Ask a Play TV employee questions here!

[ptv_employee]

I see in thread on this site there is a lot of flaming and arguing about the Play TV service and some "employees" who are not doing a very good job of answering questions. Because of this I have taken it upon myself to try and fix it - I am only a phone-monkey but if you have any questions I will answer them honestly and if I don't know the answer I won't just guess.

If we can keep this thread from being sarcastic or unnecessarily negative we may actually get the facts we all want because lets face it - this is quite an interesting TV service and if it does end up delivering what it promises I'm sure all will agree its definitely the next generation of subscription TV.

Now ask away and I'll do my best to get some answers for you all!

[Halcyon]

Thanks for offering to help people out ptv_employee.
I'm sure your help will be appreciated from the forum members.

[ptv_employee]

I hope so too but gotta dash to work in a bit so I'll check this thread tonight or tomorrow to see if I can help!

[bdgacs1]

Hi ptv_employee. I just registered for cableforum after receiving a call 5 days ago re: playtv. As others have mentioned, the girl on the phone didn't really know too much but said playtv was hoping to "spread the word" about its new services / launch.

I registered my interest via the website but have had no emails, why not??

I have full sky package, sky+ and the free wireless 2MG broadband they have supplied in the last year. This costs me an average of around £55 per month (£45 sky & £10 BT line), the sky+ box cost me a one off payment of £160.00. I would like to reduce my monthly payments by £10 or £20 for the virtually the same package (obviously) but like evryone else, is it worth the risk at this time. (i dont expect you to answer the last question!)

Cheers

[foreverwar]

Originally Posted by ptv_employee

I see in thread on this site there is a lot of flaming and arguing about the Play TV service and some "employees" who are not doing a very good job of answering questions. Because of this I have taken it upon myself to try and fix it - I am only a phone-monkey but if you have any questions I will answer them honestly and if I don't know the answer I won't just guess.

If we can keep this thread from being sarcastic or unnecessarily negative we may actually get the facts we all want because lets face it - this is quite an interesting TV service and if it does end up delivering what it promises I'm sure all will agree its definitely the next generation of subscription TV.

Now ask away and I'll do my best to get some answers for you all!

Kind of you to spend the time giving some answers (when people get round to asking questions), but you appear to be a "phone-monkey" who's been a sales course, when you make statements like:-"if it does end up delivering what it promises I'm sure all will agree its definitely the next generation of subscription TV".

May I point out you can't assume what all will agree, especially on this forum, where there are some interesting viewpoints on things.....

btw, you must learn to differ between suspicion when vague & differing answers are being given and flaming.

To start you off, here are some questions that were asked on the original thread.
a) They said they were from PlayTV and could offer all the Sky channels in the top package for £30 a month including line rental and broadband with all the channels coming through the broadband line. Is this true?
b) He also told me £30 a month with latest movies football channels like Man Utd and championship and league 1 coverage. Is this true?
c)The blurb also mentions the HD box. From memory, the average broadband rate in the UK is still around 2.5Mbps. Last time I checked, HD needed a hell of a lot more bandwidth than that (and that's assuming we ignore the latency issues of using the internet for something like that). Will HD be available, and if so, what? (and we don't mean upscaled SD).
d) Is the 12 month contract the minimum? If customers are unhappy, can they cancel?
e) What BB speeds are required for SD and HD programmes?
f) Play Movies - "latest" films - please define latest (1 or 2 or 3 months after cinema release, 1 or 2 or 3 months after DVD release, or what?).

[jgw2001]

Originally Posted by ptv_employee

I see in thread on this site there is a lot of flaming and arguing about the Play TV service and some "employees" who are not doing a very good job of answering questions. Because of this I have taken it upon myself to try and fix it - I am only a phone-monkey but if you have any questions I will answer them honestly and if I don't know the answer I won't just guess.

If we can keep this thread from being sarcastic or unnecessarily negative we may actually get the facts we all want because lets face it - this is quite an interesting TV service and if it does end up delivering what it promises I'm sure all will agree its definitely the next generation of subscription TV.

Now ask away and I'll do my best to get some answers for you all!

700+ channels?

What are they?

Thanks.


John.

[ptv_employee]

Originally Posted by bdgacs1

I registered my interest via the website but have had no emails, why not??

I have full sky package, sky+ and the free wireless 2MG broadband they have supplied in the last year. This costs me an average of around £55 per month (£45 sky & £10 BT line), the sky+ box cost me a one off payment of £160.00. I would like to reduce my monthly payments by £10 or £20 for the virtually the same package (obviously) but like evryone else, is it worth the risk at this time. (i dont expect you to answer the last question!)

Cheers

Right then. In this case we can't really save you any money at all because this is where we fall down - we don't offer free broadband! We can offer the subscription for £30 p/m however we don't currently offer line rental or calls and our ADSL is £15 p/m. You're probably better off with sky, unless you wanted to upgrade your broadband to 8MB/Unlimeted monthly usage (which we offer) and then switching could be worthwhile.

We do offer the same hardware, our HD 40 hour recordable box is £69.99 plus £29.99 installation. Again, if you wanted to switch to HD without paying Sky’s prices this may be worth your while but in all honesty we can't save you money, just promise more features.

In all honesty if you want to save money we can't help and unless you want to have the flexibility to choose your own broadband or want HD I wouldn't say it's worth switching.

Hope this helps!

---------- Post added at 10:22 ---------- Previous post was at 10:02 ----------

Originally Posted by foreverwar

Kind of you to spend the time giving some answers (when people get round to asking questions), but you appear to be a "phone-monkey" who's been a sales course, when you make statements like:-"if it does end up delivering what it promises I'm sure all will agree its definitely the next generation of subscription TV".

May I point out you can't assume what all will agree, especially on this forum, where there are some interesting viewpoints on things.....

btw, you must learn to differ between suspicion when vague & differing answers are being given and flaming.

To start you off, here are some questions that were asked on the original thread.
a) They said they were from PlayTV and could offer all the Sky channels in the top package for £30 a month including line rental and broadband with all the channels coming through the broadband line. Is this true?
b) He also told me £30 a month with latest movies football channels like Man Utd and championship and league 1 coverage. Is this true?
c)The blurb also mentions the HD box. From memory, the average broadband rate in the UK is still around 2.5Mbps. Last time I checked, HD needed a hell of a lot more bandwidth than that (and that's assuming we ignore the latency issues of using the internet for something like that). Will HD be available, and if so, what? (and we don't mean upscaled SD).
d) Is the 12 month contract the minimum? If customers are unhappy, can they cancel?
e) What BB speeds are required for SD and HD programmes?
f) Play Movies - "latest" films - please define latest (1 or 2 or 3 months after cinema release, 1 or 2 or 3 months after DVD release, or what?).

Firstly if you had any idea about the training we have you wouldn't suggest I've been on any course! I'm just trying to be objective and these thoughts are my own but obviously I am influenced by the firm!

A) We don't offer line rental. £30 p/m is the price for the subscription only. Broadband is £15 p/m

B) Included in the £30 p/m is Eurosport 1 & 2 and Setanta full so you get the Premiership and all the other stuff (I don't know about sports so see www.setanta.com).

C) From what I have been told by the management is that you need 1/2meg per box installed. Our videos use a compression method (I don't know what it is) and the box apparently does amazing things when the data gets to the box. The end result is 720p or 1080i. This is all I know.

D) You are tied into one package per box for 12 months. That means if you have multi room with one in the lounge and one in your bedroom you will have to pay £20 p/m. On a single box this would be £10 p/m. Unfortunately like most products you get a cooling off period on receiving your paperwork however once the products are installed you are committed.

E) Unless I mave miss read this (and I may have!) see question "C". You need half a meg of bandwidth for the stream. This is what I have been told.

F) This is some of the september lineup: Transformers, Reno 911, Hannibal Rising, Smoking Aces, The Hills Have Eyes 2 etc. Our latest movies are 2006 onwards and as a general rule we are able to offer films on our standard subscription before they are availble to buy on Sky's PPV movie service.

Please remember that I am only telling you what I have been told and if any of this doesn't make sense to you I'm not lying - just passing off what I have been told is the case!

---------- Post added at 10:30 ---------- Previous post was at 10:22 ----------

Originally Posted by jgw2001

700+ channels?

What are they?

Thanks.


John.

We the staff don't even have a full channel list at this stage however I can confirm we offer the UKTV range, MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon, Hallmark, Animal Planet, National Geographic, Bravo, Paramount, Sci-Fi and some others I can't remember.

Most of the "Sky Channels" aren’t owned by sky so we like Virgin can broadcast them. Just as Sky offers 500 channels most of ours and Sky's are going to be rubbish to most people - international TV stations and lots of niche stuff.

Of all the channels on Sky you probably only watch 20 or so non sports/movie channels on your subscription because as an example I only watch documentaries and films really, I never watch soaps or anything like that and the opposite may be true for you.

Basically the 700 channels means what ever language you speak or whatever programming you want to watch (Scuba TV - the scuba channel!) you'll find something of interest.

It's worth noting that some people on the phone don't explicitly mention that we offer NO Sky branded channels like Sky One or Sky sports.

---------- Post added at 10:35 ---------- Previous post was at 10:30 ----------

One last note - Don't think I'm doing this for any kind of commission or brownie points with the management. If they knew I was doing this I'd be in a lot of trouble!

[ikthius]

so basically,

its a lot of rubbish?

you can make it cheaper than sky
you are tied in for a year on hearsay of your equipment per box
you can mainly only give out free channels
your movies will be like skys reruns
your BB is dearer cause of line rental


so why change?

ik

---------- Post added at 11:12 ---------- Previous post was at 11:10 ----------

Originally Posted by ptv_employee

One last note - Don't think I'm doing this for any kind of commission or brownie points with the management. If they knew I was doing this I'd be in a lot of trouble!

sorry, but in your whole post it sounds like your bosses are actually wanting you to come here and give us info, like it "comes out 720p or 1080i thats all I know"

your trying to help by giving us info, so you should know the lingo if your trying to sell this stuff for a living.

I am not having a personal go at you, mainly the sales pitch

ik

[foreverwar]

ptv_employee, thanks for your answers.

[bdgacs1]

Same here, thanks

[brundles]

Firstly I'd like to thank ptv_employee for taking the time to contribute - I was one of the more vocal cynics on the previous thread but I'd always rather have a discussion to get a true picture of things. As foreverwar highlighted, I'm not into flaming people - I just want a clear picture. And as mentioned in the previous thread, if PlayTV proves itself then I will be considering it for my father-in-law.

That said, I'm hoping to can confirm my (cynics) understanding of your answers:

Originally Posted by ptv_employee

A) We don't offer line rental. £30 p/m is the price for the subscription only. Broadband is £15 p/m

That actually seems a reasonable price for 8MB ADSL, but what usage limits apply and do you have a link to the AUP/FUP?

Also, is this an LLU rate or still reliant on the BT wholesale service? I'm just wondering if paying PTV for broadband provides any better guarantee of quality for the TV service that you rely on broadband to carry.

Originally Posted by ptv_employee

C) From what I have been told by the management is that you need 1/2meg per box installed. Our videos use a compression method (I don't know what it is) and the box apparently does amazing things when the data gets to the box. The end result is 720p or 1080i. This is all I know.

As foreverwar has mentioned, some indication of HD channels/content would be good. Outputting in 720p/1080i doesn't mean much. DVD players upscale to 1080i but it's still an SD source. V+ and Sky+ HD upscale BBC1 to1080i but it's still SD. As I mentioned on the last thread, the 1/2meg doesn't give me any confidence in the picture quality once it's displayed on a 1080i TV. The references to 1meg or more being required (which I did see applied to PTV somewhere) sound more realistic for a more normal viewing quality. As foreverwar mentioned I think more detail needs to be provided on the broadband requirements for different services.

Originally Posted by ptv_employee

D) You are tied into one package per box for 12 months. That means if you have multi room with one in the lounge and one in your bedroom you will have to pay £20 p/m. On a single box this would be £10 p/m. Unfortunately like most products you get a cooling off period on receiving your paperwork however once the products are installed you are committed.

This one isn't disputing or questioning, but a suggestion for those in charge at PTV. This for me is a deal breaker. Whatever concerns I have with a service, if I know I can cancel it within the first 30 days I may be tempted (so long as I trust the company to accept that cancellation). Not being able to see the quality of the service before I pay my install fee, box charge and agree to a year contract really puts me off. That's just my opinion though.


One thing I think could really help is providing a method for people for watch sample streams from your website. Perhaps even going so far as to provide different examples for different broadband streams.

Again, thank you for taking the time (and thanks to teaboy2 who also took the time although I think I might have upset him ) to help answer questions on the service. I'm sure you're with us in wanting to know what we'd get for our money before shelling out the hard earned readies rather than after!

[dontpannic]

Originally Posted by ikthius

so basically,

its a lot of rubbish?

you can make it cheaper than sky
you are tied in for a year on hearsay of your equipment per box
you can mainly only give out free channels
your movies will be like skys reruns
your BB is dearer cause of line rental


so why change?

ik

Did you even read any of his answers??

[handyman]

Originally Posted by brundles

the 1/2meg doesn't give me any confidence in the picture quality once it's displayed on a 1080i TV. The references to 1meg or more being required (which I did see applied to PTV somewhere) sound more realistic for a more normal viewing quality.

On an ntl training course I was told that they broadcast roughly 1 meg per channel. This is 1 way traffic though and uses no capacity for re transmission of lost packets. AFAIK this was mpeg2. If ptv are using a more modern compression method perhaps with buffering then avc should be possible in half a meg.

[Chris T]

Guys, can we please keep this thread for questions and answers only. If you want to continue discussing Play's offering, use the existing thread here:

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/64...5-play-tv.html

If this thread becomes just another general discussion, it will be closed.

[mastercheif@PTV]

Which office do you work at then ptv employee?who trained you?and how many have you sold?