Freeview and Interactive
 

I bought a Freeview box today. 10 minutes after connecting it up - all by myself, no installation fees - I was playing with the 'red button' interactive feature. It loads in 2 or 3 seconds, and a page turn takes 1 or 2 seconds. It's faster than analogue terrestrial teletext. It's a good 10 - 20 times faster than VM's offering - no 'please wait, just loading', no freezes, no reboots.
Why is a one-off £25 box from the supermarket capable of better basic dtv function than cable's service?

Re: Freeview and Interactive
 

it isnt better than VM by a long shot...

Does freeview have Ondemand?.... No

Does it @ the moment have a totally supported PVR service?... No

You cant really compare VM and Freeview, they are totally different platforms, it would be like comparing the £ and the $!!

:)

Re: Freeview and Interactive
 

Do Virgin have a reliable OnDemand service?... no
Do Virgin have a reliable PVR service?... no.

'nuff said.

Re: Freeview and Interactive
 

I think the OP was just commenting on how well interactive works on a bog standard freeview box compared to VM's interactive offering?

Re: Freeview and Interactive
 

I was in currys last night and Sony have a superb box for £225 (sale price)

+160 gig
+HDMI connection
+1080p upscaling
++DVDR

i don't understand why (after several years on the market) they don't make these machines with 2-3 tuners - yet you can buy a Sony PVR with 2 tuners but no DVDR (quite a bit cheaper too)????

Re: Freeview and Interactive
 

2-3 tuners is pretty much going to be the standard.

Re: Freeview and Interactive
 

90% of PVRS have 2 tuners - what i can't figure is the moment they had DVD recorder they seem to remover a tuner? and it's been this way for 2-3 years

maybe there is some technical/legal issue but i can't see it and it's never been 'excused' as it were

Re: Freeview and Interactive
 

Yes virgin have a reliable on demand service

yes they have a reliable PVR service

i don't have any problems with mine what so ever..

"enough" said

Re: Freeview and Interactive
 

That's all right then. Gee all the people experiencing problems must be mistaken or lying then. :rolleyes:

Re: Freeview and Interactive
 

No but there are plenty of freeview PVR's around that work perfectly well. ;)

Re: Freeview and Interactive
 

Yeah, I rather thought there might be a clue in the thread title...

Tonight I tried to use VM's interactive service for the Open golf coverage. After about a minute of "just loading, please wait", it went away - again. I'll need to reboot to get it back.

The recent BBC1 'Joseph' show had an interactive section, but only for satellite and Freeview viewers.

Does VM have a working red button interactive service?... No.
Of course you can compare them. They both aim to deliver a digital TV service, so compare them on that basis.
- My short experience suggests that Freeview is streets ahead of VM in interactive capability. I'm reliably informed that Sky's interactive is also much faster than VM's.
- Ondemand is so slow and unreliable that I rarely bother with it. By the time I've rebooted the box to get it working, and dragged through the pages of menus to try to stumble across something I might want to watch, I usually give up and find something else to do.
- Freeview does not have a 'totally supported' business model, or pricing structure. You can buy a PVR box of your own choice, and get on with it yourself.

VM is anything but cheap, and yet all their functionality seems dreadfully slow and highly unreliable. Why do I have to keep rebooting VM's digital TV box every time I want to use one of VM's digital TV functions?

Re: Freeview and Interactive
 

No problems here either :tu:

---------- Post added at 22:58 ---------- Previous post was at 22:55 ----------

Perhaps thats one question that VM could answer, have you contacted them about this problem so they can try and rectify it for you?

Re: Freeview and Interactive
 

Freeview boxes, including PVR's, are just as unreliable and need reboots as with VM, in my experience.

What make/model of Freeview box did you buy?

Re: Freeview and Interactive
 

Actually my modded thompson DHD4000 is pretty stable. (i replaced the stock 40gb hdd with a 160, although it only sees 138gb due to a hardware limitation)


Although Its in the bedroom so I don't tend to use it that often thesedays

Re: Freeview and Interactive
 

My TV has an integrated Freeview tuner that has never needed a reboot in the year that I have used it. PQ and audio is better than VM.
My VM STB needs at least a daily reboot to be useable but still pulls up with "you are not subscribed" or the EPG just fails to load except for the now/next occaisionly.
My understanding is that glitches/freezes with freeview STB's/PVR's are a lot to do with the quality of the signal.
The same reasoning "may" be applicable to VM's service. I live in an old comtel/cabletel? area and I have heard that the cabling may be substandard. The odd thing is my BB is solid so I don't know if that rules out the signal problem theory? My signal levels are OK BTW but there may be more to a signal than just a strength measurement?