaper alternatives will continue to nag away at them.

I think they already are with NowTV. I can see the NowTV method being their main way of doing TV and not needing a Dish etc. I would love if it was all streamed and you "recordings" are just access to the On Demand version of stuff.

Coreopsis wrote:Putting price aside I love the Sky program system and general usability, it's really improved a load over the years.

I agree with that for sure.

If you have a box that can cope with it. Those of us early HD adopters are being bent over and caressed in a most uncomfortable fashion.

Unless we pay £200.

Minty14 wrote:PUSS (Plex, Usenet, SABnzbd, Sicbeard) > Sky

I just wish there was an easier way to watch sports without using dodgy Russian sites or watching terrible quality streams.

Man I hope the term 'PUSS' takes off. It worked for LAMP.

PUSS-C

Plex, Usenet, Sab, Sickbeard, CoachPotato