Misteral,
I am in the auto industry. It is very common for automotive customers to have an open book policy with their suppliers.
In fact to do business with someone like GM, you have to disclose your plans for yearly cost downs and how this will be reflected in the price.
With satellite TV I wanted to have understanding of the why there seemed to be such a premium for his expertise. I would also ask this of a plumber if his price seemed to include a significant premium.
I could have asked satellite TV.
Why so expensive and what do I get for my money.
My question provoked a much more detailed answer and a bit of friendly(mostly) banter.

virtual_barman wrote:Be unlimited are the exception with 1.3 mb upload speeds for 18 pounds a month.
I would say that anything below 250k is not watchable on a slingbox.

Be also have Be Pro with up to 2.5meg upload for £21 per month. Any experience of using a slingbox or equivalent from the UK?

virtual_barman wrote:Satellite TV, You are correct and hence the traditional problem with a slingbox.

The Chinese internet may be horribly slow at 2mb, but the usual upload speed in the UK was 256k upload. therefore the highest kbps will be 256kbps. However things have moved on a tad and it is now more common to have 516k upload for about 10-15 pounds a month. Be unlimited are the exception with 1.3 mb upload speeds for 18 pounds a month. I would say that anything below 250k is not watchable on a slingbox.

I have access to a sling on SKY UK on a 2mb upload but I rarely get better than 700 - 800k. Sometimes down to 250k and that BT for you... broadband the one second the next it's shite....

By the way thats on a 10mb download fiber connection not adsl. In China I can barely get my UK sling to run above 250k to 400k max at best.

If you have 256k up the best you could expect would be 200k you will never get the speed from the UK with so many hps. 200k, sorry even in a small screen barely watchable and blurry as hell.

jzzzzzzz,
Yes I do have experience of using a slingbox from the UK.
I use mine with a DVR and slingbox.
My slingbox is at my parents house in the UK and they cannot get Be at their location. They use Virgin as their ISP and the upload speed is a max of 366kbps.
This is OK most of the time, but can drop down during Chinese internet rush hour to 200kbps or lower. This is why I am interested in an alternative.
I have tried dream, but was forever having to update the card and the service (not sattelite tv, before another row breaks out) was patchy at best.
In summary the slingbox is great for watching recorded TV at low traffic times (usually week day evenings after 9pm), but not as your only source of TV.
The other issue is the time difference. There is only so much bargain hunt and cash in the attic you can watch!!!!

jzzzzzzz wrote:

virtual_barman wrote:Be unlimited are the exception with 1.3 mb upload speeds for 18 pounds a month.
I would say that anything below 250k is not watchable on a slingbox.

Be also have Be Pro with up to 2.5meg upload for £21 per month. Any experience of using a slingbox or equivalent from the UK?

21 pounds for upload, 42.50 a month for SKY UK and that not all the channels. Thats around 650rmb a month, for a package that has bugger all EPL as no 3pm kickoff games shown.

If you took my Truevisions package with the Australia Network which shows rugby afl and nrl thats about 630rmb a month, with BBC Entertainment as well plus every live EPL game.

I even stream this back to the UK for UK hubbies with Thai wives who need the 35 Thai anguage channelks in addition to the English package. Wife is happy, hubby has every live EPL game he cant watch at home in the UK.

Well VB then Isuggest you try my system and see the quality. The speed is there ALL the time to make it work. Plus the HAVA records to your PC rathe than to a DRV which you have to logon again to watch. Of course recording to your PC means you watch with no internet required.

You can record and watch the same channel at the same time with the HAVA. This is not possible with the slng.

If you prefer the sling then you can send your sling to me and we will install it here in Taiwan. We both know slings are not cheap in the UK thats fr sure.

jzzzzzz,
Just wanted to clarify the upload speed following Sattelite TV's answer.
The limitation to the upload speed on virgin is due to the proximity of my parents house. The full upload speed can be 512k. As long as I am using the slingbox at non busy times, I always receive 366kbps. On weekends I never get this speed until the late evening and therefore never watch the slingbox during the day.
This is the reason that I wanted to get more info on a system within the Chinese wall. My issue is whether I can justify the cost.

Satellite Tv,
Remember that many people in the UK already have sky and therefore it is a sunk cost.
I agree that if you have to pay for the SKY subscription and broadband etc; that your system may well be the way to go.
However, if you know someone with sky already and a broadband connection the total cost is the price of a slingbox. Also remember that the UK slingbox comes with a freeview receiver and you can therefore watch the local channels for free.

virtual_barman wrote: My issue is whether I can justify the cost.

My cost is slight less than yours in the UK with the truevisoins package.

So what content do you want is the important thing. The reason I have DSTV is that the content is different. Rygby Cricket and other sports on DSTV and EPL on True. Yes both have Chamions league and both show different NFL games. British entertainment shows on both packages with dfferent British content.

Why dont you look at my channel list for the complete package

http://forum.taiwansatellite.tv/viewtopic.php?t=367

Sattelite TV,
I like the idea of you installing the sling at your location.
This will avoid the Chinese wall.
Please PM me and we can discuss in more detail.

virtual_barman wrote:Satellite Tv, Remember that many people in the UK already have sky and therefore it is a sunk cost. I agree that if you have to pay for the SKY subscription and broadband etc; that your system may well be the way to go.

However, if you know someone with sky already and a broadband connection the total cost is the price of a slingbox. Also remember that the UK slingbox comes with a freeview receiver and you can therefore watch the local channels for free.

Somebody is paying for it. Plus if you friends family take a vacation and you get switched off our can't connect where is your back up support?

The slings cannot be remotely rebooted, something you can also do with a HAVA.

I can understand your concerns. I have my British expat clients who tried to sling to themselves but found it just too much hassle and they wanted 24 hours a day TV for their familes, not a system that might work some of the time, or not at all.

virtual_barman wrote:Sattelite TV,
I like the idea of you installing the sling at your location.
This will avoid the Chinese wall.
Please PM me and we can discuss in more detail.

my email is jim@taiwansatellite.tv my msn is jimedstein@htmail.com my skype is blackcrusader.

Suggest a chat on skype.

SatelliteTV wrote:21 pounds for upload, 42.50 a month for SKY UK and that not all the channels. Thats around 650rmb a month, for a package that has bugger all EPL as no 3pm kickoff games shown.

If you took my Truevisions package with the Australia Network which shows rugby afl and nrl thats about 630rmb a month, with BBC Entertainment as well plus every live EPL game.

If I did it in the UK it would be adding an extra box to my brothers and splitting the sub so not so bad. As you know I tested your service before and it's pretty damn good. I've just managed to get things working well for pretty close to free.

The free sopcast streams are working well for me at the moment for the Football and I'm downloading 720p rips of all my favourite TV shows from newsgroups. I can also watch Al-Jazeera and BBC World legally streamed free on Livestation.

Cricket is probably the one thing I miss. I never have as much luck with streams for that.

Adult content is something we are asked fr from sme clients. Mostly women ask for it

Please please please send me their names and phone numbers. Actually just the numbers will do.

jzzzzzzz wrote: As you know I tested your service before and it's pretty damn good.

I've just managed to get things working well for pretty close to free.

The free sopcast streams are working well for me at the moment for the Football and I'm downloading 720p rips of all my favourite TV shows from newsgroups. I can also watch Al-Jazeera and BBC World legally streamed free on Livestation.

Cricket is probably the one thing I miss. I never have as much luck with streams for that.

The good things in life are free, some things you just have to pay for.

Chingis needed the Cricket Schedule I gave that to him last night at 2am as he cannot connect to the Supersports website easily.

England vs India starts around mid day. I will be on the way to China so wll miss the first days play.

The good things in life are free

Such as ?

Reggin wrote:

The good things in life are free

Such as ?

Love, the clean air where I live, the unpolluted mountian ranges I live on, happiness, the food that grows naturaly in my garden, fishing in the local streams, as well as being able to swim there in the summer.

Too many good things to list.

SatelliteTV wrote:

Reggin wrote:

The good things in life are free

Such as ?

Love, the clean air where I live, the unpolluted mountian ranges I live on, happiness, the food that grows naturaly in my garden, fishing in the local streams, as well as being able to swim there in the summer.

Too many good things to list.

Besides most you quoted is not "THINGS", also

Love

There is no free love. And as the old saying goes "Wife is the most expensive bitch"

happiness

Depends what makes you happy

the food that grows naturaly in my garden

Work, tax on estate - not entirely free eithe

Reggin wrote: Too many good things to list.

Besides most you quoted is not "THINGS", also

Love

There is no free love. And as the old saying goes "Wife is the most expensive bitch"

happiness

Depends what makes you happy

the food that grows naturaly in my garden

Work, tax on estate - not entirely free eithe[/quote]

What tac=x on real estate? Not where I live.....

My wife aint no bitch so no expenses there that she need ever justify.

I work by choice... I was actually retired but originally got into this business as it grew out of a hobby.

If you think love is not freely given I suggest you stay away from Tung Ren Road and find somewhere else.

Chingis wrote: I figure if it works OK in the arse-end of China, it should be ok for Shanghai. First beer is on me

I never figured I would get complaints my speed is too fast... so you had to slow the stream so you could load other web pages.

Jonno says:
Hi Jim, if thats you
TAIWANSATELLITE TV ONLINE SUPPORT says:
wait a mo
Jonno says:
I've got a complaint!!!! My speed has been too fast and slows down any other computers on the net, so I've been forced to throttle it down to 700k!!!!!

TAIWANSATELLITE TV ONLINE SUPPORT says:
what speed are you getting there in the boonies
Jonno says:
it was about 850, but i put it to 700.
Jonno says:
otherwise it takes ages for pages to load

Its possible to get all your western TV fix online if you are prepared to do some research and testing.

Try, TVants, Spcast, TVU Viewer for live streaming online TV for Football and Cricket.

With uTorrent and sucH sites as Demonoid, Uknova and mininova for downloading Top Gear.

And its all FREE