New IPTV - Foreign Television Service!

[Marcyjok]

there is a solution for interlacing
there always was , you need to have PAL tv or Plasma or LCD capable of watching PAL signal, then ofcourse u need to change settings as for output to PAL and voila .... no interlacing , clean picture, I already informed them about it but there is no reaction as I see...

 

[yaz96]

there is a solution for interlacing
there always was , you need to have PAL tv or Plasma or LCD capable of watching PAL signal, then ofcourse u need to change settings as for output to PAL and voila .... no interlacing , clean picture, I already informed them about it but there is no reaction as I see...

Well, that is not a solution.

We live in the USA, which uses NTSC, so they should be able to convert the signal (properly) to NTSC, so we can see a clean picture on our TV's. It is very annoying.

My $199 OPPO and $50 Sampo DVD players can convert PAL to NTSC perfectly, why can't OverseaTV?

 

[dfecarter]

are there any other IPTV services that someone might be able to recommend? I'm referring to a tv set box system such as ITVN...thanks!
am interested in int'l (english/spanish language ) programming or even other US stations

 

[Marcyjok]

Well, that is not a solution.
We live in the USA, which uses NTSC, so they should be able to convert the signal (properly) to NTSC,

well, I just gave you fix that is working for me perfect, and anyway PAL have more lines than NTSC so quality of pic is naturally better, I never watch PAL dvds converted by DVDplayer to NTSC, pic is much worse, same story with NTSC dvds , I do not convert them , but Ovrstv look better as PAL


dfecarter
this thread is about Overseatv, plz start new topic

 

[manhole]

I wanted to resurrect this thread since no one has posted anything about OverSeaTV in the last 5-months. I see their website has been updated. I just emailed their support department and they are going to be adding a language pack that I am most definately interested in. Is anyone here still using their service? Has the service improved at all? I saw someone post earlier that channel changes take 10 - 15 seconds and takes multiple remote clicks, and there is no guide data. Has any of this changed? I don't want to spend $150 for the wireless set-top box option and not be satisfied with the service. Any insight from an actual subscriber would be greatly appreciated

Thanks!

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Personally I think this company is a scam, they owe us over $250 and we have not seen one cent yet. Everytime I write them I am given the run around of why I have not been paid yet.

In addition I have been contacted in the past by some of the broadcasters they were carrying (but are not now) saying that they did not have copyright permission to carry their signals. I dont know how true this is but they seem really shady to me and would advise folks to avoid doing business with this company.

 

[jgili]

Manhole:

I've had the Italian package for OverseaTV for a month. I was leary like Scott for a while, but decided to try it when they lowered their yearly prices. My in-laws love it though they currently don't have a high speed internet connection (min 1.5 mbs) to take advantage of it.

The Pros:

1) 10 Italian channels which no one else in the us currently carries.
2) Good price compared to Dish network Italian package with better programmimg.
3) In laws and their friends who have seen it think its the best thing out there.

The Cons:

1) Picture quality not as good as sat or cable. Not great on a TV set over 32 inches. The sound quality is excellent, though one station has occassion audio breakups. Surprisingly I''ve had no video breakups.
2) On screen guide does not work. Have to use online guide that I download and print out.
3) Slow channel changes of about 3 seconds. The faster your connection the faster the change.
4) Had one initial problem and received a very slow response of 3 days. The customer service aspect is something I think may be an issue.
5) No timer feature where at least the box could change to a channel at a set time to record with a dvr or vcr. Really wish this was available.

All in all a decent though not great service. If you are like my in-laws (who my wife and I plan to get a high speed connection to get this) this service will be great. If you have any questions post it here.

BTW, one thing thats a pro/con depending on how you look at it is thing are on Italy time which is 6 hours different. I have to record some cartoons for my son at 1am so that he can watch them.

 

[jgili]

Scott:

I was curious about the problems you are having with this company. This company is owned by ShifTV which last month announced they were providing Sky Angel IPTV in Canada. In the Sky Angel forum you seemed to think this was good. In fact the OverseaTV and Sky Angel IPTV website are almost identical. Are these two companies run separately?

The only reason I bring this up is that you are understandably sour on OverseaTV but didn't seem to be with Sky Angel IPTV. If fact I waited to sign up for OverseaTV until I heard the Sky Angel announcement because I figured that the company would be a little more stable.

 

[kstuart]

I really can't figure out why we cant get Canadian Channels here in the US.

I would also love to see stuff from the UK and Austrailia.

This is easily one of the 10 most frequently asked questions in Satellite Forums over the past 10 years.

In order to show a TV program, you need to have the rights to show the program in the country where it will be broadcast.

So, in order to show a Canadian, UK or Australian Channel in the US, you would need to have negotiated rights to all the programs shown - hundreds or thousands of individual negotations.

This is further complicated by the fact that shows like "24" and "Lost" are shown on those channels, and cannot be shown by anyone who is not a Fox or ABC affiliate respectively. So, you would have to blackout all those US shows.

Plus, there are already existing US channels that have purchased the rights to overseas English language programming, especially UK programming. BBC America channel purchases the rights to most UK programs of interest, and the remainder is picked up by PBS, and A&E.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Scott:

I was curious about the problems you are having with this company. This company is owned by ShifTV which last month announced they were providing Sky Angel IPTV in Canada. In the Sky Angel forum you seemed to think this was good. In fact the OverseaTV and Sky Angel IPTV website are almost identical. Are these two companies run separately?

The only reason I bring this up is that you are understandably sour on OverseaTV but didn't seem to be with Sky Angel IPTV. If fact I waited to sign up for OverseaTV until I heard the Sky Angel announcement because I figured that the company would be a little more stable.

I was unaware that they were the same company, I never even put 2 and 2 together.

 

[jgili]

No problem Scott. They don't seem to promote that they are related (which may be a good thing with their early problems). I do know you are right about their lack of rights fees to rebroadcast some signals. I believe that they used to have Polish channels, but were forced to stop providing them because of this. I don't know if they made things right when they stopped providing blocks of channels last year.

You sure may be right about them being shady and they are still not completely ready for prime time with some of the things I mentioned with their service delivery. But for some people who really miss the "channels from home" there are no other options and they can probably overlook the major drawbacks. I know my in laws and friends love it and the price is right.

I believe some others may come in the next few years to fill the big niche marketing hole of International channels. Scott, have you heard any rumors of another company developing IPTV related to international programming or a current company looking to expand into the International market to provide blocks of channels?

 

[kstuart]

I believe some others may come in the next few years to fill the big niche marketing hole of International channels

There is no such hole.
Hundreds of international channels are available Free To Air from the 97 degrees West satellite slot, and Globecast has hundreds of paid subscription international channels in the same slot.
Dish Network has a similar number of international channels available, and DirecTV as well. Both companies will install equipment for free after rebate that includes DVR capability and with better quality than IPTV, and no sucking up all your Internet bandwidth while viewing.

 

[jgili]

There is no such hole.
Hundreds of international channels are available Free To Air from the 97 degrees West satellite slot, and Globecast has hundreds of paid subscription international channels in the same slot.
Dish Network has a similar number of international channels available, and DirecTV as well. Both companies will install equipment for free after rebate that includes DVR capability and with better quality than IPTV, and no sucking up all your Internet bandwidth while viewing.

I already have Dish Network.....for my preferred language of Italian they have RAI International, Leonardo World (terrible channel) and Video Italia plus 3 radio stations for $20. Globecast or Free-to-Air......offer some catholic channels. These providers aren't quite filling the hole for good Italian programming. Maybe if Persian, Arabic, Polish and a few others were my language of choice they would fill a hole. But there are a number of languages out there that are NOT represented well on North American satellites. So in short I think you may be off in saying that there is no hole.

I do agree that the quality is better and there is DVR with Satellite, but the programming options are limited. You mention the sucking up of bandwidth for some but that will not be a major problem in the near future. I already have a 15 MBs internet connection from my cable company (cost just $10 a month over the standard 5MBs rate) that easily handles 3 networked computer and my IPTV box. Better compression and higher bandwidth allocation to IPTV channels should correct the inferior video that is currently offered. And from the information posted on IPTV at various sites, the cost to deliver channels is a lot cheaper over the internet compared to satellite or cable.

All I meant to say about there being a big hole is that a lot of people long for programming that originates from their home countries and for many different ethnicities there is very little programming offered here in North America. Using my preferred language as an example, there are an estimated 3 million people that speak/understand Italian in the US. This is not the biggest ethnic group here, but still shows a market that could be tapped. I know my in-laws would love an offering such as the Italian Sky TV satellite service if they could transmit it by IPTV.

 

[jgili]

BTW, I do agree that IPTV is not ready for prime time. For now I can live with it to get the programming I desire. The biggest drawbacks are inferior video quality, featureless set-top boxes/remotes, lack of dvr, somewhat slow channel changes. These features all need to be worked on and more to get it where its viable for the average consumer. It reminds me of the problems Scott is having with ATT UVerse. IPTV is probably still in the Alpha stage, but is getting close to the beta stage.

Heck, with OverseaTV I wish the box could at least allow me to set a simple manual timer that would allow me to record to a dvr or dvd player. Seems like the companies that are producing these boxes would be able to easily program that.

 

[RedAce]

I have had overseatv Russian pack for over 7 months now and i really have been happy with it for the most part. it has been very reliable i get far more Russian channels then i can get with cable/satellite. I got it back when they were offering onetime payment $500.00 and your a subscriber for life and boy i am glad i did that. Picture quailty is good but i hope soon they will improve it.
I have the CMS box and interestingly i did some reaserch on the CMS 500 box and found out that this company also makes a HD iptv box i wish they would have given this option. So all in all i am very happy with it and i do think in time they will get better. There are so many people here in the NYC area that could really use this and would love it.