Dump your cable and download from the net?

dogmatix

Is this an NTL only forum?! Sounds like it - but all I can say is that until you've tried Smarttelecom's TV service none of you really know how bad a cable tv company can be!

My folks have NTL digital - I have Smart, so I can compare. And while NTL is poor, it's nowhere near as nbad as the muppets who run "smart". Apologies to anyone working in smart and all of course all who loved the muppet show

Anyhow like a lot of apartment dwellers I have no choice in my tv provider - it's smart or no tv and since the service is now so bad i'm thinking of cancelling it and downloading the TV shows I want from the internet. Would anyone be able to answer the following -

Where can I download TV shows - legally (pay per show) to my PC. There are a number of sites like tv.org and others but they all want you to sign up before you can even see what shows they have to offer. Itunes TV looks good but is only available to US users and since I have always had problems with the quality of music I buy from itunes I would not really trust their tv service anyway.

Secondly - can I then burn these downloaded tv shows to dvd to watch on my main telly?

At the moment you can use veoh (download service) and alluc (streaming) to watch tv shows but I don't think they are legal and picture quality is mostly poor.

So it has to be a download service not a streaming one. Any suggestions appreciated!

christophicus

I think registration has closed now, but hopefully you may be able to get an invite from someone. If they ever get around top processing my Application I will send you and invite if I have any.

http://www.joost.com/whatsjoost.html

watty

Legal Download TV shows are expensive and either poor quality or if good quality eat your cap. A lot of them install P2P that eats your cap even if you personally don't download much (yes a legal kind of torrants).

Cable TV, Aerial or Satellite. At Least on Satellite it is easy to directly record and burn DVD.

Joost if even popular would destroy the internet for normal use and not compatible with caps or fair use. It and the whole concept of "downloading" much TV in decent quality (never mind HD) is broken on the current implementation of the Internet.

Broadcast or DVD is STILL the best medium, until we all have fibre.

christophicus

I just looked at the Joost channle listings and they are ****e anyway.

Solair

It's totally unfair that developers have locked people into dealing with really poor quality service.

You shouldn't be stuck with smart, are you also stuck with them for phone or can you get an eircom line in if you like?

Personally, I think they should be in as an alternative service prewired only. you should have any local cable company and phone co. as standard.

Is there any possibility of putting up a dish or getting an MMDS signal in there?

Terrontress

I am stuck with Magnet Networks. Their service would be laughable if it was not so infuriating.

There are loads of little issues like no lip synching, useless set top boxes which don't interact properly with the remote control.

Then there are the medium severity issues like the fact that the EPG is completely wrong. Wrong time, wrong shows. Useless. Many of the channels are quite obscure so the only way to find out what is on is on the net so they don't get watched at all. There are no teletext services, digital or analogue with the exception of CNN.

Then the most annoying are firstly that heavy rain makes the whole thing collapse. We often have several channels not working. Those that do work often go blank for half a second at ten second intervals. Quite often, if something breaks down on a Friday, it is not repaired untill Monday.

The technical support is 9am - 6pm so all an operator can do is "log a call" when something goes amiss.

The property company owns the land surrounding the apartments at The Gallery in Donabate so will not let eircom or NTL lay a cable to the doors. Also, the walls are wired specifically to Magnet's specification so it would mean major work replastering for phone cables.

We have also received threats stating that any antenna or dish will be removed and the bill for removal will be sent to us.

We are caught between a rock and a hard place. I cannot say how bad Smart are because I have never seen their services but they would have to be awful to match the ineptitude of Magnet Networks.

dogmatix

thanks for the responce all - looks like the internet wont be my solution so. Blast - i'm stuck with with "smart" for the time being.

dogmatix

In response to solair - aye i'm stuck with smart. Like a lot of new housing developments over the past few years, the developers get into a cosy deal with a cable company: you do the cabling for free and you have exclusive rights to all the tenants or owners. The cable company bundles all the cables out to their exchange so it is very difficult to get another cable company in and the developer then secures this monopoly by ensuring the management company bans satellite dishes (for "asthethic" reasons). And we also have lip sync problems on many channels, severe pixellation, blank channels, meaningless menus, picture freeze, picture but no sound, sound but no picture. I'm thinking that opening up a market to competition without ensuring there is sufficent rules and regulations to protect consumers is a very bad thing.

Dodge

I didn't even know Smart did TV...

Friend of mine dumped NTL for Magnet as is regretting it. Not that he doesn't think NTL is rubbish. He's stuck in an apartment too

watty

It may be illegal to forbid you to use other services or forbid a dish. Only local council planning bye laws are enforceable. Check with a solicitor.

christophicus

I got Joost today, and I have to say , it is the biggest lump of ****e, as of yet I have no invites , post here if you want one op

dogmatix

I think the legal route is well tried at this stage - the management companies usually ensure that the common areas are actually owned by them and not the residents. In our development all the exterior walls and balconies are owned by the management company.

Most apartment owners when they sign their legal documents and the like are aware of this but either think nothing of it or maybe they are so desperate to get onto the property ladder they ignore it. It's only until they turn the telly on that they realise how bad things can get!

One avenue currently being investigated in our development is installing dishes that are either camoflagued or made to look like something else like a plant. Kinda funny when you have to resort to this to get some decent telly.

Dodge

Should point out my friend is renting and the landlord doesn't allow dishes. There are dishes around the complex

Terrontress

I am currently going down the political route.

The local TD has been in touch and is to raise a parliamentary question about its legality.

Thing is though, our place has already been built. It may be easy to prevent it happening in future but if our place already has the rules and the cabling then we will face an uphill battle to sort out the rest.

Solair

Personally I think this stuff ought to be challenged at the highest level and very quickly.

It's crazy to restrict access to eircom lines in particular as it rules out the possiblity of connecting to ANY DSL service, not just eircom's own stuff.

Your local cable company should also have access.

It's creating a mini monopoly on your site.

I think the competition authority should be involved in this it's ridiculous.

If the contract's illegal, it would be unenforcable in court. Could be quite an interesting test case.

If you own the house, it would potentially be an infringement on your property rights (constitutionally) to have lots of rules and regulations about how you can behave within your own property e.g. puttting up dishes on YOUR property rather than on the management company's.

They are definitely behaving in an anti-compeditive way which is distorting the market in your particular development and removing all the competiting players. The results of this are your poor quality of service and complete lack of choice.

All of these questions should be raised directly with the competition authority who have *VERY* significant enforcement powers (we ain't talking comreg here!!)

The more people raise the issue with them the better!!

Check out :
http://www.tca.ie/
or phone : (01) 804 5400

watty

There should be a shared TV aerial and shared Dish.