Any BT TV Users out there - few questions?

poppasmurf_bewdley

Pat38493 said:

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.

With Sky, you actually have to call their bluff. Cancel your contract.  They will be back in contact soon enough once they know you're serious. BT TV is not a serious competitor to Sky for TV.  

Pat38493

poppasmurf_bewdley said:

Pat38493 said:

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.

With Sky, you actually have to call their bluff. Cancel your contract.  They will be back in contact soon enough once they know you're serious. BT TV is not a serious competitor to Sky for TV.  

Why are they not a serious competitor?  From what I can see online, their TV channel offering is via Now, which is basically owned by Sky, so I'm wondering what the fundamental difference is?

I'm struggling to find something that we actually watch which is not available on BT TV.  The only downside I can see so far is that:
- it looks like you can only get one multiroom box and not several (trying to get this clarified),
- you are more constrained by bandwidth limitations or dropouts when working over the internet than via the satellite feed (but I suspect the satellite option will eventually go away as Sky seem to be switching over to internet as well).
- UHD Sports channels may not be available on Now? (not sure about this one either).
- The UI is better and smoother with Sky, but not sure that makes it worth double the price.

HaroldWhistler

@Pat38493

From what I understand, you said you need Recording ability, to watch the Freeview channels without an aerial, some Sky channels and ideally no long contracts. 

I was considering BT TV and don't have it currently, but from what I understand, their TV offering does come via the Internet and the new "TV Pro box" itself looks pretty good. The BT TV box itself can either be set up by aerial, or you can now receive the channels (including Freeview channels) via the Internet (connecting to Wifi, or Ethernet). So you do not need an aerial for TV with them. It has a Recording ability. Meaning you can access Freeview channels, subscribe to the "NOW" channels from Sky, and record things using the in built Recording function with the TV guide. Occasionally BT do a TV sale (some time ago they did offer the base TV service for £6 a month). 

It should be noted however that you do need to have BT Broadband for a BT TV contract (with the Pro box). In addition, the home itself should be able to get a good reliable broadband speed. Full Fibre would be ideal (and be better internet overall for everything). Generally speaking, I'd say you want at least a 50Mbps connection (at the device itself) to cover one 4K stream and at least a slightly higher broadband package to allow for additional internet usage by other devices around the home. 

As for 4K, the BT Pro box itself has the apps for various services that are in 4K (things like Amazon Prime, Disney Plus, Netflix, Youtube etc). Freeview of course is maximum in HD as are the Sky channels provided. BT Sport channels from what I understand are in 4K. BT themselves also offer 30 day rolling access to their Sports service via their BT (or I think it has been renamed TNT) app which doesn't require BT Broadband or a long contract and those are in 4K (you need a high enough internet speed, then the app will stream in the maximum 4K quality of the broadcast). 

Alternatively, Sky offer their so called "Sky Stream" service now which is Sky (with a TV guide) without recording via a small box streaming via an Internet connection. Price is rather higher though. 

If you could go without Recording, and if you don't have an aerial, there is another option you could consider. Might be helpful:

You could get an Apple TV 4K box (one off cost). Then pay a one off cost for the "TV Launcher" app (I think it's something like £5) if you want a TV guide that you can scroll through and click to go directly to a programme (without going into separate apps). Then subscribe to Now TV if you really want the Sky channels (these Channels can also be set to appear in the TV guide). Most of the main Freeview channels are now available to Stream for Free live via their respective apps (iPlayer, ITVx, 4 Player, My5, UKTV Play, Discovery etc) with catchup programmes also available on Demand. So if you go to the Guide, and select BBC Two, or a NOW TV channel, or a previous programme shown earlier in the day, it will go to it immediately (technically you can also just use the Voice assistant on the remote) without you needing to go into each individual Channel's App . Most programmes now remain available to stream on these cloud apps for a considerable period of time. Of course this option would require a good internet connection. And sadly won't give the Recording option to store for long term. However, it is a one off and far lower cost with no long subscription (since NOW TV can be 30 day rolling). The Apple TV box also has a lightning fast User Interface without adverts and it's yours to keep unlike the Sky Q, Sky Stream, or BT TV boxes which are all rented (and the Recordings are on those boxes).  

Pat38493

HaroldWhistler said:

@Pat38493

From what I understand, you said you need Recording ability, to watch the Freeview channels without an aerial, some Sky channels and ideally no long contracts. 

I was considering BT TV and don't have it currently, but from what I understand, their TV offering does come via the Internet and the new "TV Pro box" itself looks pretty good. The BT TV box itself can either be set up by aerial, or you can now receive the channels (including Freeview channels) via the Internet (connecting to Wifi, or Ethernet). So you do not need an aerial for TV with them. It has a Recording ability. Meaning you can access Freeview channels, subscribe to the "NOW" channels from Sky, and record things using the in built Recording function with the TV guide. Occasionally BT do a TV sale (some time ago they did offer the base TV service for £6 a month). 

It should be noted however that you do need to have BT Broadband for a BT TV contract (with the Pro box). In addition, the home itself should be able to get a good reliable broadband speed. Full Fibre would be ideal (and be better internet overall for everything). Generally speaking, I'd say you want at least a 50Mbps connection (at the device itself) to cover one 4K stream and at least a slightly higher broadband package to allow for additional internet usage by other devices around the home. 

As for 4K, the BT Pro box itself has the apps for various services that are in 4K (things like Amazon Prime, Disney Plus, Netflix, Youtube etc). Freeview of course is maximum in HD as are the Sky channels provided. BT Sport channels from what I understand are in 4K. BT themselves also offer 30 day rolling access to their Sports service via their BT (or I think it has been renamed TNT) app which doesn't require BT Broadband or a long contract and those are in 4K (you need a high enough internet speed, then the app will stream in the maximum 4K quality of the broadcast). 

Alternatively, Sky offer their so called "Sky Stream" service now which is Sky (with a TV guide) without recording via a small box streaming via an Internet connection. Price is rather higher though. 

If you could go without Recording, and if you don't have an aerial, there is another option you could consider. Might be helpful:

You could get an Apple TV 4K box (one off cost). Then pay a one off cost for the "TV Launcher" app (I think it's something like £5) if you want a TV guide that you can scroll through and click to go directly to a programme (without going into separate apps). Then subscribe to Now TV if you really want the Sky channels (these Channels can also be set to appear in the TV guide). Most of the main Freeview channels are now available to Stream for Free live via their respective apps (iPlayer, ITVx, 4 Player, My5, UKTV Play, Discovery etc) with catchup programmes also available on Demand. So if you go to the Guide, and select BBC Two, or a NOW TV channel, or a previous programme shown earlier in the day, it will go to it immediately (technically you can also just use the Voice assistant on the remote) without you needing to go into each individual Channel's App . Most programmes now remain available to stream on these cloud apps for a considerable period of time. Of course this option would require a good internet connection. And sadly won't give the Recording option to store for long term. However, it is a one off and far lower cost with no long subscription (since NOW TV can be 30 day rolling). The Apple TV box also has a lightning fast User Interface without adverts and it's yours to keep unlike the Sky Q, Sky Stream, or BT TV boxes which are all rented (and the Recordings are on those boxes).  

Thanks - good idea on the TV Launcher app and I had also wondered whether this would be an alternate solution.