I'm afraid pvr's are on a terminal decline, it's a generational thing as the millennial tik tok/ YouTube generation grew up with streaming as the norm. Hence the almost complete extinction of dvd's.. one time Disney would release a movie in cinemas then make a fortune on the dvd sales.
<Ahem> They still do. And as for Blu ray players -
Its been a good 3 years since I last bought a DVD from Amazon and think the last one I bought was Shania twain live in Las Vegas on Blu-Ray. I dont have many Blu- Ray discs in the house but do still have well over 50 DVDs in the house movies, TV shows. Plus some music DVDs. We have an CeX shop in town that I used to get cheap DVDs from but have not been in the shop in the last two years and lest time I passed the shop a few weeks ago it did not look busy. I have not used my Blu-Ray player in the last 2 years. Music CDs are also on slow decline but will still be around for a good few years yet. 80% of the music I listen to in the last 4 years is via Spotify. I still got a box full of CDs in the loft and ones that I used to listen to the most in my bedroom.
I'm afraid pvr's are on a terminal decline, it's a generational thing as the millennial tik tok/ YouTube generation grew up with streaming as the norm. Hence the almost complete extinction of dvd's.. one time Disney would release a movie in cinemas then make a fortune on the dvd sales.
<Ahem> They still do. And as for Blu ray players -
I've lost films I've purchased digitally over the years when the service has stopped, so prefer mine as physical discs.
And CDs sound better to me as opposed to streaming. I have Prime but very rarely use it for music.
It's down to personal choice.
I’ve lost films I’ve recorded digitally when my YouView box stopped 😛
CDs are better than most streaming, 320 kbps at best, and anything less than 160kbps sounds to me like it was recorded under water, but once you get onto a Hi-Res audio format, you can get up to 24bit/192khz (9216kbps) compared with the 16bit/44khz of CD (1411kbps).
But we are still waiting for Amazon Prime to offer its promised Hi-Res, so it is still the musical equivalent of SD versus HD, let alone UHD.
Vinyl has a theoretically infinite ‘bit rate’, but only for analogue recordings, so it is, as the article quoted suggests, a tactile thing with it.
And only somebody otherwise happy with 320kbps would be happy playing their vinyl on one of those suitcase record players.
I’ve A/B’ed vinyl versus CD, a Linn Axis versus an Arcam CD player, and the CD sound wins every time. But the LP sleeves are better. And there are no sleeves with streaming 😛
‘Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful’ Wm Morris
I have an aversion to the ubiquitous Small Monthly Payments model. Spotify have 180 million premium subscribers, each paying the equivalent of up to £9.99 per month. The subscribers don't all pay the full amount, but even so Spotify is probably drawing over a billion quid a month.
CDs are relatively inexpensive and their sound quality is good.
I don't play my CDs. I transfer the tracks to a music server and go from there.
Discs/blu rays - a minor format now (and they are) - yet with a disc you get increased picture and sound quality. Plus there are no rights issues with discs. Once you buy it it yours to keep and can watch it as many times as you like without having to pay for it again. And you'll never lose it no matter which platform you drop. Yes, I like discs and I am not alone.
Point of note - the supermarkets are going to stop stocking discs on their physical shelves but they will still be available online. Hmm, yeah... everythings available online these days.
I'm now happy with the disagree icon, because its gone.
And ask any musician song writer, who has music on spotify about the paltry amount they get per stream vs physical sales.
Also, even with this paltry payout, the streaming companies seem to lose money themselves.
Recording artists were greatly exploited by the greedy record companies. Remember George Michael suing Sony. Now anyone with a modicum of talent can get there material to the masses.
I've lost films I've purchased digitally over the years when the service has stopped, so prefer mine as physical discs.
And CDs sound better to me as opposed to streaming. I have Prime but very rarely use it for music.
It's down to personal choice.
I’ve lost films I’ve recorded digitally when my YouView box stopped 😛
CDs are better than most streaming, 320 kbps at best, and anything less than 160kbps sounds to me like it was recorded under water, but once you get onto a Hi-Res audio format, you can get up to 24bit/192khz (9216kbps) compared with the 16bit/44khz of CD (1411kbps).
But we are still waiting for Amazon Prime to offer its promised Hi-Res, so it is still the musical equivalent of SD versus HD, let alone UHD.
Vinyl has a theoretically infinite ‘bit rate’, but only for analogue recordings, so it is, as the article quoted suggests, a tactile thing with it.
And only somebody otherwise happy with 320kbps would be happy playing their vinyl on one of those suitcase record players.
I’ve A/B’ed vinyl versus CD, a Linn Axis versus an Arcam CD player, and the CD sound wins every time. But the LP sleeves are better. And there are no sleeves with streaming 😛
Some modern turntables are astonishing. I A/B'ed one of the new Technics TTs versus an Arcam CD player. The turntabIe came out on top. I was impressed.
I bought two alexa studios (brilliant speakers) with a free trial of HD music....might be me but wasn't impressed.
It isn't just you @kodikid. The Which review of the Echo Studio came to the same conclusion:
High-end audio formats are supported including
Dolby, Sony’s all-angle 360 Reality Audio and Hi-Res audio, which is
higher than CD quality. Unfortunately however, the speaker doesn’t
really sound good enough to make the most of these formats.
@kodikid have not tried the Echo Studio as yet but it seems good from what I have seen. I got the original Echo in my Kitchen. The Echo Spot in my living room. The 2nd Gen Echo just outside my bathroom at top of the stairs and used the Echo Show 5 in my bedroom as my radio alarm clock. I also mostly use Spotify Premium but do get 2m songs with Amazon music for being a Prime Member. I have not long phoned up and canceled BT TV(Now) Big Entertainment plus HD add on and service will end of 15 April. My contract for BT TV ended yesterday woman said. I going to take up the Now(Now TV) offer of 3 months Entertainment at £5.99 and also Sky Cinema at £5.99 for 3 months Also the HD booze 7 day free trial. I still got just over 9 months to go on my BT FTTC. So that will be staying the same for now.
I going to take up the Now(Now TV) offer of 3 months Entertainment at £5.99 and also Sky Cinema at £5.99 for 3 months Also the HD booze 7 day free trial.
Two x studio back room Two x 4 gen front room Echo dot 4 gen with clock and 4 gen dot in 2 main bedrooms. All give next level stereo sound especially when placed either side of the room Honestly studio is the creme de la creme (amazon prime of miss Jean Brodie) of echo devices. Re boost..when the free trial end's hold your nerve when you cancel it...you will definitely get a good offer that should see through to the summer. As for HD booze...most people whine about sky so perhaps your interpretation is more appropriate.
Will try and cancel boost end of next week and see if I get an offer like you say @kodikid. If I don't get some sort of offer will just have to keep paying the £5 for boost. For I like the benefits of having boost and can use Now(Now TV) when I'm at my sisters. As although the BT TV(Now) don't end till 15 April I toke the offer last night direct from Now(Now TV). Just incase the offer was not there come the end of the month. The woman on phone said I need to send the BT Youview box back to then and they will send a returns bag in the next 5 to 10 days and if I don't sent back I maybe charged but I got the BT Youview box from BT back in 2018 and the other BT Youview box in my bedroom is a retail box for 2017. As I got that box to replace the old Youview T1000 that gave up the ghost.
So if you joined us or have renewed your contract on or after this date, you’ll be charged for not returning equipment to us.
The date in question being 13/12/2019.
So with 18-month contracts, everyone with a YouView box from BT is on a contract that renewed since that date. So presumably BT has snatched any BT YouView box supplied before 13/12/2019 back out of the customer’s ownership as a condition of the new contract, and so feels entitled to request the return of every box out there as current customer contracts end?
‘Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful’ Wm Morris
Will try and cancel boost end of next week and see if I get an offer like you say @kodikid. If I don't get some sort of offer will just have to keep paying the £5 for boost. For I like the benefits of having boost and can use Now(Now TV) when I'm at my sisters. As although the BT TV(Now) don't end till 15 April I toke the offer last night direct from Now(Now TV). Just incase the offer was not there come the end of the month. The woman on phone said I need to send the BT Youview box back to then and they will send a returns bag in the next 5 to 10 days and if I don't sent back I maybe charged but I got the BT Youview box from BT back in 2018 and the other BT Youview box in my bedroom is a retail box for 2017. As I got that box to replace the old Youview T1000 that gave up the ghost.
If you are with BT TV for Now, then Now should not deal with you direct while that is ongoing.
You can stop Now from BT TV without stopping BT TV, as far as I know (though maybe you can’t any more?) so I presume you are giving up BT TV anyway?
And the way cancellation works on Now direct is that the service doesn’t stop immediately, it still runs until the next renewal date and then stops. So you can start to cancel Boost the minute you get it; and if you aren’t offered a big enough discount, or no discount at all, just exit the cancellation and try again in a week’s time 😛
My take on sending the YouView box back to BT is as above; they have always tried it on with our property in the past, and the leopard hasn’t changed irs spots 😛
‘Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful’ Wm Morris
As far as I know if you cancel Now with BT you are now canceling BT TV. As BT TV only do the Now services. Unlike a few years ago. Now with BT TV will end on 15th April but could end before that I was told. My next bill for BT is 16th April and that include BT FTTC. Thats still n contact for another 9 moths.
I probably should have put cod HTML <irony> marks round what I wrote; I think it’s actually sloppy wording on BT’s part, and if there were such a rule, I think any court in the land would strike it out as an unfair contract term.
I think it refers to existing customers without BT TV renewing and taking BT TV, and so getting sent a YouView box after that date; fair enough.
With your example of getting a replacement box from BT when an older one dies, it would be interesting to check the legal ownership status of any box that BT sent out after 13/12/2019 to replace a customer-owned one that had failed.
TalkTalk say in similar circumstances that the box stays theirs.
But I wonder how many lawyers could dance on the head of a pin debating this issue? 😛
‘Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful’ Wm Morris
So if you joined us or have renewed your contract on or after this date, you’ll be charged for not returning equipment to us.
The date in question being 13/12/2019.
So with 18-month contracts, everyone with a YouView box from BT is on a contract that renewed since that date. So presumably BT has snatched any BT YouView box supplied before 13/12/2019 back out of the customer’s ownership as a condition of the new contract, and so feels entitled to request the return of every box out there as current customer contracts end?
I don't believe that anyone can retrospectively change the T&Cs like BT claim. I think the legal view would be that at the time you got the box it was yours to keep after the initial 12 month contract - which was the T&Cs at the time - and that's what takes precedence.
Afraid your mistaken Tim. Every time you renew you enter into a new agreement so the retrospective argument wouldn't wash. Darren just return it as you are in a very weakened position being billed by BT till next year. They will simply apply the charges to your broadband bill under extra charges/equipment, think it's around £100. You can easily replace it or even upgrade to a pro from ebay.
Comments
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=blu+ray+players&crid=1SIFHG8BJUU8B&sprefix=blu+ray+players,aps,87&ref=nb_sb_noss_1
I always buy on disc and I am not alone. Though admittedly the market is far smaller than it was, it is still alive.
I dont have many Blu- Ray discs in the house but do still have well over 50 DVDs in the house movies, TV shows. Plus some music DVDs.
We have an CeX shop in town that I used to get cheap DVDs from but have not been in the shop in the last two years and lest time I passed the shop a few weeks ago it did not look busy.
I have not used my Blu-Ray player in the last 2 years.
Music CDs are also on slow decline but will still be around for a good few years yet.
80% of the music I listen to in the last 4 years is via Spotify. I still got a box full of CDs in the loft and ones that I used to listen to the most in my bedroom.
https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/2022/02/tesco-confirms-its-phasing-out-cds-and-dvds/
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1460951/supermarkets-stop-selling-cd-dvds-streaming-device
You haven’t noticed the huge resurgence in vinyl?
can't see dvd's or cd's enjoying a similar renaissance though.
And CDs sound better to me as opposed to streaming. I have Prime but very rarely use it for music.
It's down to personal choice.
One swallow doesn't make a summer.
CDs are better than most streaming, 320 kbps at best, and anything less than 160kbps sounds to me like it was recorded under water, but once you get onto a Hi-Res audio format, you can get up to 24bit/192khz (9216kbps) compared with the 16bit/44khz of CD (1411kbps).
But we are still waiting for Amazon Prime to offer its promised Hi-Res, so it is still the musical equivalent of SD versus HD, let alone UHD.
Vinyl has a theoretically infinite ‘bit rate’, but only for analogue recordings, so it is, as the article quoted suggests, a tactile thing with it.
And only somebody otherwise happy with 320kbps would be happy playing their vinyl on one of those suitcase record players.
I’ve A/B’ed vinyl versus CD, a Linn Axis versus an Arcam CD player, and the CD sound wins every time. But the LP sleeves are better. And there are no sleeves with streaming 😛
Also, even with this paltry payout, the streaming companies seem to lose money themselves.
Point of note - the supermarkets are going to stop stocking discs on their physical shelves but they will still be available online. Hmm, yeah... everythings available online these days.
Remember George Michael suing Sony.
Now anyone with a modicum of talent can get there material to the masses.
I got the original Echo in my Kitchen. The Echo Spot in my living room. The 2nd Gen Echo just outside my bathroom at top of the stairs and used the Echo Show 5 in my bedroom as my radio alarm clock.
I also mostly use Spotify Premium but do get 2m songs with Amazon music for being a Prime Member.
I have not long phoned up and canceled BT TV(Now) Big Entertainment plus HD add on and service will end of 15 April. My contract for BT TV ended yesterday woman said.
I going to take up the Now(Now TV) offer of 3 months Entertainment at £5.99 and also Sky Cinema at £5.99 for 3 months Also the HD booze 7 day free trial.
I still got just over 9 months to go on my BT FTTC. So that will be staying the same for now.
I’ll drink to that! 😛
Two x 4 gen front room
Echo dot 4 gen with clock and 4 gen dot in 2 main bedrooms.
All give next level stereo sound especially when placed either side of the room
Honestly studio is the creme de la creme (amazon prime of miss Jean Brodie)
of echo devices.
Re boost..when the free trial end's hold your nerve when you cancel it...you
will definitely get a good offer that should see through to the summer.
As for HD booze...most people whine about sky so perhaps your interpretation is more appropriate.
As although the BT TV(Now) don't end till 15 April I toke the offer last night direct from Now(Now TV). Just incase the offer was not there come the end of the month.
The woman on phone said I need to send the BT Youview box back to then and they will send a returns bag in the next 5 to 10 days and if I don't sent back I maybe charged but I got the BT Youview box from BT back in 2018 and the other BT Youview box in my bedroom is a retail box for 2017. As I got that box to replace the old Youview T1000 that gave up the ghost.
So if you joined us or have renewed your contract on or after this date, you’ll be charged for not returning equipment to us.
The date in question being 13/12/2019.
So with 18-month contracts, everyone with a YouView box from BT is on a contract that renewed since that date. So presumably BT has snatched any BT YouView box supplied before 13/12/2019 back out of the customer’s ownership as a condition of the new contract, and so feels entitled to request the return of every box out there as current customer contracts end?
I’m a bit confused here 😢
If you are with BT TV for Now, then Now should not deal with you direct while that is ongoing.
You can stop Now from BT TV without stopping BT TV, as far as I know (though maybe you can’t any more?) so I presume you are giving up BT TV anyway?
So you can start to cancel Boost the minute you get it; and if you aren’t offered a big enough discount, or no discount at all, just exit the cancellation and try again in a week’s time 😛
My take on sending the YouView box back to BT is as above; they have always tried it on with our property in the past, and the leopard hasn’t changed irs spots 😛
Now with BT TV will end on 15th April but could end before that I was told.
My next bill for BT is 16th April and that include BT FTTC. Thats still n contact for another 9 moths.
I probably should have put cod HTML <irony> marks round what I wrote; I think it’s actually sloppy wording on BT’s part, and if there were such a rule, I think any court in the land would strike it out as an unfair contract term.
I think it refers to existing customers without BT TV renewing and taking BT TV, and so getting sent a YouView box after that date; fair enough.
With your example of getting a replacement box from BT when an older one dies, it would be interesting to check the legal ownership status of any box that BT sent out after 13/12/2019 to replace a customer-owned one that had failed.
TalkTalk say in similar circumstances that the box stays theirs.
But I wonder how many lawyers could dance on the head of a pin debating this issue? 😛
I don't believe that anyone can retrospectively change the T&Cs like BT claim. I think the legal view would be that at the time you got the box it was yours to keep after the initial 12 month contract - which was the T&Cs at the time - and that's what takes precedence.
Every time you renew you enter into a new agreement so the retrospective argument wouldn't wash.
Darren just return it as you are in a very weakened position being billed by BT till next year.
They will simply apply the charges to your broadband bill under extra charges/equipment, think it's around £100.
You can easily replace it or even upgrade to a pro from ebay.