Freeview Internet TV channels via EE TV Box

[Oldvalues]

Have just joined EE . Prior to joining was told that TV Freeview  Channels were available via Broadband . After installation found this was not the case. Many channels were missing and none of Freeview TV Channels via Internet were available at all. Thought this was due lack Terestial TV arial so had one fitted and sure enough all the missing channels appeared in the EE TV box programme including internet based,  BUT the vast majority of the Internet channel's will not display. Only one that will is Talk TV. Can anyone advisd

[Midnight_Voice]

@DarrenDev 

Well, I’d already set it up in IP Mode, and it spent long enough updating to have fetched the latest version then.

Ive got:- 4.1.162, 0.11,12, 5588, 7214.

I’ll try it again now, aerial plugged in, and report back.

Indeed, no option to choose now 😢

(I liked it better the way I have described)

[Oldvalues]

Afraid don't understand Chris . IP means to me "" Internet Protocol "" and is part IP TCP internet communication structure .

I have a Manhattan Freeview TV Box attached to the Arial output of the EE TV Box and the internet channels work fine on that but ! the EE TV Box only switches to the to the Internet channels via its programme guide fine . Then just displays a blank screen with that Internet Channels Logo and program time line showing as though programme running !  even checked the signal strength which showed as good 

[Midnight_Voice]

@Oldvalues 

So you have an aerial plugged into an EETV box, which means it’s a Box Pro, and then you have another aerial cable coming from that to the Manhattan. Aand then maybe another aerial cable from the Manhattan to the TV, or maybe not?

What is/was your activation date for EE broadband and EETV? If you haven’t reached that yet, you need to wait for that activation.

And it sounds like you set your Box Pro up with no aerial connected; try Settings/Factory Reset to set it up now you have an aerial going into it, and you should get all the Freeview channels, even before your activation date.

If the above isn’t an accurate description of how everything is connected, please give us one.

[SwannyD2]

Regrettably, the clarification provided by EE regarding ‘Freeview’ and its actual meaning is highly ambiguous.

Firstly, HbbTV is the industry standard. YouView and its partners, including EE, collaborated with the DTG to develop it. They literally authored the ‘D Book’ for its implementation. When Arqiva acquired YouView, there was a concerted effort to include a workaround for some IP channels to be made accessible. This was clearly in the interest of Arqiva, as they had a stake in launching IP access on their multiplexes.

Since their departure from YouView in 2021, HbbTV has experienced significant growth. However, they have refrained from incorporating the open standard they were initially eager to establish.

Consequently, Everyone TV (the name for Freeview and Freesat’s partnership, which still includes Arqiva) has shifted its focus to Freeview Play and Freely.

What does this all imply? Despite the continued proliferation of hybrid channels on Freeview and the widespread adoption of ‘Freeview’ branded boxes, YouView and EE have chosen to ignore the existence of HbbTV. This has led users to be perplexed as to why they encounter blank screens on channels that their five-year-old Freeview box effortlessly displays.

Furthermore, the disparity between broadcast and IP channels on 18-month-old ‘Pro’ boxes and the additional complexities encountered when integrating EE TV with Apple TV further contribute to confusion.

In contrast, Sky Stream/Glass offers a more transparent experience. Users are assured of receiving a separate lineup from the satellite service, excluding channels that are not available (such as IP), and not contingent upon the hardware connection method during installation.

[Midnight_Voice]

@SwannyD2 

YouView has never claimed to be Freeview, and indeed would never have passed Freeview certification; paradoxically perhaps, because it was so advanced at the time.

HbbTV is a standard. Where have you found that it is the standard?

Arqiva never acquired YouView; where did you get that from? Arqiva was part of the consortium. And rather than pushing for IP, I rather thought that Arqiva lost interest when things started to move away from OTA,

I don’t know what growth HbbTV has had since 2021.  Certainly, YouView haven’t ignored it:-

https://www.hbbtv.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/YouView-Building-an-HbbTV-OpApp-240215FINAL.pdf

 even if YouView boxes haven’t been updated for it, so this is all a bit strange.

But YouView, and now EETV, have always insisted on showing us every channel there is, whether we can get them or not, and only ever allowing us the hide them in the actual EPG.

We shall see if Sky Stream carries the day or not, as it has rather failed to do so far, if people start flocking away from EETV’s hardware and software approach, and migrating to Sky in favour of it.

[DarrenDev]

YouView also write the software for Freely, which supports HbbTV.

[Oldvalues]

Are just coming up to my first month with EE.

As stated previously initially had TV over WiFi / Ethernet broadband but found many Terestial freeview channels missing on its Programme Guide and NONE of internet based TV channels listed at all. In other words a very very minimum. Frankly very poor

So had TV arial fitted  to EE TV Box then carried out factory reset and configured TV as per menu prompts. This resulted in all the Internet TV channel now appearing on the programme guide but none, with exception Talk TV,  will work

[Midnight_Voice]

@DarrenDev 

Do you know, then, why there has been no initiative to add the missing HbbTV channels that Freeview provides to the YouView roster?

[DarrenDev]

Decisions like that go way above my pay grade @Midnight_Voice but I suspect it'll simply be a case of cost vs benefit - they're pretty niche channels, and I suspect it's a lot of work.

[Oldvalues]

Have not yet found a bog standard freeview set top box that does not show channels such NHK WorLd , GB NEWS , Talk TV, French News etc.
No magic software required. Just a will to.do it ! ! !