This topic

BBC and ITV Recordings - agh!!! Is BT/EE Value for Money?

mairetheresa — Sun, 26 Jan 2025 13:27:32 GMT

Why is BT/EE forcing me to watch my BBC recordings on IPlayer when Virgin and Sky do not do this? It's infuriating!!! Oh - and if I don't hurry up and watch it, it expires - and when internet plays up, I'm stuffed.. May as well go back to a basic recording box.

ITV recordings force me to watch the ads - again, Virgin and Sky do NOT do this (despite call advisors telling me they do - or are about to!!).

I am now paying for ITVX Premium to miss the ads so I moved from Virgin to BT/EE to save money but it's not actually working out that way. And my Netflix subscription - which didn't include ads - now does! Been sold a dud.

Re: BBC and ITV Recordings - agh!!! Is BT/EE Value for Money?

Midnight_Voice — Sun, 26 Jan 2025 14:56:09 GMT

@mairetheresa

You set your box up in IP Mode, which does the things you describe, and also gives you a cut-down selection of channels (albeit some in HD where they are only SD in Freeview), and reduces the number of recordings you can make at once.

Unavoidable if you don’t have a TV aerial (and earlier YouView boxes wouldn’t even work at all without one).

But if you do have a TV aerial, then plug it into the Box Pro, do a Settings/Factory Reset (you will unavoidably lose any existing recordings) and your box will return with a full complement of the aerial Freeview broadcast channels available to you, more simultaneous recordings allowed, proper recording of the BBC iPlayer, and you can skip the ads on recorded itv programmes.

And of course, all the internet apps and channels still present and correct.

You will still need to upgrade your Netflix subscription though, if you don’t want ads.

Re: BBC and ITV Recordings - agh!!! Is BT/EE Value for Money?

mairetheresa — Sun, 26 Jan 2025 18:24:01 GMT

Thank you for taking the time to reply. To top it all, the BT engineer who installed it couldn't get it to work via ariel. No idea why. I don't have a clue and prefer not to lose my settings now. I also heard there are other disadvantages to not having IP but can't remember what they are 🙈

Just angers me that I'm forced to watch streamed progs that I've recorded. And FFing on IPlayer is ridiculously fast.

Re: BBC and ITV Recordings - agh!!! Is BT/EE Value for Money?

Manatarms84 — Sun, 26 Jan 2025 20:30:41 GMT

The stuff with iPlayer and ITV are in the control of the broadcasters not BT/EE

Re: BBC and ITV Recordings - agh!!! Is BT/EE Value for Money?

Midnight_Voice — Sun, 26 Jan 2025 21:15:34 GMT

@mairetheresa

Quite possibly, all there is behind your aerial socket on the wall is a wet piece of string.

You can check this easily by plugging an aerial lead into your TV, and seeing if you can tune in any channels.

If not, the engineer is vindicated. But if you get some, he should be ashamed of himself for not being able to set the Box up in Aerial Mode.

Re: BBC and ITV Recordings - agh!!! Is BT/EE Value for Money?

mairetheresa — Sun, 26 Jan 2025 22:33:12 GMT

Why does it only happen with BT/EE then? Sky/Virgin users don't experience this?

Re: BBC and ITV Recordings - agh!!! Is BT/EE Value for Money?

gomezz — Sun, 26 Jan 2025 22:43:33 GMT

Do Sky and Virgin support delivery of these services to be recorded over IP. I don't think you are comparing like with like.

Re: BBC and ITV Recordings - agh!!! Is BT/EE Value for Money?

mairetheresa — Sun, 26 Jan 2025 23:11:30 GMT

I've no idea. I'm just a customer with no tech knowledge who wants to watch and record tv. When I signed up to BT TV a year ago, I could FF ads on ITV and watch BBC from my recorded shows, not via IPlayer. Nothing has changed with my setup and nobody else I know has this issue with Virgin or Sky.

Re: BBC and ITV Recordings - agh!!! Is BT/EE Value for Money?

zulu17 — Sun, 26 Jan 2025 23:50:25 GMT

I did look at this last year and the BBC said

BBC requires the playback and catch-up of programmes through iPlayer on a number of IP only platforms, including Sky Glass, Virgin Stream, EETV on Apple and Freely as examples. As with each of these platforms, the EE TV Box Pro is required to route users to iPlayer for playback when the box is in Internet mode, where an aerial is not required.

As EE were not ready for this at the launch of their device, we agreed with EE that they could store BBC programmes on the device for a limited time until they were able to offer playback though BBC iPlayer.

Re: BBC and ITV Recordings - agh!!! Is BT/EE Value for Money?

mairetheresa — Mon, 27 Jan 2025 08:15:16 GMT

Thank you, that's interesting! What is the benefit to them? It's no benefit to me to record now there's a time limit on my viewing.

Re: BBC and ITV Recordings - agh!!! Is BT/EE Value for Money?

Midnight_Voice — Mon, 27 Jan 2025 08:39:01 GMT

@mairetheresa

I’ve told you how you can solve this. On my Box Pro, recordings from iPlayer are just that, recordings, and when the ads come up on itv, I can FF them. I’m in Aerial Mode.

If you choose not to be, though, then that is your choice.

But perhaps you are a bit worried about the switch? Fair enough. First do the test I suggested, plugging an aerial lead from the wall socket to the TV and tuning it, to see if you have an aerial signal at all.

If so, you should be able to switch to Aerial Mode on the Pro box, again as I described earlier.

If not, you can get in a local aerial fitter to set you up with an aerial.

Better to light one candle than stand cursing the darkness!

Re: BBC and ITV Recordings - agh!!! Is BT/EE Value for Money?

Midnight_Voice — Mon, 27 Jan 2025 08:54:45 GMT

@mairetheresa

The benefit to the BBC is that they can keep the same tight grip on their content as recorded by customers as they do on the content in the iPlayer.

The benefit to itv is that they can tell their advertisers that they don’t lose out when customers record for timeshifting purposes (the jargon for record now, watch later), and even get a double dip if the recording is rewatched.

I’m sure they would like the same control in Aerial Mode, but that genie is long out of the bottle 😛

Re: BBC and ITV Recordings - agh!!! Is BT/EE Value for Money?

mairetheresa — Mon, 27 Jan 2025 09:04:47 GMT

I understand the potential solution but I don't want to do that only to find an alternative, different, problem that I'm as yet unaware of by choosing ariel!

My point is that customers who are not tech savvy should be made aware of the 2 options and all the pros/cons. And call advisors at BT should be trained so they know what they're talking about instead of giving conflicting advice.

Re: BBC and ITV Recordings - agh!!! Is BT/EE Value for Money?

Hunter2660 — Mon, 27 Jan 2025 11:47:59 GMT

As the march to streaming continues, partially replacing over the air broadcasting in the future, this will become commonplace. Sky Glass/Stream has an ad skip option to fast forward/rewind the ads on demand, but they charge extra for it. The golden days of recording and avoiding the ads for free are disappearing I'm afraid.

Re: BBC and ITV Recordings - agh!!! Is BT/EE Value for Money?

zulu17 — Mon, 27 Jan 2025 12:12:35 GMT

What i find disappointing is that whilst EETV/Youview/ITV have invested in delivering the requirement to restrict fastforward/skip through adbreaks of IP delivered ITV content they have not collectively been able to address the absence of features and content on the ITVX app on the same boxes for some years.

Re: BBC and ITV Recordings - agh!!! Is BT/EE Value for Money?

Midnight_Voice — Mon, 27 Jan 2025 14:08:41 GMT

@zulu17

Follow the money…..😛

Re: BBC and ITV Recordings - agh!!! Is BT/EE Value for Money?

Midnight_Voice — Mon, 27 Jan 2025 14:21:00 GMT

@mairetheresa

Thats a big ask…

But it’s all here for you to read:-

https://www.bt.com/help/tv/set-up-bt-tv/modes

In general, my rules of thumb are:-

If you have an aerial, go for Aerial Mode.

If you don’t have an aerial, get an aerial, and go for Aerial Mode.

If you really really can’t get an aerial, settle for IP Mode. And console yourself with the thought that a few minor channels are in HD not SD, the single advantage that IP Mode brings.

Re: BBC and ITV Recordings - agh!!! Is BT/EE Value for Money?

mairetheresa — Mon, 27 Jan 2025 15:40:36 GMT

Thanks that's really helpful!

On arielmode, when you flick on to Live TV, BBC, do you still get the option to watch from the beginning?

Also, just remembered a downside with ariel recordings... Virgin had recording time windows which you could add as default so you never missed the end. One bugbear with watching my BBC recordings (prior to this new redirection to the app) was that it would *always* cut the last minute or two off the recording!!

Seems like it's a choice between a rock and a hard place ..

Re: BBC and ITV Recordings - agh!!! Is BT/EE Value for Money?

mairetheresa — Mon, 27 Jan 2025 15:43:08 GMT

Can you give examples? Not sure I know what you mean?

Re: BBC and ITV Recordings - agh!!! Is BT/EE Value for Money?

Midnight_Voice — Mon, 27 Jan 2025 17:35:25 GMT

@mairetheresa

You get the option to press Green to start from the beginning.

Any BBC recording you miss the end of, when the IP Mode ‘recording’ would have been complete, you can go to the iPlayer and watch the ending there. Truncated recordings happen much less often on the major channels anyway, so you would only have to do this occasionally, if at all.