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

[Midnight_Voice]

@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!

[Midnight_Voice]

@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 😛

[mairetheresa]

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.

[Hunter2660]

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.

[zulu17]

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.

[Midnight_Voice]

@zulu17 

Follow the money…..😛

[Midnight_Voice]

@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.

[mairetheresa]

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 .. 

[mairetheresa]

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

[Midnight_Voice]

@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.