[Merged] Where is HD from NTL? When?

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by Chrysalis

Have you all got hd tv's? You realise you need a nice expensive tv for this.

You can get a low-end branded HD Ready LCD for about £700. This is what my Sony Wega 28 inch cost about 7 years ago.


So, while £700 is still an awful lot of money, prices have come down massively, and will continue to fall.

In fact, when my current TV blows up, I will go for and HD ready TV..

[Neil]

Originally Posted by jtwn

Very accesible, you just need a dish which is like a tenner on ebay or a sky dish if you already have one.

Then either a STB, atm I can find Humax HDCI2000 and Pace DS810XE both at £299 or a DVB-S2 PCI card such as the Technotrend S2-3200 HDTV-S2 for just under £90.

Doesn't sound very accessible to Joe Public IMO.

If it were that simple Sky would be out of business.

You are referring to an enthusiasts set of kit there, not something that is mass market.

[jtwn]

Not really enthusiasts Neil, just because something is documented widely enough like Sky is doesn't make it 'enthusiasts'. You don't need to be brain of Britain to figure it out.

Its perfectly accessible, buy the box on any decent etailer and get a dish.

[Neil]

Originally Posted by jtwn

Not really enthusiasts Neil, just because something is documented widely enough like Sky is doesn't make it 'enthusiasts'. You don't need to be brain of Britain to figure it out.

Its perfectly accessible, buy the box on any decent etailer and get a dish.

Joe public still will go for Sky as it's available in every high street retailer, & not just 'any decent etailer'

People don;t want to have to do the homework on these sorts of things, they want to walk in, sign up, walk out.

That's why your idea is still restricted to enthusiasts & not Joe Public.

[DVS]

Originally Posted by gruff_rhodes

Coldn't agree with you more, i am doing the same. It's not like i am unhappy with present quality now. VHS was always rubbish, nothing wrong with current TV pictures or the quality of current DVDs.

You wouldn't say that if you saw/watched HD for any length of time. Current TV/DVD looks very poor when you switch back to it after a couple of hours watching a HD film.

---------- Post added at 23:39 ---------- Previous post was at 23:30 ----------

Originally Posted by Chrysalis

Have you all got hd tv's? You realise you need a nice expensive tv for this.

What do you define as expensive? Expensive is generally viewed as relative to a persons income.
I didn't view the cost of my 32" HD ready JVC LCD as expensive at £975. Quite the contrary, I got a lot of TV, feature wise, for a reasonable price. If I get anywhere near the years of service from it that I got from my old 4:3 Sony 29" that it replaced then it'll be a bargain

[Chrysalis]

Well I spent £120 on my portable tv 8 years or so ago and that works so no need to replace it.

I got my sisters old 21" for free which works fine also.

If the 21" died I would maybe buy a new tv but probably wouldnt spend anything over £200 on a new one since I watch more tv on my pc then on normal tv and the type of money needed for a hd tv would be unrealistic for me. I do think £900 is expensive yes, very expensive.

[Graham M]

Originally Posted by Chrysalis

If the 21" died I would maybe buy a new tv but probably wouldnt spend anything over £200 on a new one since I watch more tv on my pc then on normal tv and the type of money needed for a hd tv would be unrealistic for me. I do think £900 is expensive yes, very expensive.

Same sentiments here

[Chrysalis]

I am shocked because it is clear their is a high number of people wanting HDTV so they either have the equipment already or prepared to buy it when they can get the signal. Yet people generally are very price sensitive paying for services and broadband, its a vicous circle.

[King Of Fools]

I, personally, would not want to spend more than £300 on my main TV but I might be tempted with this at £350:
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/03..._ready_crt_tv/

[DVS]

Obviously it's each to their own. I spend a lot on technology, eg my PC as detailed in my signature, but I spend little on the like of cars preferring to drive a £200 banger rather than spend thousand(s) on a car as many people do.

[jpa]

I have just spoken to Customer Services at NTL an I asked as a sideline question 'when was the HDTV STB coming out' and was told it is COMING IN JUNE talk about surprised. Then I was told that the customer services staff had been on a training course last month!!!!!!!!!!!!
I will believe it when I see it,as i am very used to NTL false promises.

[Andy C]

I just called up out of curiosity and the agent was very polite and friendly which is always good. She said she had been given info on the PVR and it will be available soon, but she couldn't give an exact date.

The good news, although off-topic, is she looked at my account and said I was entitled to a monthly discount of £8.50 as I subscribe to all 3 services. So that was a bonus making the call worth while!


A.

[popper]

Originally Posted by jpa

I have just spoken to Customer Services at NTL an I asked as a sideline question 'when was the HDTV STB coming out' and was told it is COMING IN JUNE talk about surprised. Then I was told that the customer services staff had been on a training course last month!!!!!!!!!!!!
I will believe it when I see it,as i am very used to NTL false promises.

if its coming in june, then that means its already in production and hence the spec has been finalised.

if the above is true, did NTL set the spec as they can do, and indeed as the UKs biggest cable company it would make long term finantial sense to spec the box to be long term field/base engineer expandable from their POV.

or, did they just take something like that reference design i posted about above, with the relevent options (read cheapest base options) required to work on NTL network in the short term ?, did they for instance spec a standard, (cheap) 3d gfx chip XGI V3XT 2D and 3D graphics support
http://www.xgitech.com/products/products_2.asp?P=22
Built in with latest 3D processing engines with HDTV output upto 720p/1080i, Volari V3XE has been broadly used in multimedia applications with various kind of processors such as RISC, ARM and the standard x86 CPU.

or just go the whole way and spec an ati X1300/1600 chip for far longer longevity, keeping in mind that even mobil phones have had 2D/3D and sprites hardware assisted chips for a very long time, and hence can far exceed any current NTL STB for playing the odd games or two, plus one of the above could potentially, vastly improve the liberate middleware NTL and C&W before them insist on using for their gfx and html/java return path/control.

i would also advise NTL to spec a good FPGA as standard and hence open their options to adding vast amounts of possibilitys, licencing old amiga/atari etc games and running them off an emulator that could sit in the FPGA chip for instance.

[Horizon]

Just listened to the latest ntl financial webcast and despite what Burch (ntl's boss) said in the last webcast about hdtv launching around summer, this has now changed....HDTV is coming to "most" old ntl areas by the "end" of 2006 into 2007. Now we'll all the wiser....At least for those folks in the old Videotron and Westminster areas of London, their cables will finally get upgraded. So they'll be able to get digital and hdtv "sometime" at the end of 2006/7.

Now its clear. If you want hdtv in the near future, there's only one place to go and it ain't ntl.

[King Of Fools]

Originally Posted by Neptune

Now its clear. If you want hdtv in the near future, there's only one place to go and it ain't ntl.

Unless you live in a former-Telewest area where you can get HDTV from NTL!