Recordable boxes

[kim7]

Can anyone tell me why EE won't let me have 2 recordable boxes,as I have had (with BT) for years until EE came along.

[Keith_Beddoe]

@kim7 

This is the BT Retail forum.

Try posting on the EE forum https://community.ee.co.uk/

[Midnight_Voice]

@kim7 

We are told BT TV is now EE TV, just a name change, but when you dig, you find there is a variant EE TV, who offer you an Apple box that can’t record, with an EE TV app on it that about does what a Mini box does, and maybe a bit more, but only if you leave BT broadband and adopt EE broadband.

Though we were told that BT broadband was going to become a business/professional service, and consumer broadband was going to be EE. So are BT going to move us all across? No sign of it yet…

But you can still get the Pro box, from BT, and as far as I know from EE, though there it’s either/or with the EE TV Apple box, but not both.

But I don’t know when BT ever supplied two recordable boxes. Yes, you could get a box from BT, and source a second YouView box elsewhere for yourself, and swap the ‘BT TV-ness’ between them at will, though only one at a time could access the BT TV stuff.

Or you could get an Extra Room Minibox from BT TV, for a price, but it couldn’t record. Though if you then swapped in your non-BT TV YouView box for that, it would become a full-blown second recording BT TV box, apparently, though this was something which, perhaps understandably, wasn’t exactly shouted from the rooftops.

But the change from BT TV to EE TV is just a name change (except where it isn’t), but the ‘isn’t’ doesn’t include stopping you having two recordable boxes where you could before.

Unless you know different, BT TV never have supplied customers with two recordable boxes; and the workaround you could do to get a YouView box from elsewhere working as a full-blown second recordable BT TV box still works, I am told.

[kim7]

Thanks for that.

I have definitely had 2 recordable bt tv boxes for years.

1 upstairs and 1 in the living room

[zulu17]

@kim7  BT TV  since   13 December 2019 adopted a loan only approach to boxes supplied with TV packages  and their TV packages included a loan recordable box and if the extra box subscription taken a second non recordable box. They have never specifically provided two recordable boxes as part of their advertised service  although to date substituting your own recordable box for the loaned non recordable box would be possible.

EE have their own conditions (which subject to line speed) for upto 2 extra boxes although their loaned extra boxes would be the non recordable type. (primary box would be either the Box Pro recordable box or the  customised Apple TV device).

[Midnight_Voice]

@Keith_Beddoe 

Thanks for that suggestion.

But have you looked at the name of this board?

[zulu17]

@Midnight_Voice  Keith's direction/suggestion was correct.

as the OP asked why EE  wouldn't allow ,

[Midnight_Voice]

@kim7 

Yes, but were both supplied by BT on one BT TV subscription? And will both, at the same time, allow access to, and recording of, the BT-supplied channels that appear in the EPG from 300 upwards?

I have three recordable YouView boxes in use in three different rooms, two of them BT models, but all were sourced from outside BT TV, and none of them will play, let alone record, the video channels from 300 upwards, as I don’t have, and have never had, BT TV; but all of them can record the terrestrial channels, which amply suffices for my recording needs,

[Midnight_Voice]

@zulu17 @Keith_Beddoe 

Yes, but is that what @kim7 meant?

Does ‘EE came along’ refer to the name change from BT TV to EE TV, or has @kim7 been seriously contemplating a move to EE broadband, and has discovered this limitation?

I understood the mention to be the first of those interpretations, but perhaps I am wrong.

But when someone is asking about EE, in whatever context, on a board whose name begins with EE, and where all sorts of EE-specific questions have previously been asked and answered, and it is suggested they are asking in the wrong Community, then this engenders a confusion that isn’t likely to go away 😢

The root problem seems to be that BT TV has changed its name to EE TV, but it turns out that the EE TV on BT broadband Isn’t the same as the EE TV on EE broadband. It looks like badge engineering has fallen foul of real engineering….

[DarrenDev]

Just to clear up a few points here:

BT has never offered 2 recordable options for BT TV, and it's still not available for EE TV. If you had BT TV before Dec 2019 and then renewed your box afterwards, the previous box would have been yours to keep and a new box would be offered on loan.  Only one box could be used for subscription content at a time.  If you took out a multiroom subscription at the time, a Z4 non-recordable box would have been offered - this is now replaced with the TV Box Mini.

If you have 2 recordable boxes (either through history, or you've bought one separately), there's no restriction on using them - you may be prompted to switch your subscription back and forth between them, depending on what service you have.

BT TV rebranded to EE TV last year.  It was just a rebrand at the time - nothing else changed.  There  have been a few system changes in between, but the service we offer now is still the same EE TV service that was available last year, and it can still be bought on BT Broadband or New EE Broadband.  The TV Box Pro or TV Box Mini that you receive when you order EE TV now is the same box, whether you order it on BT Broadband or EE Broadband.

The only current differences for EE TV are:

If you order on New EE Broadband:

* you also have the option of an Apple TV or TV Box Mini instead of a TV Box Pro

* you can have up to 2 TV Box Minis in addition, at no extra cost

If you order on BT Broadband:

* You can have 1 additional TV Box Mini, but it will cost you monthly

There is currently no push to move customers from BT to EE.  There are incentives (e.g. the faster broadband package, and the free multiroom), but you don't have to change if you don't want to.

You're welcome to discuss  EE TV either on this forum, or the EE forum.  Many of the moderators are active on both.