New features

[Jonty1964]

ITV Anglia HD now showing on Channel 3 instead of ITV Meridien.

[SoupDragon57]

@Jonty1964  ITV West has now arrived, replacing ITV Central. Really good picture, too.

[why_oh_why]

@DarrenW  has just posted the following on this page https://community.bt.com/t5/YouView-from-BT/BT-TV-Box-Pro-comments-questions/td-p/2166641/highlight/...

Hi All,

I just want to clarify that recording > 2 programs at the same time whilst in IP mode on the TV Box Pro is not a feature that is coming soon.

We are starting to talk about it but the design of the feature has not started.

It comes down to bandwidth & we'd have to make sure that if the feature was launched it was only given to customers who could support the maximum required bandwidth, for example:

Watch UHD & Record HD = 39Mbps

Record another 1 or 2 in HD = 8-19Mbps

Then we have to make sure there is room to breathe, do you have enough bandwidth left to even use your broadband for other purposes such as browsing the web or video calling, playing xbox online etc. There is potential to cripple your own service if we just unlock it and let it free so it requires careful consideration.

Serious limitation to recording capability sticking with the ip only option.

[scharter]

@why_oh_why  I will not be switching! Major downside.

[biohazardx9]

What they could do is offer a bolt on option based on your package.

If you have at least gfast then unlock two more tuners, if you have full fibre packages that are above 500mbps then unlock four more tuners.

But it may not be as simple as that.

We also have to think about the network side of things. Box might not have the power to deliver four+ streams down the ethernet or even WiFi. 

[DarrenDev]

The issues with offering more than 2 tuners aren't with the box itself - they're with all the processes that are needed to identify capability, have that reflected on all the various BT systems, have the box recognise it, and then all the logic on the box to handle it.

It's a lot of work involving a lot of different teams across a few different companies, and it's going to take a while ... but everyone recognises the need for it. I'm confident that it'll happen, as this was the first in a few steps towards an all-IP future.

As for the idea about mixing DTT and IP ... I'm less confident about that (but have no insight into whether it's being considered). It's incredibly complicated, creates a very confusing customer experience, and has a limited shelf life. Maybe it'll happen, but my guess is probably not. Like I say though - I have no knowledge one way or the other.

[biohazardx9]

No worries. I am happy with my two tuners. Thanks for the updates as always

Unlike sky glass at least bt allows you to record. 

[SRB]

@biohazardx9 

"Box might not have the power to deliver four+ streams down the ethernet or even WiFi."

That should  have been thought about at the design stage though - why release the box with the capability of recording four channels and then "update" it to recording only 2? Nobody could seriously look at that on paper and think "That's a brilliant plan".  I appreciate the two EPGs with a different channel numbering system (IP v Freeview) would have been an issue, but not one that couldn't be solved.  The whole roll out reminds me of the last version of the BT Vision boxes software.

[SoupDragon57]

@DarrenDev To be honest, with all the catch-up services available (e.g. Now TV app, iPlayer etc, we're using multiple recordings much less. Even single recordings are reducing. With 900Mbps, I could handle the multiple recordings, but I don't need to. 

For me, if we could get more channels on the all-IP basis, that works be great. Picture quality is so much better, even (and especially) in SD. Shows how bad the compression is with terrestrial and satellite.

If we could also tag the surround sound format correctly, that would be even better (but that's another thread!)

[ozsat]

The big loss for me using IP is Talking Pictures.  The Freeview picture was far better than the one Sky put out.

Talking Pictures is not on Sky's or Virgin's IP service either.