Telewest/NTL HD Interview - What should we ask?

[Nick F]

I have managed to sort out an interview with someone from Telewest regarding their future plans for high definition viewing.

Anyone got any questions they want asking?

Cheers




Update - May 19

The interview is now live!

Check it out here and let us know your views on Mark's comments and how any of them affect you.

Enjoy!

[Skinleech]

A rough idea of a rollout date for NTl customers, whether it will takwe the same format as TV Drive, pricing, and also why the dropped 264 content over mpeg2 (or so I heard) seeing as mpeg2 is less efficient bitrate/bandwith wise.

Sorry for rushed questions, doing this at work, and about to leave for the day.

Cheers.

[Steve A]

Why is it nessesary to charge people extra for HD, surely if you offer it for the same price then you would get more custom, if it actually cost's you more to send HD signal then why is that ??

Hope that makes sense

[Dav0s]

what sort of support will still be offered for those without the HD drives, will support for older boxes be filtered out?

[mull]

Few things:

- Cost structure; some American companies are doing HD boxen free with a sub, will they take this line, or charge 300 for it like Sky? Cheaper monthly rate than Sky?

- Any cablecard or similar support? Vista is out in January and then every new PC (home pro plus version, or whatever it is) will be able to record these encrypted streams; do they plan to support this usage? Maybe in partnership with a PC supplier or something?

- Resolutions, etc; same as Sky? 1080i only?

- (Unlikely to get a non-marketing response, I would think) Will Telewest's levels of customer service be taking a nosedive to match NTL?

- What daft marketing stunt involving Branson and his beard are they planning to do for the Viirgin announcement? Any timetable fo the new brand's launch?

[nvening]

I second resolutions, and if 1080i wtf, sky is wrong enough...

content?

how much it would cost for me to get HD and 10meg bb?

[Nick F]

Cheers, anyone else. I need questions by close of play tomorrow.

[jimborae]

Any truth in the rumours that NTL HD will launch in time for the World Cup? (Doubtful considering how close we are now.)

When NTL HD finally launches will we get to use the same unreliable piece of technology that Telewest have i.e. the craptacular TVDrive?

Will customer support improve to match the improved picture quality?

Will the HD boxes support HD format over DVI & component connections?

Why are NTL bringing out new cable services (i.e. HDTV) when they can't sort out problems with their existing services? e.g. diabolical customer support, billing issues, poor internet service in certain regions of the UK, stb that refuse to work, engineers that don't know their arse from their elbow and then NTL has the cheek to start charging for support calls

[Nick F]

Last chance people, questions going off today at 5:30

[Skinleech]

When can we expect to see the responses shown?

Cheers

[Nick F]

When can we expect to see the responses shown?

Cheers

questions now gone off, expect a front page article tomorrow

[cjs150]

Being a Telewest customer I can state that their normal box is utter cr*p if you get 12 months out of one without it blowing up you are doing well (I am on the third in the last 12 months) and when they replace the box, it will be with a "re-conditioned" one - ie one that has already blown up once before. I have no confidence with the HD box, which is a shame because I would like to have it. Also having a fully wired house if I can not download saved programs onto my file server and watch elsewhere it is useless to me.

Telewest need to actually think about what is going to happen over the next 5 years for tech savvy customers. I will have a quiet PC in the living room and will want to downloan HD streams onto it not using some pile of cr*p that Telewest deign to supply to me as a set top box

[mb2251]

Obviously I am too late to get this answered by the head honcho but does anyone know if NTLTelewest will ever offer a HD ready STB without the PVR facilties.

I for one would welcome this as it would possiby be free to use and I personally dont like how the TVDrive is shaping up (with its numerous bugs and 'features')

[Nick F]

Obviously I am too late to get this answered by the head honcho but does anyone know if NTLTelewest will ever offer a HD ready STB without the PVR facilties.

I for one would welcome this as it would possiby be free to use and I personally dont like how the TVDrive is shaping up (with its numerous bugs and 'features')

I very much doubt they will offer a HD box without PVR capabilities. It would be stupid not to really because Sky are doing it.

[zag2me]

I'm sorry but NTL has missed a huge oportunity here(telewest have the right idea but the wrong codec)

Pathetic they couldnt get NTL HD ready for the world cup, incompetence beyond belief.

The guy also doesnt seem to understand the massive market there will be for Home theatre computers and cablecard support in the future. Not being able to use a good quality cable connection to an MCE box is annoying to say the least.

NTL are the worst company I have ever had the pleasure of dealing with. There technology is sound, but customer services and Accounting departments are so bad. The only reason I'm staying with them is they are still mistakenly charging me 24.99 for 10mbit internet.

So many people have dropped NTL for skyHD they really did miss the boat on this one.

[toolsong]

The guy also doesnt seem to understand the massive market there will be for Home theatre computers and cablecard support in the future. Not being able to use a good quality cable connection to an MCE box is annoying to say the least.

Dead right!

What gives with the contradictory responses to these two questions? Are you paying for the content or a TIVO?

HEXUS: Why is it necessary to charge people extra for HD, surely if you offer it for the same price as the usual services you would get more custom?

MH: The extra £10-15 that Telewest customers pay [each month] for the new TVDrive box reflects the fact that this is a new personal video recorder with HD capability. We don’t charge for the box itself, even though a new box is a significant cost to us. Compared with the £300 Sky charge for their HD box, we think it’s a great deal. TVDrive has a number of notable functions, such as an eight-day EPG, 160GB storage, three tuners and the usual functionality you would expect from a PVR, such as the ability to pause live TV.

HEXUS: How do you view your position in the HD market compared to Sky?

MH: We were the first platform to launch an HD service and we will be the only commercial platform showing all the World Cup matches in HD. TVDrive is a superior spec to Sky’s new HD Sky+ box - with three tuners versus two and an eight-day electronic programmed guide. It’s also better value for money with no up-front fees and costs just £10-£15 extra a month.