BT Vision V Box Review

Overall Rating

TV replay service is excellent
Can record 1 channel and watch another at the same time
TV guide is good
Much cheaper than Sky or Virgin

The box basically is rubbish, constantly reboots itself
Box always wants to search for new channels
Freeview text does not work properly
Remote is unresponsive
Twin tuner decreases quality of picture, built in freeview on my Toshiba TV is much better
No sound via HDMI. Engineer unable to fix. A common problem with Toshiba TV's and Bt Vision.
BT Vision helpdesk are terrible
HD content is laughable and way too expensive
HD content takes literally hours to download
Stuttering on demand programmes
Endless looping repeats every other month on demand

I have the Bronze package and for just over £13 a month I get around 15 or so "channels" such as MTV, HBO, Warner etc on demand that show programmes or whole seasons of hits such as Friends, Entourage, Sopranos and Lost. There are several big programmes however notable for thier absence such as 24, Prison Break, Family Guy and The Simpsons. However there is a good selection to choose from although after a while the shows do start to get repeated again instead of newer programming.
The TV replay facility is excellent, you get a slighly condensed version of BBC I Player, ITV Player, 4OD and 5 on demand. It basically keeps most of the "big" shows for a week so you can catch up. The ITV player perhaps is the weakest out of them all but BBC and 4OD especially are excellent.

I've never had a problem with recording a programme or a series using the series link (although annoyingly it does record the repeats also). It has a twin tuner so you can record one channel whilst watching another. The TV Guide is much easier to use and user friendly than my built in TV's one, however I've found that any programming changes is not picked up very quickly by BT.

So sounds pretty good eh? Now the bad bits. I've lost count how many times I've had to reboot the box or the thing has done it itself. I get no sound through the HDMI lead and BT Vision have no answer for this other than the box isnt compatible with all models of HD tvs! The picture quality at either 720p or 1080i does not look anywhere near as good as my built in freeviews and despite having 100% signal quality the box is showing it outputting in 75%?

The on demand section, whilst easily the best part of this is let down by constant picture and/or audio stuttering making some programmes unwatchable. "404" errors telling you that the programme is unavailable is also head doing.

The remote control is very frustratng, the majority of the time the text button just does not work. And when you do get it to work, the text on freeview does not work properly. The picture in the far left hand corner not minmising what is on the screen but just showing that part of the screen as if it was being displayed normally!

I have downloaded a HD TV programme, it took about 2 hours for a 1hour and 5 minute programme. However I have to admit the picture quality was excellent. However unless your downloading HD films, the HD tv content is in normal audio and not 5.1 which is really disappoitning. The amount of HD programming currently available is terrible, about 8 programmes which havent changed for months. It costs around a quid per episode, most are nature BBC programmes being shown for free on Freesat. The films are worse however, presently you ahve a choice of 2 HD films!! They cost almost 5 quid and take 4-5 hours to download! You then get to keep this for 2 days. Basically BT's HD content is awful.

The films on offer are very varied and a great selection, however these all cost extra. The films that are updated literally are brand new ones that have just been released on dvd or to rent. However the price per film is roughly £4 for newer ones and £2 for older ones. Too expensive when you compare to say a Lovefilm subscription. There is a film "channel" that you can get within a package called Picturebox however the choice of films are pretty damn poor.

Since Setanta have gone Vision is kind of left in the mire, they currently show ESPN America in its place. They do ahvea sports on demand section which shows classic Premiership/SPL/football league games and things such as Fifa world cup films, classic boxing etc. But with Setanta gone live football, cricket, UFC and the like are gone.

In a nutshell then, BT vision is a great concept...When it works. The box however is way too niggly and needs to be replaced. The HD content needs a massive revamp and they simply have to find a way of gaining ESPN to ensure it retains Premiership football. The pricing, whilst far cheaper than Sky or cable, needs to be reviwed as for any film buffs, BT vision is not a great thing to have currently. If your not bothered about the thing crashing every now and again and dont worry about not having live sports or high definition tv then I would still reccomend it however.