Hi,
just to add some info to the thead, after a few discussions with swisscom.

The entry price for the service is CHF 29 + CHF 9 for ADSL 150 = 39 Sfr

This assumes you do not want to use ADSL as your internet service provider. The tv service uses a separate 16Mbit line and so there is no problem to take the cheapest adsl line.

Cost of a second box for another tv is an extra 10 Sfr a month compared to cablecom which charges you a second subscription for a second box.

Changing channels seems to have no appreciable delay.

The lack of BBC1 seems to be a mystery in the swisscom shop.

For me it looks very competitive against the cablecom offering and I may well junk their digital tv offering soon.

Martin

I'd also like to point out that Sunrise have also entered the game. You also have to be a Sunrise-ADSL customer, but it is free if you have 2000Kbps or greater download speed.

The page is here: http://www.sunrise.ch/desktoptv but there's no information in English (though they did send me a flyer in the mail which was in English)

The key difference to Bluewin TV is that Sunrise is streaming you the TV channels to watch on your PC using the existing bandwidth of your ADSL connection. Bluewin seems to be doing this separately to your normal ADSL bandwidth, at higher speeds and using extra hardware.

Two other critical differences - the Sunrise offer is free (if you are a customer) whereas the Bluewin one is not.

The channel list (which I couldn't find) also seems to be limited - 20 "national" channels - of little interest to English-speakers.

Back to Bluewin TV for a second. I looked over their channel list and much like the cablecom offer it was nothing more than a subset of the free to air (FTA) channels available on satellite anyway.

I can imagine that Bluewin TV (or cablecom digitial) would be an option for those not allowed to put up a dish, but since you are paying a monthly charge to get something which you can get for free with a dish - I don't see much value in it (for us at least). If they had actually included some nice premium channels (like Discovery Channel, movie channels) then it would be a totally different story - but they are effectively selling free stuff (at least in the English language part of their offer).

If anyone who will get this Bluewin TV can post if BBC1 is really excluded (and please list your kanton) that would be great. Or if anyone has heard as to why this is the case and whether it might change in the near future. PS. For me it is not use getting BBC1 by cable as I would ditch my cable, otherwise it makes no sense since cable I have to pay for.

If they put BBC1 back in, it may well be worth switching for me personally, since you also get a recorder

Ok, I called Bluewin, no news about whether BBC 1 is in the pipeline. The customer rep suggested people should call if they want BBC1, so I suggest anyone who wants this channel too calls 0800 081 081 .

For those that want BBC1 it is available live online - see thread from New Forester.

I've been using this for the last year and it's 100% gratis:

http://www.max-tv.be/

destructions are in french but you'll get there in the end. Use babbelfish if you get really stuck.

Satellite TV on internet

After over a week of waiting for Blue Win TV, the wireless modem arrived quickly, but as yet had no call from the installer. Swisscom admitted on the phone this
evening that they have not got a lot of qualified installers and it could be another couple of weeks before it is installed.

How's everyone going who already has Bluewin TV? Are you satisfied? Is it fast, does it work properly, recording is easy?

I have two swisscom guys around installing it at the moment. Will let you know. The router is on the opposite side of the house, so they are having fun trying to route the cable.

First impressions are good.

Picture quality is good and as clear as satellite, the record function seams to work fine. You can set up the record function remotely by logging onto the Blue Win website, which is very handy. Also you can change the channel numbers remotely.

I was told that the reason that they haven't got BBC1 was that the local cable company has distribution rights to it. - At a price I hasten to add.

The box takes 3-4 minutes from initial switch on to go live.

There is about a 20 second delay between the normal astra 2A satelite signal and the signals that are on the box, Sky news.

Sky news looks like a more international version - with weather around the world and no clock in the left hand corner.

ITV 1 is London ITV, so local London news.

Downside - You cannot record two channels at the same time, like sky + , but this will come in a year or so when they update the local exchange.

I will write a report in the next couple of days

We ordered this today as well be great to get some UK TV in time for Xmas.

Can you watch one channel though and record the other? Or is that related to the same technical limitation?

You cannot watch one channel and record one at the moment at the same time. It is planned but many telephone exchanges will have to be upgraded so that you can receive two channels at the same time. That is what the engineer told me yesterday.

Two guys came yesterday, one was a computer guy and very technically orientation and one was more of an electrician. They are very short of installers at the moment, so if you want UK TV before xmas get your order in now. The guys that came to my house are on average doing 2-3 installations per day! It took three weeks to have my box installed from the time I placed the order.

You can record one channel and watch anything that is saved on the harddrive at the same time.

Many areas have already been upgraded. So it depends on your area, but generally city areas are being done first.

When you check on the bluewin web site, it tells you what is possible. Trying a few phone numbers got the following responses:

1. Avaliable without limitations:

" Bluewin TV Plus ist für den überprüften Anschluss uneingeschränkt verfügbar."


2. Available but with limitations. Until a further build-out you can only choose to watch one channel or an old recording:

" Ihr Anschluss ist geeignet für Bluewin TV, allerdings mit einer kleinen Einschränkung: Bis zum weiteren Ausbau Ihrer Leitung können Sie während einer Aufzeichnung nur diese Sendung oder eine alte Aufzeichnung ansehen."

3. Not yet available:

" Bluewin TV Plus ist für den überprüften Anschluss leider noch nicht verfügbar."

Just for the technically minded here is the back of the box and it can be hooked up to an HDTV

Well according to the Swisscom Hotline, they are planning to put BBC 1 on the Bluwin TV Program List.

Will do a full review this week, just been snowed under with other stuff. There are a few little quirks on the box, though probably more getting used to the box. Bottom line is I am really happy with the quality and delivery of the service.

Hi,

Could you also please do a bandwidth test of your internet connection, both while using the tv and not using it?

Here's the url to bluewin's own bandwidth test service:
http://speed.bluewin.ch

The technical limitation of not receiving two channels at the same time suggests that the bandwidth on your phone line is more restricted. And if you especially have one of the faster connections (>=3000 kbps) for your adsl line, the test should show clearly whether the "unused" portion of the adsl bandwidth is utilized or whether they are "stealing" it

Here is the speed test.

With Bluewin TV

Download 1876
Upload 131 Kb
Answertime 998 mS

Without Blue Win TV

Download 2076
Upload 128 Kb
Answertime 13 mS

Hope this helps

I have a 2 meg ADSL line and cannot receive the two TV signals at the same time at the moment.

Thanks for the figures, I find the increase in "answertime" while keeping the same down/up speed very interesting. So no more online gaming while watching tv then..