Telewest to launch new TVDrive - HD ready PVR

http://www.pvruk.co.uk/article.cfm?a...es.article=476

Telewest have just made the following press release:

Telewest unveils new PVR and UK's first high definition TV service

Britain's first high definition (HD) TV service is now available to
selected Telewest households, as the cable company today begins
installing its HD-ready personal video recorder (PVR) - called TVDrive
- into the first paying customers' homes.

Over four hundred digital TV customers will have access to free HD
programmes from BBC Worldwide, including Pride, The Blue Planet and
Wild Weather. Movies will also be made available during the commercial
pilot, thanks to Telewest's existing relationship with Filmflex.

The HD programmes are offered via the cable company's TV-on-demand
service, called Teleport - which offers instant access to a huge
library of TV programmes and films - and received via the new TVDrive
box. Once the HD programme has been selected, the viewer has DVD-like
control, with pause, rewind and fast-forward.

Touted as the biggest TV revolution since the advent of colour, HD
programmes have four times as many pixels as standard TV broadcasts,
meaning crystal clear pictures and stunning detail even on larger
plasma and LCD TVs.

The new PVR box will also make recording TV easy, including the ability
to pause live TV and then resume watching from where you left off. With
hard drive storage for around 80 hours of programmes, viewers simply
press one record button to save their favourite shows. There is no need
for bulky video tapes and up to two channels can be recorded whilst
watching a third.

TV Drive is expected to launch nation-wide early next year and will
cost £10 per month for customers taking the company's top digital TV
package, or £15 per month otherwise. Unlike existing PVRs, there are
no large purchasing costs and maintenance is included in the monthly
fee. The box enables viewers to:

· Receive all of Telewest's existing digital TV services
· Easily record and store around 80 hours of standard definition
programmes
· Pause live TV if interrupted, or rewind and re-watch current viewing
· Watch and record programmes in high definition
· Automatically record a TV series, or record by programme category
(eg. kids or soaps)
· Plan viewing and recordings with an eight-day, on-screen programme
guide
· Watch one channel and record up to two others at the same time
· Access Teleport, Telewest's TV-on-demand service, and choose from a
library of additional programmes and movies any time

Eric Tveter, president and chief operating officer of Telewest said:
"Our new PVR is streets ahead; with generous storage, the flexibility
of being able to record up to two channels while watching a third, and
breath-taking HDTV.

"With both TVDrive and Teleport, our customers will have complete
control, freedom and choice with their TV viewing. Combined with HDTV,
it's the ultimate TV experience and leaves the current Sky+ box on the
starting line."

Consumers can now register their interest in TVDrive at
www.telewest.co.uk/tvdrive. For more information about Telewest's
bundle of digital TV, broadband and phone services, or to check
availability, consumers can call 0800 953 5353 or visit
www.telewest.co.uk.

JPG wrote:
http://www.pvruk.co.uk/article.cfm?a...es.article=476

Telewest have just made the following press release:

Telewest unveils new PVR and UK's first high definition TV service

I'd love if now if they could finally get around to finally upgrading to
digital those who are still stuck in a completely analog area --
apparently 3% of the network.

Chris wrote:

I'd love if now if they could finally get around to finally upgrading to
digital those who are still stuck in a completely analog area --
apparently 3% of the network.

Ergh. That'd made even less sense than usual.

I'd love it now if they could finally get around to upgrading to digital
the areas which are still completely analog -- apparently 3% of the network.

Chris wrote:
I'd love it now if they could finally get around to upgrading to digital
the areas which are still completely analog -- apparently 3% of the
network.

Hmmm, NTL affected too. Large swatches of ex-videotron NW London are
still cabled in wet string which handles a very compressed digital cable
service (servre artifacts) and a 128kBits 'broadband' service. NTL is
losing ground to ADSL/Freeview & Sky big time!

--
Adrian C

"Adrian C" wrote in message
...
Chris wrote:
I'd love it now if they could finally get around to upgrading to digital
the areas which are still completely analog -- apparently 3% of the
network.

Hmmm, NTL affected too. Large swatches of ex-videotron NW London are still
cabled in wet string which handles a very compressed digital cable service
(servre artifacts) and a 128kBits 'broadband' service. NTL is losing
ground to ADSL/Freeview & Sky big time!

--
Adrian C

Guess we were lucky in Leeds, where when NTL took over C&W they dug all the
streets up again and replaced the network so it could handle digital


Leigh

Adrian C wrote:


Hmmm, NTL affected too. Large swatches of ex-videotron NW London are
still cabled in wet string which handles a very compressed digital cable
service (servre artifacts) and a 128kBits 'broadband' service. NTL is
losing ground to ADSL/Freeview & Sky big time!

Sounds like you have some digital though! I'm completely analog -- so is
quite a lot of the rest of Liverpool. Can't get digital TV or any form
of cable broadband (not that I'd want the latter). Pretty irritated that
the date of the digital upgrade date has continued to slip (the entire
network was meant to be digital by the middle of this year) but the
*******s are happy rolling out faster 'net, the PVR and VOD to the rest
of the country.

That's at a time when channels are rapidly being removed from analog and
no one in the company seems to have the slightest clue what's happening.

/rant

In article , Adrian C
writes
Chris wrote:
I'd love it now if they could finally get around to upgrading to digital
the areas which are still completely analog -- apparently 3% of the
network.

Hmmm, NTL affected too. Large swatches of ex-videotron NW London are
still cabled in wet string which handles a very compressed digital cable
service (servre artifacts) and a 128kBits 'broadband' service. NTL is
losing ground to ADSL/Freeview & Sky big time!


Not the slight bit surprising now, an outdated and needless distribution
system that was a hangover from problems years ago in America.....
--
Adrian C

--
Tony Sayer

"Chris" wrote in message
...
Chris wrote:
I'd love it now if they could finally get around to upgrading to digital
the areas which are still completely analog -- apparently 3% of the
network.

When I asked earlier this year, they told me that it would all be done by
"early 2006". Strangely, they couldn't tell me when our road was due to be
upgraded, so I gve in and subscribed to ADSL. less than a week after that,
the Telewest vans turned up and switched everyone to digital... Typical.

Adrian