BB
Sky+ is PVR; Teleport is TVOD.
Telewest Broadband will be launching its own PVR (formerly known as Telewest Freedom; now known as Telewest TV Drive) next year, spearheading its move into HD territory, some months ahead of Sky HD apparently. Teleport has nothing to do with PVR functions; it is simply a service offering content on demand from a range of recent programming, archived series, or movies (replacing Front Row). Unlike Front Row - which allowed viewers to opt-in to scheduled streams of movie content - Teleport is true TV on demand, in that the user may choose any of the available content at any time, and may pause, rewind and fast forward it at will; this is the only similarity to Sky+, except that you don't actually record anything yourself (and indeed it is not strictly possible to record from Teleport to other media).
As is typical in the satellite vs. cable wars, the cable user interface is hopelessly clunky, being shamed at every turn by even the worst that Sky Digital has to offer.
Telewest Broadband will be launching its own PVR (formerly known as Telewest Freedom; now known as Telewest TV Drive) next year, spearheading its move into HD territory, some months ahead of Sky HD apparently. Teleport has nothing to do with PVR functions; it is simply a service offering content on demand from a range of recent programming, archived series, or movies (replacing Front Row). Unlike Front Row - which allowed viewers to opt-in to scheduled streams of movie content - Teleport is true TV on demand, in that the user may choose any of the available content at any time, and may pause, rewind and fast forward it at will; this is the only similarity to Sky+, except that you don't actually record anything yourself (and indeed it is not strictly possible to record from Teleport to other media).
As is typical in the satellite vs. cable wars, the cable user interface is hopelessly clunky, being shamed at every turn by even the worst that Sky Digital has to offer.
UB
Perhaps, but Teleport is - let's face it - years ahead of anything Sky can do.
BBC LDN posted:
As is typical in the satellite vs. cable wars, the cable user interface is hopelessly clunky, being shamed at every turn by even the worst that Sky Digital has to offer.
Perhaps, but Teleport is - let's face it - years ahead of anything Sky can do.
GE
thegeek
Founding member
Only because of the nature of the broadcast medium.
Sky have a one way communication with the viewer. They beam stuff up to Astra, it bounces back down to earth and onto a couple of million dishes around the country.
There's no backchannel - and a modem connection hardly counts.
Telewest already have a nice fat pipe into every subscriber's home, making it rather easy to send a programme down the line whenever the viewer wants it.
I'd keep an eye on Sky, though - they've just bought an ISP, and have their eye on Homechoice, who are already doing VOD (and MPEG streams over ADSL pipes).
Sky have a one way communication with the viewer. They beam stuff up to Astra, it bounces back down to earth and onto a couple of million dishes around the country.
There's no backchannel - and a modem connection hardly counts.
Telewest already have a nice fat pipe into every subscriber's home, making it rather easy to send a programme down the line whenever the viewer wants it.
I'd keep an eye on Sky, though - they've just bought an ISP, and have their eye on Homechoice, who are already doing VOD (and MPEG streams over ADSL pipes).
NG
Perhaps, but Teleport is - let's face it - years ahead of anything Sky can do.
Teleport is the UK implementation of the VOD services that US cable users have had for years - and suffers from the same poor quality, as the signal is much more highly compressed than a live broadcast.
Sky are likely to offer a limited VOD system via Sky + at some point - as their sister company DirecTV have with their new DirecTV+ DVR in the US, which replaces the DirecTivo. The new Sky + V3 box contains a 160Gb hard drive, with an 80Gb (twice the entire capacity of the V1 and V2 boxes) area reserved for Sky to download shows to off-line. It won't be as comprehensive as Teleport - and it may have the same poor quality, but Sky could soon offer a VOD system as well.
noggin
Founding member
Uncle Bruce posted:
BBC LDN posted:
As is typical in the satellite vs. cable wars, the cable user interface is hopelessly clunky, being shamed at every turn by even the worst that Sky Digital has to offer.
Perhaps, but Teleport is - let's face it - years ahead of anything Sky can do.
Teleport is the UK implementation of the VOD services that US cable users have had for years - and suffers from the same poor quality, as the signal is much more highly compressed than a live broadcast.
Sky are likely to offer a limited VOD system via Sky + at some point - as their sister company DirecTV have with their new DirecTV+ DVR in the US, which replaces the DirecTivo. The new Sky + V3 box contains a 160Gb hard drive, with an 80Gb (twice the entire capacity of the V1 and V2 boxes) area reserved for Sky to download shows to off-line. It won't be as comprehensive as Teleport - and it may have the same poor quality, but Sky could soon offer a VOD system as well.
DU
Perhaps, but Teleport is - let's face it - years ahead of anything Sky can do.
Teleport is the UK implementation of the VOD services that US cable users have had for years - and suffers from the same poor quality, as the signal is much more highly compressed than a live broadcast.
Sky are likely to offer a limited VOD system via Sky + at some point - as their sister company DirecTV have with their new DirecTV+ DVR in the US, which replaces the DirecTivo. The new Sky + V3 box contains a 160Gb hard drive, with an 80Gb (twice the entire capacity of the V1 and V2 boxes) area reserved for Sky to download shows to off-line. It won't be as comprehensive as Teleport - and it may have the same poor quality, but Sky could soon offer a VOD system as well.
I totally agree with cable being generally a clunky, slow and less advanced system than Sky, but having experienced both, Teleport is truly fantastic.
I haven't noticed any difference in the quality from original broadcast and the dvd-functionality allows advert skipping etc.
It really does change the way you watch TV, and the kind of shows you watch. Sky+ customers always say this too, but remember that they've forked out serious money for the service. Telewest have delivered a superb service to their customers for free, regardless of the age of your box.
Given the excellent combo offers for TV, telephone and hi-speed internet (standard now 4Mbbs for £25/month), if you're in a Telewest area it really is a no-brainer to get it over Sky.
And with the HDTV- ready, 3 tuner PVR (i.e. significantly better than Sky+) out in January, the choice becomes even more clear.
The markets are shifting.
noggin posted:
Uncle Bruce posted:
BBC LDN posted:
As is typical in the satellite vs. cable wars, the cable user interface is hopelessly clunky, being shamed at every turn by even the worst that Sky Digital has to offer.
Perhaps, but Teleport is - let's face it - years ahead of anything Sky can do.
Teleport is the UK implementation of the VOD services that US cable users have had for years - and suffers from the same poor quality, as the signal is much more highly compressed than a live broadcast.
Sky are likely to offer a limited VOD system via Sky + at some point - as their sister company DirecTV have with their new DirecTV+ DVR in the US, which replaces the DirecTivo. The new Sky + V3 box contains a 160Gb hard drive, with an 80Gb (twice the entire capacity of the V1 and V2 boxes) area reserved for Sky to download shows to off-line. It won't be as comprehensive as Teleport - and it may have the same poor quality, but Sky could soon offer a VOD system as well.
I totally agree with cable being generally a clunky, slow and less advanced system than Sky, but having experienced both, Teleport is truly fantastic.
I haven't noticed any difference in the quality from original broadcast and the dvd-functionality allows advert skipping etc.
It really does change the way you watch TV, and the kind of shows you watch. Sky+ customers always say this too, but remember that they've forked out serious money for the service. Telewest have delivered a superb service to their customers for free, regardless of the age of your box.
Given the excellent combo offers for TV, telephone and hi-speed internet (standard now 4Mbbs for £25/month), if you're in a Telewest area it really is a no-brainer to get it over Sky.
And with the HDTV- ready, 3 tuner PVR (i.e. significantly better than Sky+) out in January, the choice becomes even more clear.
The markets are shifting.
BA
I've just got Teleport its not bad but will we ever get a widerrange then Bbc and Bravo? 