Has Anyone Got BT TV?

chris.tarry85 · 17 Jan 2017 at 10:28

Just taken a look on the BT website (already have infinity) and get get the UHD 4K box and the "Total Entertainment" pack for £10 a month.

Whilst this doesn't include the "premium" channels, it does include a lot of stuff that either we (Nat Geo etc.) or the kids (Disney) would watch.

It also includes the BT Sport channels.

The reviews of the box also seem pretty good?

In my mind £120 for a year is not noticeably more than a decent freeview recorder would cost? So this seems worth a punt.

Has anyone got any first hand experience?

Thanks

hood1971 · 17 Jan 2017 at 11:05

I had BT youview box a couple of years ago and found it very slow and the UI clunky compared to Virgin and Sky boxes. Left them as they were in the continual dispute with Sky, which meant that you could not get Sky sports on their box. I think this has been resolved now.

chris.tarry85 · 17 Jan 2017 at 11:29

hood1971 said:
I had BT youview box a couple of years ago and found it very slow and the UI clunky compared to Virgin and Sky boxes. Left them as they were in the continual dispute with Sky, which meant that you could not get Sky sports on their box. I think this has been resolved now.

Thanks, I've seen some awful reviews for the earlier boxes, but the newer ones seem to have improved.

The box in question is this one:
http://www.techradar.com/reviews/audio-visual/digital-tv-receivers/bt-ultra-hd-youview-box-1301334/review

varkanoid · 17 Jan 2017 at 13:44

I have the UltraHD box and the HD Box. Both boxes are updated frequently and both have just received a new firmware. The UltraHD box was a lot nippier in the menus than the HD box but both are now pretty good. Probably not quite on a par with the Sky HD gui but I dont get annoyed with them.

My HD box is next to my HH5 in the dining room and the Ultra HD is in the lounge connected via cat5. The Ultra HD box does get hot back corner where the RF modulator is but I think its because I have an early box and the newer ones are meant to be cooler.

Sky Sports has been available for ages and ages. They were in dispute over Sky Movies which at one point ceased but they seem to have overcome this as its available. One annoying thing I have is if you have two boxes you cant have Sky Sports. So I use a NowTV Smartbox for Sky Sports. Cheaper anyway.

I like the fact that you can record two terrestial channels and internet channels too at the same time which originally caught me offguard. However it makes sense as the internet channels are not restricted by a tuner. I only watch BT Sports UltraHD when there is a football match on and the picture quality is pretty good. However thats about it no other UltraHD channels and most of the time nothing is broadcast on that channel.

holdin09 · 17 Jan 2017 at 22:10

varkanoid said:
I have the UltraHD box and the HD Box. I am also a BT Triallist so I get the opportunity to try new products and new software. (I also get BT TV free so I cant complain )Both boxes are updated frequently and both have just received a new firmware. The UltraHD box was a lot nippier in the menus than the HD box but both are now pretty good. Probably not quite on a par with the Sky HD gui but I dont get annoyed with them.

My HD box is next to my HH5 in the dining room and the Ultra HD is in the lounge connected via cat5. The Ultra HD box does get hot back corner where the RF modulator is but I think its because I have an early box and the newer ones are meant to be cooler.

Sky Sports has been available for ages and ages. They were in dispute over Sky Movies which at one point ceased but they seem to have overcome this as its available. One annoying thing I have is if you have two boxes you cant have Sky Sports. So I use a NowTV Smartbox for Sky Sports. Cheaper anyway.

I like the fact that you can record two terrestial channels and internet channels too at the same time which originally caught me offguard. However it makes sense as the internet channels are not restricted by a tuner. I only watch BT Sports UltraHD when there is a football match on and the picture quality is pretty good. However thats about it no other UltraHD channels and most of the time nothing is broadcast on that channel.

How did you become a BT triallist?

varkanoid · 17 Jan 2017 at 22:24

holdin09 said:
How did you become a BT triallist?

sent you the link but its easy to find on google.

varkanoid · 18 Jan 2017 at 18:29

ignore

a1ex2001 · 19 Jan 2017 at 13:27

We did exactly what your proposing ie signed up for BT TV for a year just to get free freeview PVR. I really like the box and the interface it's essentially a reboxed humax I think. The BT TV contract ended about two years ago but we still happily use the box and I've not been tempted to upgrade.

bemaniac · 20 Jan 2017 at 10:54

i found the picture quality on premium channels is nothing like sky virgin freesat or freeview. It's worse than Netflix or prime too. The left and right sides of the screen are the areas where the codec bt uses makes a kind of greeny red petroleum stain effect on darker material.

glenimp617 · 20 Jan 2017 at 10:59

chris.tarry85 said:
Just taken a look on the BT website (already have infinity) and get get the UHD 4K box and the "Total Entertainment" pack for £10 a month.

How?

I've just logged in and it's

£14 a month
£20 Install
£49.99 for the box
£9.99 delivery

:edit: Oh, it's because I already have the BT starter pack

varkanoid · 20 Jan 2017 at 15:24

bemaniac said:
i found the picture quality on premium channels is nothing like sky virgin freesat or freeview. It's worse than Netflix or prime too. The left and right sides of the screen are the areas where the codec bt uses makes a kind of greeny red petroleum stain effect on darker material.

sure thats not your TV?

BTW what premium channels on Freeview/Freesat there aren't any hence why its called "Freexxxx".

Picture quality looks fine on my Panasonic 4k TV and on my Panasonic HD TV. UltraHD channel is superb. Dont see anything you mention on BT Sports channels. Also when I had Sky HD the BT TV terrerestial channels are noticeably better than the Sky equivalent IMHO.

dacads · 20 Jan 2017 at 16:39

BT will be increasing their prices, so for BT Sports you'll have to pay £3.50 extra a month. Along with other increases..

bemaniac · 20 Jan 2017 at 16:59

varkanoid said:
sure thats not your TV? BTW what premium channels on Freeview/Freesat there aren't any hence why its called "Freexxxx".

Picture quality looks fine on my Panasonic 4k TV and on my Panasonic HD TV. UltraHD channel is superb. Dont see anything you mention on BT Sports channels. Also when I had Sky HD the BT TV terrerestial channels are noticeably better than the Sky equivalent IMHO.

I only got it on amc hd, nat geo, syfy - those ones. Bt sport is always a good stream quality especially 4k was superb. mines calibrated Panasonic 802 series 4k and sony 85 series 4khdr and lg plasma 1080p too. It just doesn't look full broadcast quality.

Unless you are someone that cares about things like screen uniformity and calibration BT TV will be ok for you but it really is poor mans pay tv.

chris.tarry85 · 20 Jan 2017 at 21:59

So close yet so far

"We're really sorry but you can't get our Ultra HD TV package because your estimated broadband speed doesn't support Ultra HD. However, you can choose one of our other great TV packages below"

varkanoid · 22 Jan 2017 at 20:54

chris.tarry85 said:
So close yet so far

"We're really sorry but you can't get our Ultra HD TV package because your estimated broadband speed doesn't support Ultra HD. However, you can choose one of our other great TV packages below"

Thats strange, you do have BT Infinity ? Whats your speeds ?

bemaniac said:
Unless you are someone that cares about things like screen uniformity and calibration BT TV will be ok for you but it really is poor mans pay tv.

No not really and I dont pay for it

Squink · 23 Jan 2017 at 07:10

chris.tarry85 said:
So close yet so far

"We're really sorry but you can't get our Ultra HD TV package because your estimated broadband speed doesn't support Ultra HD. However, you can choose one of our other great TV packages below"

I had this as well because my estimated line speed was below 40mbs or something like that. They only want you to have their 4K service if your line will support it without stutter I suppose, even though I've read that you need nothing like 40mbs for decent 4K streaming.

Before I ordered from them I'd been given a reassurance that it was just a block at the website ordering system and that I should ring up afterwards and the call centre would overrride the website. Of course they couldn't so I had to go through the rigmarole of cancelling the whole lot. It was a bit of hassle at the time, but they cancelled without too much cajoling and to my surprise they also coughed up my topcashback payment and didn't ask for the return of the youview PVR, which is new and unused in my garage, since I went back to Sky.

james.miller · 23 Jan 2017 at 07:28

Thats strange, you do have BT Infinity ? Whats your speeds ?

You need infinity 2 for ultraHD

I've had BT tv for 11 months now. When i ordered, i told them i wanted the ultraHD box - it was £1 a month more and had double the storage. I didnt care about the UHD content and I didnt care that you needed infinity 2 (which i cant get, i can only have infinity 1) but they would not budge at all.

tbh i'm not staying with BT. It was a mistake to move away from sky despite the cost saving. the box isnt as good. the hd reception relies on my internet (which is poor) and direction my arial points in (which changes with a slight breeze). At least with sky I only had poor internet to contend with but even that was more stable with sky than it has been with BT. BT routers are just shocking but that's another discussion.

chris.tarry85 · 23 Jan 2017 at 08:35

james.miller said:
You need infinity 2 for ultraHD

I've had BT tv for 11 months now. When i ordered, i told them i wanted the ultraHD box - it was £1 a month more and had double the storage. I didnt care about the UHD content and I didnt care that you needed infinity 2 (which i cant get, i can only have infinity 1) but they would not budge at all.

tbh i'm not staying with BT. It was a mistake to move away from sky despite the cost saving. the box isnt as good. the hd reception relies on my internet (which is poor) and direction my arial points in (which changes with a slight breeze). At least with sky I only had poor internet to contend with but even that was more stable with sky than it has been with BT. BT routers are just shocking but that's another discussion.

Speed is literally just under the 44mbps requirement - but as you say they won't budge even though I have told them I don't have a 4k TV so won't use the UHD channel.

The ridiculous thing is that this package is the only way to get the "non freeview" channels - Nat Geo etc. in HD. So BT are effectively saying that because of my speed restriction they don't want to sell me a package at all!

Oh well, their loss!

Squink · 23 Jan 2017 at 19:38

chris.tarry85 said:
The ridiculous thing is that this package is the only way to get the "non freeview" channels - Nat Geo etc. in HD. So BT are effectively saying that because of my speed restriction they don't want to sell me a package at all!

Oh well, their loss!

They have another package that gives you everything (kids, music etc) bar the 4K stuff. It wasn't advertised online when I was dealing with them 3 or 4 months ago, but they do have such a package. I can't remember the name I'm afraid.

On the other hand, every single time I've tried to give bt my business, the result has been an overwhelmingly negative one, as it has for other family members. I'd suggest you go elsewhere if you find something you like with another provider.

Vertigo · 23 Jan 2017 at 19:53

So if you want BT Sport via Sky it costs over twice what it does from BT directly?

Sick of this crap tbh and don't know why Ofcom don't consider it anti-competitive. If Sky charged Virgin Media double to carry their sports channels they'd be slapped down in no time but BT are allowed to get away with it?