This blog post originally started as a Facebook post until I hit submit and was told that it was too long. What's with the limits on post length, Facebook guys? Thou shalt not follow the Twitter to do evil. Anyway...
/BEGIN RANT 1
I'm confused...
When you sign up for ADSL does the contract state that you are supposed to get the performance you pay for approximately 3 days out of the month? How is it that my "4Mbps" package is insufficient to support a 1Mbps video stream for my Net2Vu player?
People in Europe and Asia have 100Mb internet access in their house and I can't get 1Mbps to stream. Oh wait, and they raised prices! How can a company justify lowering quality while raising prices? Their new motto should be "LIME - For that bitter after taste in your mouth."
When you sign up for ADSL does the contract state that you are supposed to get the performance you pay for approximately 3 days out of the month? How is it that my "4Mbps" package is insufficient to support a 1Mbps video stream for my Net2Vu player?
People in Europe and Asia have 100Mb internet access in their house and I can't get 1Mbps to stream. Oh wait, and they raised prices! How can a company justify lowering quality while raising prices? Their new motto should be "LIME - For that bitter after taste in your mouth."
/END RANT 1
/BEGIN RANT 2
The World Cup Starts on Friday! I am (well was) eagerly looking forward to watching every match I could. For those of you who don't know, Barbados has three TV providers - CBC, DirecTV and the brand new Net2Vu, who stream live TV channels to a set top box in your living room via the internet.
Not one to take chances with events as important as the World Cup, I have service from two of the three - Net2Vu and DirecTV. If I told you that only 1 provider was actually carrying any World Cup programming would you believe me? Guess which one. Go ahead guess. I'll give you a hint, NEITHER OF THE TWO I HAVE! If this was the World Field Hockey Championships or the World Cup of Curling, I would find it as funny as you no doubt do. BUT IT'S THE
/END RANT 2
So here I am, stuck hoping:
- That I can find World Cup matches to watch on TVU Player
- That the commentary is actually in English since most channels on TVU are from The Republic of Dontspeakenglishistan
- That my "4Mbps" ADSL will actually allow me to stream the channel if I find it.
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If all else fails CBC (the channel that cares) will be providing World Cup coverage free to all in Barbados on their MyTV8 service. (Incidentally, this is the only channel you can now receive on a Dream box.)
ReplyDeleteHOWEVER, in recent days MyTV8 seems to have lost the ability for sound-and-picture synchronization which could prove challenging unless you are a veteran of old Kung-fu movies, in which case, this lack of sync will not phase you!
On the subject of Net2Vu: We were thinking of trying it out as MyTV8 is all that we get now and it is painful (see above for details). Would you recommend it or are the drawbacks with Internet capacity not worth it? Enquiring minds want to know.
On Internet service: Since LIME is sLIMEy, does anybody know the magical incantations required to get TeleBarbados to do a site visit or better yet an INSTALLATION? Enquiring minds want to know this as well.
@TeleBarbados: Competition is only competition is you actually COMPETE.
Keep at it David.
Hey Tessa,
ReplyDeleteMy rant must've worked because this morning my bandwidth is 3 times what it was last night and Net2Vu is streaming buttery smooth. Channel 8 reception was horrible even when I had a multichoice antenna on my roof. No dinky little rabbit ears will work. It would be great if CBC were to stream MyTV8 over the net. It's free anyway.
ON NET2VU:
IF you have the bandwidth (>1.5Mbps consistently) Net2Vu is pretty good. Each video stream is encoded around 1Mbps, so you need at least that for each box you want to have in your house, plus bandwidth for web surfing etc. If not it buffers.
Here are the caveats.
1. It's still not ready for the service to be rolled out so right now the TV guide is useless.
2. Every time you change screens it buffers for a few seconds - not something you are used to with your TV.
3. The 1Mbps data rate means that it looks great on a normal TV but pixelated on an HDTV, so if you have an HDTV this isn't for you.
4. No CNN and only ESPN Classic. This is puzzling to me.
The good points:
1. It streams video directly from a whole bunch of online sources like Youtube.
2. It will stream from Hulu IF you have a Telebarbados connection. Unfortunately for me I'm with sLIME.
3. ABC, NBC, CBS, HGTV, HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, Starz
4. As far as I know, since it hasn't been officially launched the service is still free. All you have to do is buy the box for $400.
We Report. You decide!
David...again loving your speaking out and expressing yuhself.
ReplyDeleteWhen I get hindered by that FB status limit I turn to a Note...but hey you have your blog.
Keep on typin! :)
Another great blog Dave,"Keep em comin!"
ReplyDeleteApparently Lime and CBC (Mctv and Ch8) should get awards for the worst service ever to be provided.
Today I was stuck,my Lime modem gave me the Red light and my Mctv box isn't working (for what ever reason.Day 6 now for the Mctv box and I have heard some of the most ridiculous excuses ever,I just hope they don't expect to receive any money for this poor service.Isn't this the perfect upgrade from analog to nothing (suppose to be digital)
As for Lime and there so called upgrades (Broadband,etc) like you said they're billing you for poor service and for playing there annoying game (Red Light,Green Light,123)