YouView
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Turtle head

Original Poster:

298 posts

177 months

Wednesday 4th July 2012
quotequote all
Have I missed something here but is Mr Sugar actually expecting anyone who is aware of the Internet to part with £300 plus a fee from your broadband supplier for a box that delivers free content that you can get through most new tvs, tablets phones or anything that is able to connect to the internet?


If it was 2002 I'd be all over this but seriously it's 2012 my 3 year old tv can access iplayer and lovefilm.

FlossyThePig

4,138 posts

266 months

Wednesday 4th July 2012
quotequote all
The YouView box is a souped up PVR. It has grown out of a project to replace BBC iPlayer, ITV Player, 4OD, Demand 5, etc. with a consistent and seamless front end. I don't think ISPs will not be adding extra cost, if anything I bet the boxes supplied by BT and Talk Talk will be subsidised.

This is the first model to be launched, made by Humax. Their current Freeview HD+ box is about £230.

ajprice

32,111 posts

219 months

Thursday 5th July 2012
quotequote all
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-18699924

"He said it would cost £299, but added that he would not be surprised if that fell to £99 in a couple of years."

So... I'll wait a couple of years then rolleyes .



What not to say when launching a product #428

liller

1,151 posts

192 months

Thursday 5th July 2012
quotequote all
this box is just too late to the party! I imagine it will do OK though as it is backed by a lot of big players and it will appeal to people who don't have the latest gadgets but like the idea of the 'catch-up' services.

They really should have made the box wi-fi though as it just adds an extra hassle to people if you have to plug in an ethernet cable.

For most people it will not make sense as there are already so many ways to watch iplayer etc. In my flat I can watch catch up services via my laptop, smart TV, PS3 and my smart phone....I for one have no interest in adding another method of watching TV.

king arthur

7,644 posts

284 months

Thursday 5th July 2012
quotequote all
For £299 I'm sure I could build a wifi enabled HTPC that would let me watch all those and everything else on the interwebs too.

They'd be better off launching a PPV service which allows on demand access to the entire archives of the BBC, ITV, C4 and C5. That would make money. In fact I'd say that's how TV should be in the future anyway.

rumple

13,513 posts

174 months

Thursday 5th July 2012
quotequote all
Apple got people to buy off iTunes what you can get for free so why not

MEC

2,622 posts

296 months

Thursday 5th July 2012
quotequote all
will it stream media, ie mkv files etc?

strudel

5,889 posts

250 months

Thursday 5th July 2012
quotequote all
As far I can make out it's just a pvr with a fancy epg that goes backwards as well, linking previous programs to iplayer. Nice idea but my current humax does this clumsily now. No wifi is a silly plan as well.

Turtle head

Original Poster:

298 posts

177 months

Thursday 5th July 2012
quotequote all
ajprice said:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-18699924

"He said it would cost £299, but added that he would not be surprised if that fell to £99 in a couple of years."

So... I'll wait a couple of years then rolleyes .



What not to say when launching a product #428
God that's optimistic I doubt it will still be around in 2 years I give it 12 months and people will be running some form of Linux. Missed the lack of WiFi mental.

Esseesse

9,027 posts

231 months

Friday 6th July 2012
quotequote all
rumple said:
Apple got people to buy off iTunes what you can get for free so why not
Because the Apple experience was (and still is) more convenient than the alternatives. This is not, it's at best equal to the alternatives, however requires a wire to your router so is probably substantially less convenient than many options. In fact I think the lack of wifi probably make it a no go for 50% of people that might have been interested.

FlossyThePig

4,138 posts

266 months

Friday 6th July 2012
quotequote all
Turtle head said:
ajprice said:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-18699924

"He said it would cost £299, but added that he would not be surprised if that fell to £99 in a couple of years."

So... I'll wait a couple of years then rolleyes .



What not to say when launching a product #428
God that's optimistic I doubt it will still be around in 2 years I give it 12 months and people will be running some form of Linux. Missed the lack of WiFi mental.
I don't think AMS said the PVR box would drop to £99 but other boxes would be available at that price.

Current HUMAX HD STB about £120
Current HUMAX HD+ STB/PVR about £230

How many current TVs and STBs have wifi that isn't just a USB dongle?
YouView Core Technical Specification said:
The implementation of YouView devices is based on the use of a number of open-source software components, and includes the adoption of Linux as a standard device OS
Edited by FlossyThePig on Friday 6th July 19:46

Irrotational

1,580 posts

211 months

Monday 9th July 2012
quotequote all
Personally I think it could be quite good - it all depends how well the iplayer/itv/c4/5 catchup services are integrated with the PVR functionality.

If it works as a DLNA streamer as well then it ticks pretty much every box.

YES you can buy a HTPC with TV cards and do all these things and more, BUT you have to keep fixing it when it breaks AND getting other people to use it easily is quite hard.

I have run one for 4-5 years now as our only source of TV, and it has been just about worth it, but pretty exasperating along the way too.

When a box breaks - the box gets the blame and you "just" buy a new one...when the PC breaks, *I* get the blame!

ooo000ooo

2,634 posts

217 months

Monday 9th July 2012
quotequote all
I have one smile

Nimbus

1,176 posts

251 months

Monday 9th July 2012
quotequote all
ooo000ooo said:
I have one smile
lets see the pictures then.... wink

ooo000ooo

2,634 posts

217 months

Monday 9th July 2012
quotequote all
I don't think i've any custard though, would a custard filled doughnut be acceptable smile

Irrotational

1,580 posts

211 months

Monday 9th July 2012
quotequote all
boo!

Is it any good - should we all buy one?

Nimbus

1,176 posts

251 months

Monday 9th July 2012
quotequote all
ooo000ooo said:
I don't think i've any custard though, would a custard filled doughnut be acceptable smile
funny you should say that.. I've just had a cold custard doughnut smile

very acceptable smile

ooo000ooo

2,634 posts

217 months

Monday 9th July 2012
quotequote all
I've been trialling it for the last couple of months, i'm quite impressed. picture quality is very good, no problem recording a couple of programs, streaming a movie and kids watching youtube at the same time (on a fibre BB running at @17mb)
I think all the catchup channels are there, as far as i can make out all the Beeb Iplayer stuff is available including music, itv/4od/5 are there but not as much on them.
I use the electric networking plug things to get it on to my main tv so wifi isn't that much of an issue.
There's only a limited number of channels on at the moment, being a test box, but they are being added to and there's a lot of test signals there at the moment.

Kermit power

29,622 posts

236 months

Monday 9th July 2012
quotequote all
I could possibly be tempted...

Last time I checked, I could get iPlayer on my Humax PVR. And on my Sony Blu ray player (on which I also get LoveFilm). I also get it on the Wii.

In fact, I can watch iPlayer anywhere I like, and the Channel 5 catch up service in quite a few places too, but I have no convenient way of getting 4OD or ITV Player running through my main TV and amp at the moment. Which is annoying.

GlenMH

5,402 posts

266 months

Monday 9th July 2012
quotequote all
ooo000ooo said:
I've been trialling it for the last couple of months, i'm quite impressed. picture quality is very good, no problem recording a couple of programs, streaming a movie and kids watching youtube at the same time (on a fibre BB running at @17mb)
I think all the catchup channels are there, as far as i can make out all the Beeb Iplayer stuff is available including music, itv/4od/5 are there but not as much on them.
I use the electric networking plug things to get it on to my main tv so wifi isn't that much of an issue.
There's only a limited number of channels on at the moment, being a test box, but they are being added to and there's a lot of test signals there at the moment.
Interesting - does it stream stuff from a home media server/nas box?