ntl digital is totally screwed up

PK - the king

I have decided to compile a list of all my bitching about ntl. I have below some of the screw ups in their crappy service. Feel free to add to any of them, and maybe I'll e-mail them all on to ntl.

Before I start, I have a Pace Di4010, running v5.37 software, I live in Dublin 6W area of ntl, I have subscribed to the basic go digital subscription.

Apologies about the enormous length of this post. Blame it on ntl and their fault ridden service.

1. EPG - quite often crashes. Usually if the box is left in standby overnight, the programme guide will no longer work properly the following day. All of the programmes appear twice. On the 2nd day the whole thing just fails. Usually, a reboot on all occasions does the trick, but it's a pain in the arse (literally) trying to get behind the TV to plug it out and back in every morning just to watch tv.

2. Channel changing - channel changing is, quite often unbelievably slow, taking up to 5 seconds for the decoder to even acknowledge the channel change request.

3. Channel changing - upon changing a channel, the screen often just goes blank once it has "tuned" to the channel. Only the ntl banner, and the sound of the channel can be heard. I have to then go up a channel and back down a channel to fix it.

4. Channel changing - (this is very occasional, but still annoying) sometimes when changing up through channels, and when you stop on a channel the picture appears frozen for a few seconds, and then these coloured "bars" appears on the TV (it looks like a picture that has been scrambled). It doesn't go away until the decoder is switched into standby and then back on.

4. EuroNews - quite often, when I tune to this channel, the sound can be heard for a few seconds, and then just stops. I have to go up a few channels and back down again, and sometimes even this doesn't work! When I (finally) get it working, after about 10 minutes the sound goes fuzzy and a hissy buzzing noise can be heard. After another few minutes, the sound just goes completely.

5. Picture quality - the picture quality is, to say the least, absolutely awful. Some channels are affected more than others, but all of the channels are often ridden with pixels, artefaction and usually flicker or jerk every few seconds. Channels most affected are: EuroNews, Bravo, Bravo +1, Reality TV, Sky Sports 1, 2, 3 & News, Boomerang, Smash hits, Kiss, Magic, Vh1, Vh1 Classic.

6. Channel selection - the selection of channels is quite poor compared to sky, or even ntl:home in the UK, and Telewest. I'm often told that "this is due to network issues" and the lack of space "due to analogue channels". Well, ntl broadcast 15 clear analogue channels, and 3 CryptoVision scrambled channels. 18 analogue channels, and about 141 digital TV and radio channels. Well, how come ntl:home can broadcast 20 clear analogue channels and 3 CryptoVision channels and can STILL provide a digital service of over 250 digital TV and radio channels?! And they do this aswell as offering high speed broadband AND Voice Over IP telephony AND a pay per view film services!!!

7. No Eurosport - eurosport might not look great compared to sky sports, but it does some pretty good coverage of the Olympics, aswell as some great European football and soccer. But of course, ntl don't carry it. (they're the ONLY cable TV provider in Europe who does not carry some form of EuroSport)

8. No movies pay per view – although NTL used to, they do not provide a pay per view service for pay per view films such as the 40 screen Front Row service, which is used by UK companies NTL and Telewest.

9. No Interactive - seeming as though many of ntl's digital networks in main customer areas are 2 way capable (D12, 24, 6, 6W), the don't have interactive! They have thousands of boxes which have built in cable modems, but they don't make any use of them! NTL UK have plenty of active services like "Sky Active" and attheraces betting, QVC Shopping etc. They don't even have digital teletext!!!

10. Boring software - the software and colour scheme is pretty boring to look. Purple and white is a very tacky colour compared to Sky's blue, blue and white, or even chorus' dark and pale blue olour schemes. There's no user customizable options - what if you do not want the ntl banner there? Or, what if you want the banner to stay there for longer? Not possible with NTL!!!

11. Sound problems - if you have the decoder's volume control set up high (for example video recording or watching in another room) whenever you press a button such as browse, menu, or changing channels, you get a loud audio pop sound from the TV speakers. The sound also makes a lot of "clicking" or "echoing" sounds when changing channels or if the picture quality is poor.

12. Stuck in standby - the decoder often gets stuck in standby. Sometimes (especially on a hot day or a time when the room would be very warm), when the power button is pressed on the remote, to switch it out of standby, the standby light goes off ,the letters NTL appear on the decoder display, and the decoder just sits there with no picture or sound or any response. You then have to reboot the box and it will work ok then until I next switch into standby. I've heard that is a common syptom on sky boxes, and indicates that the box is about to fail. The top of the decoder does sometimes get quite hot, even though I have adequate ventilation (the decoder is not in any type of cabinet, there is clearance all around the sides, about 15 cm from the top of the decoder to the top of the TV stand shelf.

Dub13

only one thing to say to that....Get Sky,I used to put Sky in and I would say I took out 100s of NTL systems

PK - the king

I am currently in the process of getting sky, thank GOD!!! I don't really like the idea of losing UTV and Channel 4, though, and i DO NOT want to paying €18 to ntl just for 2 channels!!!

Dub13

well you have TV3 to thank for not having UTV AND C4 on the sky package,are you getting Sky plus....it is great you can watch any program any time.

Go Figure!

Originally posted by Dub13
only one thing to say to that....Get Sky,I used to put Sky in and I would say I took out 100s of NTL systems

Some of us don't have the option of getting Sky because of the type of dwelling which we live in. Also I would really resent losing UTV and Channel Four so I am stuck with NTL.

icdg

Originally posted by PK - the king
6. Channel selection - the selection of channels is quite poor compared to sky, or even ntl:home in the UK, and Telewest. I'm often told that "this is due to network issues" and the lack of space "due to analogue channels". Well, ntl broadcast 15 clear analogue channels, and 3 CryptoVision scrambled channels. 18 analogue channels, and about 141 digital TV and radio channels. Well, how come ntl:home can broadcast 20 clear analogue channels and 3 CryptoVision channels and can STILL provide a digital service of over 250 digital TV and radio channels?! And they do this aswell as offering high speed broadband AND Voice Over IP telephony AND a pay per view film services!!!

8. No movies pay per view – although NTL used to, they do not provide a pay per view service for pay per view films such as the 40 screen Front Row service, which is used by UK companies NTL and Telewest.

Well, NTL UK operate a fully HFC network, but NTL Ireland's local loop is still co-ax. And pretty old at that in many areas... And NTL UK's telephony is as far as I know, not VOIP, but traditional PSTN.

The Front Row service offered in Ireland was by all accounts very underused, though that can probably blamed on the fact that the ordering never worked properly (for me, anyways) and the lack of more than five channels...

celticfc

Originally posted by icdg
The Front Row service offered in Ireland was by all accounts very underused, though that can probably blamed on the fact that the ordering never worked properly (for me, anyways) and the lack of more than five channels...

Good riddance to Front Row IMO. It was only ever a waste of bandwidth here tbh.

Mossy Monk

Originally posted by Dub13
well you have TV3 to thank for not having UTV AND C4 on the sky package

may i ask you what TV3 have to do with Channel 4 not being on Sky in this country

PK - the king

Exactly Mossy Monk! TV3 don't object to UTV and Channel 4 being carried on both analogue and digital cable and mmds!!! Practically 80+% of the population already receive it one form of another, so there is no reason as to why the channels are not available on digital satellite by sky!!!

TheGreatOne

Mossy, as far as i know its something to do with programming rights. TV3 have the rights to show certain programmes that are on channel 4 and UTV, therefore sky do not have the rights to broadcast all 3 channels. NTL are allowed to because they have always done this and the switch over to digital wasnt really an issue. Last i heard Sky were in the process of obtaining the rights to broadcast C4 and UTV over here, but who knows how long that wait will be.

Teachers being one programme that I can think of , off hand and probably some movies.

No doubt they have other shoes in the door of the "rights excuses" aswell.