Eurosport & Xbox Live. What are my options?

[Key Walshe]

I understand this isn't the best place to ask about this, but I figured there's plenty of like minded folk on here who will have had to make a similar decision, plus its the most UK based forum I use.

I'm looking into getting a cable/satellite subscription but unsure which route offers best value for money for what I want. Put simply, all I want is access to Eurosport 1 & 2 so I can watch MotoGP, aswell as British & World Superbikes (and any other motorsport they show) and an internet connection good enough for an Xbox Live connection with no lag worries.

Virgin is looking best at £22.99 for 6mth then 32.99 thereafter, giving 65 channels and a 10gb fibre optic connection. I know Eurosport is available on the really old satellite systems free of charge, but is it worth the hassle and I believe it won't be around forever. Then there's "dodgyboxes", what's the legalities of these and are they worth it?

Anybody with any thoughts/opinions or experiences who care to share it will be much appreciated. And please bare in mind that cost is a major factor

[rob martin]

be honest key, you want it for the porn !!! get a dodgy box ( freeview with special card ) and be done. don't be giving someone £30 a month to watch adverts every 5 mins. you can do that watching ITV all day.

[rob martin]

think everything you want to watch is on terrestrial tv anyway ? moto gp on the red button, superbikes on ITV4 i think. may be wrong.

[s2driveruk]

have to say i was in the same boat last year but already having SD sky but effectively paying the same as someone new to sky with HD was looking at all option to retain access to Eurosport as I watch all the wintersports stuff and they have Le Mans, WTCC, Tour de France, vuelta etc. Long and short of it was that there wasnt really another option (e.g. BT Vision) and can't get cable in my area.

Having stayed with Sky and instead upgraded to HD and pushed hard on price, now a happy bunny with Eurosport HD and ch2 for less than SD.

One thing to note and its not just because i work for BT, check their forums for an independent view is that VM have been slated for their latency.

Cheers
David

[Dan]

There's always the Virgin basic package + Eurovox. Grey market box that unlicks all all the non-basic channels.

Not illegal to have, technically dodgy to be using... but unless you regularly invite the local rozzers over to watch some porno...

Downside is, since it isn't the regular box, you can't get any On Demand stuff (PPV movies or TV catch up)... although if someone in your area is watching PPV you can jump on (although you are jumping on their feed, so if they pause to go for a piss, there's nothing you can do).

Otherwise, you're after just paying for what you want on cable or Sky.

I can't speak for all areas, but I've found cable internet to be vastly more reliable than ADSL.

[S2central.net]

Virgin (NTL of old) is still being hacked like crazy then...

I'm looking at Freesat myself and then using OTT for Eurosport etc - I hate paying money to Sky - the kids mourned the loss of some of their cartoon channels but it was soon forgotten and we never looked back.

I confidently predict you will see a lot more choice in OTT channels over the near future - even if it does mean a 'two tier t'internet' for those willing to pay a little extra for uncontended fat pipes vs the majority of folk who seem to think that their ISP should be carrying gazillions of bits per second of iPlayer, Skyplayer, 4OD etc without delays, glitches and burps during busy hour without banking one single penny of revenue from it.

I spend my days talking to carriers, broadcasters and others about this stuff... changes are coming - the ISPs cannot afford to keep operating as they do today.... if they constrain network costs then customer moan about poor performance (and they change provider cos the green must be greener) - if they increase prices then the same thing happens as users expect to keep paying less despite consuming much more traffic... The ISPs need to be much more dynamic in the network so they can recognise some 'premium' revenue when users are watching all those 3D porn movies.

[hibby]

You get hacked Virgin modems too. If you are going to get a dodgy tv box then you may as well get both.

[rob martin]

i agree. dodgy box all the way. why pay when you can have it for free ?

[Key Walshe]

Thanks for the tips, though it seems I'm left with more questions to ask and avenues to explore. Dodgybox is tempting, if I were to go that route what's the best way to record programs, ala Sky+ or V+? A separate hard drive recorder maybe?

Paul (s2central) what's an OTT channel?

[s2driveruk]

Over the top/IPTV...

[hibby]

Key just look for a Starview or Eurovox with PVR on the end of the name if you want to record.

PVR = Personal Video Recorder