Ntl Tv Drive When?
 

NTL TV DRIVE WHEN?, I see that telewest have been testing the tv drive for a few months with there customers, Any news on when Ntl are going to start puting out the ntl tv drive is there any way i can pre register at all,:confused:

Re: Ntl Tv Drive When?
 

Dont read a lot into Telewest doing a trial with there customers. Its a total of 400 customers in London only.

As for NTL your guess is as good as mine. I finally gave up waiting in January and went with Sky+. Now that was a bad move on my part. My box crashes for no reason, I lose recording, The hard drive clicks, It does not record when it should do, And finally the fan sounds like a jumbo jet taking off. If you want to call customer service then have a cup of coffee ready, a good book, And finally a guide to Indian call centres :mad:. I am stuck with this crap for 12 months now,

So roll on NTL t drive please.

Re: Ntl Tv Drive When?
 

I think they hinted at later in the year.

Re: Ntl Tv Drive When?
 

Actually, Telewest are now starting to roll it out nationally to people who registered their interest with them. Installs are starting about now. They are still calling it a trial, and I don't think you can just ring them up to get it installed yet, but it is definitely rolling out to a significant number of customers.

As for when the ntl one will come out, no idea. Although I'd be willing to bet that there will be seperate rollouts for Langley and Bromley.

Re: Ntl Tv Drive When?
 

Im now feed up of waiting for this tv drive why are ntl so far behind when it comes to tv

Re: Ntl Tv Drive When?
 

Mob227 it will be here soon, I think ntl have been putting a lot of effort in BB but have also been working on the tv drive (a lot of new equipment is req to be installed) the grass is not always greener on the other side as you can tell from Bill C's post, sorry to here that bill by the way.

Re: Ntl Tv Drive When?
 

TV Drive? God, how things change. I thought it was called a PVR. ;) :D

Re: Ntl Tv Drive When?
 

Just a update. I have now given Sky 14 days to sort my system or i will class them in breech of contract and cancel. I have been fitted with a new set top. they have realigned the dish, fitted a new LNB and still it crashes, It clicks when recording, Sometimes does not record anything, loses recordings, And finally now the epg loses data . So basically its a load of crap I never had these problems when i was on cable in all of the 6 years i had cable tv.

Re: Ntl Tv Drive When?
 

Sorry to hear of your woes Bill - it seems that Sky are not much better (if at all) than ntl when it comes to fixing problems.

I've had my Sky+ for a few months now and I'm over the moon with it. One failed recording (my own fault, as I had three things on series link and one got moved, so it couldn't record all three) and only a couple of 'issues' with lack of pausing live TV - cured by the reboot...and touch wood not happened since the new software update.

I did have a little run-in with some mad woman in the Sky call centre before moving house as they screwed up the address to send the vewing card to. It was cured by a tersely worded email to an address for customer service escallations and a certain firstname.lastname@sky dot com. Problem sorted in one hour flat! When was the last time ntl replied to an email??!?!?!?

Hope you get it sorted mate. Once you're enjoying it to its full potential you will love it!

Re: Ntl Tv Drive When?
 

I had sky+ a couple of years ago and it was great, I left sky to go with NTL. What a mistake that was!

Although I heard that sky are using amstrad boxes now for their sky+ :dozey:

Ohhhh and my sister has two sky+ boxes, one in the living room the modern pace and in the bedroom she has the older pace sky+ box you know the big one! She never has any problems with either one! :D

Re: Ntl Tv Drive When?
 

I've just joined the forum mostly on the strength of reading this thread.

I'm currently a TiVo owner. For those who don't know TiVo is a PVR (Personal video recorder). I use it with my ntl stb. Whilst it's a great device it is starting to show its age. I am also desperately waiting for a ntl branded PVR.

It occurs to me though that with the "impending" merger with Telewest, it's possible that ntl might simply wait and take advantage of the Telewest developed and trialled PVR. Telewest are currently trialling their TVDrive PVR...I don't know what technical obstacles might be involved but I'd think that they would be less than trying to develop another box in isolation from scratch.

BTW with regards to the Sky+ whilst I don't own one myself I do know a technology challenged person who does and she is quite impressed. She's had it for a while and it has worked very well despite the attentions of herds of squalling kids and an ADD afflicted dog!:)

Re: Ntl Tv Drive When?
 

Any chance you can pm me that email address. I too have seen Sky + working well so i am totally ****ed at mine not working. I am expecting a phone call sometime today from a Manager in there faults department. I will let you know how it went :).

Re: Ntl Tv Drive When?
 

:Yikes: I have just had the call

They are going to reinstall the complete system from the ground up tomorrow. If that fails to fix the problem then i will be allowed to cancel.


Still shocked they phoned me back

Re: Ntl Tv Drive When?
 

:welcome: JoshGrey!

The Telewest PVR would only ever work on half the NTL network (if at all). NTL have been developping their own system in isolation that also does HDTV.

Re: Ntl Tv Drive When?
 

If it works at all it would work everywhere, it's a DOCSIS device and the whole NTL UK network supports DOCSIS STBs now.

Re: Ntl Tv Drive When?
 

Oh, No! Not the "coming soon" line again! :Yikes: On past experience, that means any time between tomorrow and 1/1/2010.

Re: Ntl Tv Drive When?
 

The telewest / ntl tv drive has 3 tuners if i am correct. Watch one program whilst recording two others, does sky plus have that feature??

Re: Ntl Tv Drive When?
 

I believe it is being trialed now so like most things that have been trialed with ntl they normally turn up soon after eg the 250 modems, 10Meg BB etc.

Re: Ntl Tv Drive When?
 

No sky+ only has 2 tuners, but i am using it right now and have been for the last two years.

Re: Ntl Tv Drive When?
 

It also has a "season pass" (or season link if you're a Sky+ user) feature, plus 60 minute buffer. I have a link to another forum where one of the testers has put up some information if anyone wants to it. I'm happy to post the link if the forum rules don't prohibit that.

If the TVDrive is destined for ntl users, post Telewest/ntl merger, I would suggest that it would be a significant addition to the entertainment portfolio. Though I hate being cynical - providing the merger goes ahead - the TVDrive PVR (which I think is critical to any television entertainment strategy) is more likely to see the light of day quickly for customers since it's not being driven by ntl strategy...:shrug:

btw thanks for the welcome King of Fools:)

Re: Ntl Tv Drive When?
 

Well i am happy for now. Had a complete reinstal this morning and i now have a system that works from the early checking i have done. As is normal with any big company you have to kick up a stink and talk of leaving before they will take notice and fix something.

1 point about Sky customer service, its just as bad as NTL and takes twice as long to get hold off.



Hopefully they have sorted my faults, however they have been informed that i will dump them if i have any more problems in the next 28 days.

Re: Ntl Tv Drive When?
 

Ah, 10Meg BB for everyone; I remember that announcement; I'm still waiting ...

"soon" is a strange word in ntl-speak - a PVR has been 'coming soon' for ages. After months of speculation, at one stage it was announced to shareholders for release in the second half of 2005; then there was the box manufacturers' announcement of an ntl deal, suggesting release towards the end of 2006. Now it's supposedly being trialed...

VOD got past the trail stage over a year ago. The roll-out has still not been completed. What chance is there of a generally-available ntl PVR in 2006? :td:

As always, ntl keep churning out the"soon" line in the hope that customers will wait for them to get their act together and catch up with the competition. (No, the competitor products are not perfect. But, they're available now!)

Re: Ntl Tv Drive When?
 

The competitors are not going thru massive mergers either. Chill out it is not something that can be done overnight there is a massive amount of work to be done.

Re: Ntl Tv Drive When?
 

No, they're getting on with introducing products to sell to their customers.As a customer, I don't care how much work is involved, or how much time, effort and money they're spending on a merger. I just want an honest, unambiguous estimate of when the product will be available.

Re: Ntl Tv Drive When?
 

seems quite high now!