What's on the box...

[toprob]

I've mentioned a few TV and movie-watching options available to NZers before, but there has been very little development on that front for a long while. I was a keen supporter of Quickflix when it started, and although it had a lot of promise in the early days, it hasn't really developed into anything which I'd consider mainstream. I've joined up three times, and cancelled three times, for two main reasons -- quality, and quantity. These are always going to be my main requirements, but Quickflix always fell short on both counts.

Now we have Spark's Lightbox, which offers streaming TV (but unlike Quickflix, no movies). $15 a month makes it a good alternative to Netflix etc, but we'll have to see whether it will be a good long-term solution for sourcing TV. I've had a wee play, using the current first-month-free offer, and it looks very nice -- quite a good range of shows, enough to keep me entertained for a month or two, anyway. The quality is great, fast-starting streams, high definition, and good sound quality. Some minor issues with streaming to the PC -- it uses Silverlight, which makes sense, I suppose, as it is a nice system to stream while protecting rights, but it does have some irritating problems -- for example, the mouse pointer is always visible, so you have to shift it to the edge of the screen, and the info bar doesn't always disappear. Other viewing options are limited, apart from the PC there's just an Apple TV/Ipad combo. For me, this means watching on the PC monitor, but since I watch everything on that anyway, it's no problem. Other people prefer to watch on the lounge TV, though, so unless you have Apple TV this is a bit of a problem. Of course you could connect your PC to the TV, but that isn't an option for everyone.

It'll be interesting to see what other devices this ends up on, and how long it takes to get there. I want to watch on my Windows phone, for instance, but I bet it'll be a while before I see that. Putting this on as many devices as possible should be a major goal, but it doesn't always work out that way

You will need a decent monthly download plan to view Lightbox though. They say an hour a day will require at least 70GB a month, so those of us with lesser plans will find it tricky. I have a 40GB plan, but I do use most of it at the moment, mainly for aerial image downloads. However if the my photoscenery subscription starts to pay for itself, I might have to upgrade...

I've been watching episodes of WWII Lost Films, which is amazing quality, and quite well done. But a couple of episodes kinda blows my allowance for the week.

It is certainly the best local option we've seen for a while, so I hope it sticks around and grows. If you haven't tried it yet, have a look here.

(However as I type this, I'm aware the Spark is having lots of problems, and they are affecting Lightbox, so you might need to fight your way in.)

[cowpatz]

Just one question.
What happens when "everyone" jumps aboard and starts downloading Gazillions of Gigabytes of content what will happen to the overall speed as the pipes start to clog up?
Already when the Youtube generation get home from school the speed slows noticeably.
Our infrastructure is just not there to support this type of media yet IMHO

[omitchell]

QUOTE (cowpatz @ Sep 6 2014,6:01 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Just one question.
What happens when "everyone" jumps aboard and starts downloading Gazillions of Gigabytes of content what will happen to the overall speed as the pipes start to clog up?
Already when the Youtube generation get home from school the speed slows noticeably.
Our infrastructure is just not there to support this type of media yet IMHO

Funny you should say that, Sparks network was on the crapper this morning...

[Ian Warren]

QUOTE (omitchell @ Sep 6 2014,7:03 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Funny you should say that, Sparks network was on the crapper this morning...

Hence the reason I'll stick with Vodavone , biggest thing it dose not give people the company's SPARK ... seems its dying in a lot of places.

QUOTE (toprob @ Sep 6 2014,6:42 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I've been watching episodes of WWII Lost Films, which is amazing quality, and quite well done. But a couple of episodes kinda blows my allowance for the week.

Now that is something I would want on DVD !

[toprob]

In the past, the main problem has been lack of bandwidth into NZ, but since this is all-NZ then it isn't such a problem, and as fibre rolls out things should only get better. And although I am not a big fan of Spark, they are probably in the best position to make this work. Today's breakage excepted...

[Ian Warren]

I guess it is so lucky beginning so close to a major cable hub .. updates have to start from that point.

[omitchell]

QUOTE (Ian Warren @ Sep 6 2014,6:17 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hence the reason I'll stick with Vodavone , biggest thing it dose not give people the company's SPARK ... seems its dying in a lot of places.


Now that is something I would want on DVD !

Seems the reason was actually a cyber attack...

[Ian Warren]

Yeah saw the news .. Telecom 'Spark' services is one reason left them years back.

[omitchell]

QUOTE (Ian Warren @ Sep 6 2014,7:14 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yeah saw the news .. Telecom 'Spark' services is one reason left them years back.

Ummm "Spark"is what they rebranded to last month...

[cowpatz]

Failed to "Spark" so far

[dbcunnz]

Could someone give Telecom a big SPARK to get them lit up
I dumped them many years ago when they were ripping everyone off with their hugely inflated prices they where charging for their internet.

[steelsporran]

I left when they went with Yahoo and you had to re-register. I don't know why people stick with them, is it apathy or "it came with the computer" or what?

[toprob]

I've actually been looking at Spark again after swearing that I'd never use Telecom ever again, back when I had the copy centre, and their Yellow Pages people basically intimidated and abused my staff. Since then, though, every ISP I go to eventually gets bought by Vodafone, who are not really any better when it comes to looking after their customers.

[ZK-LGD]

@ Lightbox: Just way too many old series (some of which I already have on DVD, for example, "The Tudors") and, atm, little in the way of new content that is of interest.

@ Telco's: Over the years have been with Telecom, TelstraClear, Vodafone and now Spark. Have had very bad experiences with Telstra and Vodafone (especially billing), Telecom/Spark did not "come with the computer" but offers the best service over here on the Coast (heck, where we are we don't even have cell phone coverage ... which suits me just fine, thank you very much).