NTL Digital sucks

[paulyoung666]

Originally Posted by simpsonsFAN

[sarstic]Yes, sky told me streight away when i bought it that my digibox was going to spy on me and then tell sky what i have been watching at 12pm, they also told me the remote would fall apart in 24hours and that they were going to rip me off, yep, they told me that![/sarstic]

sky offered me something that was implyed would mow my lawn, hoover my carpet and make coffie every morning, seriously though, i was trying to have a nag at sky, not defend ntl...


same could be said about ntl...

-Chris

i reckon you need to lay off the beer my mate , or get your prescription checked , you are talking gibberish

Originally Posted by paulyoung666

i reckon you need to lay off the beer my mate , or get your prescription checked , you are talking gibberish

[Tristan]

Originally Posted by Scott

Funny, I find the GUI very easy to use and picture quality as good as a DVD. Strange that most people complain about NTL having a bad picture

Yes, that is a mystery, what with this being a cable discussion site and everything. Why I bet the only reason nobody comes here to complain about Sky's picture quality is because it's always perfect!

(For the record, NTL and Sky use 100% identical MPEG feels on about 90% of channels. If the boxes are both receiving the signal correctly, there will be absolutely no difference in the resultant picture. Some people have problems with signal levels on NTL (which they should call to get sorted); some people have problems when it rains, gusts or snows on Sky.)

Neither NTL nor Sky offer DVD quality, either. Both DVD and DTV use the same MPEG2 compression system, and DTV bitrates are much lower. That's just the fact of the matter.

Sky's EPG, whilst comprehensive, has one niggling problem. I have to use it in the first place. On NTL all I have to do is find the programme on the Now&Next bar (or whatever it's called now) and press i. That's pretty much impossible to do on satellite, ever. And the buttons are the wrong way round on the Search and Scan bar. Use the left and right keys to scroll up and down a list? Sky's software people must have nodded off in UI Design 101.

[ntlrocks]

well i like ntl:'s guide, and want to say well done on the interactive service for last night of the proms, it rules. im a music student at a-level and alot of the pieces i have/have to , study are available only on interactive. It is very fast to use, well done

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by simpsonsFAN

ntl dosent make telephone calls at 12pm to tell them what i have been watching!,

True, the STB doesn't phone NTL. I am pretty sure it just sends the info back up the cable.

Originally Posted by simpsonsFAN

Yes, sky told me streight away when i bought it that my digibox was going to spy on me and then tell sky what i have been watching at 12pm

Spy on you, yeah right, that's a real worry ...

What exactly have you been watching that you care so much if anyone knows, Teletubbies perhaps ...

[ntlrocks]

well TV is TV, there is nothing incriminating watching programs. so they can spy all they want. If you shouldnt be watching something (if its illegal) then it wouldnt be broadcast anyway.

[MikeyB]

Originally Posted by simpsonsFAN

Sky is tacky cheap sh1te, i had it for 1 week then told murdoch and his cronies to f**k the hell off, and went back to my ntl!, far suporier in my opinion, ntl has better picture quality, better and easyer software,

In theory (as others have said) the picture quality should be the same, but what I've seen on NTL digital, it's not quite up to Sky picture, two of my friends have recently canceled NTL and getting Sky installed because of the picture & the constant crashing of the software.
The main reason I ditched NTL was of the picture quality compared to my parents Sky, and they didn't keep having to reset the box...

Originally Posted by simpsonsFAN

the remote padding came off in one day on sky,

What is this "remote padding"? Maybe you should be more careful, I've had the same Sky box & remote for 5 years.

Originally Posted by simpsonsFAN

ntl dosent make telephone calls at 12pm to tell them what i have been watching!

NTL doesn't need to, it's connected directly back to them via a cable 24/7 so can tell them what you are watching immediately!!!! But Sky does not dial up to tell them what you have been watching, it only dials up to send them what PPV you have watched, and for any pay interactive.

Originally Posted by simpsonsFAN

with ntl i get free interactive, tv email and tv games, sky costs per the minite for these services,

Most of the interactive is free on Sky, all the BBCi stuff is, it only dials for non-free stuff, like games, but thats a pay once (usually 50p) and play as much as you like, not per minute.
My Sky box isn't even connect to the phone line & I can get most of the interactive stuff.

Originally Posted by simpsonsFAN

Also ntl is £48 cheaper than $ky (£4 per month), plus you also get a telephone line included with ntl digi tv witch means another £9 per month saveing on top of that!.

-Chris

Prices all depend on what packeges you get, I pay a total of £29 for my Sky + NTL phone line

[slug]

I was a NTL cable customer for 4 years, but just got tired of the box crashing and lack of interactive services. I now have Sky+. Its like changing for using a ZX81 to being given a state of the art PC. I have no axe to grind.

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by Paul M

Spy on you, yeah right, that's a real worry ...

What exactly have you been watching that you care so much if anyone knows, Teletubbies perhaps ...

If anyone wants to log what I am watching, I don't really care. What I watch is of interest to me, but would be of no interest to 99.9% of the population. I suspect it's the same for everyone else.

BTW, I know that wasn't directed at me, was just trying to back up your point.

Originally Posted by MikeyB

What is this "remote padding"? Maybe you should be more careful, I've had the same Sky box & remote for 5 years.

Maybe he/she means that sticky cling film/acetate type stuff you get on some remote controls (which, in my experience, comes off anyway).

[ntlrocks]

he probably means the button numbers and writing on the buttons of the remote....as my friends sky remote, you cant even see the numbers or words anymore

Sky's Digi-Box software DOES crash from time-to-time, but it's easy to reset it and doesn't take long. All you need to do is switch it off at the wall for about 30 seconds, switch it on, leave it for 10 seconds, then it will be back on without a problem.

[simpsonsFAN]

Originally Posted by dellwear

I think thats who he was talking about

why was my post quoted then?
-Chris

[simpsonsFAN]

Originally Posted by scastle

True, the STB doesn't phone NTL. I am pretty sure it just sends the info back up the cable.

yes, but that dosent involve dialing preimum rate numbers does it?!, and i doubt ntl's software is advanced enough to spy on me, it needs rebooting every other week.

-Chris

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by simpsonsFAN

yes, but that dosent involve dialing preimum rate numbers does it?!, and i doubt ntl's software is advanced enough to spy on me, it needs rebooting every other week.

-Chris

AFAIK Sky doesn't dial a premium rate number. In fact, AFAIK, it doesn't dial at all unless downloading software, using interactive or booking PPV. Surely if the box dialled a Premium Rate number for any reason, Sky are required by law to notify you?

Actually, I am fairly certain I read an article on Digital Spy that suggested that the NTL box does log what you watch and send that info back to NTL. Although I am sure one of the NTL bods on here will correct me if I am wrong.