The problem here is greed.

Freeview specs changing because the gov is selling of the airwaves to mobile carriers.

Limitations on commercial boxes on the market which appear designed to make you have to buy 2 boxes.

I am using a vu solo2 box which runs vix and I am able to stream all channels to any device from that, and in addition for things like netflix I have a firetv box but it also works fine on my ps3/ps4 devices.

Services like youview, plusnet tv, I really think are a waste of time and money. Overpriced.

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

i realised that, but just thought I say I have no idea what a My view button is.

If you do not have a recent Youview remote with that button on it, then why on earth would you? It's a button to go straight to the "MyView" page that lists stored and scheduled recordings, without having to go through the multiple button presses that the old remotes required. The new remotes work on the older boxes as well.

In reply to a post by Chrysalis:

The problem here is greed.

Freeview specs changing because the gov is selling of the airwaves to mobile carriers.

Limitations on commercial boxes on the market which appear designed to make you have to buy 2 boxes.

I am using a vu solo2 box which runs vix and I am able to stream all channels to any device from that, and in addition for things like netflix I have a firetv box but it also works fine on my ps3/ps4 devices.

Services like youview, plusnet tv, I really think are a waste of time and money. Overpriced.

The way Freeview works is awful, every time a channel change location or a new channal gets added, the whole system have to be retuned. I know some newer boxes and TV sets do it better, but they still muck up.
My digital stream loses all scheduled recordings one the box is retuned, I only retuned it a few weeks back for ITV4, now the community channel is moving and want to retune again, what a stupid system, as bad as DAB.

Freesat works works in a far better way.

I had a look at that Vu box and Vix, looks good to be honest, very interesting.
You view as a stand alone box is a good idea, you only really need the one box as you can use it for other services like Netflix, the problem is that apart from BT and Talk Talk it have not really been supported.
Plusnet TV is not a bad price for the basic, £5 a month for a few extra channels is ok as long as you stay with plusnet and that is the problem with BTTV, Talk Talk Tv and plusnet TV in that you have to keep to their broadband service to keep their channels.


I use my PS3 mainly for netflix and the odd bit of catch up, the Ps3 does well to be honest

In reply to a post by kasg:

If you do not have a recent Youview remote with that button on it, then why on earth would you? It's a button to go straight to the "MyView" page that lists stored and scheduled recordings, without having to go through the multiple button presses that the old remotes required. The new remotes work on the older boxes as well.

Ah, now I know, I only seen older boxes and thought then that it is a pain in the neck to to the what you call the My view area.

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

The way Freeview works is awful, every time a channel change location or a new channal gets added, the whole system have to be retuned. I know some newer boxes and TV sets do it better, but they still muck up.

Youview boxes are some of the best in this respect, everything is done automatically and rarely goes wrong.

If you find the occasional retune on freeview awful then you probably won't like the Vu+ ( or any alternative Linux based, or closed source 'hobbyist' boxes).

Edited by Davey_H (Mon 28-Sep-15 11:37:57)

From some articles I've flicked through in the past its sounding like the plans that Ofcom has for spectrum of Freeview could render it either incompatible with some equipment or could reduce the the spectrum so much that the amount of channels could reduce down to a limit of around 12-20 channels!

However without having a mooch on Google I wouldn't be able to comment much more, I stopped following DVB-T when I closed my business in 2013.

In reply to a post by mlmclaren:

From some articles I've flicked through in the past its sounding like the plans that Ofcom has for spectrum of Freeview could render it either incompatible with some equipment or could reduce the the spectrum so much that the amount of channels could reduce down to a limit of around 12-20 channels!

The plans involve the release of all spectrum above UHF channel 49. A conversion of all but the PSB mux to DVB-T2 (which most new equipment supports, unfortunately not all - it should have been mandated by now) would easily enable the current number of channels to continue.

http://media.ofcom.org.uk/news/2014/700-mhz-statement/

Incidentally, even the option of not converting any muxes to DVB-T2 allows space for 56 SD and 8 HD channels, nowhere near the number you are suggesting.

Edited by kasg (Mon 28-Sep-15 12:16:25)

yeah I am also able to timeshift and record as well with my vu box on a freesat signal, because the sky signals that they send down to block the function the vu box ignores

In regards to what davey said, yes the hobbyist boxes do also occasionally need retuning, but vix has the autobouquetsmaker, so its automated, I just run that once every 3 months or so. Also it grabs a 7 day EPG automatically from the internet every night.

Edited by Chrysalis (Mon 28-Sep-15 12:19:50)

In reply to a post by kasg:

In reply to a post by mlmclaren:

From some articles I've flicked through in the past its sounding like the plans that Ofcom has for spectrum of Freeview could render it either incompatible with some equipment or could reduce the the spectrum so much that the amount of channels could reduce down to a limit of around 12-20 channels!

The plans involve the release of all spectrum above UHF channel 49. A conversion of all but the PSB mux to DVB-T2 (which most new equipment supports, unfortunately not all - it should have been mandated by now) would easily enable the current number of channels to continue.

http://media.ofcom.org.uk/news/2014/700-mhz-statement/

Incidentally, even the option of not converting any muxes to DVB-T2 allows space for 56 SD and 8 HD channels, nowhere near the number you are suggesting.

I had no idea there intention was to upgrade all to 'T2' that going to kill a lot of equipment.