Comin' at ya via satellite. BBC-HD and Astra test channels, and some other German HD. All free-to-air. Wires are for girls.

dave

Indeed; HD is out there. And looks splendid

Another Update:

My set top box broke down two weeks ago. The picture would freeze and break up, then the sound would go folowed by a blank screen.

After three calls to Swisscom and a couple of restarts they decided that the set top box was faulty. The telephone service staff were very friendly and patient. I was assured that a new box would be delivered as soon as possible but didn't hold out much hope as it was already 10:25 PM. Lo and behold, a new box arrived the very next morning by courier.

There is however a bit of a time lag which means that my youngest son can watch his favourite cartoon on SRTL then swich over to the BluewinTV service and catch the beginning again

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Seems true.

BBC1 and BBC4 appear in the Web-EPG.

Thanks to Stout2104 & Pregmeier on their tip regarding BBC1, today we cancelled our digital cable and ordered BluewinTV

Does anyone know if the BluewinTV digibox operating system can be switched to English language?

not all channels can be switched to english...there are english channels and dual-language channels (german/english) i think i am paying about CHF29 per month for bluwin tv....

The software that Bluewin are using to provide the service is the IPTV software from Microsoft. The software itself supports an english interface...but for some reason Bluewin have not enabled it so you can only use the main 3 swiss languages (german, french and italian)

However, now I only pay 6 CHF a month for the cablecom service Bluewin is not so interesting.

Have fun

Martin

Basel Life,
How do you only pay 6CHF for Cablecom is that Cablecom digital with the recordable set top box?

Nope, just the standard cable with decoder, I have this package as well. Cable TV (English Package apparently ) with combined internet, works out at 25 chuffs a month together. Am not a heavy duty TV watcher, so not too bothered about bells & deely whoppers ... Film 4 is a nice to have though ....

Hi,

very simply. I only have the decoder box and do not have the recording capability. I use a HDD recorder instead. Also we just have the cablecom digital tv basic package which contains bbc1 and 2 as well as Itv 1 and 2 and Film 4. We don't need any other channels in the Cablecom collection. Why pay for seeing American sports, porn channels and a channel about motoring if you will never use them ??

That is why it only costs 6 CHF and if I paid CHF150 for a one off payment I would not even pay that.

Have fun

Martin

Just received the blue win magazine - BBC 1 is on channel 176 - BBC prime is on from the 1st May, BBC line up is BBC1, 2, 3 and 4 + CBeebies. Plus
ITV 1, ITV2, ITV3 and ITV4.

I can tell you why this is. As you correctly point out, the whole IPTV system is Microsoft, with a massive backend based on 100's of Windows 2003 servers. The set-top boxes run a customised Windows CE. MS supply a generic interface in English. IPTV customers will take this, "brand" it, and translate it. So the Bluewin STB interface has a distinctly Bluewin look and feel.

Doing this customisation and testing it all is a huge amount of work, so they're not going to do any more languages than necessary!

RS

BBC 4

For those of you with Bluewin TV who from time to time check out the BBC 4 channel will have seen the placeholder telling you in three languages that it is coming soon.

I can tell you that it's already viewable. For the past couple of nights I've noted that after about 19:30 hrs, the Cbeebies channel changes to BBC 4.

I've just watched a great documentary about Arthur Conan Doyle on it.

Happy viewing.

Hi,
I'm about to order BluWin Tv, but I still have a few questions to whom has been using it for a while. I hope somobody can quickly help me.
The electricians who will come to make the installation, do they actually completely take care to make the cabling from the phone socket to the tv? In my apartment they will need to run the Ethernet cable from one corner to the opposite one of my living room, crossing one or two doors. Does the 95 CHF demanded by Swisscom for the installation include a proper work with the cable carefully hidden, or they will ask for an extra-fee?
What is at the moment the waiting time from the order to installation?

And also: I have seen that the service offers live events on demand (on payment) and movies on demand. Does it mean that if a regular channel transmits the same program (event or movie) at the same time then this one would be censored to force the user to buy it? For example, if a channel like RaiUno, BBC or whatever, transmits the Champions League Final live, can I watch it through them, so that I don't need to pay extra to order it?

Thank you !

Hey andber71, when they came and installed our bluewin TV it wasnt the ethernet cable that was a problem it was something to do with the phone line we had, so they had to replace a lot of cable going thru the wall, down into the floor below us, our into the courtyard and into the phone box on the wall down there. They did this in the pouring rain as well so a bit of extra cable in your house shouldnt be a problem, I guess tho it always depends on the guy installing it and what kind of mood he is in.

I'm pretty sure that if the Champions League Final is on BBC you'll be able to watch it fine for free.

That sounds reassuring. :-)

Thanks Tinygiant.

the guy who came to install at my place did everything and he even configured all 3 computers at home. he will also hide all the cables, so don't worry. he did a very good job. you will have bluwin within 2 weeks after ordering. I'm happily watching bluwin tv. no complains. So have fun!!!

Thanks to everyone for supporting.
I ordered my BluWin Tv today.
I'll let you know how it goes once it's installed.

Here I am again.
I got BluWin TV installed last week and I confirm all what was positively said in this forum.
The service is great and the quality of the image excellent.

The installation made by the electrician included everything, also hiding the wires behind the skirting of the wall. I had to help him to exchange the old phone cable from the 7th floor down to the terminal box in the cellar, but it was fun
He said that this was all included in the 95 CHF that Swisscom asks for the installation. So far I haven't got any extra bill....

All the best to all of you.

Has anyone any advice on how to liaise with Bluewin? We ordered Bluewin TV Plus a month ago and received a letter in English to say that we would be contacted within a few days. When I rang the helpline (and spoke to the one English speaking employee- according to him!), he told me the connection time could be 3/4 weeks at least and there was no way he could contact their engineer and that I would need to be patient. I appreciate they have had technical issues(?) and I am not a demanding person, but some date in the near future would be helpful.
CNN is fine, but I am suffering from news overload at the moment!