[quote=popper]
Quote:
All together now....
ROTFL
i wonder if we can get more coverege on this mess and perhaps
have old Mark Horley from ntl re-consider his and his teams choice.....
---------- Post added at 12:20 ---------- Previous post was at 11:37 ----------
MPEG-2 TVdrive
MPEG-2/4/AVC Explorer 8450
rather than point out the obvious, ill mention this :
OMG, thats just so bad, i dont have time right now, but the first thing that jumps out is the 10baseT port rather than a real 10/100 (cant say moden, as even thats old) or even a far better for long term viability 10/100/1000 (a £12 retail card).
the 10baseT wont ever get near to the 10meg downloads they are about to switch to , so that rules out even faster speeds for the likes of future interactive content, or STB bound/embeded gaming.
the sound options on that TVdrive are so out there for todays commercial content, so it implys they will need to also mess about with the sound headend options in a few years( if not weeks OMG).
the fact that the tvdrive needs 2 slow 250mhz MIPS chips to do the business (you get better/faster MIPS CPU's on cheap wireless kit today) isnt very promising eather......
for the non-tech readers, the tvdrive is using obsolete/old tech thats being marketed as new NTL HD inovation and should have been bin'ed years ago for cheaper/better/more advanced tech hardware thats off the shelf and in full stock everywere today and the future too, not to mention (its using that liberate middleware shhh..... (the industry LOL's) )...... the BBC/itv/c4/c5 trials are using the real advanced/inovating HD MPEG-4/AVC video format just like the EU french.germans and others rather than the old US HD MPEG-2 video formats, so the TVDrive wont cut it/cant play it direct, and NTL will need to mess with the content and perhaps loose quality on the original content.[/
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Reading those two data sheets through as a layman, there's just no contest as to which is the better, futureproof option to be using - and it isn't the one that this person has chosen.
Yes it should have been binned long ago, and so we also have to wonder what'll happen eventually when the MPEG2 broadcasts stop and become MPEG4 only - as the BBC trial is likely to confirm as the best broadcast option? Can you really see the broadcasters going back to MPEG2 broadcasts just for ntl when full services launch in the next few years? Unlikely I'd have thought, as MPEG4 uses less bandwidth.
So given that scenario, are we likely to see another bout of replacing TVD mk.1 (crummy TW rubbish) with the Mk.2 MPEG4 version in two to four years time perhaps to try and keep up with Sky/BBC who will have moved further on in product development by then?
The Liberate software is so slow and resource hungry in the STB's - the content has by definition to be basic so it doesn't crash the processors. It also means we are unlikely to see much more than the BBC ever providing us with "red button" content as the providers have to recode from the Open TV software used on Sky to our version so it becomes expensive to do and time consuming. And thats without Sky playing silly devils and witholding their E-TV applications for Sky only, despite the press release from ntl: at the time of launching Sky Sports Extra which made the "claim" that a version of Sky's red button stuff was being worked on for ntl customers. More rubbish.
As to HD content, if Hoarley and his "team" stick with this obsolete box to rollout, then all MPEG4 feeds will have to be downscaled at the headends back to MPEG2 so that the binbox can cope with them - which probably means that we'll lose some picture quality. And as for HD channels - well they don't seem to have access to Sky's HD channels anytime soon either. The TW areas aren't reporting seeing them or even a date for them launching on their side from ntl. My guess is that as with Sky Active, they'll be kept exclusive to Sky Digital until a majority of their customers have transistioned from digital SD to digital HD services, then they'll be offered to ntl: at a overinflated price for carrying them.
Realistically, we're only likely to see the BBC/ITV HD offerings in the short to medium term as they tend to be platform neutral on distribution. Whats even more annoying is that even Freeview are waking up to the value of having a branded version of a PVR called "Freeview Playback" this September, which although it won't be HD capable, will leave only ntl looking stupid with no provision.
If anyone higher up than the PVR team at ntl had any courage they'd be looking for heads to roll over this mess, and for the difficulties TW subs are encountering with the 8300, not to mention actually pushing them to get the PVR out now - not in a years time after the train has well and truly left the station and Sky are unable to be caught.