[Ben]

http://today.reuters.com/business/newsArticle.aspx?type=media&storyID=nL31148440


LONDON, Oct 31 (Reuters) - British pay-TV company BSkyB (BSY.L: Quote, Profile, Research) is launching a mobile TV service that will be delivered to handsets over Vodafone's high-speed 3G network, as it seeks to expand beyond its traditional satellite platform.

The service, Sky Mobile TV, will give users of Vodafone's third-generation (3G) devices access to 24-hour news channels as well as sport, entertainment and documentary programmes. The companies said the service would be free until the end of January and would be charged at 5 pounds ($8.9) a month thereafter. It is offering two packages: a news, sport and factual programme service, including content from CNN, and an entertainment and music package including content from Sky One and MTV.

Vodafone, which has exclusive access to the service until the end of March, has over 250,000 3G subscribers in the UK and it says its 3G service covers 72 percent of the UK population.

BSkyB Chief Operating Officer Richard Freudenstein said that because of difficulty obtaining the mobile rights to some programmes, some Sky One programmes such as "24" and "Weeds" would not be available.

"This is a developing technology, so some of the channels do not have rights at this stage," he said on a conference call.

Thanks to getti for the heads up :) Well, this could be the end for MobiTV! I sincerely hope that the Sky application will be as superb as Sky Mobile was, and will most certainly be trying this out for myself one way or the other. I'm also impressed with Vodafone's growing coverage, now stated at 72%.

Edit: Oh, and crucially!
http://www.pocket-lint.co.uk/news.php?newsId=1878

The technology is backwards compatible with all current 3G handsets in Vodafone UK’s including launch phones like the Sony Ericsson v800, as well as the recently announced models for Christmas 2005, such as the Sharp 903.

[whatleydude]

*wonders if they have a launch date yet*

[Ben]

First of November ;) Tomorrow!

[getti]

This has now definatly decided it for me. From tomorrow my Vodafone PAYG SIM will be in my N70 for good.

Add 2 packs for £35 so I get 200 mins & 500 texts, plus add Stop The Clock and with the free browsing im well away.

I really hope its better than what Orange and Three offer software wise. I mean saying the picture quality was poor is an understatement and with the constant buffering and loss of sound or picture (not to mention the backlight issue) it HAS to be better.

And of course you get loads of Sky programs on your mobile. I love 'Dream Team' and would be great if I could watch that on my mobi

[whatleydude]

First of November ;) Tomorrow!


Wicked!

You'd think there'd be something on LIVE already saying 'coming soon' or something..

Guess I'll just have to wait til tomorrow..

[Hands0n]

Gleep! Yet another reason to be making the move to Vodafone at the turn of 2005/6. Wonderfull stuff.

@Getti - you wouldn't care to explain that PAYT package you've put together would you? I've read your posting several times and it aint' fitting in the brain ... Wot is it you've done for £35 that seems to match most keen tariffs out there today? !!!

[3GScottishUser]

Great news. Works on alll their 3g handsets too apparently. About time a network standardised what is available instead of the nonsense that exists with mobi-TV on 3 and Orange.

Full marks to vodafone UK if this proves to work well tomorrow.

[Gagz]

This is fooking brilliant news this is :D Ah just a few months back 3G wasnt really selling to well but still brought a 3G sharp 902 and not really anything good, now got a 903 and vwalla Mobile TV and not even crap channels either there pretty decent ones. And the fact their free to Vodafone 3G customers till Jan 31st is amazing. then only £5 a month ? Bargain if you ask me :D

Wooo launch tomorrow i cant wait im going to bloody watching SkyOne + everything all the time now my 6th form friends are going to be so p!ssed lol they all have 2G phones :D they thought 3G was a waste of time and money !!! Now who looks like feckers mwahahahaha

Anyways i found the article on this story here - http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/article/ds25684.html at about 12pm when i woke up :\ so i came straight here now. W000 go Vodafone/Sky kicka$$

[Hands0n]

How very exciting, and very frustrating at the same time.

Why on Earth did they put Sky News with Sports only? Dont peole who like to be Entertained also like to hear what is going on in the world these days? P'raps the "Entertainment and Music" offering will pick up the nickname the Ostritch channel! :D I can't really see the logic of excluding News from that.

And the frustrating bit .... I completely do not like Sport and wouldn't pay for it just to get News plus a lot of rather dull "Factual" stuff that I already pay for on my Sattelite subscription.

So I'm left thinking that this is really not for me at all, despite the strong liklihood that I'll be taking up a Vodafone subscription towards the end of this year.

[getti]

@Getti - you wouldn't care to explain that PAYT package you've put together would you? I've read your posting several times and it aint' fitting in the brain ... Wot is it you've done for £35 that seems to match most keen tariffs out there today? !!!

Im glad you asked. Vodafone offer 'Packs' for PAYG customers. You get either Voice or Text packs giving you a set amount for a fixed amount for a fee like Add-Ons.

Text
£5 gets you 70 texts
£10 gets you 200 texts
£15 gets you 500 texts
£20 gets you 675 texts

Voice
£15 gets you 100mins
£25 gets you 200mins

So if i pay £40 i get a 200mins voice pack and a 500 texts pack... AND still get Stop The Clock

[Ginz]

Is this for existing customers or new only?

[Ben]

The TV application? Given that they've said it'll support older handsets like the V800 it's certain to be everyone. I'd imagine those text and voice packs are available to all PAYG users also.

[Ginz]

Good because my N70 is due to arrive tomorrow, ordered on Saturday so I would be pretty gutted if it was only for new contracts from tomorrow. So, you'll be able to use it free from tomorrow? What an amazing coincidence my N70 is coming then. Got to wait a week to port over though..

[jayd]

Mixed news for me, my porting happened today, well half of it I can make calls can't yet recieve , they still have 2 hours :mad: . Anyway I can't get a 3G signal in my house, in the middle of Birmingham, apparently I'm right on a 3G blackspot so I'm gutted, looks like my voda stay will be short :( So until I get a 3G signal theres no Sky TV for me.

[whatleydude]

Anyone got/tried this yet?

[Gagz]

I cant see it on the Vodafone Live! homepage anywhere :S nor can i find any reference to the service on the vodafone website :S whats going on dammit lol

[MORPH]

Can't find anything on the vodafone website about this, not sure how to order it.....any ideas anyone?

[Nero]

Launch Live! then select Entertainment and you should see an option to select Mobile TV. The picture takes a couple of seconds to "stabilise" but after that is pretty impressive. The one problem I had, and it's fairly major, is no sound not sure if it's a problem with my SE800 or a launch hitch.

[Gagz]

thanks lmao suprise suprise just tried to get onto Vodafone Live! and im getting a error 'CAE 502 Errorw' grr will try in 5mins ! i got to go get ready for 6th form will see if i can post back when im there or sometime later today cya

[3GScottishUser]

I have now watched 3 channels.

Good picture quality and no buffering after the inital loading takes place.

Sound quality pretty good too on the channels I have watched, MTV Bites, Sky News and CNN.

A great freebie from Vodafone and right on cue all 19 channels arrived as promised.

Quite a coup!

[getti]

I cant get it cause im in 2G :(

[3GScottishUser]

Have you tried getting an outside aerial?

[whatleydude]

I'm trying to connect on my N70..

No luck so far..


EDIT: Had my real player settings muffed up. It works now.
This rules. I need a desktop charger/stand..


Anyone else using Real Player on the N70?
Do you know how to get it to play in fullscreen?

[getti]

In Realplayer press Options > Play In Fullscreen

[jayd]

Have you tried getting an outside aerial?

What is an outside aerial? My house is a non Voda 3g zone sadly. Thing is when I do a network search I get all the other 4 3G signals but only voda 2G and If I get a 3G signal it last for a minute max. Can you point me in the direction of one of these aerials if it helps? This is the difference between me staying and leaving Voda.

[whatleydude]

In Realplayer press Options > Play In Fullscreen

That option is there when watching pre-recorded videos but not on live streaming..

I've sussed it though - you have to push STOP first.
Then the 'OPTIONS' option appears. Hit 'PLAY IN FULLSCREEN' and then it will do it..
It'll have to re-connect first but that's the way it's done.

EDIT - this is SO cool.

[MORPH]

Hmmm...every channel I choose comes up with "! - msisdn not available. The system is unable to display your request, please try again later" :(

[getti]

I get an unable to connect due to lack of bandwith. Thats because im only in 2G.

However 3G is just up the road so im gonna go to the shops and have a look :D

[Nero]

Manged to get the sound going, stupid user error. Now I'm really impressed, OK having a small screen is obviously a limitation and the picture quality is not as good as full TV broadcast, but the content range is very impressive.

Have had the a couple of failures connecting, but 90% straight in and in the other 10% just clicked on the link again then it goes straight in.

Not usually that impressed with technology, but this really is an exception.

[Ben]

I'm ecstatic (really!) that Vodafone have used the industry standard, Real, to stream their TV channels. How flippin' good is that! I'll have a go myself a little later this afternoon... if it's too good then I'm going to have to figure out how to switch all my contacts between my two phones so I can keep the Voda SIM in :( Sad face because that'll be a royal pain!

[whatleydude]

Synchronise with outlook?

[MORPH]

What connection settings are the people who have it working using?

*Edit* Got it working connecting using "vodafone live" connection settings, I was using "vodafone gprs isp" to connect before.

[whatleydude]

I'm using my default 'contract wap' settings.
It would also be useful to check your Real Player connection settings.

[Ben]

Ok, given it a try now. WOW.

Some of the good points first. The integration with the web browser is good - Real launches automatically and when finished watching the channel you are returned back to the Live! page where you can go back and select other channels. The ability to play back in full screen is commendable, the quality is good, and the regular (and pathetic) sound and picture pauses seen in MobiTV are nowhere to be seen here. The product is extremely good, easy to access, and there's an excellent selection to watch.

On the flip-side, there was the usual Vodafone mixed-bag of errors and faults. I couldn't get Sky News to play at all, Real (and web) would just exit, but MTV, CNN, SkyOne and National Geographic were all good. I actually watched National Geographic for a good 15 minutes - I got so absorbed in the programme that I quite happily sat there totally unaware of the small screen or tinny sound. I also received messages once or twice saying the channel I wanted to watch was currently unavailable due to high demand.

This is a competent service that makes the MobiTV services look utterly rubbish by comparison. Once again it would seem that Vodafone, despite not having a dedicated application for the service, have stolen the quality crown as they did with music tracks - though perhaps at the expense of the usability one.

[Hands0n]

Hey! How are you watching Sky News and Sky One as these are on separate packages. Or have Vodafone released the whole kaboodle for the preview period?

[getti]

I just got back from the shops where I get 3G coverage. I managed to tune into CNN and Sky News fine. Sky One kept giving me a message it was busy or something.

Im guessing EVERYONE is using this today as it is brand new. In about a week of so the hype will have died down a bit so should be better.

And for the question above, ALL the stations are available free to watch until Jan 2006

[Ben]

Hey! How are you watching Sky News and Sky One as these are on separate packages. Or have Vodafone released the whole kaboodle for the preview period?
*cough* Go buy a Vodafone right this instant Mr! *cough*
But yes, as getti says, we can currently view channels from any package. There's no subscription or anything like that, they just stream straight-off. Very impressive.

[Ginz]

Think it's a coincidence my N70 arrived today? :p It's brilliant!

[Hands0n]

*cough* Go buy a Vodafone right this instant Mr! *cough*
But yes, as getti says, we can currently view channels from any package. There's no subscription or anything like that, they just stream straight-off. Very impressive.

I will, I will ! I'm just awaiting the Nokia 6280 and I'm online and ordering pronto-like!

The use of a tried and tested product like Real Player was bound to bring on a successful delivery mechanism. Its a complete no brainer save from the 3G bit of the delivery. Smart peeps, those Voda guys.

[Going off topic for a moment] I forsee MobiTV being consigned to the scrapheap on day 32 of my subscription to it on 3. What a joke it turned out to be, and a very sick one at that.

But I'm still a bit frustrated that the Vodafone Sky packages do not include News in both - I really, really, really, really do not want Sport, and I get my "entertainment" from my home TV. Its the News that I want. P'raps once I've subscribed to Vodafone I'll put my point across to their CS in writing.

[3g-g]

I have to say reading about all this is very interesting, and I'm glad to see that it's working well for most, apart from the few guys that don't have any Voda 3G coverage after getting a tad excited about this, with reference to a point made a few posts back, I hardly think an external aerial is practicle for a mobile, especially just to watch mobile TV.

The one thing no-one seems to of mentioned is data charges? Fair enough the VTV application and subscription is free of charge just now... but do Vodafone not have one of the highest data rates per MB?!

Are people setting themselves up for a kick in the teeth when their credit vanishes or their bill drops through the door?

[3GScottishUser]

It works really well but no need for a 'fair usage' clause as handsets will only be able to work a short time on batteries displaying TV. Just think how much processing is happening with W-CDMA then conversion to video/audio and all the display requirements etc. Short clips and quick 'dip-in's' are the most practical use for most though.

Very neat application that will hook a lot of folks as it is a great add on but in practical terms it's for highlights only when on the move and that probably applies equally to all services of this type regardless of provider or 3G hardware used presently.

[Ben]

I have to say reading about all this is very interesting, and I'm glad to see that it's working well for most, apart from the few guys that don't have any Voda 3G coverage after getting a tad excited about this, with reference to a point made a few posts back, I hardly think an external aerial is practicle for a mobile, especially just to watch mobile TV.

The one thing no-one seems to of mentioned is data charges? Fair enough the VTV application and subscription is free of charge just now... but do Vodafone not have one of the highest data rates per MB?!

Are people setting themselves up for a kick in the teeth when their credit vanishes or their bill drops through the door?
There are no data charges within Vodafone Live! ;) Also, Vodafone's rate of £2.35 is comparable to other networks, and the great thing about Vodafone is how your text bundle also counts towards data charges.
Edit: Good point though, I'd completely forgotten about data charges!

[3g-g]

Ah, good stuff. Well it's certainly looking like a winner from my point of view!

[whatleydude]

Er...

Channel 4!

It wasn't on here the other day I'm sure.
Are Vodafone/Sky adding channels as they go along!?
Or did I miss it when I looked before?

[Ginz]

Where is it actually on the Voda site what TV channels are available and coming soon? Maybe I'm just not looking hard enough.

[Ben]

They've added Channel 4?! As in the whole thing, or a mobile version/looped version? If it's the full schedule then that's fab... roll on E4 ;)

[whatleydude]

Yeah Ch4. Its in the bit where Fashion TV was/is I think..

and..
Its a mobile/looped version I think..
I'm not sure.

I was watching Grand Designs on the train last night but I haven't looked at last night's TV schedule to see if it matches..

But yeah - intead of adverts I got a couple of Ch4 idents with the usual Ch4 voice over dude (the one who does the Big Brother commentary) saying:
"You're watching Channel 4 on your mobile. Updated daily to bring you the best selection of programmes..." etc etc...

I'll keep an eye on it..

Ch4 is a great channel to have though.
Well done Vodafone.


...oh and Ginz?

Goto Vodafone Live. If 'Mobile TV' isnt available from the main screen then scroll down to 'Entertainment' and click there..
You'll find it.

[Ben]

Ginz - it's on Vodafone Live! but I'm not sure about the actual Voda website.

Whatleydude - I watched grand designs last night also! But a lot later.. so it's definitely looped. But hey, if they're including grand designs in their loop then it's just fine by me!

If they can get a few more major channels on board then this is going to be huge.

[whatleydude]

Well I was watchin it about 20:40 ish..

[RossTilley]

Hello - Newbbie here!

Anyone know how to get full screen on a V600i?

Help apprecated!

Ross

[Ginz]

Would certainly be an idea for Vodafone website to have a constantly updated page which lists all the TV programmes and what are coming soon too. Maybe even listing the schedule of the channel like a TV paper when it gets more established and they have more content instead of looping.

Might bring in some potential customers too who are looking around the site. It's a big selling point.

[Ben]

Hello - Newbbie here!

Anyone know how to get full screen on a V600i?

Help apprecated!

Ross
I'm not actually sure that there is a full screen option for video - there certainly isn't on my Z1010 as far as I can make out :( Not tried on a v600 though!

Welcome to Talk3G!

[Jon3G]

I have a N70 on Vodafone and cant find it anywere

edit

found it now

[Denyo1977]

Is actually anyone having problems connecting to Sky News? Everytime the Real Player opens I get kicked out and I am back to the phones "desktop".

[Ben]

Same here, Denyo1977. That channel just doesn't seem to like Real for some reason! Using a 6680 here.

Anyone else?

[3GScottishUser]

Seems to work OK on the Samsung Z500. I find it one of the easiest channels to get!

[Ginz]

I got connected to Voda today porting from Orange and so far I haven't had any luck today with any streaming or downloading football or tv stuff. Managed to download a film trailer but that's not really what I'm bothered about. Anybody else have a problem? I've got an N70 and when I go on to any TV stuff it says cannot connect to server, something about bandwidth and check network settings.

[Ben]

Bandwidth? Sounds like you're in a 2G area. You need to be in a 3G area for streaming.

It's also worth a quick call to Vodafone to check you have all the profiles correctly installed for data access and that everything is provisioned on your account.

[Ginz]

The reason I went on Voda was the free football downloads so it's looking like I won't be able to make use of that feature of my tariff and I'll have to see about changing tariff because I am actually paying for it in comparison to Anytime 200 which is the same price but no downloads. I'm on 125.

I rang Voda earlier and the lady text me some settings for Live. She said they could take up to 48 hours. It says I'm connecting through WAP and on the left it says I've got 3 bars of 3G coverage. Am pretty damn confused.

[Ben]

Ok, in 'Web' go to Options > Settings and set the Default Access Point to Vodafone live! and try again, making sure you've got 3G signal. In Real, make sure the Default Access Point is Vodafone Live! Streaming.

It may well take a day or two for everything to be set up correctly. It shouldn't, but it could.

[3GScottishUser]

I'm having some problems with SKY News and Bloomberg as the screen clutter makes the picture quite hard to view on the small screen on my Z500.

I wonder if it would be a useful option for those services to offer an audio streaming service as often this is the most important aspect of that type of broadcast.

[Ben]

Mhm, small screens aren't ideal for 'live' channels, and I agree that an audio-only feed would be useful. It'd be useful on all the channels infact for listening through headphones while jogging/whatever.

Still, luckily some of us can watch in rather luscious 2.4" widescreen ;) Move over plasma!

[Hands0n]

Errr, it wouldn't be Video then would it? :)

I'll get me coat.

[whatleydude]

Also - check your Real Player settings. Make sure the 'default' setting matches to the way you connect to Voda Live.

ie: I connect to Voda Live via 'Contract WAP' so my Real Player connection settings also have to be 'Contract WAP'.

You dig?

Wicked.

[Ben]

Lol, my settings are "Vodafone Live!" for Web and "Vodafone Live! Streaming" for Real player as I mentioned earlier. I don't actually have a 'Contract WAP' access point! Still, it sounds like both work just fine.

[whatleydude]

Cool man..

I only mention it because I had my Real settings to 'Contract Internet' and my Live settings to 'Contract WAP' and the MobiTV wouldn't work..

Once I configured them to match then everything was kosha.

[Ben]

MobiTV?!? Don't ever use that word in conjunction with Vodafone ever again, Mr! We don't want to tempt fate ;)

(MobiTV is a company that provides a mobile TV application to Orange and later Three in the UK)

[whatleydude]

Ah.. ok!

*Goes away to write "I will not the make the same mistake again" two hundred times*

[Ginz]

Pretty disappointed but I'm not in a 3G area in my room but a 2 minute walk up the round to Uni and my phone signal magically transforms in to a 3G one. Got it working in a lecture, it was really quiet and then this really loud footage came on through Real Player. Was pretty funny at the time I guess.

[Ben]

Ah well, 3G coverage is expanding pretty rapidly, and I guess one could argue that if you're in your room you can just use your PC! ;)

[3GScottishUser]

A quick glance at the capacity figures is an eye-opener in terms of broadcast TV over 3G networks.

Read this thread: https://talk3g.co.uk/showthread.php?p=8813#post8813 , to put things in perspective.

[Hands0n]

Bah Humbug! :( I swapped my Orange SIM out for the Vodafone PAYT in my unlocked/debranded Motorola A1000 to see if I could access Vodafone's Live! TV. But the UIQ handset is not supported on the non-WAP Vodafone Live! portal. I'm only getting cr*ppy WAP pages, and that means no Mobile TV. Grrrrrrr and Rats.

Back to the drawing board ..........

Still, I'm able to sample Voda's 3G coverage in my area of North Kent. I must say that it does not appear to be very good at the moment as the 2G signal takes over if I do not lock the handset to WCDMA only mode.

WCDMA = 1 bar (sometimes 2)
2G/2.5G = 5 bars solid!

The really odd thing is ..... there is a brand new Vodafone 3G mast not more than 300Metres away from where I am currently sitting!

[Ben]

I watched ~40 minutes of Vodafone's TV offering in bed last night, it still blows me away.

I watched Sky One for a bit, but the programme that was being shown was about football and, personally, I can't think of anything more boring :D So, I flipped to Discovery for a bit and watched what must have been 5 or 6 'mobisodes' exploring subjects from spiders to rockets! They were short, punchy, and very watchable - obviously scaled down from the original TV versions. Quality was great (damn full screen mode is good) and I didn't experience any crashes, sound problems, error messages or anything other than seamless viewing. Oh, and of course, the backlight stays on. Happy days.

Battery life went from 6 bars to 2... but for the length of time I was watching that isn't half bad. When it comes to, say, 10 minutes waiting for a train, Vodafone's TV service would be the ultimate boredom buster.

[Hands0n]

Dont'cha just love 3G. I can hardly wait for 4G to bring on even more portability.

I am now selling special Mobile TV "Buddy Batteries" to prolong the experience. These are 12v Lead Acid shoulder packs complete with mains charging station. Accessories include Solar Panel charger backpacks for those always on the move. Also as an accessory I am selling 12-week body building courses.

Gosh, I can see this 3G stuff generating all sorts of new businesses. Marvelous :)

I'm not bitter, having to wait until Vodafone release the Nokia 6280 before I change over to them. You watch, it'll be around the time the free TV expires! Bah Humbug!