This blog hears that UPC -- the company which owns NTL and Chorus -- has set an Autumn date for the launch of a HDTV service. But is anyone interested?
Figures from Sky, which has been selling SkyHD for close to two years, are hard to get. But I'd say they're tiny (under 5 per cent of its 513,000 subscribers). Is this because of the massive price-tag on HD (€450 installation plus €15 extra per month)? Or is that there's hardly anything available on HD, with the main Irish and British broadcasters showing no inclination to change this?
It seems that most people's image association with HD is films that cost €37.99 in HMV. And this, despite the fact that 90 per cent of the tellies sold in Ireland now are HD-compatible.
So far, HD is a flop in Ireland.
This is interesting. Like a lot of people, I've heard countless stories over the past few months about a "box" that "this guy I know sells and installs" which "gives you all the pay TV channels" for free (once you have subscribed to NTL's basic service). They call them Dreamboxes, Starviews and Nokia D-Boxes.
This guy seems to sell and install them for €250, though I've heard cheaper.
On Monday, there were reports in the papers and online of a company called Aertec that was successfully sued for €40,000 by Sky for providing hotels (including the Mercer Group) with Sky TV access for nothing. But is buying one actually illegal for a punter?
Am (tearfully) returning one of the best products I've ever reviewed, Samsung's 40 inch LCD TV (model 40R82). For this money (€1,300 in Power City), it's the best large-screen TV on the market, hands down.
Seems like Blu-Ray is edging ahead of HD-DVD in the war of the high definition film formats. Today's Financial Times (subscription required) reports that Blockbuster Video (which owns Xtravision) has increased the number of stores renting Blu-Ray titles to almost 2,000 while restricting the number of stores with HD-DVD titles to 275.
Here, Xtravision rents Blu-Ray titles (for €5.25 a night), but where are the HD-DVD movies?
My view is that Blu-Ray will increase its advantage because every Playstation 3 console sold has a full-on Blu-Ray player on board. To play HD-DVD titles, you need an Xbox 360 plus a €200 player add-on, which most people probably won't buy.
Buying a box set of Yes, Minister today in Santry's Omniplex shopping centre, Golden Discs' credit card machine had difficulty connecting to the server. The sales clerk apologised and promptly gave me €5 off the price of €40 for having to pay in cash. That's what I call customer service. I'll be going back there.
Seems like there's an even cheaper 32 inch HD-Ready TV in our midst. Step forward Aldi's Tevion model, on sale this Thursday. Some of the specs on it are a little lower than bigger brand models (7 watt speakers instead of 10 or 15 watts and a lower brightness level) but the core specs are fine. €650 seems to be the new benchmark in budget HDTVs...
Confused about HD-Ready TV? Here's a guide I've wriiten for novices, with references to some of the (32-inch) models currently on the Irish market. In the budget category, I like the Mirai DTL (€800 in Xtravision). In the mid-range, Samsung's 32 inch model (€1,130-€1,200) is what I'd go for.
What happens when you've bought an apartment in a block which has an 'exclusive' TV supply deal with a company you didn't want? Worse, when the TV picture freezes and pixellates every 15 minutes? That's the situation facing angry residents in one new apartment development in Finglas, Prospect Hill. The developer signed a monopoly provision deal with Smart Telecom. But residents aren't exactly chuffed with the service and have been complaining in their droves.
Tough luck, though -- they're stuck with them. NTL? They're not 'allowed' lay cable into the property. Sky dishes? Not 'allowed' on the balconies.
One curious by-product of these local monopoly deals -- and it's also the likes of Magnet and NTL which are signing them -- is the gradual dissolution of Eircom's universal service obligation (USO). If a developer signs a monopoly deal with a rival telecoms company, and Eircom 'isn't allowed' on the premises, where does that leave the consumer's USO rights? This affects thousands of people in the greater Dublin area.
