Series Link on UPC ?

hallelujajordan

Hi,

I am about to make the switch from SKY+ to UPC . . However, one of my other half's main criteria is that they have a series link function (as in SKY+) . . Can anyone confirm yay or nay ?

Ta

paulm17781

They don't as yet but it is meant to be coming out this month. I heard that from someone in UPC (not a press release) and was certain it was due this month. UPC are however, excellent at breaking their own deadlines. I would think it is coming very soon though.

dhaumi

I got a NTL flyer saying it's coming soon, I would expect it before the new year. I'm wondering will they use a new box, or just a software/firmware update?

d8player

dhaumi wrote: »

I got a NTL flyer saying it's coming soon, I would expect it before the new year. I'm wondering will they use a new box, or just a software/firmware update?

Can someone scan in the flyer and post it here?

tvbrat

d8player wrote: »

Can someone scan in the flyer and post it here?

Here is a scan
I got this in the post this morning



full page

d8player

Excellent, thanks for that. To misquote the Smiths, How now is "soon"?

SteM

I never believe a thing this company says until I see it.

murpho999

I really think you are mad to switch from Sky.

There is no series link and no definite date from them as to when it is coming.

HD tv has been coming "soon" for over 2 years now so don't hold your breath for a series link.

Apart from that, the NTL DVR is a pile of junk compared to Sky+ for a few reasons.

Can only record one program at a time.

No interactive services

Rewind and fast forward functions are jumpy.

You cannot view a playback at a specified minute, you must start at the start and go forward.

If you decide halfway through a program to record something it will only record from the moment you press record rather than the whole program.

If you have paused or rewound tv, and accidently hit the 'UPC' button, which happens very easily, then you reset the buffer and lose the whole program. Doesn't happen if you hit Sky button on your remote.

These are just a few issues, I could go on and on and on.
The only reason to get UPC over Sky is that it is cheaper, but you pay for what you get, and UPC DVR is vastly inferior to Sky+ and incredibly annoying if you are an ex-Sky user.

hallelujajordan

murpho999 wrote: »

I really think you are mad to switch from Sky.

There is no series link and no definite date from them as to when it is coming.

HD tv has been coming "soon" for over 2 years now so don't hold your breath for a series link.

Apart from that, the NTL DVR is a pile of junk compared to Sky+ for a few reasons.

Can only record one program at a time.

No interactive services

Rewind and fast forward functions are jumpy.

You cannot view a playback at a specified minute, you must start at the start and go forward.

If you decide halfway through a program to record something it will only record from the moment you press record rather than the whole program.

If you have paused or rewound tv, and accidently hit the 'UPC' button, which happens very easily, then you reset the buffer and lose the whole program. Doesn't happen if you hit Sky button on your remote.

These are just a few issues, I could go on and on and on.
The only reason to get UPC over Sky is that it is cheaper, but you pay for what you get, and UPC DVR is vastly inferior to Sky+ and incredibly annoying if you are an ex-Sky user.

Thanks for the advice. . . Part of my rationale is that I really want their 20 Meg BB deal but its great to get this feedback . . I use SKY+ a lot so this might well change my mind. .

whippet

I for one could vouch for the no to UPC DVR.

I had sky+ for a few years and tempted by the 20m BB switched over ... chalk and cheese.

The pic quality on the UPC box is nowhere near sky, and the gap between the user experience of Sky+ and UPC DVR is vast.

As soon as I can cancel the UPC digital contact I will and back to Sky.

Archu

Sky+ is MUCH better than UPC's DVR

Sky's interface, features and ease of use is soo superior

We had UPC's DVR for a year - it's OK, but not a patch on Sky+

Software has too many bugs, too may service blips, too many annoyances


NO response or updates from UPC plus enduring their legendary poor customer service

What about FreeView DVR?
My wife has already picked out one she wants from Curry's / Dixons in Belfast

paulm17781

Archu wrote: »

What about FreeView DVR?
My wife has already picked out one she wants from Curry's / Dixons in Belfast

FreeView isn't available to the vast majority of the country. I assume you meant Freesat?

dunworth1

i prefer the epg over skys one it just looks better

i especially like the way i can still watch tv while looking through the guide

also sky has had sky+ out a lot longer then upc.

the picture quailty looks the same on my dvr as sky (especially during very bad weather)

i dont like the way this forum is turnibg into more of a complaint forum then a information forum.


people give them a chance as other people have said when upc bought chorus ntl they got a mess of a network

bk

hallelujajordan wrote: »

Part of my rationale is that I really want their 20 Meg BB deal but its great to get this feedback

You can still get the 20mb BB, it will just cost you €46 without TV rather then €40. Still great value for money IMO and the best of both worlds.

d8player

Series link from UPC will be out in a matter of weeks (three or four probably) so if you can wait until then you will hear from current UPC users whether its any good or not.

I would especially be interested to know if they can figure out when there are program overruns that it can automatically detect that. Its very annoying to miss the first/last few minutes.

paulm17781

d8player wrote: »

Series link from UPC will be out in a matter of weeks (three or four probably) so if you can wait until then you will hear from current UPC users whether its any good or not.

Do you have a source for this? I'd heard it was due out about now, we all know UPC aren't very good at keeping dead lines. I'm really looking forward to it.

d8player

paulm17781 wrote: »

Do you have a source for this? I'd heard it was due out about now, we all know UPC aren't very good at keeping dead lines. I'm really looking forward to it.

Nothing concrete but that is what I have heard from a UPC source. If its a case that they're debugging some kinks in the system then its better they delay it and wait until it works properly.

paulm17781

d8player wrote: »

Nothing concrete but that is what I have heard from a UPC source. If its a case that they're debugging some kinks in the system then its better they delay it and wait until it works properly.

I'd heard similar, I was just curious.

murpho999

dunworth1 wrote: »

i prefer the epg over skys one it just looks better

i especially like the way i can still watch tv while looking through the guide

also sky has had sky+ out a lot longer then upc.

the picture quailty looks the same on my dvr as sky (especially during very bad weather)

i dont like the way this forum is turnibg into more of a complaint forum then a information forum.


people give them a chance as other people have said when upc bought chorus ntl they got a mess of a network

Whilst I agree with you that their EPG is nice , I do disagree strongly with your point about this turning into a complaint forum.

I am a customer of UPC and I pay good money for their services and they are clearly not up to scratch.

I have had the DVR for over a year now, and I am happy I can record programmes but I find the DVR to be totally user unfriendly.
I am an ex Sky user, and I found Sky+ a dream to use but the DVR is buggy, feature poor and unreliable.
Your point about UPC taking over a bad network is irrelevant. The DVR was not developed for the Irish market, but the Dutch market. The fact that Sky+ has been out a number of years only strenghtens my opinion that UPC have had a lot of time to look at it and develop a product that can truly compete with Sky and they clearly have not done that.

I think it's only right that people on these forums 'complain' about UPC services as hopefully it will eventually contribute in some way to UPC listening to their customers and bring out products that are really at the high end rather than a 'that will do' approach that we have now.

d8player

murpho999 wrote: »

I think it's only right that people on these forums 'complain' about UPC services as hopefully it will eventually contribute in some way to UPC listening to their customers and bring out products that are really at the high end rather than a 'that will do' approach that we have now.

murpho999, complaints about bugs and dodgy functionality are certainly fair comment but some people (not you) just jump on to bitch and moan purely at the mention of UPC or NTL.

murpho999

d8player wrote: »

murpho999, complaints about bugs and dodgy functionality are certainly fair comment but some people (not you) just jump on to bitch and moan purely at the mention of UPC or NTL.

Well doesn't that just show how bad a reputation that they have and they really have a huge amount of work to do to change that and things like releasing inferior DVR's is not the way to go about it.

Rosser

murpho999 wrote: »

I do disagree strongly with your point about this turning into a complaint forum.

.

This is a thread about series link, you're giving out since the 18th and and this hasn't turned into a complaint forum?

patrickmooney

So we are almost near the end of nov, no sign yet. Anyone know more . . .

Newport81

still nothing?

murpho999

Rosser wrote: »

This is a thread about series link, you're giving out since the 18th and and this hasn't turned into a complaint forum?

What are you on about?

What you are calling 'complaining', I am calling facts. Nothing I have said about the DVR is not true.

The OP asked about series link and this led to other advice and experience of UPC DVR from other boards users. I'm sure the OP appreciates it and isn't that what this forum is all about?

Rosser

murpho999 wrote: »

What are you on about?

What you are calling 'complaining', I am calling facts. Nothing I have said about the DVR is not true.

The OP asked about series link and this led to other advice and experience of UPC DVR from other boards users. I'm sure the OP appreciates it and isn't that what this forum is all about?

It's pretty evident what I'm on about but for your benefit, threads on this forum are invariably ending up going completely off on a tangent and ending up as service complaints.

UPC's service is poor in many cases and most people here have been a victim but this thread is about series link. I'm probably only really with UPC for their 20 meg b/b but it's the choice I make.

Some people post some really informative stuff (e.g. Watty, Mossy etc) which is on the topic of the thread and of actual benefit to those who want to get the best out of the service they have. If people have service complaints (which legitimately many do) then they should confine it to a thread of relevance and not drag everything from HD to Series Link to a story about a missed engineer's appointment or valediction of Sky +.

SteM

I was just on to UPC about something else (dealt with very efficiently by the way) and asked about Series Link. The guy went off to check, when he came back he said that it had bee successfully tested and would be rolled out to customers in January. That was the latest info as of last week that his manger had.

Watcher365

Hi All,

About to receive my PVR from UPC tomorrow and was wondering has the serieslink feature been implemented yet. Also, does anyone in the know have details on whether this will require a hardware or a firmware update in order to work? I would hate to get my box and then find out I needed to get (or pay for ) a new box just to access these fairly important features.


Also, has anyone got any information on whether or not you can upgrade the harddrive in the box similar to the way you can with Sky+?

PS. Happy new year to all!

SteM

Happy new year

No series link yet. It'll be a software upgrade, you won't need a new box. I'm not sure about upgrading the hard drive.

GerardKeating

Watcher365 wrote: »

Also, has anyone got any information on whether or not you can upgrade the harddrive in the box similar to the way you can with Sky+?

In theory, YES.

But legally it is a big NO, you own the Sky+ box, but not not own the UPC box..

Watcher365

Ah! Understood!

Probably wasn't going to as there is a larger hdd in the UPC box, thanks for the info.

Anyone got any information about series link and whether a hardware upgrade will be necessary ?

Thanks in advance

SteM

Watcher365 wrote: »

Anyone got any information about series link and whether a hardware upgrade will be necessary ?

My answer not good enough for you?

llacus

I'm posting from Hungary, here we have UPC digital since last April. I chose a DVR package with a 120 GB Thomson set-top box, HD option comes with a Philips box. This forum was found when I was googling info about series linking for UPC.

As I am a seriesjunkie it was important for me to record my favourites as easy as possibble...

Suddenly at the end of October I realized that series linking was activated. There was no any official announcement or message (local UPC is very bad in informing users about technical details ) just a question box came up if I want to record all the future episodes or just the actual one. Pressed all and since that there is a slot for the series at the channel on the recorder.
For the first few weeks there was some technical problems because displayed info (episode description and others) were not correct but they managed to fix it.
Programme guide got some new marks: green clock is shown on the episode that is set for recording somewhere else (there is the red clock), red tick appears for the episode which has been recorded earlier.

Record overlapping can be handled by the box very well because it can recognize repeating of the episodes and use them correctly.
Other new improvement was that in stand-by the box can record two programmes in parallel without any problem.

dunworth1

llacus wrote: »

I'm posting from Hungary, here we have UPC digital since last April. I chose a DVR package with a 120 GB Thomson set-top box, HD option comes with a Philips box. This forum was found when I was googling info about series linking for UPC.

As I am a seriesjunkie it was important for me to record my favourites as easy as possibble...

Suddenly at the end of October I realized that series linking was activated. There was no any official announcement or message (local UPC is very bad in informing users about technical details ) just a question box came up if I want to record all the future episodes or just the actual one. Pressed all and since that there is a slot for the series at the channel on the recorder.
For the first few weeks there was some technical problems because displayed info (episode description and others) were not correct but they managed to fix it.
Programme guide got some new marks: green clock is shown on the episode that is set for recording somewhere else (there is the red clock), red tick appears for the episode which has been recorded earlier.

Record overlapping can be handled by the box very well because it can recognize repeating of the episodes and use them correctly.
Other new improvement was that in stand-by the box can record two programmes in parallel without any problem.

sounds good cant wait to get it soon

d8player

When you are recording two programs is it still possible to view and pause/rewind/etc on a third channel?

Alun

d8player wrote: »

When you are recording two programs is it still possible to view and pause/rewind/etc on a third channel?

Creating a third tuner by means of a software upgrade would be quite a feat, so no.

llacus

d8player wrote: »

When you are recording two programs is it still possible to view and pause/rewind/etc on a third channel?

no, when two parallel recordings are running you cannot even use the box. you got a nice warning message that is should stay in standby otherwise one of it is going to be stopped.

if you are interested this is a Thomson DCI62UPC modell with software version 3.7.0.3

other good feature came with this version was that 2 consecutive recordings can be splitted correctly and there is no any error message about the overlappings (if you set some buffertime before and after for recording)

dunworth1

llacus wrote: »

if you are interested this is a Thomson DCI62UPC modell with software version 3.7.0.3

how did you get 3.7.0.3

i only have 3.5.0.2

sdanseo

whippet wrote: »

I had sky+ for a few years and tempted by the 20m BB switched over ... chalk and cheese.

Tbh - both works quite nicely. Only works out €6 a month dearer to have standalone BB, which isn't much. My only problem is that it's marketed as a penalty rather than a discount for having extra services.

d8player

dunworth1 wrote: »

how did you get 3.7.0.3

i only have 3.5.0.2

By living in Hungary

dunworth1

d8player wrote: »

By living in Hungary

how long till we see it here

BJViking

I am considering switching from NTL to Sky mainly because of cost and lack of recording with NTL.
I understand that with Sky Plus, you can record two different programs at the same time, however can you also watch a third different program at the same time as the other two are recording?
Also can you display recorded programs thru the multiroom feature?

murpho999 wrote: »

I really think you are mad to switch from Sky.

There is no series link and no definite date from them as to when it is coming.

HD tv has been coming "soon" for over 2 years now so don't hold your breath for a series link.

Apart from that, the NTL DVR is a pile of junk compared to Sky+ for a few reasons.

Can only record one program at a time.

No interactive services

Rewind and fast forward functions are jumpy.

You cannot view a playback at a specified minute, you must start at the start and go forward.

If you decide halfway through a program to record something it will only record from the moment you press record rather than the whole program.

If you have paused or rewound tv, and accidently hit the 'UPC' button, which happens very easily, then you reset the buffer and lose the whole program. Doesn't happen if you hit Sky button on your remote.

These are just a few issues, I could go on and on and on.
The only reason to get UPC over Sky is that it is cheaper, but you pay for what you get, and UPC DVR is vastly inferior to Sky+ and incredibly annoying if you are an ex-Sky user.

dunworth1

BJViking wrote: »

I am considering switching from NTL to Sky mainly because of cost and lack of recording with NTL.
I understand that with Sky Plus, you can record two different programs at the same time, however can you also watch a third different program at the same time as the other two are recording?
Also can you display recorded programs thru the multiroom feature?

you cant watch a third program while recording two programs

you have to be watching the second program to be able to record it

DingDong

BJViking wrote: »

Also can you display recorded programs thru the multiroom feature?

Can't do that either you would need a sky+ box for each room and then you can only watch what's recorded on each individual box there not linked, but it would be a cool feature.

BostonB

Could you achieve that with freeview, connected to PCs (used as TV's) and them all networked? You wouldn't have all the stations though.

randomer

BJViking wrote: »

I am considering switching from NTL to Sky mainly because of cost and lack of recording with NTL.
I understand that with Sky Plus, you can record two different programs at the same time, however can you also watch a third different program at the same time as the other two are recording?
Also can you display recorded programs thru the multiroom feature?

With Sky Plus you can have two channel feeds coming in at the same time. Therefore you can only record/watch two live channels at the same time. However, if you are recording two channels, you can also watch a previously recorded program too. So you can't watch a third live channel.

If you have multiroom, the two boxes are independent. Recordings on one box cannot be viewed on the other box, but you could manually record the same programs on both digiboxes.

patrickmooney

Yes I would be shocked if UPC release dual recording which meant the box had to be in standby. Doesn't make sense. Like sky, UPC should allow dual recording whilst being able to playback a previously recorded programme. Any attempt to change channels should only allow you to cycle through the two channels currently being recorded. Lets see what we get when we get it.

bk

randomer wrote: »

If you have multiroom, the two boxes are independent. Recordings on one box cannot be viewed on the other box, but you could manually record the same programs on both digiboxes.

It is a pity that Sky don't use the ethernet port to allow you share recorded shows between boxes.

The sat providers in the US allow you to do this.

d8player

patrickmooney wrote: »

Yes I would be shocked if UPC release dual recording which meant the box had to be in standby. Doesn't make sense. Like sky, UPC should allow dual recording whilst being able to playback a previously recorded programme. Any attempt to change channels should only allow you to cycle through the two channels currently being recorded. Lets see what we get when we get it.

Agreed, this makes a whole heap more sense. I like the idea of being able to watch the library recordings while two new ones are being recorded.

Rashdude

Hi All, there is a ethernet connection on the UPC box, does anyone know if this can be networked to view recordings through your home network?? and if so how??

Cheers

Alun

Rashdude wrote: »

Hi All, there is a ethernet connection on the UPC box, does anyone know if this can be networked to view recordings through your home network?? and if so how??

No. It's for the built-in cable modem.