NTL PVR - How much???

[Chris Howell]

Does anyone have any idea how much is it going to cost to rent NTL’s PVR box?

As I understand it, both Sky and Telewest charge customers up to £10 per month, depending on what channel package the customer has.

Any ideas what NTL are planning on charging?

[Dave E]

From what I hear from enquiring to CS the PVR idea is merely being investigated at the moment and no dates and thus charges are avaialble. This is, however, a typically vague response which contradicts other reports that the type of box has already been decided and that it will be introduced some time in 2006.
How long can NTL continue to fob off customers who merely want a system which will compete with the (in my humble opinion) far superior Sky Plus. I have no problem with phone or broadband services but the TV does seem to be way behind.

[SLM]

Does anyone have any idea how much is it going to cost to rent NTL’s PVR box?

As I understand it, both Sky and Telewest charge customers up to £10 per month, depending on what channel package the customer has.

Any ideas what NTL are planning on charging?

I would go on a rule of thumb with, what telewest do, as ntl and TW will be 1 soon!

From what I hear from enquiring to CS the PVR idea is merely being investigated at the moment and no dates and thus charges are avaialble. This is, however, a typically vague response which contradicts other reports that the type of box has already been decided and that it will be introduced some time in 2006.
How long can NTL continue to fob off customers who merely want a system which will compete with the (in my humble opinion) far superior Sky Plus. I have no problem with phone or broadband services but the TV does seem to be way behind.

It should be later this year and by all accounts on this site the ntl box will put the sky box to shame, I think its like the tortoise and hare story, sky rushed and got there box out ntl tested, tested and more tested and sounds like will gain from this.

[Stuart C]

NTL's annual report made no mention of investigation. It stated they would be offering a PVR..

[Chris Howell]

I must admit, as good as the NTL PVR sounds, I dunno if I’m willing to play £10 extra. I’ve already purchased a DVR / HDD recorder which does an excellent job for me.

I was going to wait for NTL to push out their PVR, but a) I didn’t know exactly when it was going to be available, and b) I suspected I would need to pay extra for it. I wanted to enjoy the advantages of digital recording now and so far, I don’t regret my decision, especially with the World Cup coming up.

While my DVR doesn’t have triple digital tuners or MPEG 4/HDTV capability like NTL’s offering, that’s offset by the vast amounts of repeats on various digital channels throughout the week, along with me waiting for the prices of HDTV sets to come down and the arrival of NTL VOD sometime this century.

Who knows? When NTL get the sodding thing out I might be so impressed I'd be willing to pay the extra £££ per month, but right now, I doubt if I'll be getting it.

Same here I went out and purchased a DVD recorder that pauses the tv channel your currently watching, as well as records it etc. ok It's a little more hassle when it comes to recording a channel/prog that is on later or the next day as you have to program it where as sky+ it's a case of pushing a button or two. However my dvd can record or pause the current program at a push of a button as sky+ does!

Best thing is it's free, regardless of what package your on!

[testcard]

Originally Posted by SLM

I would go on a rule of thumb with, what telewest do, as ntl and TW will be 1 soon!



It should be later this year and by all accounts on this site the ntl box will put the sky box to shame, I think its like the tortoise and hare story, sky rushed and got there box out ntl tested, tested and more tested and sounds like will gain from this.

Interesting......

Assuming the same ease of use as Sky+> What the ntl box offer?

Built in DVD burner
Editing features
Massive Hard Drive
Ablity to to transfer at a touch to other devices
HD performance

There are million plus boxes out there, the ntl box will have to be amazing.

[Chris Howell]

Originally Posted by acoolwelshbloke

Best thing is it's free, regardless of what package your on!

Plus, it’s only a matter of time before a Freeview PVR with triple tuners and HDTV capability comes out. Again, it will cost £0.00 per month.

Looking in various forums online, it appears that a lot of Sky+ users are moving to Freeview PVRs, just to avoid paying extra money for the ‘privilege’ of watching TV while recording. For NTL customers without DVRs, that (or any of the existing Freeview PVRs) may look like a very attractive option compared to NTL's PVR.

[SLM]

Originally Posted by Chris Howell

Plus, it’s only a matter of time before a Freeview PVR with triple tuners and HDTV capability comes out. Again, it will cost £0.00 per month.

But how much do these cost to buy from a shop and when they break down how much does it cost? NOTHING in this life is £0.00.

Let us not speculate on IF ntl are going to charge or how much lets just wait till it comes out, also I thought sky+ was free as part of a deal they where doing but I may be wrong as I never keep up with what sky are doing after what sky did to me about 4 years ago I will NEVER go back to them.

[Fedz]

Originally Posted by acoolwelshbloke

Same here I went out and purchased a DVD recorder that pauses the tv channel your currently watching, as well as records it etc. ok It's a little more hassle when it comes to recording a channel/prog that is on later or the next day as you have to program it where as sky+ it's a case of pushing a button or two. However my dvd can record or pause the current program at a push of a button as sky+ does!

Best thing is it's free, regardless of what package your on!

Ditto for me too

Since moving back to NTL a few weeks ago I went out and bought my own DVD recorder.

The hassle of recording is minimal and it was worth paying for the DVD recorder as I figured by the time I'd got through too Sky CS on 0870 number it'd end up costing the same . When I called Sky CS and had to wait at least 63 minutes at 1am that was when I snapped and moved to NTL.

So now I have NTL DSTB with NTL VoD and am able to record ...etc - it's great! Well worth it

[SLM]

Originally Posted by Fedz

When I called Sky CS and had to wait at least 63 minutes at 1am that was when I snapped and moved to NTL.

[Chris Howell]

Originally Posted by SLM

But how much do these cost to buy from a shop and when they break down how much does it cost? NOTHING in this life is £0.00.

Let us not speculate on IF ntl are going to charge or how much lets just wait till it comes out, also I thought sky+ was free as part of a deal they where doing but I may be wrong as I never keep up with what sky are doing after what sky did to me about 4 years ago I will NEVER go back to them.

Recording one show while watching another pre-recorded program is indeed free for me at the moment. I pay £0.00 per month for that. Sure, I paid money to buy my DVR - but I save money on not having to purchase blank video tapes, and save time, hassle and storage space not having to mess around with video tapes.

Exisiting Freeview PVRs start from around £120 - after that, they're free. Sure, they may break down after a while, but you could say that for most things. Besides, that's where your warranty comes in.

And why shouldn't we speculate? Speculation is fun. If not as if NTL have given us any official monthly rental prices or even release dates for their PVR, is it? All we know at the moment are:

a) The tech specs of the box.
b) That it is 'coming soon', later this year (maybe)
c) It will cost at least some customers X amount of money per month to rent the box.

PS - NTL are going to charge for their PVR - they said that their rental price will be favourable to Sky+. If I could remember where I saw that, I would link to it.

[SLM]

Recording one show while watching another pre-recorded program is indeed free for me at the moment. I pay £0.00 per month for that. Sure, I paid money to buy my DVR - but I save money on not having to purchase blank video tapes, and save time, hassle and storage space not having to mess around with video tapes.

Exisiting Freeview PVRs start from around £120 - after that, they're free. Sure, they may break down after a while, but you could say that for most things. Besides, that's where your warranty comes in.

And why shouldn't we speculate? Speculation is fun. If not as if NTL have given us any official monthly rental prices or even release dates for their PVR, is it? All we know at the moment are:

a) The tech specs of the box.
b) That it is 'coming soon', later this year (maybe)
c) It will cost at least some customers X amount of money per month to rent the box.

At the end of the day you may be supplied the PVR box for free (If your lucky but I reckon they will charge at least £50 for installation.) with NTL but you are going to have to pay a monthly fee if not on a high package! (As sky do!) as I can't see NTL doing all this and end up giving it all away for free, So if you buy a DVD recorder that has the same capabilities as PVR and you can get these now for £120 and under. (Better brands cost more!) I have never had a video or dvd player brake down on me that has been less than 6 years or so old so you do the math! Either way it's going to cost you.

But I guarantee my way is cheaper!

Let's not forget I reckon at least 2007 before NTL get their PVR out on the market, by then there will be better DVD recorders on the market that cost less than there is now!

[Gareth]

Originally Posted by Fedz

When I called Sky CS and had to wait at least 63 minutes at 1am that was when I snapped and moved to NTL.

At least as a Sky customer there was someone there to answer the phone should you need to call at that time.