Specifications for Freesat receivers

David wrote:
"Mike" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 3 May 2007 13:26:03 +0000 (UTC), Brian

200 quid box and then a free EPG/PVR for life....... or 100 quid plus
a tenner a month for evermore to Rupert? It's a no brainer!



Where do you get this £10 a month from?

Because Mike is talking about a PVR, Sky+ for FTA/FTV use is 10 quid/month.

--
Mark
Please replace invalid and invalid with gmx and net to reply.

On Thu, 3 May 2007 23:28:18 +0000 (UTC), Brian McIlwrath
wrote:

: The boxes might be, but the total cost of ownership, due to not paying
: an "operating" tax to Murdoch, will be much less.

: 200 quid box and then a free EPG/PVR for life....... or 100 quid plus
: a tenner a month for evermore to Rupert? It's a no brainer!

*BUT* if the Freeset PVR costs 400 pounds and then Sky drop the "tax"
to compete ... what happens???

It won't. Freeview PVRs can be obtained now for £100-£200, and
satellite receivers appear to be in the same price bracket so a
combined satellite/PVR box would cost about the same, and if everybody
wants one, competition between manufacturers will have the usual
effect.

In any case, the argument for a one-off payment versus regular
subscription payments is still the same. The only thing that varies is
the price-break point, and it would need to be something like ten
years instead of one or two to make subscription look worthwhile to
anybody who cares to work it out.

Rod.

On Thu, 3 May 2007 23:28:18 +0000 (UTC), Brian McIlwrath
wrote:

Mike wrote:

: The boxes might be, but the total cost of ownership, due to not paying
: an "operating" tax to Murdoch, will be much less.

: 200 quid box and then a free EPG/PVR for life....... or 100 quid plus
: a tenner a month for evermore to Rupert? It's a no brainer!

*BUT* if the Freeset PVR costs 400 pounds and then Sky drop the "tax"
to compete ... what happens???

There is no way a Freesat PVR will cost 400 pounds. A target price of
half that is IMHO much more realistic - even better bring it down to
the price that OnDigital 'outright purchase' boxes were in 1998 (£169
iirc)

A key driver to acceptance of technology is IMHO to get the setup and
everyday user interface *hugely simplified* as many, particularly the
older generation find it close to impossible to setup and use most
PVR's / Sky boxes etc.

Also ensure there is an RF as well as a SCART output, a range of dish
colours that blend in with differing building materials so that the
'ugly sink estate wok on the wall' is almost invisible and employ a
very good industrial designer so that the box won't look out of place
in varying room designs - possibly with interchangeable customisable
fronts/cases. Not everyone wants a sleek black/silver/white box
festooned with flashing lights and a display unreadable across the
room. A solid wood case for instance - even if it were 50 quid more
would ensure sales in some untouched and major sectors.

Also some considerable effort should be made to get the box software
right first time - it's not impossible, it just takes a proper
specification, competent management and an engineering team that has a
clue - although assembling that group of people might be much more
difficult these days when basic maths has to be taught to 1st year
university undergraduates and management is of the calibre of failed
'apprentice' candidates.

I'm sure that if Sky weren't so greedy with regard to both viewers and
programme suppliers, had a very flexible approach to channel/package
selection, didn't tie the conditional access card to one receiver and
didn't cripple the PVR for the sake of a tenner a month then they
might have cleared up almost the entire market years ago - by that I
mean achieving 50-70% penetration. As it is they are not even
considered, nor will they be by many potential customers - but that
might be nothing to do with the technology but solely due to the fact
the evil ******* Murdoch is involved.


--

In article ,
Mike wrote:
On Thu, 3 May 2007 23:28:18 +0000 (UTC), Brian McIlwrath


[Snip]

Also ensure there is an RF as well as a SCART output, a range of dish
colours that blend in with differing building materials so that the
'ugly sink estate wok on the wall' is almost invisible

I can't see that as a practicable possibility. There are simply too many
colours of walls about. People should be encouraged to paint their own
dish, as I did. I took a sample of the wall colour and got a spray paint
made to match.

--
From KT24 - in "Leafy Surrey"

Using a RISC OS computer running v5.11

charles wrote:
|| In article ,
|| Mike wrote:
||| On Thu, 3 May 2007 23:28:18 +0000 (UTC), Brian McIlwrath
|||
||
|| [Snip]
||
||| Also ensure there is an RF as well as a SCART output, a range of
||| dish colours that blend in with differing building materials so
||| that the 'ugly sink estate wok on the wall' is almost invisible
||
|| I can't see that as a practicable possibility. There are simply too
|| many colours of walls about. People should be encouraged to paint
|| their own dish, as I did. I took a sample of the wall colour and
|| got a spray paint made to match.
||


However, even the choice of a white dish would be a huge bonus, after all
Charles look around you, how many houses do you see with white and
light-coloured walls, and how many with black and grey ones?


|| --
|| From KT24 - in "Leafy Surrey"
||
|| Using a RISC OS computer running v5.11

On Fri, 04 May 2007 13:33:52 +0100, charles
wrote:

Also ensure there is an RF as well as a SCART output, a range of dish
colours that blend in with differing building materials so that the
'ugly sink estate wok on the wall' is almost invisible

I can't see that as a practicable possibility. There are simply too many
colours of walls about. People should be encouraged to paint their own
dish, as I did. I took a sample of the wall colour and got a spray paint
made to match.

If Ikea sold them it wouldn't be a problem, at all. They seem to be
able to offer many of their items in a selection of colours. Car
manufacturers manage it with cars. Clothing and shoe shops manage it
with their products. Why not satellite dishes?

Rod.

In article ,
Roderick Stewart wrote:
On Fri, 04 May 2007 13:33:52 +0100, charles
wrote:

Also ensure there is an RF as well as a SCART output, a range of dish
colours that blend in with differing building materials so that the
'ugly sink estate wok on the wall' is almost invisible

I can't see that as a practicable possibility. There are simply too many
colours of walls about. People should be encouraged to paint their own
dish, as I did. I took a sample of the wall colour and got a spray paint
made to match.

If Ikea sold them it wouldn't be a problem, at all. They seem to be
able to offer many of their items in a selection of colours. Car
manufacturers manage it with cars.

I don't think anyone tries to match the colour of their car to the colour
of their house. Yes, there could easily be a selection of a dozen, or so,
colours, but you wanted them to blend in with the wall colour which would
mean hundreds of different colours.


Clothing and shoe shops manage it with their products. Why not satellite
dishes?

Actually with shoes, it's often a matter of buying a suitable dye. Just
what I was suggesting with dishes.

Rod.

--
From KT24 - in "Leafy Surrey"

Using a RISC OS computer running v5.11

Brian McIlwrath wrote:
Michael Chare wrote:

: The BBC estimate a maximum of 0.5m viewers by 2012 if there is only an SD
: service, but a maximum of 2.5m if an HD service is launched.

: i.e. they expect that the main reason that people will adopt Freesat will be
: to get the HD service.

This may well be true! However by 2012 there will also be a couple of
generations of second-hand Sky-HD STBs. It will depend on how much these
Freesat PVRs retail for (and to have installed) - and what Sky might do
about the cost (and more importantly the Sky+/HD subscription) before then!

Why is everyone ignoring people that already have a dish either because
they are former sky subscribers or because they moved into a house of
former sky subs.

Even a current sky subscriber on the basic SD package may be tempted to
get a Freesat HD system given they have spent several hundred on their
HD display.

"Michael Chare" wrote:
Presumably in the future non Sky STBs will have some sort of Freesat logo to
show that they are fully compatible (i.e. support all the functions) with
the BBC/ITV etc Freesat transmsions.

It would be best if that logo is the three letters DVB!

Free Sat FAQ: http://mjr.towers.org.uk/blog/2006/astefaq

I could not get the above link to work!

Works for me. Can you contact me by email with times and IPs, please?

That FAQ is also posted to alt.satellite.tv.europe when it changes.
--
MJ Ray - see/vidu http://mjr.towers.org.uk/email.html
Free Sat FAQ: http://mjr.towers.org.uk/blog/2006/astefaq
Webmaster/web developer, statistician, sysadmin, online shop maker,
Workers co-op @ Weston-super-Mare, Somerset http://www.ttllp.co.uk/

"Michael Chare" wrote:
"Brian McIlwrath" wrote: [...]
I predict that 10% of satellite viewers will end up watching on "Freesat"
receivers.

The BBC estimate a maximum of 0.5m viewers by 2012 if there is only an SD
service, but a maximum of 2.5m if an HD service is launched.

Where do those numbers come from? Does the BBC assume that there are no
Freesat-ready boxes at present? (Worrying, as it would suggest Freesat
may not be standards-based.)
--
MJ Ray - see/vidu http://mjr.towers.org.uk/email.html
Free Sat FAQ: http://mjr.towers.org.uk/blog/2006/astefaq
Webmaster/web developer, statistician, sysadmin, online shop maker,
Workers co-op @ Weston-super-Mare, Somerset http://www.ttllp.co.uk/