| Podcast 28 - 2 guys, 2 podcasts |
| Written by Philip Roy | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Saturday, 06 June 2009 00:35 | ||||||||||||||||||||
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So good they recorded it twice!! OK, a technical glitch made Darryn (aka Loweded Wookie) and Andrew (apdv1) have a discussion about Apple, HD TV, Eye TV and more in this episode...twice! But we're thankful to them for taking the time to have another session. The discussion includes useful software to use on your Macs, great sites and some great software picks. Those thinking of getting into using their Mac for a media centre or making use of great products like Apple TV, should check it out.
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Podcast 28 - Show notesAny Apple hardware and software discussed is not listed. Instead, you can support NZMac.com at no extra cost by clicking this link to purchase from the Apple Store NZ. Thanks in advance!
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Comments (10)
DragonFire
said:
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Just a note with regard to MySkyHDi I have one of these, no money up front, $15 per month rental and there is no requirement to subscribe to the HD channels (movies/sport) and pay the HD ticket fee. Even if you do take sport (which we are at the moment), you are NOT required to purchase the HD ticket it is optional. The reason we got the MySkyHDi box was for recording stuff and using series link, and besides that TV One, TV2 and TV3 are all there in HD now (TV1 and 2 since June 1). I just thought that this should be clarified as the information in the podcast itself may mislead people (unintentionally). |
lowededwookie
said:
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That's not the information that's on the Sky MyHDi site: Please note: Installation date and time will be confirmed via email or telephone by SKY TV and is subject to local availability. |
lowededwookie
said:
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Just to clarify, we were talking about the HD content which makes the MySkyHDi the equivalent to FreeView HD which is free. |
DragonFire
said:
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Fair point but I also wanted to point out that TV1, TV2 and TV3 are available in HD with the MySkyHDi with just the normal channel package, and the $15 per month decoder rental - you do not need the Movies/Sport or HD ticket to get these channels in HD, they are included as standard. IMHO this was not clear on the podcast. Also given the series link and multiple recording facilities (record 2 channels while watching another) of the MySkyHDi I think that at $15 per month it is reasonably good value. |
lowededwookie
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The point of our comments in the podcast was value for money and MySkyHDi is NOT value for money. Consider the HD capability in dollar value: $50 for the Basic package $15 for the MySkyHDi unit $10 for the HD ticket allowing for ALL channels not just TV1, 2, and 3 $20 for Sky Sport or Sky Movies That's $95 per month which equals $1,140 per year. Now take that $1,140 and remove the cost of the most expensive Freeview decoder at $549 = $591. Then from that remove the cost of the EyeTV device that Andrew mentioned at $499.95 and you're left with $91.05 in hand at the end of the year. And this is the point we were trying to make. That $1,140 for MySkyHDi is a yearly fee. That's a massive cost. For $91.05 less in one year you've got a setup that is almost equivalent to MySkyHDi with very little effort. In two years you'd have a setup that exceeds MySkyHDi and still have money left over. Throw in the exorbitant amount of ads compared to something that relies on ads to survive and I fail to see how the MySkyHDi can be seen as value for money. The basic package seems a lot for TV1, 2, and 3 which under the basic package are the only ones that are High Def which you can get for free under Freeview with more channels getting HD and just more channels coming with no need to pay anything more. |
DragonFire
said:
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I'm really starting to regret making the comments above as it was not meant to start such a heated discussion - I'd appreciate it if the whole thread was removed and the entire discussion just forgotten about as it's quite obvious that my comments have been taken in the wrong way. |
lowededwookie
said:
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It isn't heated at all. I'm only commenting on what you actually said nothing more. You were trying to make it out that to get HD content you don't need the HD ticket and that we were inadvertently misleading people. This is NOT the case. Yes TV1, 2, and 3 are HD but that's because they HAVE to be because Sky doesn't have any control over the transmission of these channels. We were not misleading anyone in fact quite the opposite. We were highlighting the misleading nature of the MySkyHDi advertisements. When you mentioned that you felt MySkyHDi was value for money at $15 per month I simply wanted to show how it wasn't really when you can achieve the same thing for one off costs for cheaper. I didn't mean to cause offence or anything like that I just wanted to highlight the hidden costs make such a service have very poor value over time. The thing is that you are always going to be paying for the Sky offering and that cost is $1,140 each year. That's a really high cost. |
DragonFire
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I take your point but since FreeView offers neither specialist Movie or Sports channels you should be comparing apples with apples (pun not intended), and _not_ include the Movie and Sports channels or the HD ticket as these are not required to get the HD content on 1,2 and 3. If FreeView had these options then your comparison would be valid but as it does not I do not see how you can argue the point. For the MySkyHDi decoder and the basic channels which include HD TV1,2 and 3 we pay around $64 per month which includes the ability to record 2 channels while watching a third. I do not recall any similar functionality in the products that were discussed in the podcast. You have also neglected to include the cost of the Mac hardware that will be necessary for your proposed solution (which I would estimate to be around $1000 or more) or the cost of a UHF aerial or satellite dish required (add several hundred dollars more) to get quality reception for MySkyHDi. At $64 per month the cost of the MySkyHDi solution with the basic channel package is $768 per year which I consider to be a good price given the all in one solution that the package offers. |
DragonFire
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I guess the other point I should make is that I consider that there is absolutely nothing that makes FreeView appealing to me - the channel selection is mediocre at best and perhaps this is the main reason I like the MySkyHDi solution. I agree that I have moved outside pure HD vs HD comparison here so perhaps both arguments have their merits and I will try to graciously concede that. I,f you want a "pure HD vs. pure HD" comparison then, yes ,FreeView does probably offer better value especially as there is no ongoing cost, but if you consider the non HD content that is included with the Sky package then I feel that it wins the race. |
Rich
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I agree with you DragonFire. I was excited to start listening to this podcast in the hope it might have the answer to my digital media quandry. I'm afraid that MySky is our only option :-( We only have an SD Sony TV and need to record on 2+ channels whilst watching another. Channels concerned are normally Food Network, Living, National Geographic etc which aren't available via Freeview, only Sky. That leaves us with only solution available to my meagre knowledge!! :-| I enjoyed reading the points of view above, and thank you for helping me make up my mind. I do however love the idea of a mac mini doing all that sort of thing, just don't think its practicable for us, until there is another provider of decent channels! Unless of course ... someone knows an alternative provider to the types of channels I mentioned above!! >:-) Thanks! |
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