BT TV any good?

pintspiller

Sky now charging us £20/month again for basic package. As we get broadband with BT, just wondering if we should change to BT as their full on package is a few quid cheaper (would have to pay extra to get fibre though).

richardhomer

Didn't know BT made them - but my six year old Sony's proved very reliable....

pintspiller

BT TV is the new name for BT Vision

cruxiform

I can only speak from my experience. I have the BT Starter Package (which is £0 with the broadband package). It is basically Freeview with a few HD channels. You get BT Sport for free which is great for me as I watch MotoGP and Footy. It also has players for Netflix, ITV, 4OD, iPlayer and others. The box can pause but not record, that facility comes with the 'bigger' packages.

paulnb57

We have had BT Vision for years, it does Freeview TV it records, it does us, there is enough there to satisfy our needs I will not pay the ridiculous Sky subscriptions, never have never will.......oh and a kodi box thing for filmage.....

Guitar_Slinger

cruxiform said:

You get BT Sport for free..

We got BT broadband almost 3 years ago, with free BT TV "for as long as you have BT broadband".  Just over a year ago they put line rental up by more than inflation and started charging £5 a month for the free BT TV service. Unless you signed up for a free trial, which would start charging when the trial ran out.

My experience was the introductory offer was good and the normal price would have been bearable, but BT charged much more within a year, so we went with PlusNet and have a NowTV box.

exocet

I got BT TV around 2 years ago mainly because they were giving me BT Sport for free and I like Rugby. 
That said, over the 2 years, various prices have increased....my BT Sport is still free but everything else has gone up. in order to get free Sport, you have to take an infinity package...fine for increased speed in a multi user household. With infinity comes the mandatory phone line rental. To that I've also added 2 mobiles @ £10 per month each and now my total monthly bill is pushing £100!!!!
Contractually everything is interdependent so God knows when I'll be able to extract myself from it. it's not a bad service but prepare yourself for the inevitable. 
On the subject of set top boxes, there are plenty BT branded Humax boxes on eBay. These do all standard Freeview recording options / series record / multi channel recording etc. BT Sport is delivered over Broadband so you need the BT version of the box for that. Amazon sell them as well.
http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/BT-Youview-Plus-Set-Top-Box-500GB-Recorder-With-Twin-HD-Freeview-/111507657624?hash=item19f65fd398:g:jFkAAOSwaZdXH4Zt&_trkparms=pageci%3Afeb5e877-ab01-11e6-a2b2-74dbd180f2ea%7Cparentrq%3A66ceb9a01580a2a4c782af44fff9bc48%7Ciid%3A1

stimpsonslostson

I've had BT Vision for years, it's ok, but since getting a posh TV with record/Netflix/iplayer capabilities I rarely use it. The software is a bit clunky & the movies etc are a bit expensive. So I tend to watch Netflix  

The only time I really watch it is to see the UFC events, but I'm giving thought to leaving BT in the hope of finding a cheaper deal that doesn't have things I won't use. 

exocet

The original BT Vision Box was as clunky as hell. The Humax type that I linked to above is a very good set top box and does Netflix as well. Whilst I have a "flashy" TV that has all sorts of apps, I prefer the STB or other external device approach (Firestick / Chrome etc). I've had 3 Smart TVs over the past few years - all decent brands, the support for Smart features soon falls away meaning that you end up with external units anyway. I have to say that I've been impressed by Amazon who still update their embedded app on my 5 year old Sony.

grungebob

I have BT tv simply for the sport channel as I'm a big MMA fan. I think it's good as I don't have a stand alone recorder and I can pause live tv and the catch up players are good. I don't use it for films as I have Netflix. I get a good deal on it I pay £30 a month for my infinity broadband,tv and line rental the only catch is that's fixed for two years. 

Garthy

I don't have BT-TV but do have the infinity broadband, I think their service is dogshit and their customer service is even worse and I cannot wait for the contract to end- £201 penalty to end it early!

chrispy108

Really happy with their BT Vision box. The interface is miles better than the Sky+HD box it replaced.

The search is fantastic - it looks across Netflix, 4oD, iPlayer and live tv, from one search.

Guitar_Slinger

Garthy said:

I don't have BT-TV but do have the infinity broadband, I think their service is dogshit and their customer service is even worse and I cannot wait for the contract to end- £201 penalty to end it early!

I found out on MoneySavingExpert that if a BT price rise is above inflation, you can cancel the contract without penalty.  The BT salesperson pretended otherwise until I quoted MSE word for word.