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july 2007

BT Vision V-box

Freesat Freeview euro tv skyThe best kit, The best programmes

2 What Satellite & Digital TV

FeaturesProduct: BT VisionPrice: Free to BT Total Broadband subscribers (£90 installation charge)Hard disc size: 160GBEPG support: 7-daySoftware upgrade: Via broadband connectionAV outputs: HDMI, 2 Scart, optical digital audio, S-video, stereo phono, aerialData ports: Ethernet, uSB, phone lineHD output modes: 720p, 1080i (EPG only)Dolby Digital: yesTel: 0800 917 7610Website: www.btvision.bt.com

BT VisionBT wants to be the main player in the upcoming IPTV goldrush, but is its debut Freeview/broadband PVR ready for primetime?

The BT Vision V-box is the UK’s first IPTV solution to receive heavy mainstream promotion. Britain’s favourite telco is spending millions on TV and

print advertising to secure a slice of tomorrow’s consumer electronics pie. In many ways it’s a huge gamble for BT, as the living room tech market is a world apart from its traditional ground of broadband supply and telephony.

So is its debut digital recorder a worthwhile competitor to Sky’s fleet of Digiboxes and the Virgin Media V+ service – or just another puffed-up PVR with delusions of grandeur?

The V-box itself is a 160GB PVR able to record around 80 hours of standard-definition programming. It’s only available to BT Total Broadband customers and, while free of charge, must be installed by a BT engineer at a cost of £90 (this comprises a call-out fee of £60 and a connection charge of £30). A self-install version is due later this year, but the connection charge will still apply. BT insists that the box be used with its HomeHub wi-fi router, connected via Ethernet. However, there’s no reason why the unit cannot be run from a LAN, or perhaps communicating with the Hub or other BT router in another room via a Powerline

The hi-def EPG is one of BT Vision’s strong points, as it gives an abundance of search options

Music concerts cost £1.99 and they may be re-watched over a 24-hour period

New films typically cost £2.99 for a 24-hour rental, although oldies movies are free

n www.btvision.bt.com n 0800 917 7610 n Free to BT Total Broadband subscribers (£90 installation charge

connection. The Freeview content of the basic proposition is, predictably, free, while material from the VoD menu is charged on a per programme basis. TV shows typically cost a couple of quid to stream and movies a bit more.

Made by Thomson (builder of the much-lamented UK TiVo as well as the bulk of Sky’s digital recorders), the V box is slim and compact. In use, it’s also quiet; the hard drive gives an initial ‘whoosh’ before calming down. A pull-down flap reveals a CI card slot for Top Up TV and there’s a non-functioning USB slot. Rear connectivity comprises HDMI (even though the unit is currently SD only), two Scarts, an optical digital audio, stereo phonos, S-video and aerial loopthrough. There’s also a phone line input, more inactive USB slots and an Ethernet jack. The remote handset is substantial and pleasing to use. The box itself, however, often isn’t.

Navigation and usabilityOn the bright side, the BT Vision EPG (published by Future, the owner of What Satellite & Digital TV) built around a Microsoft Windows CE IPTV backend, is rather good. It’s

What Satellite & Digital TV 3

The OppositionSky+HDn Bullet-proof operation, 160GB usable space; Sky Anytime may be useless but the mixture of HD and SD programmes make it our top choice for content and performance

Virgin V+n Versatile PVR let down by Virgin’s current content offerings. limited HD material

Top Up TV Anytimen 160GB PVR, mediocre pay-TV content choice, but easy enough to use

more sophisticated than the familiar Sky EPG and has a host of visual flourishes that look very smart. Comparing Sky+ with BT Vision from an aesthetic point of view is like comparing Windows ME with Vista.

There’s a navigational top bar to access all the main features of the service (TV Listings, On Demand, Recordings, Interactive), which fold down to more options. Go into the VoD menus and movies ‘n’ TV shows are represented with thumbnails. Menus fade from one to another with a Noel Edmonds slickness. Also hidden among the menus are a searchable (free-of-charge) online phone book and some simple games. Two channels can be recorded at once, there’s a series-link option much like Sky+, and chasing playback is possible.

Unfortunately, we have to report that the box just isn’t stable at the moment. We found erratic behaviour and incomprehensible error messages common. Like BT’s Home Hub, the unit seems to need a couple of days to settle before its stops being cranky. But even after that it doesn’t take much to trip the box up. Try to speed around the EPG and the box locks up and becomes unresponsive. The only way to avoid these freezes is to operate the unit slowly with measured button presses separated by respectful pauses. It doesn’t feel particularly responsive.

These are not terminal problems, though. Having the V-box permanently online means that it will be simple for BT to update the firmware. Indeed, we’re told that a major update is planned for later this year (probably just before the self-install version of the box becomes available). This will fix known problems with the box, says a BT spokesman. Until then, users will have to live with its cranky disposition.

UHF input and output with wideband modulator

HDMI output (no HD shows as yet)

Phone socket

S-video output TV Scart with RGB/S-video/composite

RatingPLUSn Good integration of Freeview and broadband content n Stylish EPG n Nice remote

MinUSn Inherently unstable and prone to error messages n Expensive VoD offerings n SD onlyBUiLD hhhhhhhhhh

SETUP hhhhhhhhhh

SEARCHinG hhhhhhhhhh

PERFORMAnCE hhhhhhhhhh

FEATURES hhhhhhhhhh

VALUE hhhhhhhhhh

Verdict

53%

‘The box isn’t stable... We found erratic behaviour and incomprehensible error messages common’

PerformanceAs a PVR, the V-box performs well enough. AV quality is much like that of any other Freeview box and recordings are transparent to the original source. Streamed VoD material is a drop down in quality, but not significantly so. The differences were obvious on our 50in screen, but smaller TVs will reveal less obvious drops in resolution. The smoothness of the picture is determined by your line speed. BT recommends a minimum line speed of 2Mb. Our (up to 8Mb) connection was just over 3Mb and was fine.

Even though the box has an HDMI output, all available programme material is standard definition. BT hints that in future it could use the service to deliver high definition, but this is something of a red herring. BT will need to significantly increase the average speed of its broadband connection for this to be a viable option for most of its customers, and that’s not going to happen anytime soon.

To help record programmes, there’s a search-by-title function. This quickly becomes the default way of locating programmes to record, if only because scrolling days ahead using the seven-day EPG is so tedious (there’s no quick +24 hours/-24 hours button). Perhaps this could be fixed in the next firmware update. There are other improvements we would also like to see added. BT Vision has a habit of chopping off the end of programmes, so a user-definable ‘padding’ system (as offered by TiVo) would be a great boon. Viewers could set a default over-run of one minute, three minutes, five minutes or whatever, to ensure they don’t lose the cliffhanger end to their favourite show.

An easily visible capacity gauge would also be useful, revealing just how much space is left to record with.

VerdictOverall, this first iteration of BT Vision is interesting but flawed. We like the EPG and the Freeview/broadband integration is clever, but software instability can make using the box a frustrating experience. It’s a shame BT couldn’t get it working better before committing to its enormous media push; we can’t help feeling that word of mouth is not going to be that great.

This alone need not put off BT Total Broadband customers from opting to take the service, provided they don’t flinch at the cost of an engineer installation. Others might wish to wait for the next firmware update in the hope that it improves system reliability n Steve May

Optical digital audio output

Ethernet port USB 2.0 ports x2 (+1 on front)

Analogue phonos

Aux Scart with RGB/ S-video passthrough

Power supply