HD TV in Stafford

[Gordon Brookes]

I am really looking forward to seeing HD pictures on my new Panasonic 36" - when will they be available in the Stafford area and how muchis the rental?

[daz100]

It is available now - cost extra £10 a month if you got the Family Pack. Only HD channel is BBC HD atm.

[dayloon]

I'm in Stafford and had the TV Drive installed about 3 weeks ago. Available now !

[relegationmateri]

Want HD, get Sky.

Sky actually has HD channels.

[gadge]

Originally Posted by relegationmateri

Want HD, get Sky.

Sky actually has HD channels.

yea but with sky you have to pay for the box and after 12 months anything goes wrong with it you have to pay virgins are free.

[relegationmateri]

Sky's equivalent of the NTL PVR has to be Sky+ and as is fact, is free per month to customers on the top package. So, for every tenner a month you pay NTL, you could have a Sky+ box which is miles better with a proper epg and no software cockups.

Over a five year period, here's a summary.

NTL user £600
Sky+ user £0

Should your Sky+ box break you'll have plenty of money left over to get plenty more after your guarantee runs out!

Even more so if this happens
http://www.media247.co.uk/skydigital/news.php

(insert smug wink here)

[dayloon]

Originally Posted by relegationmateri

Sky's equivalent of the NTL PVR has to be Sky+ and as is fact, is free per month to customers on the top package. So, for every tenner a month you pay NTL, you could have a Sky+ box which is miles better with a proper epg and no software cockups.

Over a five year period, here's a summary.

NTL user £600
Sky+ user £0

Should your Sky+ box break you'll have plenty of money left over to get plenty more after your guarantee runs out!

Even more so if this happens
http://www.media247.co.uk/skydigital/news.php

(insert smug wink here)

LOL - you expect a sky+ box to last 5 years without failing ? What a joke. After 1 year you will have to pay ££ to get your box fixed. I don't see repair costs included in your little calculations.

REPAIR COSTS AFTER 5 YEARS :

SKY : £504 (Extended warrenty cover after 1st year at £10.50 / month which is what i paid)
NTL : £0

And on another note, if you have all your services with NTL you can get a discount. So yes, I pay £10 / month extra for the TVDrive but NTL are giving me a £15/month discount for having BB, phone and TV with them. So im £5 up ! Your calculations aren't looking so great now, all things considered.

Also, like you said - the sky+ box is free to customers on the top package ! Most people are probably not on the top package. So it's a tenner a month and if i remember correctly £99 for the box upfront. You also have no chance of watching ANY HD broadcasts on it.

I've just moved from sky to NTL and the picture quality on the TVDrive is hugely superior to that of Sky.

Yes, the TVDrive is very buggy but it's only just launched. When Sky+ launched it wasn't exactly perfect either !!

[Gadgie]

Yea! I noticed that as well, as my B/in/Law has H/D with Sky and his picture quality is not that good compared to our TV Dive box with Telewest. I have also noticed that when viewing H/D the sound quality is a lot better as well.
Mind you we only have the one H/D Channel just now, as the other one was taken off air, but according to Telewest that could be changing in April

[relegationmateri]

Originally Posted by dayloon

LOL - you expect a sky+ box to last 5 years without failing ?

Yes. AND you're covered for the first year. You base your drivel on assumptions.

---------- Post added at 22:17 ---------- Previous post was at 22:15 ----------

<Insulting remarks removed>

---------- Post added at 22:19 ---------- Previous post was at 22:17 ----------

Originally Posted by dayloon

And on another note, if you have all your services with NTL you can get a discount.

I don't. If you're on about ringing up and grovelling for one then you can do that with ALL companies.

---------- Post added at 22:20 ---------- Previous post was at 22:19 ----------

Originally Posted by dayloon

Most people are probably not on the top package.

Got all the figures have you. More crap.

---------- Post added at 22:21 ---------- Previous post was at 22:20 ----------

Originally Posted by dayloon

You also have no chance of watching ANY HD broadcasts on it.

Neither does someone with an NTL box. Can you watch empty promises on your tv? I think not.

---------- Post added at 22:23 ---------- Previous post was at 22:21 ----------

Originally Posted by dayloon

I've just moved from sky to NTL

So. Unlike me who's put up with NTL for years you know NOTHING of what NTL is like to use every day. Your 'opinions' don't match my wealth of usage.

---------- Post added at 22:30 ---------- Previous post was at 22:23 ----------

Originally Posted by dayloon

the picture quality on the TVDrive is hugely superior to that of Sky.

In your opinion but then you're wrong again. Show me a review that says so.

---------- Post added at 22:33 ---------- Previous post was at 22:30 ----------

Originally Posted by dayloon

Yes, the TVDrive is very buggy but it's only just launched. When Sky+ launched it wasn't exactly perfect either !!

a) It's not very buggy. It's extremely buggy. Read the forums.
b) Err, my gf has had Sky+ since day 1 and it's been spot on.


End of lesson.

[dayloon]

I didn't say I paid £500 to fix my sky+ box. I said i paid £10.50 / month for an extended warranty. After 4 years of that it comes to £504. My point was that with NTL, the box is rented so they will come out and fix it for free no matter how long you've had it. I personally find that to be a benefit.

I dont need a review to show me that the picture quality is better ! I've seen it with my own eyes. I did have sky, I now have the TVDrive and im telling you that in my opinion the picture quality is very much superior to that of sky ! Gadgie posted a message after mine agreeing with this.

I didn't phone up NTL and grovel for a discount at all ! They offered it me when i ordered the TVDrive for having all my services with them. At no point did I ask for it.

I don't need to search the forum in order to find out the TVDrive is buggy, I know that for myself, i've got it ! What i'm saying is that it's only just been released to NTL customers. Of course it's going to be buggy for a short while.

All i'm saying is that in my opinion the TVDrive from NTL is better value than sky and also the picture quality is a lot better. I was with sky for years before I moved to the TVDrive and was amazed how much better the PQ was. I also really like On Demand which sky doesn't have. It's a very useful feature.

Why do you come onto a cable forum to do nothing but slate people who are happy with cable ? If you hate cable that much, cancel all your cable services and join sky. Then you will not feel the need to criticize people on here who are quite pleased with NTL.

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by relegationmateri

So. Unlike me who's put up with NTL for years you know NOTHING of what NTL is like to use every day. Your 'opinions' don't match my wealth of usage.

Err, if you think NTL are so bad, and Sky are so wonderful, why have you put up with NTL for years?

---------- Post added at 13:53 ---------- Previous post was at 13:48 ----------

Originally Posted by relegationmateri

Got all the figures have you. More crap.

Actually, it's quite logical to assume that a sizable percentage of Sky HAVEN'T got the top package. If they did, Sky wouldn't be using free Sky + to try and lure people on to it. They also wouldn't heavily advertise it on Sky one (in both cases, there would be little or no point).

[AndyCambs]

Originally Posted by relegationmateri

Sky's equivalent of the NTL PVR has to be Sky+ and as is fact, is free per month to customers on the top package. So, for every tenner a month you pay NTL, you could have a Sky+ box which is miles better with a proper epg and no software cockups.

Over a five year period, here's a summary.

NTL user £600
Sky+ user £0

Should your Sky+ box break you'll have plenty of money left over to get plenty more after your guarantee runs out!

Even more so if this happens
http://www.media247.co.uk/skydigital/news.php

(insert smug wink here)

Sorry - but you're not comparing like with like.
If you want a box capable of HD television - then
Sky £299 purchase price
Sky £10 per month rental
Sky £60 installation (unless you take multi-room)

Source: http://sky.com/hd/what-does-it-cost-existing.htm

NTL:Telewest £0.00 Purchase Price
NTL:Telewest £10.00 per month rental
NTL:Telewest £75 installation (on existing customers unless you have multi-room)

First year's cost Sky £419
First year's cost NTL £120
Both assume multi-room.

After the second year, you become liable for repairs to the Sky box, so you need to cost in a replacement for that over say three years and would need to allow an additional monthly cost of £10 per month to cover for this.

(inserts a smugger wink here)

[gazzae]

Originally Posted by Stuart C

Actually, it's quite logical to assume that a sizable percentage of Sky HAVEN'T got the top package. If they did, Sky wouldn't be using free Sky + to try and lure people on to it. They also wouldn't heavily advertise it on Sky one (in both cases, there would be little or no point).

I can't remember where it was but I remember reading that Sky was coming up on 8 Million subscribers of which over 5 Million were Sky Sports subscribers.

[relegationmateri]

Originally Posted by dayloon

Why do you come onto a cable forum just to slate cable ? If you hate NTL and cable so much, go away. People come on here to read constructive posts, not posts from sky fanboys. Do you work for sky or something ?

NTL should in theory be better than Sky and it annoys me that they're so far behind. I've had cable since the start and yet Sky has always led the way. I hold out that the saying 'you can't polish a turd' isn't true in this case.

---------- Post added at 18:24 ---------- Previous post was at 18:22 ----------

Originally Posted by AndyCambs

Sorry - but you're not comparing like with like.

Err no HD content. I think you'll find I am.

---------- Post added at 18:32 ---------- Previous post was at 18:24 ----------

Originally Posted by AndyCambs

NTL:Telewest £0.00 Purchase Price
NTL:Telewest £10.00 per month rental
NTL:Telewest £75 installation (on existing customers unless you have multi-room)

£10x12 = £120 + £75 installation

What did your dodgy politician maths come to again?

So, for every year you're with (no HD content) TV Drive you're £120 out of pocket.

Get back to me when NTL have all of Sky's HD channels. Specifically the ones people actually want to watch.

(insert, smugest smiley here)

[dayloon]

If you're so disappointed with cable and singing sky's praise's all the time I don't understand why you aren't with sky. You obviously think sky is hugely superior to cable in every way. Nothing is stopping you from cancelling NTL and going to sky. It's down to personal preference at the end of the day.

I agree that the HD content on NTL is a little disappointing at the moment. It's got BBC HD and a fair few HD programmes/movies "On Demand" but a few more channels would be nice. I'm going to wait and see what happens, it's only just launched so i'll give them time. Obviously sky+ isn't capable of receiving ANY HD channels so the TVDrive has got 1 more HD channel than sky+