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Geek Culture / Freeview Television, the Sky way.

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Shadow Robert
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Location: Hertfordshire, England
Posted: 10th Jun 2004 10:40
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Last nite BSkyB announced the company responsible for Satillite TV in the UK and the Fox Broadcasting Network in the states, announced plans for 2 new services that they hope to impliment within the next year.

The announcement came after a few months of speculation on how they would respond to the United States recent (albeit slow) take up of HDTV Broadcasting. Johnathen Murdock stated in a press conferrence, that they hope to impliment HDTV singals seemlessly into thier current broadcasting package. So anyone using Sky Digital or Sky+ will notice this option available to them provided they have a HDTV.

A second announcement came that Sky will be releasing a new Free package for customers.
It will have around 200 Channels and be in direct competition with Freeview (another free tv service that BSkyB is a parnet of). The boxes are expected to retail for £150 from BSkyB and should hit the market in time for Christmas 2004.

The actual channels included are yet to be announced but Murdock (his son, forget his name; he's the one in charge of the uk side of things) stated, "We do not intent to replace our current TV packages with this non-subscription based package, we hope that it will act as a springboard for customers to upgrade and enjoy the benifits of our subscription based packages."

This statement would suggest this will be a pure channel box like cable packages rather than a multimedia centre which Sky Digital and Sky+ are.

There is also an expected statement within the next few months about the recent partnership with NVIDIA Corporation on thier next generation Digital Box. Early suggestions would indicate that due to the success of things like DAB Based radio, GameStar and Online Shopping that this is the area in which they plan to build on for thier 4th Generation Technology.

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indi
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Posted: 10th Jun 2004 11:16
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rupert recently let go of his aussie companies heritage and now is a full usa company.


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OSX Using Happy Dude
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Posted: 10th Jun 2004 14:01
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It'll be okay for those who can get permission for a satellite dish and who dont already have Freeview... But there will probably be more channels added to Freeview at some point in the future anyway...


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Pincho Paxton
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Posted: 10th Jun 2004 14:08
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Yeah Freeview had a new Channel not long ago. FTN. It's great! It has loads of Ghost, and Paranormal stuff on it. If it's not new then I appologise for my area only just being able to recieve it.

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Shadow Robert
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Posted: 10th Jun 2004 14:45
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yeah but Freeview only has like 25 channels;
personally i mostly watch Animax, MTV, Disney, Paramount, Nickelodeon, Toonami and SkyOne... so this new package is quite appealing to me (provided it has channels like that).

i mean rather than spending £25/month on alot of channels i don't use or even like; will be able to get exactly what i want for a one off £150 (probably doesn't cover installation though lol)

you notice how SkyDigital only really has like 100 actual channels; you then have like 100 movie screens which don't really play anything differet, 80 music channels (which you can pickup on a dab radio), then there are the indian channels.

i dunno about you but i think 58 indian channels is extreme, especially considering we have very very few european channels (1 french, 2 german and a spanish one i think) ... plus god forbid we have any chinese or japanese tv.
(which actually i wouldn't mind having)

well anyways; i definately look forward to this new package.

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Dave J
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Posted: 10th Jun 2004 14:51
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I have the very basic Foxtel Cable subscription (which is what we get down here) but even with that I only watch a few shows a week and most of them are on free to air TV anyway. Hence why I said no to Digital, just a waste of money when I don't watch that much TV. Likewise, 200 channels is just useless when I only really want to watch 2 or 3 of them anyway.


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Karlos
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Posted: 10th Jun 2004 14:53
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I don't think it will have any channels like that, Its been stated that ITV2 and E4 will not be included because they are subscription channels.

It's also been stated that the regional variations of ITV and BBC will be included so thats 20 or so channels right away. then the smaller bbc channels.

I think the rest will likely be the God channels and shopping channels.
Be interesting to see the line-up. Sky are doing this to launch people on to pay tv to increase their subscriber base.

Normally sky subscribers do not pay for their digiboxes and only a pound or so for installation so it can take Sky a year to recoup the money. With this freeview people will pay for their dishes and boxes then subscribe so Sky get more money quicker.

Also Sky already offer this service. Phone them up - cancel your subscription and get a free-to-air card for your digibox. You'll get their freeview channels.

If it ain't broke - try harder.
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Shadow Robert
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Posted: 10th Jun 2004 14:59
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the worst part with NTL who i used to be with was they had 6 Channel Packs, each one had a channel i wanted to watch; so for those 6 Channels i liked i had to pay £45/month

ridiculous, with SkyDigital i got all the channels i watched in the basic £8/month package hmm which to choose lol
when digital came to the UK about 5years ago though, what the companies did was phase out thier old packages; basically within a year you could no longer use analog.

With Sky this wasn't a problem cause it cost the same you just had to upgrade your box (£50 installation); with Cable though they changed the packages as i said, charged you more for the box AND channel packs ... so you ended up being gouged badly.
Sky have actually done quite nicely from it as almost everyone i know either had Freeview or Sky.

i know i only watch a few shows a week, but that said i'm not the only person in the house; the TV is constantly on, as my mom is there during the day (she works nights), john is there during the evening, and my brother is there whenever college isn't happening.

i think the only time it isn't watched is like at 2-6am lol whilst everyones asleep. always been more of a computer person really, so i prefer to sit down and tinker on a game or with developing things.

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Shadow Robert
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Posted: 10th Jun 2004 15:03
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Karlos you just cancel thier subscription, you should have the free channels card in the box your reciever came with.
that said it only offers like 10channels, the 5 terrestrial, qvc, cartoon network and some other channels.

SkyDigital itself only has 380 tv channels total; which means you will get a good majority of them. They don't offer this free service yet though; or atleast that's what SkyNews states.

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Oraculaca
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Posted: 10th Jun 2004 18:30
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Quote: "when digital came to the UK about 5years ago though, what the companies did was phase out thier old packages; basically within a year you could no longer use analog."


Actually up till the start of this year their were still quite a few channels left ( For telewest anyway )

I use Telewest Digital and for what im paying its fair enough, £50 and I get 750k broadband ,Phone with certain free calls and 70 odd channels (admitedly most are guff).
I use my old sky box upstairs, mainly for a clear signal on channels 1 to 5 cause my arial in the loft is cack.
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Everwhat Studios
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Posted: 10th Jun 2004 19:02
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Hmm the free channels would be interesting to me dependant on what they are. I'm currently tossing up whether to get Sky Digital or Freeview in my new house, at the moment I'd be paying about £18 a month for just a small few channels I'd actually watch...

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David T
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Posted: 10th Jun 2004 19:39 Edited at: 10th Jun 2004 19:41
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I got Sky+ a few months ago

(off topic I know, but hey)

I saw a very funny article by somebody who's on a vendetta against the Sky Search and Scan Banner (the little box thing at the bottom of the screen).

Supposedly it "undermine's channel loyalty", "promotes disloyalty (okay same thing) and "destabilises the TV economy".

And a woman from ITN News was complaining that their channel does not get thge viewers it deserves because of the high channel number (not accessible quickly on Tv Guide).

What have they been smoking?

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Karlos
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Posted: 10th Jun 2004 22:04
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Skys biggest problem when they were building Sky+ was the fact that people could forward over adverts. Still an issue with them.

One thing though, they are actually having trouble selling Sky+. People are put off by the price. They even started free trials because they know when people have it then they won't want to give it up. Fantastic piece of kit though - highly recommended.

If it ain't broke - try harder.
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David T
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Posted: 10th Jun 2004 23:31
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Quote: "Skys biggest problem when they were building Sky+ was the fact that people could forward over adverts. Still an issue with them."


You can do the same with video tape

Quote: "One thing though, they are actually having trouble selling Sky+. People are put off by the price. They even started free trials because they know when people have it then they won't want to give it up. Fantastic piece of kit though - highly recommended."


The price is coming down I think, more to the level of a video redorder. I saw an ad for £200 for the hardware somewhere.

Two strings walk into a bar. I'll have a pint says the first$%ASLDJ09920D"$"$D. Excuse my friend says the second, he isn't null terminated.
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Karlos
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Posted: 11th Jun 2004 12:40
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Some more details are creeping out. It looks like it is a standard Sky Card which allows access to the free channels only and will expire after 2 years at which point only bbc, qvc and a couple of others will be left as they are not encrypted.
ITV,C4 and C5 will be lost as they actually encrypt their signals. Sky have not yet stated whether there will be a renewal charge for extending the 'freeview'.

If it ain't broke - try harder.
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Shadow Robert
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Posted: 11th Jun 2004 13:07
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David that's £200 for the hardware + £50 for the installation; and thats provided your already a Sky Subscriber.
this is why i'm looking forward to the next Sky box really; because it's going to have alot more in terms of multimedia;

well anyways we'll find out what actually on the way soon enough in more detail cause as i said it's due out over the next few months.

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David T
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Posted: 13th Jun 2004 18:58
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Quote: "David that's £200 for the hardware + £50 for the installation; and thats provided your already a Sky Subscriber.
this is why i'm looking forward to the next Sky box really; because it's going to have alot more in terms of multimedia;"


When's that out? Does it have a name yet?

Two strings walk into a bar. I'll have a pint says the first$%ASLDJ09920D"$"$D. Excuse my friend says the second, he isn't null terminated.
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Dazzag
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Posted: 13th Jun 2004 19:58 Edited at: 13th Jun 2004 19:59
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Personally I've been waiting for Sky+ to have a bigger HD. 20 hours on a 40Gb drive is a bit rubbish really. There were rumours a while back that they would have a second box with at least 120Gb in it. You can put your own drive into it of course, but there was some problems encountered with some models/ speeds (too fast caused it to cock up apparently).

Will keep my old Sky with DVD recorder for now methinks.

Cheers

Ps. Oh, and the two channel split plus one upstairs is very very tempting

I am 99% probably lying in bed right now... so don't blame me for crappy typing
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David T
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Posted: 13th Jun 2004 20:04
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Lol, looking at my Plus box right now I've only got 9% left :p

Maybe it's all the Star Treks and Frasiers, or the football match that's taking up 25% on its own!

My only gripe is that I wish that it showed "to keep" programmes under a different menu, it's make it so much easier to keep track of a personal collection.

It's an incredible bit of kit though - it's managed to confuse me at least twice, however I haven't pulled one over it yet....

yet...

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Karlos
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Posted: 13th Jun 2004 20:04
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I've heard that they're very easy to mod and put a bigger drive in yourself.

Sky+ has 2 decoders so you can watch a different channel to the one thats recording and record 2 different sky channels at once.

Live pause is a godsend if you get distracted as easily as me.

If it ain't broke - try harder.
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David T
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Posted: 13th Jun 2004 20:10
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I've got a feeling you can record two programmes at the same time, AS LONG AS you're not watching TV with the other.

Or you can just do my little trick...

- Set 1st program to record as normal
- When 2nd program starts while the other is recording, go onto that channel and watch it through to the end (or just go away and come back) until the 1st program has finished recording
- Now press record to get the little bar thing, press record again and it will save that program to the HD

In effect it's recording two programs to the HD (it always record what you watch in an hour long buffer) at the same time! Very clever

Two strings walk into a bar. I'll have a pint says the first$%ASLDJ09920D"$"$D. Excuse my friend says the second, he isn't null terminated.
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Shadow Robert
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Posted: 13th Jun 2004 21:07
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dunno what it's called just know it's due out next year sometime.
personally i have a philips dvd recorder; i think there is a pioneer one too which is capable of recording to dvd then rerecording to a new area on the same dvd while playing...

i have a tivo box atm rather than Sky+, so i record to TiVo then do all the editing on the DVD Recorder.
Got each season of Invader Zim on dvd from Nick on there; if only there was a way to turn off the channel logos.

Anyone notice that the british channels introduced the logos so slowly by the time you notice them there you were actually totally used to channels being like that?

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