Eircom launches fibre-powered TV focused on value and user experience(evision)

Nolars

"Eircom’s new eVision TV service will be available from tomorrow to eFibre customers starting at €10 per month for the Essential Pack. This includes 34 channels that Eircom have deemed the most popular in the Irish market, delivered via the free eVision+ set-top box, which will be installed free of charge by specially trained technicians.

With eVision+, viewers can pause and rewind live TV and schedule recordings. The in-built hard drive can store up to 240 hours of standard-definition programming and is capable of recording two programmes at once."

http://www.siliconrepublic.com/new-media/item/34523-eircom-launches/

http://www.independent.ie/business/technology/eircom-launches-tv-service-in-direct-challenge-to-sky-and-upc-29665613.html

Neeson

And you need to pay extra to get RTE 2 HD? What's the sense in that?

Hardly going to want to give up RTE 2 HD just so I can get the likes of GOLD and Watch.

In fact why would anyone pay 10€ a month just to get GOLD and MTV and Watch? I don't think many would. The others channels you can get on saorview.

And no ITV!

crawler

Hmmm....

Not too sure about this. Most of this you can get for free with a once off investment in a good set top box and antenna/dish.

No on demand, no catch up tv, no players, no ITV, no box sets, no social media integration, no apps, no device shifting...I'm sure there are probably on a road map somewhere.

I guess for €10 a month it's alright but personally I would simply go Free to air and get Netflix & Roku for a once off investment.

SpaceTime

Hmm it looks rather like I expected based on some of the other telco IPTV offerings elsewhere in Europe.

They would need something very innovative if they're going to take on UPC and Sky though.

UPC Horizon is genuinely very impressive even if it has glitches here and there to be ironed out.

Sky HD+ is a bit old fashioned in terms of UI but the content is second to none and Sky On Demand works very well and has a lot if excellent content .

Kristopherus

crawler wrote: »

Hmmm....

Not too sure about this. Most of this you can get for free with a once off investment in a good set top box and antenna/dish.

No on demand, no catch up tv, no players, no ITV, no box sets, no social media integration, no apps, no device shifting...I'm sure there are probably on a road map somewhere.

I guess for €10 a month it's alright but personally I would simply go Free to air and get Netflix & Roku for a once off investment.

Why would you want tv catch-up or the player when you're getting a pvr for free.

bk

Kristopherus wrote: »

Why would you want tv catch-up or the player when you're getting a pvr for free.

Because you might want to watch a show that you didn't even think of recording.

To be honest, once you start using streaming services, you never bother with PVR's much anymore. The only thing I use my PVR for now is pausing a show for a few minutes while making a cup of tea, etc.

Popple3

Neeson wrote: »

And you need to pay extra to get RTE 2 HD? What's the sense in that?

Hardly going to want to give up RTE 2 HD just so I can get the likes of GOLD and Watch.

In fact why would anyone pay 10€ a month just to get GOLD and MTV and Watch? I don't think many would. The others channels you can get on saorview.

And no ITV!

On the point of RTÉ Two HD, this is what it says on the revision home page.

RTE Two HD is available free of charge to all customers able to receive HD channels

https://www.eircom.net/tv/

Brotha Noomzy

Do they only provide Sky Sports 1 & 2?

Neeson

Brotha Noomzy wrote: »

Do they only provide Sky Sports 1 & 2?

For extra money per month. Google it and their site comes up with all the channels offered at what price.

stezie

anyone compare the channels available on Freesat for ZERO euro per month to Evision 10euro a month...

and why a set top box, and not view via the PC??

AlanS181824

At least they're trying!

lertsnim

No ITV might hurt them. Surprised it's not there.

PeteK*

Is it €10 per month on top of your phone and broadband?
What if you didn't want the phone or broadband? (I know it goes thought eFirbe, but if only wanted it for eVision)
I really like UPC Horizon for the recording.. four channels at once. Watch a fifth!

Vico1612

UPC hits back ...
http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/business/upc-launches-new-tv-and-broadband-package-to-rival-eircom-610351.html

i_am_beard

Does this package come with the €90 connection fee like the basics here?

http://www.upc.ie/deals/tvbroadbandphone/

ChrisMcCauley

I'm in.

Nothing but +ve things to say about Eircom's customer service (as opposed to their actual service possibly) so I know that they'll act on my complaints. Why wouldn't I dump Sky - I get almost the same product offering for €10 compared to the 5x cost from Sky? I remove one supplier, get 6 months free and I still have my cheapo Freesat box for UTV.

Chris

ChrisMcCauley

Got it, it looks beautiful but doesn't work reliably enough (keeps losing connection to the back-end servers when restarting). Canceled it the same day it was installed. A real pity.

Chris

red_bairn

ChrisMcCauley wrote: »

Got it, it looks beautiful but doesn't work reliably enough (keeps losing connection to the back-end servers when restarting). Canceled it the same day it was installed. A real pity.

Chris

What? You get some error message on the screen about the disconnect when you start up the unit?

ChrisMcCauley

No error message just a very pretty boot screen which can sit for over an hour before it connects. Unfortunately switching connections on my Denon home cinema system (e.g. from eVision to the DVD player) causes the eVision to restart - I guess it thinks the TV has gone to sleep and powers down.

I've posted elsewhere on boards.ie about all of the problems. Long story to short; beautiful when it works but not reliable enough for everyday use + they don't tell you but the cut your broadband profile to make it work more reliably.

Chris

red_bairn

ChrisMcCauley wrote: »

No error message just a very pretty boot screen which can sit for over an hour before it connects. Unfortunately switching connections on my Denon home cinema system (e.g. from eVision to the DVD player) causes the eVision to restart - I guess it thinks the TV has gone to sleep and powers down.

I've posted elsewhere on boards.ie about all of the problems. Long story to short; beautiful when it works but not reliable enough for everyday use + they don't tell you but the cut your broadband profile to make it work more reliably.

Chris

Well that is understandable.:

The high-speed data transfer will increase the needed bandwidth for the viewer, at least 2 Mbit/s is needed to use web-based applications on the computer. Additionally to that, 64 kbit/s is required to use landline telephone for the property. In minimal usage, to receive an IPTV triple-play service requires 13 Mbit/s to process in a household.

ChrisMcCauley

I think you're missing a core point here. To get eVision to work reliably, Eircom may cut your broadband profile - in my case, I lose 10Mb/s off of my rate even when eVision is switched off and disconnected.

I'd be happy to lose 10 - 15Mb/s when in use but expect to lose nothing when it isn't powered on.

red_bairn

ChrisMcCauley wrote: »

I think you're missing a core point here. To get eVision to work reliably, Eircom may cut your broadband profile - in my case, I lose 10Mb/s off of my rate even when eVision is switched off and disconnected.

I'd be happy to lose 10 - 15Mb/s when in use but expect to lose nothing when it isn't powered on.

Ok, that's just ****. I wasn't using the TV service back in Korea because I just watched movies on my monitor but what Eircom are doing wasn't the scenario for me. I'm scratching my head on that one.

AmilcarAlho

Not surprised to see that happening. On copper based IPTV (adsl/vdsl) providers usually "reserve" a certain amount of bandwidth for the box.

At least, that is my experience with ADSL based IPTV back home, when setting up the modem, it asks for the number of boxes and caps the bandwidth accordingly.

Unless we get ftth gpon, where data is always guaranteed speed, this will be the norm for now.

ChrisMcCauley

That does make sense from the providers perspective but from the customer's view, you've just taken away 20% of my capacity regardless of whether or not I'm using your TV service.

Also, we regularly stream two Netflix programmes with their enhanced bit-rate and Dolby surround sound through my eFibre connection with pretty instantaneous start / stop and no jitter. It works perfectly well and when I stop viewing I get all of my bandwidth back.

Chris

AmilcarAlho

Netflix and IPTV are different things. Netflix is a regular stream from a websource, while IPTV is a stream coming from the provider, in this case Eircom.

What they do is similar to a vlan in the office, where you split voice and data into separate network segments. This approach allows for quality of service, where a certain amount is reserved for the tv stream, meaning a torrent Steam download at full capacity does not impact a HD Stream.

IPTV based in xdsl most likely will not be provided to customers that are on the upper distance to the cabinet due to speed required per box, or in the worst case scenario no multiroom.

I'm not by any means defending Eircom, it is just a drawback of the technology being used.

crawler

VDSL (eircom eFibre etc) comes in 2 profiles - "highspeed" and "stable"

the Highspeed profile is used for ordinary "stuff" and is the profile you get normally but if you take IPTV the stable profile is used.

The stable profile speed on each line is a good bit lower than the high speed profile to increase reliability.

When Vectoring launches though people will "get back" some of that lost speed.

As for the eVision service - personally I would have waited and gotten it right rather than just getting it out the door....but that's just me

bealtine

crawler wrote: »

.

As for the eVision service - personally I would have waited and gotten it right rather than just getting it out the door....but that's just me

pfft...as we say in the software industry does it compile? ship it!!! (testing what's that?) Seems to be the way things are done now...

Bog Standard User

Neeson wrote: »

And no ITV!

itv dont have a license to broadcast on IPTV.. its not eircom's fault... itv have applied for a license but comreg/gov have yet to approve it

grylo

I got e vision on a 6 month free trial am 3 months into the trial and can say this service is truly dreadful stay well clear of this service. The picture keeps freezing the sound keeps going and you have to change channel to get it back there are no itv channels was trying to watch the world cup on evision and missed 3 goals so far because of freezing screen. The EPG must have been designed by a four year old. Cant wait to get this rubbish out of my house

AlanS181824

grylo wrote: »

I got e vision on a 6 month free trial am 3 months into the trial and can say this service is truly dreadful stay well clear of this service. The picture keeps freezing the sound keeps going and you have to change channel to get it back there are no itv channels was trying to watch the world cup on evision and missed 3 goals so far because of freezing screen. The EPG must have been designed by a four year old. Cant wait to get this rubbish out of my house

You'd be on an 18 month contract though won't ye?

grylo

I dont know what length of contract that is on offer but does not matter as I wont be taking the service

PeteK*

It's 12 months free and an 18 month contract, well at least that's one of them.

regularkev

AlanS181824 wrote: »

You'd be on an 18 month contract though won't ye?

According to the spiel they go through on the phone you can cancel at any time during the six month trial and go back to broadband only.

John Dough

regularkev wrote: »

According to the spiel they go through on the phone you can cancel at any time during the six month trial and go back to broadband only.

They are offering 12 months free now but has this service improved yet.
Does the box have a RF? Cheers

SpaceTime

The street cabinets also support multicasting, dso they're a lot more bandwidth efficient than Netflix which is "over the top" delivery.

mass_debater

John Dough wrote: »

They are offering 12 months free now but has this service improved yet.
Does the box have a RF? Cheers

No rf on the box, for scart only tv's there is a 9 pin Mini-DIN to scart adapter