Any BT TV Users out there - few questions?

Pat38493

Thinking of ditching Sky for BT TV, mainly because I am fed of up paying sky high prices (no pun intended) and having to argue with agents for hours to try to get any discount at all.

Is the recorder box they provide reasonably good?  I understand you don't need an aerial anymore and you can stream and record freeview over the internet?  (is there any advantage to using an aerial)?

Is there any UHD content via BT TV?  The pro box appears to mention UHD, but none of the subscriptions seem to mention it?

How many additional streaming boxes are you allowed to add (currently I have Sky Q and 3 miniboxes so 4 in total)?

I may be missing something here, but is there any advantage to signing up for anything more than the bare minimum deal over 24 months?  As far as I tell, most the service is provided via NowTV and normally that should mean that anything I need beyond the bare minimum, I can sign up for a rolling monthly access, so why would I commit for 24 months?

Will I be able to time it so my Sky and BT subscriptions don't overlap?

Brie

Why not let the Sky contract end and just switch to Freeview?  We get a BT service free via that.  Only thing extra we have now is NetFlicks.

Pat38493

Brie said:

Why not let the Sky contract end and just switch to Freeview?  We get a BT service free via that.  Only thing extra we have now is NetFlicks.

Because Sky charges £33 per month just for what is basically a freeview recorder - it would be cheaper with BT or freesat (although I've not heard good things about open market freesat recorder boxes).

Also - I want to terminate my contract with Sky for a year so that I am treated as a new customer if I decide to return later - I am fed up of them giving me long lectures about how because I am a long term "VIP" customer on an "old" contract, I am not entitled to the current pricing.

Edit:  Also I do sometimes want to have access to Sky channels, but not on a locked in 18 or 24 months contract - I want to be able to use them on a rolling basis.

Brie

Not sure I understand your response.  Why would you pay for anything you can get for free via freesat/freeview?

I certainly wouldn't want to pay £33 a month for Sky (or lots of other things but I'm cheap).  If you are thinking of cancelling mid contract be careful of having to pay all or most of the remaining months anyways.  

Think our freesat box was about £50 a few years back and no problems.  

Pat38493

Brie said:

Not sure I understand your response.  Why would you pay for anything you can get for free via freesat/freeview?

I certainly wouldn't want to pay £33 a month for Sky (or lots of other things but I'm cheap).  If you are thinking of cancelling mid contract be careful of having to pay all or most of the remaining months anyways.  

Think our freesat box was about £50 a few years back and no problems.  

Maybe I should have made this clear before but I am not mid contract.  I am out of contract.  Sky still won't give me a  decent discount or even match the new customer offers even though I'm out of contract.  Hence I am exploring other options.  A Freesat box will only be in one room and we currently have 4 rooms with Sky, so I am exploring various options to supply our TV needs.

BT TV is one of them, and BT TV is a lot cheaper than Sky, plus anything beyond the basic channels appears to be on a rolling 1 month contract.

Also - we don't have a TV aerial (although we could of course get one fitted).

Also we want to be able to record programs - I've read that the Freesat recorder boxes you can buy are not very good and the UI is not good compared to Sky or even BT TV.

Rodders53

To record on BT box you'll need a working UHF TV aerial.  Anything else is streamed- including their Pay TV offerings.  BT Pro boxes are rented and need returning after subs end.  Check things out carefully as some stuff might even need BT to be your ISP??
There are alternative Freeview Play / Freeview HD / You View recoreders out there (also needing that working aerial). Do research to see if they - with paid streaming add ons might suffice?

Some TVs have multiple tuners and can record to attached USB drives. Check what you already own?  A few even have freesat satellite tuners but will need the LNB changed.

The freesat 4k boxes have their issues / foibles but will work with the Q LNB you currently have. Read about them in detail here, AVForums and DigitalSpy.

Now TV streaming subs may provide some (perhaps all) you want from $ky on a rolling monthly basis.

Nothing does what $ky does as well as $ky does it inside its own locked down eco system.

Techy alternatives are available -- including Home Theatre PCs / Enigma boxes with multiple tuners and streaming to the TVs on your home network.

Pat38493

Rodders53 said:

To record on BT box you'll need a working UHF TV aerial.  Anything else is streamed- including their Pay TV offerings.  BT Pro boxes are rented and need returning after subs end.  Check things out carefully as some stuff might even need BT to be your ISP??
There are alternative Freeview Play / Freeview HD / You View recoreders out there (also needing that working aerial). Do research to see if they - with paid streaming add ons might suffice?

Some TVs have multiple tuners and can record to attached USB drives. Check what you already own?  A few even have freesat satellite tuners but will need the LNB changed.

The freesat 4k boxes have their issues / foibles but will work with the Q LNB you currently have. Read about them in detail here, AVForums and DigitalSpy.

Now TV streaming subs may provide some (perhaps all) you want from $ky on a rolling monthly basis.

Nothing does what $ky does as well as $ky does it inside its own locked down eco system.

Techy alternatives are available -- including Home Theatre PCs / Enigma boxes with multiple tuners and streaming to the TVs on your home network.

Thanks - are you sure that you can’t record onto a BT TV Pro box from internet streamed channels - I found quite a few posts and press releases from last year stating the opposite and that BT TV box can now be put in digital mode and you can watch most Freeview channels plus record them without an aerial but putting the box in digital mode.

I am sure Sky is the best technically and I can’t complain about their service as a long term customer, but it’s a case of Sky wanting me to pay nearly £200 a month for the entire full packages, whereas I can get the same on BT for half the price with the option to reduce it to about £45 each month by removing add ones.  Sky offered me an 18 month commitment for £150 but even that is exorbitant compared to BT.  (Prices I am mentioning includes being on broadband with the same provider).

Also - even when calling Sky when I am already out of contract to negotiate on price, they always want to give me a bunch of guff about how my prices are based on my contract structure from when I signed up originally, to try to convince me that I have to pay more than newer customer.  Er…. No.

43722

Apparently Manhattan are bringing out a new Freesat Recording and Streaming box in August.

43722

Seems like I made a schoolboy error. Manhattan is bringing out a new Freeview box, not Freesat.

littleboo

In have the 4K box with BT Sport which is streamed and can record both over the air and streamed channels.
BT says this about the Pro Box:
"Record up to 600 hours of TV on the 1TB hard drive, across up to four channels at once when watching in aerial mode and up to two channels channels at once when watching in internet mode"

Pat38493

littleboo said:

In have the 4K box with BT Sport which is streamed and can record both over the air and streamed channels.
BT says this about the Pro Box:
"Record up to 600 hours of TV on the 1TB hard drive, across up to four channels at once when watching in aerial mode and up to two channels channels at once when watching in internet mode"

It seems strange that you can record more channels in aerial mode.  I would have thought it could be the other way around as you could stream way more than 4 programs on separate devices simultaneously if you have full fibre.