Does anyone have experience with built-in DVB-C? I temporarily moved into the in-laws place this week for a week and their Samsung LCD has built in DVB-C, which means they get all the BBC channels + all the ITV channels as part of their standard Billag fee. The cable operator here is Gagnet. I was using SwisscomTV in my appartment before we moved to the in-laws, via their STB/Internet. Comparing their cable picture quaility of say BBC1 Match of the Day versus mine though the IPTV, theirs is much better, but without a monthly fee (ie Swisscom)...

I guess the built-in DVB-C is the same as buying the Digital STB that Gagnet are selling (about 150 CHF or so), but I didnt know that all the equivalent subscription (BBC One, 2, 3, ITV1-4 etc) English channels are now available as part of the free digial service! since January 18th apparently. Link here of free digital Gagnet channels in PDF

In summary WTF am I paying Swisscom a monthly subscription for - especially if the picture quality is worse!!!!

Apparently this is only available in these regions and not with Cablecom

Billag (owned by Swisscom) has nothing to do with what channels you can view or through which service you view them. It's only a company that collects TV/Radio reception fees for the government.

DVB is Digital Video Broadcasting (over the airwaves) which you'll only receive local stations, not UK broadcasts: http://www.dvb.org/

A Digital STB (set top box) is a box which allows you to view digital broadcasting sent over your TV cable service.

Gagnet is your local TV cable service similar to Cablecom in other areas of Switzerland and it's not free. With their STB certain channels are "included" in the base monthly price which most likely is included in your in-laws monthly apartment rent.

And you had Bluewin TV, not Swisscom TV (but it is owned by Swisscom).

I was initially surprised abuot the English channels on Gagnet digital, I know that Gagnet is not free, its about 22CHF/month which is kind of equivalent to the basic Swisscom TV price 20CHF/month (btw its Swisscom TV it has been rebranded from Bluewin) so there is no real advn I guess if the DVB-C is built into the TV (otherwise you need to fork out for the once-off STB from Gagnet and which Swisscom provide as part of the monthly rental)......except the cable picture quality is far better.

As I need broadband and a fixed phone anyway, there is also a financial advn if I take the 3for2 Cablecom offer 74CHF/month (phone with free CH calls+10MB/s+cable TV) versus the Swisscom offer I currently have 25 CHF (line rental excluding call costs) + 50CHF (Internet 5MB/sec) + 20CHF(Swisscom TV basic) = 95CHF/month

So why am I using Swisscom?

Hmm except the basic Cablecom STB is a bit crap apparently!

Man its complicated...

Didn't realize Bluewin TV was rebranded to Swisscom TV, I've got the stupid box here on my TV as well but haven't looked at it much in the past months. Problem on my end has been the fact that I have ISDN telephone service which requires much more power than an analog phone does so I've been restricted to adsl instead of vdsl that Swisscom TV really needs for decent quality. In the mean time I also have digital cable TV from WWZ (Wasserwerke Zug) which far exceeds 1. the quality of Swisscom TV, 2. has double the number of channels available, 3. far more HDTV channels than Swisscom and 4. the STB from WWZ uses an external harddrive so I'm not limited to the smallish one that the Swisscom STB uses PLUS I can always buy a new harddrive if I want to expand my recorded library.

Billag is simply the TV licence fee, and is nothing to do with your subscription fee for your TV service at your apartment

Ok I see the folly of my billag...

Basically I was surprised that Gagnet offered (most) of the subscription-style English channels without having to actually "subscribe" to any value added service, such as pay-tv. You can get BBC1-4, Channel 4, Film 4, ITV1-2 as part of the standard digital cable service - which I always thought were 'value added channels'. So if you have the built-in DVB-C in your TV you only have to pay the standard connection fee (which I assume is the standard 20 something CHF/month) to get most of the English channels. But after doing the sums the cost is kinda marginal if you need fixed phone and internet, as per my earlier post.

When I moved here a year ago, the only way to get English channels was with 'subscription' via Swisscom etc, and I think even Gagnet were charging a premium for these channels, now they arent?

DVB-T is Digital Video Broadcasting - Terrestrial - i.e. over the airwaves.
DVB-C is Digital Video Broadcasting - Cable
DVB-S is Digital Video Broadcasting - Satellite

They can all be set-top boxes, or build in.

In BL, many Gemeinden use GGA as their cable provider, which gives BBC1-4, ITV1 and a few other UK channels, over DBV-C.

I have multiple TVs, all with DVB-C tuners.
If I get Cablecom Digital, do I even need STBs?

Firstly are you sure its DVB-C and not DVB-T?

Secondly, if the former then yes I think you should be able to recieve CC without a STB (that is assuming CC is the same as my inlaws gagnet). But obviously you wont be able to live pause and record etc.

Thanks Raaaabert...
Yes I am positive, I am actually moving soon (hence all the questions about TV), and will be buying multiple new TVs, all (or at least all which should receive digital TV) having DVB-C AND DVB-T tuners.
Would cablecom let me get Digital TV from them without renting a decoder?

I have it (it's 6Fr/month over the standard subscription price of around 23Fr/month) and it's fine.

It won't let me record, or pause live tv, as it has no recording mechanism, but it works fine, is fast enough and the remote is OK. I've only got it connected to a 17" monitor/TV through scart so don't know if the picture quality is any good. The EPG is adequate.

I pay:

23Fr standard charge + 6Fr for the STB + 34Fr for 2MB internet.

I think Cablecom encrypt their channels so you do need their STB.

AdsLondon, I think the basic cablecom subscription does not require a decoder? Again I really have no idea, but the inlaws here just pay the standard fee to gagnet. No cards, no donlges nada.

There are a few value added channels such as ITV3 etc that they can pay (~6 CHF/month) that brings it into line with the standard swisscom package. We even have HD Suisse or whatever, but not BBC HD (again value added).

Oh I forgot to add that the in-laws samsung LCD (with the built-in DVB-C) also has built-in media player, photoviewer, music player and LAN for internet browsing. Ie the equivalent of a WDTVLive box! Go for one of these suckers if you are so inclined.

BTW if youve never seen a Champions League game in HD youve never lived.

Yes, from June 2010.
You can buy a DigiCard to access 50+ digital TV channels

Prerequisite: your TV must have a compatible CI+ slot for the DigiCard

From June 2010, you can receive 50+ digital TV channels over Cablecom without using a Cablecom STB

All you need is to get the DigiCard module and insert it into the CI+ slot of the TV set

(CI+ slot is a prerequisite)

I just found this link on the CC website, apparently u CANNOT get CC through the built in DVB-C tuner. So i have no idea why it works here at the inlaws, guess gagnet is not encrypted.

As for the CI+ module I wouldnt hold my breath, 50 piddly channels you can bet theyre not gonna give a **** about English.

Yes, CC through built in tuner works from June 2010

Gagnet (Gemeinschafts-Antennenanlage Region Grenchen AG) is not Cablecom, so what Gagnet do is different to what Cablecom do.

Any local TV provider focuses on providing local TV services for the locals, because that is the market

Any extras in foreign languages that foreigners might find appealing is a very small market share, and by no means the core business of any company.

That will always be the case, for any country in the world. The local market is driven by the locals. Period.

I know its called marketing; product, position, price, promotion blah blah blah. Im not complaining, just lamenting the fact that for us on this forum, the CI+ card is not going to provide us with many English options. Pity. Wonder why they can't offer the full spectrum... technical constraints?

I think Im going to go for the CC STB HD recorder when I move to the new premises, there is no intrinsic value on paper for SC, everything that CC offers is better and cheaper (on paper)!

Didn't notice this q... you're correct. You get a great choice of the local channels, plus "BBC Entertainment" (an odd BBC channel consisting of multiple re-runs of often quite good old programmes) and some English news channels.

I pay the extra 6Fr to get the decoder so I can have BBC, ITV, Ch4, Ch5 etc.

Can you clarify this a bit Adrian? Are you saying that without the CC STB and provided you have DVB-C built-in you can get basic digital channels (ie like the analogue channels). That's not how the link reads. Cheers.