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Author Topic: Plusnet TV package, anyone signed up ?  (Read 8267 times)

AArdvark

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Plusnet TV package, anyone signed up ?
« on: September 06, 2015, 12:36:36 PM »

I am interested to know has anyone signed up ?

What do you find the service/hardware etc is like ?

I was not initially impressed but would like some feedback from actual users rather than the over-the-top advertising. :)

TIA for any responses.

(Already have Freesat x 2 but maybe I am missing something ! )
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mrpops2ko

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Re: Plusnet TV package, anyone signed up ?
« Reply #1 on: September 06, 2015, 06:53:03 PM »

its useless / worthless. absolute money grab for outdated tech. If this came out 5 years ago, i'd say it was rough around the edges but its nice. As it is now, you can get so much better for less.

Go for something like a raspberry pi if you want a home media setup. Or something like the roku.

Or you could consider popcorn hour. [pricy though]
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AArdvark

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Re: Plusnet TV package, anyone signed up ?
« Reply #2 on: September 06, 2015, 08:02:17 PM »

Thanks,
I don't have a good opinion of it myself but wanted to see if anyone was happy with it.
Personally I cannot see the range of channels being too great but I have never used youview so wanted feedback from real users.

Still be interested in hearing from anyone who is using it.

Is it just Plusnet jumping on the Bandwagon to have an offering to compete with other ISP's ?
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kitz

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Re: Plusnet TV package, anyone signed up ?
« Reply #3 on: September 06, 2015, 10:00:02 PM »

I don't have Plusnet TV, so cant say how it performs, but I personally would seriously consider it if it wasnt for the fact that for the past few months I haven't even had time to watch anything on my Netflix account.  In fact I dont think Ive even had time to watch anything more than the news on my smart TV, so atm it would be a total waste of money.

But I did look into it and for my tastes the package is better and cheaper than Sky, Now etc.  If things slack off then I certainly would be in the market to look at purchasing it.  As I love documentaries, the only channel I really miss since jacking in Sky is Discovery, but I also liked Animal Planet, Sifi and History, so I was well chuffed that Plusnet offer these, and IMHO the price is decent. 

The only other thing I'd have to look at is relaying the 20m of CAT5 that I ripped up last year as the Smart TV runs on wi-fi, but the PN youview box wont.
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door_bell

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Re: Plusnet TV package, anyone signed up ?
« Reply #4 on: September 07, 2015, 01:48:51 PM »

I have it installed and I've got no complaints.

The first box that was on trial was a Humax and horrifically slow. Locked up a fair few times too.

The new little box is nippy enough, has plenty of storage and works well. You can download an app for remote control and scheduling of the box.

Channel selection is good enough for me, plus there are lots of sports coming along. What sort of speed connection do you have? If you watching HD on the subscribed channels, it sips bandwidth all the time (about 12mbps I think). If you are on a slower connection, then someone might annoy your browsing/gaming.

Mine is wired by ethernet with an Asus router - hasn't skipped a beat. If you have your own router, just make sure you can configure it for the IP TV settings.

I like it.

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AArdvark

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Re: Plusnet TV package, anyone signed up ?
« Reply #5 on: September 07, 2015, 02:06:24 PM »

@door_bell
Thank you.
How do you find YouView itself ?
Picture Quality
Timeslip functionality
Can you save/get the recordings off the box itself ?
Do you get any stutters etc if the BB is being used heavily ?

I have more than enough bandwidth, that is not a problem :)

TIA
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mrpops2ko

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Re: Plusnet TV package, anyone signed up ?
« Reply #6 on: September 07, 2015, 06:40:31 PM »

I don't have Plusnet TV, so cant say how it performs, but I personally would seriously consider it if it wasnt for the fact that for the past few months I haven't even had time to watch anything on my Netflix account.  In fact I dont think Ive even had time to watch anything more than the news on my smart TV, so atm it would be a total waste of money.

But I did look into it and for my tastes the package is better and cheaper than Sky, Now etc.  If things slack off then I certainly would be in the market to look at purchasing it.  As I love documentaries, the only channel I really miss since jacking in Sky is Discovery, but I also liked Animal Planet, Sifi and History, so I was well chuffed that Plusnet offer these, and IMHO the price is decent. 

The only other thing I'd have to look at is relaying the 20m of CAT5 that I ripped up last year as the Smart TV runs on wi-fi, but the PN youview box wont.

If you want to play around and do some trickery to have it wireless, I ended up using my raspberry pi (which is connected through wifi) and an ethernet cable from the rpi to the youview box - I then bridged the connection. So you can have the rpi do the wifi connection and then share that through ethernet to the youview box. It is a work around if you can't be bothered to do the 20m cat5.

@door_bell
Thank you.
How do you find YouView itself ?
Picture Quality
Timeslip functionality
Can you save/get the recordings off the box itself ?
Do you get any stutters etc if the BB is being used heavily ?

I have more than enough bandwidth, that is not a problem :)

TIA

Sorry if you wanted more information - I guess looking back I didn't mention anything. So basically its just another pseudo freeview box. The menus are pretty snappy but that is about all it has going for it. It allows you to pause live TV but no option to save / record / schedule / anything like that. It literally just records the bit of tv that you start watching, temporarily so you can pause it (and potentially rewind to the point you started watching that channel). Picture quality is the same as you'd expect for whatever you get from your aerial.

Since all the IPTV stuff runs directly off your main broadband connection, then yeah its all dependent upon bandwidth. If you have set up proper QoS and have decent bandwidth you won't notice anything going wrong, but like I mentioned in my original post, it is nothing more than a money grab.

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AArdvark

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Re: Plusnet TV package, anyone signed up ?
« Reply #7 on: September 07, 2015, 08:38:41 PM »

@mrpops2ko
Thanks for the update.

You have sold it to me ........ NOT!  :D :D ;)
Confirmation of my original view is still useful.

I am always prepared/happy to be proved wrong as you sometimes miss things or make unintended assumptions.
Hence the original question.
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door_bell

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Re: Plusnet TV package, anyone signed up ?
« Reply #8 on: September 07, 2015, 11:38:11 PM »

@door_bell
Thank you.
How do you find YouView itself ?
Picture Quality
Timeslip functionality
Can you save/get the recordings off the box itself ?
Do you get any stutters etc if the BB is being used heavily ?

I have more than enough bandwidth, that is not a problem :)

TIA

Do I have a different box to MrPops??????????

I can pause/timeshift and record without any issue?

Freeview channels are OK for what I want, the YouView apps are nice - lots of choice on mine (lots of catchup and kids stuff too, which is cool).

Picture quality is no better or worse than any other freeview tuner I've used, including built in ones. The HD channels (streamed) are on par with anything I've seen on Sky, etc. Not that many of them, but again, for what I watch it's cool.

My broadband is at the top end (80/20), so even when I'm spanking downloads and stuff it's never stuttered or stopped playback for anything.

What box are they offering?

BG
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mrpops2ko

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Re: Plusnet TV package, anyone signed up ?
« Reply #9 on: September 08, 2015, 02:39:41 PM »

@door_bell
Thank you.
How do you find YouView itself ?
Picture Quality
Timeslip functionality
Can you save/get the recordings off the box itself ?
Do you get any stutters etc if the BB is being used heavily ?

I have more than enough bandwidth, that is not a problem :)

TIA

Do I have a different box to MrPops??????????

I can pause/timeshift and record without any issue?

Freeview channels are OK for what I want, the YouView apps are nice - lots of choice on mine (lots of catchup and kids stuff too, which is cool).

Picture quality is no better or worse than any other freeview tuner I've used, including built in ones. The HD channels (streamed) are on par with anything I've seen on Sky, etc. Not that many of them, but again, for what I watch it's cool.

My broadband is at the top end (80/20), so even when I'm spanking downloads and stuff it's never stuttered or stopped playback for anything.

What box are they offering?

BG

yeah that could be, picture time I guess?

through googling it seems theres 2 models, one is an expensive proper set top kinda box affair and then the cheap one from BT (£30 one off charge). This is mine.


I can pause if I started watching the channel (and rewind that channel that I started watching but that is it) but I am unable to record, I think that functionality is reserved for the better boxes. These ones.
http://gonedigital.net/wp-content/uploads/YouView-Box-5.jpg
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kitz

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Re: Plusnet TV package, anyone signed up ?
« Reply #10 on: September 08, 2015, 08:08:12 PM »

Quote
I ended up using my raspberry pi (which is connected through wifi) and an ethernet cable from the rpi to the youview box - I then bridged the connection.

Thanks for that suggestion.  I dont have a pi, but I see you can also use certain routers to bridge. :)

Quote
I can pause/timeshift and record without any issue?

Freeview channels are OK for what I want, the YouView apps are nice - lots of choice on mine (lots of catchup and kids stuff too, which is cool).

Picture quality is no better or worse than any other freeview tuner I've used, including built in ones. The HD channels (streamed) are on par with anything I've seen on Sky, etc. Not that many of them, but again, for what I watch it's cool.

My broadband is at the top end (80/20), so even when I'm spanking downloads and stuff it's never stuttered or stopped playback for anything.

What box are they offering?

Ive had several mailshots posted (snail mail) to me which definitely says you can record live tv and if it wasnt for my current situation that I dont have time to watch normal TV then I certainly would have already signed up.

I was definitely interested because its not just the freview stuff, but several premium channels that I would watch. - ie not the cr@p stuff.   
The equivalent from now TV is £6.99. Talktalk charges £7.50 which doesnt include pause & rewind... or the alternative is SKY @ £20 for the basic entertainment package
So I actually think the £5 per month is very good value and IMHO certainly not a rip-off.



There is a choice of boxes
This one is free



or this one costs £50 activation, which is the one that records, pause and rewind & HD





More info
https://www.plus.net/tv/
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kitz

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Re: Plusnet TV package, anyone signed up ?
« Reply #11 on: September 08, 2015, 08:15:58 PM »

PS.   Theres a list here of those that do Youview.

http://www.youview.com/get-youview/

Note that the YouView+ box costs from £160 if you buy it yourself and doesnt even have the premium TV channels  so in that respect, PN currently offering it for £50 is a bargain and why I was so interested.   
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door_bell

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Re: Plusnet TV package, anyone signed up ?
« Reply #12 on: September 09, 2015, 02:11:21 PM »

It's the second box I have, which explains it.

If anyone has an old Sat dish on the house, I'd be much more inclined to get a Freesat box. Mine is just sat there doing nothing, as it's what I used before. 500GB drive and HD channels, plus online services - just the cost of the box.

I got a dish kit for 40 quid and installed it myself, wasn't hard!

BG
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AArdvark

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Re: Plusnet TV package, anyone signed up ?
« Reply #13 on: September 09, 2015, 02:16:43 PM »

I already have freesat x 2 so Youview appears to be not enough gain.

Thanks for the information anyway, now I know  ;D
It looks like Plusnet is simply doing a TV option to 'keep up with the Joneses' so to speak.
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door_bell

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Re: Plusnet TV package, anyone signed up ?
« Reply #14 on: September 09, 2015, 02:23:45 PM »

If it wasn't free, I'd not have taken it - I'd have 100% stuck with Freesat!

Just be thankful they didn't give the first box they tried, it was GRIM!!!!

BG
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