Challenging times

muppetman11 · 14-04-2011, 18:25

Interesting articles on problems encountered by Cable/Satellite companies in the US , and what they are doing to try and win subs back. I wonder whether cable/satellite over here will encounter any of these issues.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/03/te...ewanted=1&_r=1

http://cachef.ft.com/cms/s/0/a3986a1...#axzz1JW0s9ea8

alwaysabear · 14-04-2011, 19:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by muppetman11

Interesting articles on problems encountered by Cable/Satellite companies in the US , and what they are doing to try and win subs back. I wonder whether cable/satellite over here will encounter any of these issues.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/03/te...ewanted=1&_r=1

http://cachef.ft.com/cms/s/0/a3986a1...#axzz1JW0s9ea8

Very interesting, the way I read it, is if that were to happen in the UK VM would be in the best place to capitalise, because of there BB network. Sky would be in a bad place if that scenario where to be repeated in the uk.

muppetman11 · 14-04-2011, 19:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by alwaysabear

Very interesting, the way I read it, is if that were to happen in the UK VM would be in the best place to capitalise, because of there BB network. Sky would be in a bad place if that scenario where to be repeated in the uk.

Yes you could well be right , maybe this is why Sky have tried rushing there iPad and other apps out and allowing you to watch your TV pack online , I personally can't understand why anyone would replace their TV pack with online content , to me the picture is awful. On iplayer on a VM 30mb BB package iplayer HD stutters.

mersey70 · 14-04-2011, 19:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by muppetman11

Yes you could well be right , maybe this is why Sky have tried rushing there iPad and other apps out and allowing you to watch your TV pack online , I personally can't understand why anyone would replace their TV pack with online content , to me the picture is awful. On iplayer on a VM 30mb BB package iplayer HD stutters.

If you have stuttering on HD BBC i-player using a 30mb connection is it during a period of STM as it is faultless using my 10mb connection on the odd occasion I have tried, in fact it was fine using my 6-7mb BT line too. It could be software/hardware related as it is a very processor hungry service, I think a pretty decent video card is also required.

I'm no expert but I have read most problems are not down to the connection, I think you only need around 3mb to stream HD . Maybe try downloading it, if it's still stuttering then it probably isn't the connection.

muppetman11 · 14-04-2011, 19:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by mersey70

If you have stuttering on HD BBC i-player using a 30mb connection is it during a period of STM as it is faultless using my 10mb connection on the odd occasion I have tried, in fact it was fine using my 6-7mb BT line too. It could be software/hardware related as it is a very processor hungry service, I think a pretty decent video card is also required.

I'm no expert but I have read most problems are not down to the connection, I think you only need around 3mb to stream HD . Maybe try downloading it, if it's still stuttering then it probably isn't the connection.

It's a relatively new PC with ok processor , 4gb ram so can't see it being that , it's the famous Superhub , but it is hard wired into my computer.

devilincarnate · 14-04-2011, 19:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by muppetman11

Yes you could well be right , maybe this is why Sky have tried rushing there iPad and other apps out and allowing you to watch your TV pack online , I personally can't understand why anyone would replace their TV pack with online content , to me the picture is awful. On iplayer on a VM 30mb BB package iplayer HD stutters.

Try this out and see?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/diagnostics

mersey70 · 14-04-2011, 19:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by muppetman11

It's a relatively new PC with ok processor , 4gb ram so can't see it being that , it's the famous Superhub , but it is hard wired into my computer.

I have read most problems are down to not having a pretty decent videocard (or is it graphics card), like I say I am no expert but it was even fine with BT. My PC only has 2GB ram but we did invest in a good card which was quite expensive.

What's wrong with a superhub? to be honest I don't know if I even have a superhub but even on 10mb HD has been faultless.

muppetman11 · 14-04-2011, 19:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by devilincarnate

Try this out and see?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/diagnostics

Thanks for that I got

Download speed 31744
Streaming speed 1 10789
Streaming speed 2 20917
Streaming speed 3 17890

mersey70 · 14-04-2011, 19:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by muppetman11

Thanks for that I got

Download speed 31744
Streaming speed 1 10789
Streaming speed 2 20917
Streaming speed 3 17890

It certainly dosen't appear to be the connection then, I think it says 3.5mb is needed to stream HD.

Try downloading instead, if it still dosen't work it might be your hardware, or software.

devilincarnate · 14-04-2011, 20:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by mersey70

It certainly dosen't appear to be the connection then, I think it says 3.5mb is needed to stream HD.

Try downloading instead, if it still dosen't work it's your hardware.

Yes it is 3.5mb to steam HD as when you do the test it says at the bottom of the page.

muppetman11 · 14-04-2011, 20:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by mersey70

It certainly dosen't appear to be the connection then, I think it says 3.5mb is needed to stream HD.

Try downloading instead, if it still dosen't work it might be your hardware, or software.

It's strange it seems to be working ok now on BBC HD

OLDGOLD · 14-04-2011, 23:30

Last year I watched some HD MLB games through Boxee and had one of those download speed monitoring thingys running. This was constantly downloading around 7 or 8 Mbps (until Traffic Management kicked in and I was lucky to get 2MB then, which spelt the end of my HD viewing as it kept freezing every 20 seconds or so)

mersey70 · 15-04-2011, 09:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by OLDGOLD

Last year I watched some HD MLB games through Boxee and had one of those download speed monitoring thingys running. This was constantly downloading around 7 or 8 Mbps (until Traffic Management kicked in and I was lucky to get 2MB then, which spelt the end of my HD viewing as it kept freezing every 20 seconds or so)

Indeed, 10mb 'L' customers could easily fall foul of traffic management when watching HD.

Even though it is excellent I doubt 'L' is really a suitable package for streaming anything other than occasional HD programmes because of traffic management, this is one of the reasons I have always argued it isn't always the case that VM is best option, as ever it all depends what package you are on and your personal usage, and of course what alternatives are available in your area.

XL should be fine for HD though, even with traffic management

fixerman · 15-04-2011, 11:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by muppetman11

Yes you could well be right , maybe this is why Sky have tried rushing there iPad and other apps out and allowing you to watch your TV pack online , I personally can't understand why anyone would replace their TV pack with online content , to me the picture is awful. On iplayer on a VM 30mb BB package iplayer HD stutters.

Just out of interest I recently bought an Apple TV and I am totally blown away by the quality of all downloaded material including HD. I have watched two HD movies recently and the quality was flawless and that is on a wifi connection. When you add in the ability to stream your home videos and photos it really comes into it's own. It blends beautifully with the iPad.

Unfortunately here in the UK we are somewhat restricted compared to the US as to content but things like You Tube are brilliant.

When I access similar content on my Sony Bravia internet TV the quality is quite poor in comparison and it does not have an HD ability over the internet.

OLDGOLD · 15-04-2011, 17:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by mersey70

Indeed, 10mb 'L' customers could easily fall foul of traffic management when watching HD.

Even though it is excellent I doubt 'L' is really a suitable package for streaming anything other than occasional HD programmes because of traffic management, this is one of the reasons I have always argued it isn't always the case that VM is best option, as ever it all depends what package you are on and your personal usage, and of course what alternatives are available in your area.

XL should be fine for HD though, even with traffic management

I have thought about upgrading, but the only reason I would really need to would be for watching MLB games in HD. I don't really stream much else. It would be perfect if VM introduced an MLB TV app for TiVo!