YorkshireLad6
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Posts posted by YorkshireLad6
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How do you edit this wiki page? clicking on the edit option nothing happens....
The whole wiki system is messed up and I'm not sure anybody cares to maintain it at administrator level. Existing pages can be edited, but it's not possible to create new pages or edit placeholders (as this is)
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I already looked at Zattoo and am assuming that what you guys are doing in masking your IP and getting the GB package.
It's not so much a "GB" package, but a Swiss package which includes UK terrestrial services. If you are looking for American TV then this is not the best place to start.
Without Zattoo, but with a basic DNS redirection service you do have access to many US services including catch-up from the main providers, some free, some to be paid for. This list is pretty comprehensive
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Unless SP can tell us otherwise, I understand these to be identical boxes to his. The first example definitely is the same hardware using the same provider platform, based on Blade Mediacast. I didn't buy my Samsung TV in Germany from any dealer. I bought it from another country as a grey import based on the reliability and reports of the product. It works just as fine as any I could have bought here as it's identical but cost 40% less
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Your only option is to sell the privately to another T-Mobile customer - maybe even on Toytown. You may have to make them attractive by discounting them to say 14€ or 13€ so will be slightly penalised for your mistake. You don't need to go out of your way to hand them over - once bought and paid for simply let the buyer have the top-up code (which does imply an element of trust in the transaction)
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Krieg also highlights another advantage of Chromecast - for every TV you want to "activate" for IPTV you simply need a Chromecast device. As far as the supporting technology such as Zattoo and DNS re-direction are concerned, you only need to pay for one subscription, so long as the Chromecasts are all in the same network, which means multi-viewing in the home is very scalable - around 12€ a month for the infrastructure and one-time 35€ for each TV that wants to view. This is another upside to both the "out-of-the" box IPTV solutions (where you need a 200€ odd box for each TV and for each a 25€/month subscription) and even satellite solutions.
This assumes, of course that your internet can support the traffic. Reckon on about 2Mb/s per TV for SD viewing and 4Mb/s for HD (conservative estimates) - so practically you can support up to (about) 10 TVs simultaneously on a VDSL-50 connection with bandwidth to spare for domestic use.
Any or all phones/tablets/PCs in the home can control and manage viewing on any or all of the enabled TVs.
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As Krieg so rightly points out, much of that is on EyeOnDemand
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The problem is not so much the remote, but the support for any particular remote from an application. A similar remote is supplied with the Comag box, but Zattoo does not support it. You can fumble along with the cursor, mouse and keypad keys, but without intrinsic support from the app it's next to useless. The built-in apps that come with the Comag boy work perfectly with it.
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I'm not sure it was designed to be a cripple - it's just that Zattoo have not kept ahead of the times and have spend much of the last 6-9 months investiung in development to support Chromecast, which has has a positive knock-on effect on associated platforms such as Android, iOS and Browsers. The Samsung implimentation is also very much in the last century, but they continuously promise it will be improved. Now that Chromecast is running maybe they will have time for other platforms and can bring them up to date or revise them. So far as I know Zattoo reaches out to the largest number of different platforms and therein may lie a weakness.
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Not for Internet over Power as the same generic problem exists. Some devices are better than others, or are more refined. Devolo sits in the middle to higher end of the market and were originally market leaders. I'd still recommend them (and even the cheaper TP-Link range). The newer they are and the faster the specification, then the better they are likely to be, but they still remain an option where no alternative exists and you accept they may not be perfect.
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I am not very happy with Devolo. It seems to do a lot of throttling.
Devolo itself doesn't throttle, but the method of data transission is unreliable and easily affected by interference, be it switching on and off other electrical appliances in the house or continuous electrical hum generated by connected appliances. You can be lucky, but you may not be. It depends on the type of internet reliability and data consistency you need.
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Sure we are here to help each other, but you and YSL6 are clearly biased and keep attacking SpiderPig's option...
I am not attacking this option as a solution as it clearly has a place in the market. I am attacking the method of presenting it as an all-singing-all-dancing-no-risk solution, when (like other solutions) it has a myriad of risks, maybe even more, and when the same (and similar) solutions are available, mostly at less than half the price. I also don't dispute, that as a business, SpiderPig has to make a profit, but if other companies can make a profit selling at half the price then I fail to see why he can't be, at least, more competitive, less defensive and more open about the platform. 10 years ago businesses could stand by high margins in specialist markets, but in these internet savy modern times, comparisons are so much easier so the model has to change. 15-20 years ago computers had margins of 60-80%, sometimes more, but nowadays they are closer to 5-10% maximum. Manufacturers, distributors and re-sellers still earn a living, as they are forced changed their business models. That's also the inference from other members here with the suggestions of more more online information and more openness, simply to justify the higher cost and persuade a dwindling, but as yet undecided audience for an IPTV solution
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Fair point
Better to lay cables all points to the keller, or floor by floor to floor level switches.
It would make a cost difference in cable lemgth and effort I think.
Correct. At least a cable from the cellar to a central (maybe corridor) point on each floor ideally in a larger diameter tube (to give you room to add cables later), preferably with room for a small box (hub/switch) and power and a short distance into each room, usually a few metres. That saves a lot of cable and messing about and gives you the flexibility you need.
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If you are building new, or renovating then it's definitely better to have dedicated network cables to places you might or will need internet which is often every room, including kitchen and bathrooms. Better use internet-over-power solutions to get around cabling that is not there at the outset. If you don't want to pay for cables or network distribution at the outset, at least be sure you have channels/tubes in place so you can lay it later...
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I also have a Samsung SmartTV (UE55F6500), again not much good for live TV.
If this is a German sourced TV you should be able to install Zattoo (if not already installed) as an app in the Smarthub, sign up for a Zattoo account, set up SmartDNS, either on your router or the TV network settings and watch English live TV directly. To actually test this you can install Zattoo with a free account and only get German channels in SD, or you can simply buy Zattoo and SmartDNS for a month (around 12€ total) to try it with the English channels
Why don't you buy the BavSat box? It couldn't be easier for a non-tech-savvy-Missus and it would be helpful to get a neutral consumer review here...
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Yes - in combination with Zattoo. All the BBC channels (1-4) and ITV1 are in HD (recordings too), the rest, including C4 and E4 are in SD
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I started with a Samsung TV that I already had, installed Zattoo, configured SmartDNS (about 30 minutes) and it worked as an interim solution from the day I lost satellite reception. Running costs are around 110€ per year for the combination of SmartDNS and Zattoo with no additional capital investment. I felt picture quality could be improved, so wanted to look at alternative options. It also works very well for catch-up solutions such as BBC and ITV players, but they need a little more care and attention to get running.
I played around with a number of different alternative solutions on iPad, Android tablet, Raspberry Pi and PC for a month or two, all of which I already had, but only to understand and be able to explain to others the differences, advantages and disadvantages.
I bought a Comag box (80€), again to experiment with but have not ended up using it for TV. I had intended to return it within the 14-day return period, but ended up keeping it as it opened up other opportunities. The money was not wasted as I ended up using the box as a DLNA client for a distributed hifi system.
I bought a Sky Now box (£15/20€) to test and have given it away to a cause more worthy than me (who are very happy with it and use it daily - the main issue being that it's no good for live TV, which was my prime concern)
My final and current solution was Chromecast (35€ one-time cost) which pretty much worked out of the box as everything else (SmartDNS, Zattoo, etc) was already in place. It provides near-to-HD (720p) quality of the main UK terrestrial channels and has turned out to be a very reliable and my current recommended solution with the advantage of recording, delayed playback and scheduling. This is now the centre of a HDMI distribution feeding multiple TVs with live and recorded streams. It's easy to manage with any laptop, PC, tablet or smartphone that comes to hand. I'm thinking of buying a second one so different TVs can see different content. That would add 35€ to the capital costs with no additional running costs.
I'm considering buying the TP-link router that Franklan has worked his magic on, but again only to test it out and because it costs around 25€ so is not going to hurt my wallet. A combination of this and Chromecast could make a very interesting out-of-the box (and possibly commercial) solution for anyone interested, with a total outlay ofabout 60€ and running costs of around 10€/month with excellent TV quality as a result.
My time "playing" with all this is not relevant to any costs as much of this is hobby-research. This is something I enjoy and have an interest in - a bit like Toytown really. I'm sure anybody with minimal technical knowledge and the ability to read internet forums could get Zattoo, Chromecast and DNS redirection or VPN working in under an hour. I know a fair number of people that have...
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They should also be advised that using a VPN is obtaining a service by deception.. which in every country is Illegal...
Up to now I have supported your case that your selling of and people buying and using your boxes is not illegal. But if you wish to use the "obtaining a service by deception" argument, then not only is the sale of your boxes illegal but the use of them is too.
You could certainly argue that using a VPN is obtaining a service by deception, but no-one knows, no-one can know and no man-in-the street is going to get prosecuted for it. This is quite different to a platform provider knowingly re-broadcasting copyrighted material outside of its intended geography. If this happens and the copyright owners object, then the provider (and maybe his agents) get the brunt of the law and the subsequent costs, but it's their customers that ultimately suffer, not because they were doing anything illegally, but because they bought something naively.
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The loss, if the service did get cut would be 1 months fee... 20-25 gbp...
...and 270€ for the box, which with none standard software becomes a useful paperweight.
Bear in mind that a single monthly fee is almost the same as the purchase cost of a Chromecast...
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I'm not dissing the product at all, but putting it into perspective. As a plug-and-play solution it works very well out of the box, so is ideal for non-technical customers, but it has limited functionality, questionable quality (a number of World Cup customers were far from satisfied, but again sport is the biggest test of any internet TV solution) and the platform has a questionable legal basis which would lead me to hesitate to recommend it given it's very high comparable and non-recoverable cost should it ultimately be disabled.
Equally there are cheaper out-of-the box solutions, some with less risk.
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Cover all bases and no need to include any niceties:
and if anyone does put anything in your mailbox that should not be there simply write or call them to complain. If they do it a second time report them to the Ordnungsamt. Distributors go to great measures to list people who do NOT want to see their material and are very strict with the spotty youths who distribute for them. It can be a firing offence to put the same leaflet twice in a prohibited mailbox.
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The Blade IPTV box works like a dream!
You must have very blurred, pixellated dreams then...
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I may not give my full name and might slightly fudge the address, or is this a worse thing to do?
That's not at all wise. You already have a web stalker:
Anyway, I was talking to a bit of a strange chap yesterday and he said that I needed to have an Impressum page with my address now I was in Germany. He then threatened to shop me to a lawyer and they would (apparently) get 3,000€ out of me as I am technically a journalist if I am earning money from it.
Even if he doesn't have a cast iron case, he can give you [a lot of] trouble, in which case an erroneous Impressum is [much] worse than none at all.
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Paying to use the toilet in a restaurant
in Life in Germany
Posted
Most (all?) of those that I know are free, if you buy other services at the same place. The ticket you get to enter is also a voucher for the restaurant or shops, so your toilet money can be refunded in full...