So....what's everyone's thoughts on the Sky Mobile TV service then?

[man_in_bmth]

I have a Nokia 6680 and I'm finding the experience good in a novalty kinda way.

It does get a bit blocky from time to time and I get half of one camera shot frozen, whilst you can see another camera shot underneath. The sound goes on and off at times too.........a tad annoying.

The "live" programes (Sky News, Sky News Sports etc are the worst)

I'm willing to put up with all this for a while though because it's a brand new service - and like all new services, there's bound to be some initial teething problems.

What does everyone else think?

Let's share our experiences... :)

[berrymwb]

Genuinely - Fantastic. An awesome surprise this week.

I am well impressed. Even at £5 a month it will be good value imo.

Only problem is battery power. That's how to flatten a battery quickly.

[man_in_bmth]

Genuinely - Fantastic. An awesome surprise this week.

I am well impressed. Even at £5 a month it will be good value imo.

Only problem is battery power. That's how to flatten a battery quickly.

Yeah......it is a bit of a battery drainer


What's the picture/sound quality like on your phone for it?

[3G-Londoner]

I think its pretty good, but some of the channels seem to have a very small playlist. I think ive seen Brainiac about 5 times now on Sky One! Sky Movies just seems to be full of trailers rather than real films, so am unsure why you would want to pay £5 for that. Will probably keep on using it tho. I foolishly tried to use it on a train through South London and Kent where according to the website coverage map there should be 3g all the way.... yeeeah right.. I had a 3g signal for only about 20% of the time, so kind of got bored trying to continually reconnect. Works well if you dont move tho, its just not very mobile!

3GL

[berrymwb]

N70 - Picture quality is good all things considered, sound is OK, clear but mono.

Reception - Well I had a better experience on the train through London till about Shenfield Essex way - kept signal pretty well without reconnections. In fact it even switched to GPRS for a short time without loss, decent sound but about one frame every 10 secs and blocky.

[man_in_bmth]

I think its pretty good, but some of the channels seem to have a very small playlist. I think ive seen Brainiac about 5 times now on Sky One!

I know what you mean there....I've watch that 'Billy The Kid' documentary on The History Channel a few times.

I think playlists will improve in time though - seeing as it only went live yesterday, I'm not really complaining.

I've just spent my lunch-break munching on a pastie, whilst watching a program on Discovery Mobile about a Great White Shark munching on a Seal :)

[tamarin4747]

I read about this service on monday and it totally won me over - i'm just waiting for my SE V600i to arrive in the post.

With the Sky One channel; is it the same as what is broadcast on normal telly or do they just air select programs? More to the point will i be able to watch Star Trek on it?

[man_in_bmth]

I read about this service on monday and it totally won me over - i'm just waiting for my SE V600i to arrive in the post.

With the Sky One channel; is it the same as what is broadcast on normal telly or do they just air select programs? More to the point will i be able to watch Star Trek on it?

Select programs, I think - still good though

I think Sky News, Sky Sports News & CNN are live from normal telly.....the other channels are especially for mobile phone - which is actually really cool.

They are proper mini-TV stations in their own right with "jingles" etc set accordingly ("you're watching Bravo Mobile" etc)

Cool :)

[ejhearn]

I have a razr v3 but this phone is not 3g. I want to upgrade so i can have the mobile tv services from sky but i have a couple of questions (this is my first post, so treat me gently!. Firstly can anyone confirm that the sky ervice is free? I know it says free til January and then it will be £5 a month, which in my opinion is good value, but say you watch TV for 30 mins, do you have to pay for 30mins of phone credit, if you see what i mean or is it completly free? I suppose what i mean is that id i watch the sky service will my bill go up or if on Pay as you go will the credit go down? Also i have narrowed my phone choice down to 2 models, either the SHARP 903 or the updated RAZR 3x which is not launched yet, i must say i am sweying towards the sharp as it is in black and the new razr phone from vodaphone will be in silver only. Anyway, any comments will be welcome. I also have to decide if i buy the phone outright to avoid a contract or take out a contract... So many questions and choices!! Thanks Ed

[tamarin4747]

Ok so i got my phone today (SE V600i) and i've been checking out the mobile tv. I've found that the quality is really rubbish. maybe i don't have the right settings on my phone or something but it's kinda like watching a scratched dvd where it's dead blocky and all the frames morph into each other. oh and the sound is constangly dipping, so much that it's unwatchable. Is anyone else getting this?

I've tried changing the streaming settings on the phone but it'll only connect to the stream using "Connect using: Vodafone MMS Pre; Proxy: No". This strikes me as a bit strange as i didn't think MMS had anything to do with streaming, i thought it'd be more likely to be WAP but evedently that doesn't work. The thought had crossed my mind that i'm connected via GPRS but but i'm getting a lot more than 1 frame every 10 seconds so i'm unsure.

Can anyone help me with this? maybe post your settings or point out where i'm blatantly going wrong. Also, if anyone else has the same phone; what are your experiences?

Ed: it's totally free as far as i'm aware (no paying for bandwidth) although for some reason 1p gets taken off my credit every now and again. don't know why this is but as it's only 1p i'm not arsed.

/ John

[nistel]

i have se v600 on vodafone and i find that when the 3g coverage is a bit patchy where you are the pictures do break up and very blocky when watching tv but in strong signal areas i have yet have no problems in fact the picture quality is really very good have not changed any of the phone settings just try it for a couple of days n see how you go

[man_in_bmth]

Sky News & Sky Sports News is the worst (in regards to picture/sound quality)

CNN is much better, I've noticed.

I'm hoping that these problems will be ironed out though - still early days..

[tamarin4747]

so i tried out the ol' mobile tv in the centre of manchester today to see if there was any improvment in quality. It was slightly better but still unwatchable. I'm starting to think i've just got a dodgy phone. I'm gonna keep trying in different locations for a while but if i can't get a good reception anywhere i think i'll just swap my phone.

[man_in_bmth]

Sky News and Sky Sports News is un-watchable :mad:

[tamarin4747]

Dude, you've said that about 5 times now. I've tried all the channels. I didn't just try Sky News and think 'ah this is shìt'. I must just have crap reception where i live or something - bit weird though, since i live in the 3rd biggest city in the country. Anyway, it could be worse... i could have no arms.

[nolimit966]

Ok so i got my phone today (SE V600i) and i've been checking out the mobile tv. I've found that the quality is really rubbish. maybe i don't have the right settings on my phone or something but it's kinda like watching a scratched dvd where it's dead blocky and all the frames morph into each other. oh and the sound is constangly dipping, so much that it's unwatchable. Is anyone else getting this?

I've tried changing the streaming settings on the phone but it'll only connect to the stream using "Connect using: Vodafone MMS Pre; Proxy: No". This strikes me as a bit strange as i didn't think MMS had anything to do with streaming, i thought it'd be more likely to be WAP but evedently that doesn't work. The thought had crossed my mind that i'm connected via GPRS but but i'm getting a lot more than 1 frame every 10 seconds so i'm unsure.

Can anyone help me with this? maybe post your settings or point out where i'm blatantly going wrong. Also, if anyone else has the same phone; what are your experiences?

Ed: it's totally free as far as i'm aware (no paying for bandwidth) although for some reason 1p gets taken off my credit every now and again. don't know why this is but as it's only 1p i'm not arsed.

/ John
What fone have u got? im in south manchester and i have the EXACT same problems as you, its absolutley rediculous. its so poor its nowere NEAR finalised yet. i know its early days but thisis a joke, its practicly 99.9% unusable. i barely get a 3g signal and when i do its still very very poor picture quality.
cud it have anything to do with my sony erricson v800?
thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:D :D :D :D

[tamarin4747]

Sounds like it's a manchester problem. i've got a Sony Ericsson V600i and I've always got the 3G icon on my phone which means i've got reception. It is quicker than my old GPRS phone at loading the vodafone live page but it's just not quick enough for mobile tv. I think you must need a transmiter in your house for it to work or maybe they didn't think that people in Rusholme can afford good phones so they didn't bother putting any up. Either way i won't be paying £5 a month come February.

[nolimit966]

yeh, am in withington which is just down the way and ive got the same problem
thanks anyway

[ejhearn]

Well i have bought the Samsung Z140V today on pay as you go, really just for the tv service. Here in Weston Super Mare, Somerset all i am getting is unable to connect error 502. On the odd occasions that it does connect, the pictures keep saying buffereing etc etc., I am a little disappointed as in the Vodafone shop in Weston the service seemed fine. Do i need to change any settings>? I telephoned the vodafone help line and they are as much use as a chocloate teapot. They told me to do nothing and see what its like in 24 hours. Apparently loads of customers are complaining that the service is not working properly. Any help or comments will be welcomed.....

Ed
:confused:

[dani2xll]

Its not totally free as you have to pay for the gprs data usage.

[ejhearn]

Just to let everyone know, I have returned my phone to Vodafone and got a complete refund as the TV service is crap.

[berrymwb]

Its not totally free as you have to pay for the gprs data usage.

Not true, there is no GPRS charge for the mobile tv service. It would be WAY too expensive - appoximately £2 a minute. I can confirm that I have not been charged for any data looking at my online billing.

It says in big letters FREE until Jan 06. As sneaky as mobile companies are, they would not get away with that.

Not sure why the service is good for some, bad for others. On my N70 I've got a perfect picture regardless of where I go.

[nistel]

i can get 3g coverage in my village in east lancashire,the tv is good reception but the novelty of it all as worn of now,wont be subscribing to it come february

[dani2xll]

Not true, there is no GPRS charge for the mobile tv service. It would be WAY too expensive - appoximately £2 a minute. I can confirm that I have not been charged for any data looking at my online billing.

It says in big letters FREE until Jan 06. As sneaky as mobile companies are, they would not get away with that.

Not sure why the service is good for some, bad for others. On my N70 I've got a perfect picture regardless of where I go.

Yes, u are correct. i had forgotten that browsing sites on vodafone live are free.

[ArtyCarl]

I have switched providers just to get the Sky TV but the only time I could connect (in an otherwise good signal area) the picture on Sky News was completely unuseable. I hope this is not as good as it gets or I will feel a right pr*t for switching over.

[man_in_bmth]

Dude, you've said that about 5 times now. I've tried all the channels. I didn't just try Sky News and think 'ah this is shìt'. I must just have crap reception where i live or something - bit weird though, since i live in the 3rd biggest city in the country. Anyway, it could be worse... i could have no arms.

Yes....but did I mention that Sky News and Sky News Sport is unwatchable? :D

CNN is good though - no sound or picture loss there :)

[bavlondon]

Whats it like on the sharp 903

[ArtyCarl]

Ok I bought a non Vodafone 3G phone last week and a separate 3G Vodafone Sim card as soon as I heard about the Sky Mobile TV.

I spent much of Friday, and Saturday trying to get the bl**dy thing working and after at least 7 calls to Vodafone Customer Services...each time told a different thing and given different settings..I was told by somebody in the technical department that at the moment too many people were accessing the channels and most were either getting an error or an unwatchable picture.

He also told me that they were working on another problem...I had a PAYG sim card just for browsing Live and it ate £5 in 5 minutes.

Yes they agreed to a refund straight away and he told me it was a known probem they were working on and to give it 48 hours.

Surprise surprise 48 hours later I have tried again and it is eating money again.

I thought 3 were bad when I tried them last year but this first experience of Vodafone Live is fast pi**ing me off.

[berrymwb]

I have found Sky News and Sky Sports News quality has improved over the last couple of days. Hardly breaks up at all now, wherever.

Also, well impressed with Eng v Pakistan streaming - not so impressed by the result.

[man_in_bmth]

I have found Sky News and Sky Sports News quality has improved over the last couple of days. Hardly breaks up at all now, wherever.


That's brilliant news.....I'll have to check it out again soon then!

Is the sound better too, as well as picture quality?

[Fevs]

I bought a V600i on PAYT to watch sky sports news.

It was totally unwatchable.

Tried in Bristol, London, Gillingham, on the train etc to see if it was a 3G coverage problem, but all areas were the same - blocky pictures, patchy sound.

Took phone back to V shop, where the manager put his v600i alongside mine and his was fine.

Got a new v600i out of the box and compared - new one was blocky as mine was, yet managers was fine.

Tried another v600i from a different batch (different V shop across the road) - same results.

Tried the Motorolla phone - same results. We thought it might be a difference between PAYT and contract so the manager then phoned V Support to see if they could help. They said there was no difference but suggested that the manager put a contract sim card in my phone. He changed a few settings and VOILA - the streaming was fine.

V technical support took my details and then got me to try a few things which didn't help, and they said they'd come back to me. 3 hours later they did, and said that the Gateway for streaming to PAYT is different to Contract, ie it is slower - something to do with how PAYT calculates the charge.

They hope to correct in the future but no date yet.

As a result I got a refund - but to be fair they were really helpful.

Hope this proves useful!

[stickystickman]

Sky News & Sky Sports News is the worst (in regards to picture/sound quality)

CNN is much better, I've noticed.

I'm hoping that these problems will be ironed out though - still early days..



I find the opposite to be true. Must depend on where you are in country or the phone you have maybe? I find it great that you can get live tv on your mobile. The sky news is only about 10 seconds behind live tv. I personally find the service good (after the first 5 seconds which can be blocky) but would prefer it if you got live tv on all the channels, sky one, c4 etc etc. Nothing worse than being out and about at a loose end and thinking great, the Simpsons is on sky one I'll watch it, only to find brainiac is being repeated for the 78th time that week. A TV channel should be just the same as on 'normal' tv IMHO. At least you can check the listings. Otherwise a good service one step up from being a gimmick.

[ArtyCarl]

Just thought i'd update my experiences.

First of all I love the idea of mobile TV.

So I buy a 2nd hand Nokia 6680 and spend an age and many calls to Vodafone trying to sort it out and get a decent picture. Whenever I did manage to gain access the picture was unwatchable. I was not impressed. So unperturbed I changed phones and bought a new Samsung z500.

Instantly the service was miles better. Very watchable pictures and a real buzz the likes of which I have only experienced with the first Colour mobile screen or the first WAP page I ever saw.

I gave that phone to my son and bought a new N70 which is brilliant as you can changed the pic to horizontal.

In my view it is clearly the phone that was at fault.

But it was worth the wait for me.

Well done Vodafone now lets have a few more 'live' channels please.

[edd green]

Mobile is not perfect. To watch the cricket out and about this week was a joy
And to pay £5 form jan 31st is ok. For 3g its just ok things will get better
I see inow its free apary from Blue tv thats a fiver a day. A lot to pay???

[dani2xll]

All i get when i try to access any of the sky channels is insufficient bandwidth check network connections. There are no network connections in my n70 that have anything to do with it as there is no option about any bandwidth. Anyone else had this problem? I certainly wont be paying for the service as i've not even had acces to it while its free. I previously had skytv outside of vodafone live and it worked fine and so does roktv.

[stickystickman]

All i get when i try to access any of the sky channels is insufficient bandwidth check network connections. There are no network connections in my n70 that have anything to do with it as there is no option about any bandwidth. Anyone else had this problem? I certainly wont be paying for the service as i've not even had acces to it while its free. I previously had skytv outside of vodafone live and it worked fine and so does roktv.


I also have an N70 and sometimes get this fault if you are in an area of ropey 3g coverage. Say you have 3 bars (out of 7) and you try to load mobile tv I find that the phone will almost immediately switch to the highest strength signal which is often gsm. I will then get the bandwidth message you get or the phone will try to play the tv down gsm which is truely awful though amazing it almost works. I notice that you can't lock the N70 to 3g only like I have been able to do with previous 3g phones.

Being unable to lock the N70 to 3g only (handy in areas of poor coverage) is the only fault I can find with the phone. :o

[Tito]

SE v800i now u/g to v3x. The mobile TV is fantastic.
The sky one /movies content is repetitive.
I will cough up from Jan.
Tito

[apolitical]

stickystickman : you may wanna look at this - http://www.symbian-freak.com/quides/netmon.htm.Amoungst other cool stuff it has the ability to force 3G connection. Since N70 is a S60 phone it should work even though not listed as being tested on the list. As usual use at your own risk and don't shoot anyone if your phone blows up:rolleyes:

[dani2xll]

I also have an N70 and sometimes get this fault if you are in an area of ropey 3g coverage. Say you have 3 bars (out of 7) and you try to load mobile tv I find that the phone will almost immediately switch to the highest strength signal which is often gsm. I will then get the bandwidth message you get or the phone will try to play the tv down gsm which is truely awful though amazing it almost works. I notice that you can't lock the N70 to 3g only like I have been able to do with previous 3g phones.

Being unable to lock the N70 to 3g only (handy in areas of poor coverage) is the only fault I can find with the phone. :o

Now when i click on vodafone live and go to sky mobile tv and choose a channel and the option to stream, real-player flickers open then shuts then the phone goes back to the standby screen. :eek: I am so glad sky mobile is coming to an end on vodafone. I have no wish to pay them any money for a service i have not been able to use. And hopefully once the exclusivity to vodafone ends in March, sky tv will be back to normal and we can all access it without going through vodafone. Thank heavens for RokTV.

[dani2xll]

stickystickman : you may wanna look at this - http://www.symbian-freak.com/quides/netmon.htm.Amoungst other cool stuff it has the ability to force 3G connection. Since N70 is a S60 phone it should work even though not listed as being tested on the list. As usual use at your own risk and don't shoot anyone if your phone blows up:rolleyes:
All the download files for this app have been deleted. This guide is dated 25 January 2005 so please be aware that n70 was not even in existence as that time so this may or may not work and as advice use at your own risk and it will invalidate your warranty. (but when i find it, i'm going to try it anyways.):D

[akwwalker]

The thing is having RokTV seams pretty pointless as its expensive. Not only do you pay for the channels but you are also charged for data too which can be very expensive. At least with the Sky service data isn't charged.

[Hiddy]

Just tried it out today on my 6680 on Pay as you Go, results were fanatstic on all chanels,very pleasantly surprised.

[k850ishot]

do i need a sky suscribsion for sky mobile tv i want sky sports but do i need the home one aswell, if not then i will get a payg on voda or something coz i got a contract wid o2. it works wid payg right.........

[seaniboy]

yip works on payg, no home subcription needed

[chris2403]

Can i just confirm that i wont be charged data usage. Ive got the 500mb add on and am looking at the £10 package. Ive tried it and an quite impressed. Just worried about data.

[strikeforce]

Can i just confirm that i wont be charged data usage. Ive got the 500mb add on and am looking at the £10 package. Ive tried it and an quite impressed. Just worried about data.

The data is inclusive within the £10, you wont be charged for any data and it wont affected your 500mb.

[chris2403]

Thankyou..