NTL Digital to Go Interactive

DaveH

Hi all,
Was speaking to an NTL guy today, he told me that the Go-Digital will go interactive, plans are a foot the are advertising for Interactive Egineers. He said even though the NTL system is one way, they plan to use a reverse for interactive. He did make the point that it will never be as good as SKY digital.
So good news for you Go-Digital customers.
Dave

JTMan

Originally posted by DaveH
plans are a foot the are advertising for Interactive Egineers.

They have already placed ads in the papers for interactive engineers. It should be here later this year

Go Figure!

How come this never happened?

PK - the king

INTERACTIVE???!!! :eek: They can't even provide a decent level of service!!!
I'll believe ntl interactive when I see it (and even then, I'll find it hard to believe!!!)

Ntl interactive will most likely be a whole load of rubbish, with stuff like e-mail, online shopping etc. Probably no sky active, which is what people want.

icdg

Well, in fairness, Sky Active and NTL interactive use completely different systems - NTL is Liberate, while Sky Active is OpenTV. Sky are hardly likely to spend money converting their software to run on a competitor's system....

There is a version of BBCi on NTL interactive, if that helps....

I doubt we will see this service in Ireland for a while. Part of the problem is that while the Di40xx series have cable modems, the Di300 has a PSTN modem instead. I believe the plan is that it will be PSTN used as the return path, meaning those of us (me included) who have Di40xx are out in the cold...

cgarvey

Sorry, but "ntl" and "interactive" in the same thread make me laugh, cringe and cry.

I always wonder when the usual "in 6 months" line (I've stopped keeping track of names and times!!!) actually turns into a literal time scale of 6 months.

PK - the king

I don't think ntl would use the phonelines - it would be too expensive. They already have upgraded Tallaght, Templeogue, Greenhills, Perrystown and parts of the northside. NTL would not want to be footed with the phonebills if the return path was a freephone, when they could just as well use the broadband feature of their networks, nor will customers want to be hit with huge phone bills for interactive. Also why would ntl be purchasing so many Di40xx series boxes, which are in excess of £200 stg, when they will not be using them? I'm sure they will only use the Di40xx series boxes, and possibly upgrade the 500's with an external cable modem if the customer wishes to use interactive features.

icdg

Originally posted by PK - the king
Also why would ntl be purchasing so many Di40xx series boxes, which are in excess of £200 stg, when they will not be using them? I'm sure they will only use the Di40xx series boxes, and possibly upgrade the 500's with an external cable modem if the customer wishes to use interactive features.

Well, the plan was that new customers after a certain date were to get Di300i boxes rather than Di40xx boxes. It is the Di300i that is meant to be NTL Ireland's standard now, with the Di40xx used in the UK.

(For those that don't know what the serial numbers mean
Di4001 - original "black" STB
Di4010 - newer "black" STB
Di300i - "silver" STB)

PK - the king

Well, from what I can see, they're mostly installing Di4010's. I had a decoder swopped over last October and I got a brand new Di4010. It was freshly packed in a box and had never been used before, because I saw the guy setting it up. The van he had was full of Di4010's and Di4001's. Most people I know have Di40xx series boxes and only one or two of the twenty odd people I know who have digital have a silver 300 series box. The 300 series box, as far as I know is for use only on Galway and Waterford, where there are no plans to upgrade the network to two way.

Just something I'd like to ask - can a few ntl subscribers out there please tell me what network capability their decoder is reporting (reboot the box by plugging it out and back in and holding up and down and scroll through to about screen 4-6, where it says "Network Capability"). My decoder is reporting "One-way only", even though I have been told that my area is 2 way capable. Does anyone else's decoder report anything different?

NB. Not valid for the silver boxes, as these do not have a built in cable modem.

PK - the king

No, none whatsoever. :rolleyes: Since they added those three new channels, the picture's been even worse.