topic Re: New to EE TV - a few issues in TV

New to EE TV - a few issues

imacken — Tue, 13 Aug 2024 07:52:16 GMT

I am trialling EE TV with a view to ending my 23 year relationship with Sky, and I can't say I'm too impressed so far.

Now, some of these may be fixable, and if so, any help appreciated.

1) Can't easily skip adverts on ITV recordings, although I realise this can be avoided if I use the box in hybrid aerial/internet mode.

2) on the iPhone/iPad app, there does not seem to be a way of watching channels like BBC1, Sky Sports, etc.

3) can't watch recordings on the app, or make them.

4) the mini-box seems to be a standalone device with no connection to main box, so no access to recordings etc.

5) the 'What's On now' live TV bar only highlights SD channels, so seems like a waste of time.

6) only seem to get surround sound from Sky channels, not on BBC1, etc.

7) if I select a programme to 'series record', all versions of the programme, e.g. on +1 channels, get recorded.

Any help or comments on this would be appreciate. At the moment, I am thinking of returning to Sky.

Re: New to EE TV - a few issues

DarrenDev — Tue, 13 Aug 2024 13:05:34 GMT

This is a requirement from ITV, and there is no workaround.
We're not allowed to offer those channels on any other platform.
You can schedule recordings from the app - pair the app with your TV Box Pro (you need to be at home to set this up), and then select the record icon on programmes from the TV Guide (you can do this from anywhere). This will take a few minutes to reach your TV Box, so be sure to do it in advance of the programme starting.
Correct. We're not allowed to share recordings with any other device.
Agreed. We have a feature request with YouView to improve it.
Surround sound is available on channels when they broadcast it. - not all programmes offer it.
This is up to the broadcasters to decide how this works - if they use the same series ID across all channels, then the box will pick them up. This is generally desirable - e.g. when EastEnders is moved to BBC 2 due to a football match on BBC 1. It shouldn't record the same episode more than once though - it'll only record the programme from the +1 channel if the regular recording failed or is incomplete.

Re: New to EE TV - a few issues

Midnight_Voice — Tue, 13 Aug 2024 13:45:26 GMT

@imacken

Comments in italics.

“I am trialling EE TV with a view to ending my 23 year relationship with Sky, and I can't say I'm too impressed so far.

Now, some of these may be fixable, and if so, any help appreciated.

1) Can't easily skip adverts on ITV recordings, although I realise this can be avoided if I use the box in hybrid aerial/internet mode.

This is a requirement that ITV have placed on recording their channels over IPTV. They can’t enforce it on Freeview, though perhaps they would like to.

2) on the iPhone/iPad app, there does not seem to be a way of watching channels like BBC1, Sky Sports, etc.

On the iPhone/iPad you have the BBC iPlayer and Now apps that you can watch these things on. Even with Deep Linking, implemented in the EPG of the Pro box, the relevant channel’s Player is called to play the programme.

3) can't watch recordings on the app, or make them.

You can’t watch them, true; but if you pair the app with your Pro box, you can make them, by setting them up remotely, programme or series, to be recorded on your Pro box.

4) the mini-box seems to be a standalone device with no connection to main box, so no access to recordings etc.

Yes. Such access is technically possible, but again, the broadcasters won’t permit it.

5) the 'What's On now' live TV bar only highlights SD channels, so seems like a waste of time.

Yes, a long-standing gripe. On BBC One and 5, though, you can press Info, and get the option to watch in HD. Not on itv or Channel Four though, it seems.

6) only seem to get surround sound from Sky channels, not on BBC1, etc.

Do you get surround from these channels over Sky? The broadcaster has to provide it for you to get it.

7) if I select a programme to 'series record', all versions of the programme, e.g. on +1 channels, get recorded.

That shouldn’t happen. The box should only record one copy of a given programme, though if the recording fails on the main channel, the box will attempt to record a later version, likely from a +1 channel.

However, it does absolutely rely on the broadcasters getting the CRIDs (Content Reference IDentifiers) correct.

There’s a Series CRID and a Programme CRID. When you record a Series, you are telling the box, ‘Please record anything with this Series CRID’ which it will do across all channels. And it has no idea of programme names, or anything we might identify them by. But once it finds a programme with that Series CRID, and successfully records it, it makes a note of the Programme CRID, and doesn’t record any further copies of that Series/Programme, which is how it ought to know to skip +1s.

Two ways this can go wrong; firstly, if it makes a successful recording but doesn’t think it has, then it will get the +1 as well. Secondly, if the broadcaster has erroneously given the +1 a different Programme CRID for the main broadcast.

If you are getting examples of this, then we need to know which programme, and the channels and times of each recording.

Any help or comments on this would be appreciated. At the moment, I am thinking of returning to Sky.”

Re: New to EE TV - a few issues

imacken — Tue, 13 Aug 2024 15:26:40 GMT

I appreciate your reply. However, that all seems to confirm that the EE TV service is vastly inferior to the Sky service.

So may restrictions and poor implementations that I find surprising for a premium priced service.

The EE TV app is effectively useless given all it's restrictions. No comparison with Sky Go.

Re: New to EE TV - a few issues

DarrenDev — Tue, 13 Aug 2024 16:01:03 GMT

You won't see any comparisons on any of our web sites directly comparing our TV service to competitors. We don't claim to be the best - see https://ee.co.uk/tv for reasons to choose EE TV. If the features you've mentioned are important to you then you're better off sticking where you are.

Re: New to EE TV - a few issues

Weerab2024 — Tue, 13 Aug 2024 17:51:49 GMT

With regards to the what's on now list feature that's with Youview, will that do what CLM does for Freeview replacing channel 1 with BBC1 HD etc?

Re: New to EE TV - a few issues

DarrenDev — Tue, 13 Aug 2024 17:58:15 GMT

There's no agreement on what it'll do yet (or if they'll ever change it).

Re: New to EE TV - a few issues

Weerab2024 — Tue, 13 Aug 2024 18:01:57 GMT

No problem @DarrenDev I know the drill, been a customer long enough lol

Re: New to EE TV - a few issues

imacken — Tue, 13 Aug 2024 18:43:32 GMT

The weird thing is that on the mini box, the channels show as HD on that list. Also, pressing 1 brings on BBC 1 HD (101).
I guess that is the difference between using internet channels only and an aerial/internet hybrid.

Re: New to EE TV - a few issues

DarrenDev — Tue, 13 Aug 2024 18:48:23 GMT

Correct - internet mode only has 1 version of each channel. Either SD or HD, and no +1 channels.

Re: New to EE TV - a few issues

Midnight_Voice — Tue, 13 Aug 2024 18:53:26 GMT

@imacken

Do we think that if you run your Pro box in IP mode, it will do the same?

=====================================

Crone: Yes, we can!

Macbeth: I hear you can tell the future?

(ISIRTA parody of the Scottish Play).

Re: New to EE TV - a few issues

imacken — Tue, 13 Aug 2024 19:11:56 GMT

I could give it a go, but doing a factory reset would be a bit of a pain with losing all recordings, logins etc.

Re: New to EE TV - a few issues

Weerab2024 — Tue, 13 Aug 2024 19:18:36 GMT

In IP mode on the pro box it does revert to BBC1HD by default, as expected

Re: New to EE TV - a few issues

imacken — Tue, 13 Aug 2024 19:41:07 GMT

Good news!

Down side is no skipping ads on ITV.

Re: New to EE TV - a few issues

imacken — Thu, 15 Aug 2024 17:44:58 GMT

Just going back to point 6), I am confused.

When I view BBC1 etc. there is no sound from my surround channels. Every Sky channel - movies, sport, entertainment, etc. - has sound coming from the surround channels.

Now, I appreciate that channels don't always broadcast in surround, but on Sky Q, any stereo channel was processed as Dolby PL by my receiver to produce pseudo surround. This isn't happening on EE TV.

Another weird thing is that even if a programme is listed as 5.1, I only get stereo if I am watching 'on-demand', whereas if I record the same programme on the Live Channel Guide, I get surround sound.

Any advice appreciated.

Re: New to EE TV - a few issues

Midnight_Voice — Thu, 15 Aug 2024 18:41:19 GMT

@imacken

The BBC iPlayer, perhaps inexplicably, broadcasts only in stereo at present.

What do you mean by ‘your receiver’? Is this a separate box, an AV receiver possibly, that takes it on itself to turn a stereo signal into a pseudo-surround one?

In which case, one conjecture is that you have your Pro box set to output surround, and that it outputs stereo as the L and R of a 5.1 L,C,R,LR,RR.SW signal with the other channels silent, and your receiver faithfully reproduces that as a genuine surround signal. Try setting the Pro box to Stereo, as an experiment, and see if this will restore your pseudo-surround.

In this case, of course, shame about genuine surround.

But my LG GX soundbar has a head-spinning two pages of what you get with various signals and various settings on the soundbar, and it’s possible to get genuine surround when there is genuine surround, with pseudo-surround when there isn’t; or to get exactly what is being sent, whatever it is.

Re: New to EE TV - a few issues

imacken — Thu, 15 Aug 2024 19:50:47 GMT

Thanks for that.

Yes, I mean an AV Receiver, and yes, you are right that on EE TV it takes a stereo signal and outputs to only L and R. I tried setting to Stereo from Surround, and that made no difference.

Looking into this further, it would seem to be the Freeview channels that are output in stereo only. Any Sky Channels - entertainment, sport or movies - are output to all 5.1 channels even the stereo ones.

On Sky Q, all channels were automatically output to DPL (if stereo) and DD5.1 if surround.

I'm still confused as to why watching on demand, e.g. a Sky movie, is in stereo even though it is showing as 5.1, yet, the same film/programme, if recorded from the Live Channel Guide is in 5.1.

Re: New to EE TV - a few issues

imacken — Sat, 17 Aug 2024 23:17:47 GMT

Can anyone shed any light on my comments above, particularly the last one?

Thanks.

Re: New to EE TV - a few issues

Midnight_Voice — Sun, 18 Aug 2024 08:22:45 GMT

@imacken

I can’t, because it isn’t clear what exactly you are doing. Also, because I now have Ultraboost, so I’m a bit ahead of you.

On Demand, I imagine, must be coming from the Now app on the Pro box, though that may not necessarily be the case.

And recording from the Live Channel Guide must, I guess, be from the extra channels in the EPG of the Pro box.

But I don’t know if you have Now Boost or not; maybe you have said above, I’ll check. If you don’t have Now Boost, then you won’t get HD or 5.1, but I wouldn’t except it to say the movie is in 5.1 (though maybe it doesn’t say it on screen, and you just read it somewhere?) Or maybe you have Boost, but haven’t activated 5.1 in the Now app Settings? As you seem to be getting 5.1 on the Live Channels?

But all I can say is that I’ve been playing House of the Dragon through my surround system, and it says it’s Dolby Atmos, and my soundbar says it’s Dolby Atmos.

So exactly what movie, played exactly how, with what Settings in the Now app, shows 5.1 where, but is reported as stereo where, and does that agree with what your ears say about what’s coming out of your speakers?

I am happy to try to reproduce your issue with an HD/5.1 presentation of a Now movie by using the Now app on my T4000, or on a Box Mini, but obviously I’d like to be sure that I will be most closely replicating what you are actually doing.

Re: New to EE TV - a few issues

imacken — Sun, 18 Aug 2024 08:27:28 GMT

Thanks for that.
I’m afraid there are so many things I am confused by here. All I have done is move from (the easy to understand) Sky service after 22 years to the Full Works package on EE TV.

I don’t know anything about Now, or Boost, or Ultraboost. I use EE TV in the same way as Sky, i.e. I look at the TV guide schedule and press record. Or, I do a search and press record.

I will try some stuff in a while and give you specifics to try yourself. But, afaics, no Freeview channels produce any sound from C, SL or SR speakers. Same with iPlayer and TNT Sport. All Sky channels do, however.

No one from EE has mentioned Boost or Ultraboost to me. How do I find out about that? Also, I have never knowingly used the Now app. Wouldn’t know any login info.