[LargelyALurker]

For it to be successful they need a STB version that people can use on second TVs around the house.

Virgin Media seems to be getting a head start with their Stream box. Despite being locked to their broadband, once a one time fee is paid you have access to a large amount of FTV channels and in Ireland it appears to be the only box new customers can now get (I think). If you want to add channels you can on a monthly basis.

I'd be curious about stats for second TV usage these days - I feel like people tend to have a living room TV and use phones/tablets in other rooms, which obviously wasn't an option not so long ago. I wonder how typical that is?

I'm actually in the market for a new TV as the current one has a fault. Was waiting to see whether a Freely one makes sense, but less certain now, especially if it doesn't have the backwards EPG that Freeview Play has supported for many years. I'm also aware that very few TVs these days seem to have SCART sockets, which would mean being unable to connect up some old devices, not that they're used much anyway

[Technologist]

This is what Statista says ….. 18 M with 1tv 15M with 2 etc (2021)
www.statista.com 

Statista
StatistaHomeSearchStatisticsDaily DataError Oops - an unknown error occurred. Pl…
  Source: www.statista.com

But at the total licenses was about 25M so it does not quite add up!

One would hope that Freely will be to international standards
and a feature set based in what free …play does at the moment

You can get hdmi to scart converters…. Look on Amazon !

[interestednovice]

I'm also aware that very few TVs these days seem to have SCART sockets, which would mean being unable to connect up some old devices, not that they're used much anyway

I have a Panasonic Blu-ray player & recorder, with Freeview HD support, which is great for this. The Panasonic supports SCART inputs and will output them over the HDMI interface upscaled. It also allows recording content via the SCART inputs, has analogue RCA inputs for things like old-school camcorders and an SD card input.

All of this can be recorded to the internal HDD or burnt onto Blu-ray, which is rather useful.

I don’t know if Panasonic still sell them or not?

[Rdd]

For it to be successful they need a STB version that people can use on second TVs around the house.

Virgin Media seems to be getting a head start with their Stream box. Despite being locked to their broadband, once a one time fee is paid you have access to a large amount of FTV channels and in Ireland it appears to be the only box new customers can now get (I think).

Somewhat OT for this thread but it is now the only box available to VM customers in Ireland (and is apparently the only one that works on their full fibre network - you can’t even plug in one of their older boxes , even the relatively new TV360 which lasted less than three years) - but it’s a normal subscription in Ireland, not a one-time fee, and as with all the “new generation” streaming services, is getting a lot of criticism for the lack of recording on many channels, particularly BBC.

[Neil Jones]

Somewhat OT for this thread but it is now the only box available to VM customers in Ireland (and is apparently the only one that works on their full fibre network - you can’t even plug in one of their older boxes , even the relatively new TV360 which lasted less than three years) - but it’s a normal subscription in Ireland, not a one-time fee, and as with all the “new generation” streaming services, is getting a lot of criticism for the lack of recording on many channels, particularly BBC.

So if I read this correctly people were happy to stream when recording was available, but they didn't record (because you could stream), but when a new generation box comes out and there is deliberately no recording available, people don't like that?

[Rdd]

So if I read this correctly people were happy to stream when recording was available, but they didn't record (because you could stream), but when a new generation box comes out and there is deliberately no recording available, people don't like that?

The issue is particularly (but not specifically) tied to the BBC - there’s no iPlayer in Ireland (except a limited version available to Sky customers) and so losing recording means watch the linear airing at the appointed time or don’t watch at all (or wait and buy the DVD when it comes out, if you still have a working DVD player that is, or when Dave, W or Gold repeats it in five years time). Miss it miss out, as they used to say on Live & Kicking. For many it feels like we’ve gone back to before VHS with this. Match of the Day is a particular issue, because a large chunk of its potential audience are doing other things when its original airing is on.

None of this has anything to do with Freely, but it’s just to answer the question posed. It may also get resolved in time - another platform (eir TV) had the same limitations when it launched back in 2019 but they have largely been resolved.

[Stuart]

Match of the Day is a particular issue, because a large chunk of its potential audience are doing other things when its original airing is on.

That's why there is the repeat on Sunday morning, which you can watch while finishing off the rest of your (now cold) doner kebab.

[Keith]

It looks like Freely has now launched, according to rxtvinfo.com . The channel offer is currently rather underwhelming to say the least.

Lean pickings as Freeview replacement Freely goes live - RXTV
The first TVs that support Freeview streaming replacement Freely are reaching re…
  Source: rxtvinfo.com

[Brekkie]

OK, I've defended some things as just being the cost of it being in the early stages but ridiculous that to receive channels via Freeview you have to turn off the Internet and hence all smart TV apps. That makes it a none starter rather than a hybrid device as a stepping stone to a full IPTV solution. Are they deliberately sabotaging it to kill the argument Freeview only has a decade left?

They've somehow managed to make the EPG even messier than Freeview too, and baffling to list every BBC Local Radio station rather than point people to BBC sounds.

[Technologist]

OK, I've defended some things as just being the cost of it being in the early stages but ridiculous that to receive channels via Freeview you have to turn off the Internet and hence all smart TV apps……..

That’s not what the article says ……
You only get the streamed version which is HD if the broadcast has a flag set …..
if you unplug the internet you get the SD broadcast version.
So at start only BBC PSB , and presumably all of itv ch and 5 5 Chanel’s will be streamed ,
And the sky and BBC/UKTV etc will come in board later

They've somehow managed to make the EPG even messier than Freeview too, and baffling to list every BBC Local Radio station rather than point people to BBC sounds.

The idea is that everything is available on the one EPG …is t any stranger than all BBC tv regions which there are now in DSAT.