Will TV Drive subscription include future HD channels?

[HDFootyMan]

Well?

When (if?) NTL get the Sky HD channels, I hope we don’t have to pay extra for them, otherwise joining Sky (for me anyway) starts looking very attractive.

I mean, most of us will be (or are) paying between £15 - £10 extra for one HD channel on TV Drive. As a Sky Sports subscriber, NTL wouldn't dare charge me extra just to watch Sky Sports HD - would they?????

[laraseyes]

Should think you would get the extra HD channels without extra charge, there are some channels in the guide ready, just no content yet,
I was also happy to pay the extra just for the recording functions the box gives, record 2 channels and watch another, how good is that yeah???!!!

[HDFootyMan]

Originally Posted by laraseyes

I was also happy to pay the extra just for the recording functions the box gives, record 2 channels and watch another, how good is that yeah???!!!

Compare it to Sky HD+. Sure, you pay upfront for the box, and you pay £10 extra per month. But if I had Sky Sports, I would get Sky Sports HD for that extra tenner.

Now look at NTL. I've got Sky Sports and Family pack. If I get a TV Drive, that's an extra £10 per month.

£10 extra, for what?

• HD Channels? What HD Channels? BBC One HD and erm.....well there's....erm....mmm....HD VOD movies and.....well I guess there's.....cough....urm......
  
• PVR functionality? Had that since March via my own PVR - no doubt other customers also got fed up waiting on NTL's PVR solution and went out and brought one. Chase Play? Recording on Hard Drive? Sorry, been there and was doing that in time for the World Cup.
• An 7-8 day EPG? Sorry, that should be standard. Certainly is for Freeview, Sky and BT Vision. What's NTL's excuse? We're told that "Cable is the future", and "if we can get it, we should." So why only 3 days on the EPG? (Don't even get me started on the mythical interactive app. known as BBC News Multiscreens).
• A faster box? Sorry, why should I be paying extra to compensate for bad decisions NTL made in choosing hardware too slow to run their software? Why can't NTL write more efficient software to run faster on their Pace boxes?

Sure, credit where credit is due. TV Drive offers HDTV, HDTV VOD, and the ability to record 2 channels while watching another.

But, do you seriously think that I should pay £10 extra for TV Drive, and then pay extra on top of that to get Sky Sports HD?

Because, if that's how NTL is thinking.....then I'm probably off to Sky, and I doubt if I'll be the only one. NTL are in danger of pricing themselves out of the HDTV market, IMO, and the HDTV set I've ordered is going to be hungry for some 720p/1080i content.

[Dan_Sette]

Originally Posted by Chris Howell

But, do you seriously think that I should pay £10 extra for TV Drive, and then pay extra on top of that to get Sky Sports HD?

BUTT for your tenner, you get an HD box (content will become available) the ability to record two channels while watching a third, and shortly the ability to record three channels (SKY HD only does one, while watching one).

SKY HD does not have an eight day planner. TVDrive does record up to eight days in advance.

Yes, you may get Sky sports HD with your Sky Sports subscription, but you have to pay extra for Sky Sports and not that much is HD, a lot is upscaled. Which is what you get from the TVDrive anyway, except TW/NTL don't boast about this "non" feature.

TVDrive only costs £10 a month over an ordinary Telewest box. SKY HD costs £10 for the Sky+ (HDD) bit, plus £10 for HD facility plus £300 for the box.

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by Chris Howell

Compare it to Sky HD+. Sure, you pay upfront for the box, and you pay £10 extra per month. But if I had Sky Sports, I would get Sky Sports HD for that extra tenner.

Now look at NTL. I've got Sky Sports and Family pack. If I get a TV Drive, that's an extra £10 per month.

£10 extra, for what?

• HD Channels? What HD Channels? BBC One HD and erm.....well there's....erm....mmm....HD VOD movies and.....well I guess there's.....cough....urm......
  
• PVR functionality? Had that since March via my own PVR - no doubt other customers also got fed up waiting on NTL's PVR solution and went out and brought one. Chase Play? Recording on Hard Drive? Sorry, been there and was doing that in time for the World Cup.
• An 7-8 day EPG? Sorry, that should be standard. Certainly is for Freeview, Sky and BT Vision. What's NTL's excuse? We're told that "Cable is the future", and "if we can get it, we should." So why only 3 days on the EPG? (Don't even get me started on the mythical interactive app. known as BBC News Multiscreens).
• A faster box? Sorry, why should I be paying extra to compensate for bad decisions NTL made in choosing hardware too slow to run their software? Why can't NTL write more efficient software to run faster on their Pace boxes?

Sure, credit where credit is due. TV Drive offers HDTV, HDTV VOD, and the ability to record 2 channels while watching another.

But, do you seriously think that I should pay £10 extra for TV Drive, and then pay extra on top of that to get Sky Sports HD?

Because, if that's how NTL is thinking.....then I'm probably off to Sky, and I doubt if I'll be the only one. NTL are in danger of pricing themselves out of the HDTV market, IMO, and the HDTV set I've ordered is going to be hungry for some 720p/1080i content.

In fairness, NTL haven't announced availability or pricing for any HD channels, and I, for one, would be shocked if they didn't match (or beat) the price of Sky+ HD. For them not to at least match the price would be commercial suicide..

As for the guide. Well, TBH, I have had a Tivo for years. This has up to two months of guide data. Similarly, I use Digiguide. This gives up to two months of data. Why, when Sky + and the TV drive have hard drives, are we limited to 7 or 8 days of guide data? It's not as if the boxes are limited in the amount of data they can recieve. Even assuming there is not enough bandwidth available on the TV signal, Sky + can dial in (as the Tivo does), and the TV Drive could just use some of the interactive bandwidth.

[HDFootyMan]

Originally Posted by Dan_Sette

BUTT for your tenner, you get an HD box (content will become available) the ability to record two channels while watching a third, and shortly the ability to record three channels (SKY HD only does one, while watching one).

Oh, I agree with what your saying, and I'm aware of what TV Drive can do. But, there are a lot of NTL customers like me, who have purchased/are purchasing a HDTV, and who already have a PVR.

So for me, the #1 feature of TV Drive is HDTV. And there isn't a lot of it available when compared to Sky.

If NTL gave us some idea of additional HDTV channels that are 'coming soon', then people like me wouldn't be considering getting Sky.

Instead........we have complete silence regarding HD content.