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A rose by any other name?

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    Faust

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    Is Freeview Play anything other than the terrestrial version of Freesat's Freetime and is it likely to develop any further given what happened to the previous incarnation of this product i.e. Youview?

    | Mon 18 Jan 2016 14:02:57 #1 |
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    JamesB

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    What developments would you like to see?

    | Mon 18 Jan 2016 15:18:20 #2 |
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    Faust

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    I don't have any views one way or another on this JamesB, though I do wonder if the launch had much more to do with the politics surrounding Youview than for any specific advancements in technology.

    I just don't see how it moves the game forward - we already have freetime on the satellite side and Youview on terrestrial. What is/has the consumer gained with Freeview Play?

    | Mon 18 Jan 2016 16:34:43 #3 |
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    JamesB

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    A more secure future for PBS DTT broadcasting, perhaps. Time will tell.

    | Mon 18 Jan 2016 17:05:40 #4 |
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    Luke

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    Faust - 8 hours ago  » 
    Is Freeview Play anything other.. the previous incarnation of this product i.e. Youview?

    Freeview Play is not a product. It is the next versions of freeview and freeview+ standards which manufacturers can apply for if they want to barnd products with the associated freeview play logos at the current release of freeview's standards for freeview play.

    In the same way that freeview and freeview+ evolved the aim is to evolve and improve freeview play as a standard over the next few years.

    | Mon 18 Jan 2016 22:32:57 #5 |
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    Faust

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    JamesB - 5 hours ago  » 
    A more secure future for PBS DTT broadcasting, perhaps. Time will tell.

    How though? FVP is only adding an EPG that can go backwards using the current players aka freetime or Youview. There are already plenty Freeview HD recorders, some with iPlayer Netflix etc. plus Youview with the backwards EPG.

    It sounds to me as though Freeview are just saying we had our Youview ball taken from us so we've got a new ball called Freeview Play. It may not be true but that's how it looks.

    | Mon 18 Jan 2016 22:37:30 #6 |
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    Faust

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    From the 1st January all new TV's over 32" have now to be labelled Freeview HD with the Freeview + name being phased out by the end of this year. That is in addition to Freeview Play.

    If you look HERE you will notice two distinct offerings from freeview. This is just going to cause confusion with the consumer and I suspect product fatigue.

    | Mon 18 Jan 2016 22:41:38 #7 |
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    JamesB

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    As Luke said, Freeview is a set of standards, not a consumer product. Consumer confusion may be widespread but it would be much worse without Freeview, The development of Freeview was a major factor in the successful transition to DTT, allowing FTA broadcasting (including the PSB channels) to expand and thrive in the face of a predatory satellite competitor.

    Project Canvas/YouView was intended as an attempt to extend the standards to incorporate IPTV, thus allowing FTA broadcasters a way to keep control of their own catchup/VoD content rather than being forced into the arms of deep-pocketed corporations, be they faceless American corporations or our own dear BT. As we know, in the case of YouView, BT succeeded in hijacking the project and converting the intended standard into nothing more than a proprietary box design.

    Freeview Play is thus the second attempt to incorporate IPTV into the UK DTT standards. It's too early to tell how successful it will be, but I'd say it's looking quite promising.

    | Tue 19 Jan 2016 9:52:47 #8 |
  9. Barry

    Barry

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    JamesB - 2 hours ago  » 
    Project Canvas/YouView was intended as an attempt to extend the
    Freeview Play is thus the second attempt to incorporate IPTV into the UK DTT standards. It's too early to tell how successful it will be, but I'd say it's looking quite promising.

    Agreed, at least with the FVP we have a recorder with the obvious missing from YouView....manual timers, padding, manual tuning etc etc.

    | Tue 19 Jan 2016 12:42:03 #9 |
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    JamesB

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    Yes - a deliberate and telling omission, since the ability to set timers manually gives the user a degree of control over the box, and a degree of liberation from the EPG, that a platform operator like BT or Sky might want to avoid.

    | Tue 19 Jan 2016 13:03:58 #10 |

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