Skippa Pre-Order

[bodogbodog]

What does Beyonwiz's T4 model and specs have to do with Skippa preorders?
If it's that interesting why not start a dedicated thread to discuss it?

[Nodeity]

What does Beyonwiz's T4 model and docs have to do with Skippa preorders?
If it's that interesting why not start a dedicated thread to discuss it?

Good point!
Also.. and I'm being serious here,  can I cancel my Skippa order?  Because the new T4 looks uber specced and I'd prefer it to the Skippa.

[Rat]

I think the T4 release is very relevant to Skippa pre-orders, as above perhaps there will be quite a few people asking for their pre-order money back. Personally I would still pick the Skippa at $399 over the more expensive and better specced T4, but the risk of being a beta tester for Skippa still concerns me.

But if the Skippa was selling for it's recently inflated RRP of $599 then it would be a very different story.

[Dave at IceTV]

btw did the T3 ever even make it to retail stores?

No - and I doubt the Skippa will be there either. This seems to be the new marketing model - I hesitate to use the term 'price fixing', but this sales model certainly manages to avoid price competition between retailers.

It has always been our plan that Skippa will be available in retail stores.

[Paul55]

It has always been our plan that Skippa will be available in retail stores.

Excellent news. I'll be happy to be proved wrong once that happens.
Price competition is good for users and probably for the distributor as well. Competition will make Skippa more attractive to potential T3/T4 buyers as there seems to be no appetite from Beyonwiz to subject itself to market forces.
I probably would have gone the T3 route a few months back if I wasn't concerned by their monopoly artificially inflating the ticket price.
Mind you, my philosophical objections haven't always worked in my favour ::) ::) :'(

[Nodeity]

What does Beyonwiz's T4 model and docs have to do with Skippa preorders?
If it's that interesting why not start a dedicated thread to discuss it?

Good point!
Also.. and I'm being serious here,  can I cancel my Skippa order?  Because the new T4 looks uber specced and I'd prefer it to the Skippa.

Dave, your blood deserves bottling.!  Thank you

[emmsee]

Agreed. Hopefully it is possible to swap in a larger HDD. Unfortunately it appears to have a 2.5" rather than 3.5" HDD so the options will be limited.

The largest I could find by quick internet search was a 2TB WD Green for just under $200.

Ian

Ian,
I recently had a HDD failure on my laptop and researched a replacement. 2 reports , one from the US equivalent of Choice, give the Hitachi 2.5"HDD's the thumbs up and I picked up a 2tb (7200RPM, ussually 5400RPM) from a Sydney supplier for $109 - I'll look for a name when I get home.
Seagate and WD (now the same company) cop a bagging based on failure rates.
cheers
Emmsee

[warkus]

That's not quite the full picture emmsee, look a little deeper...

Firstly, WD own HGST (hitachi), have done for a long time. Seagate own Samsung HDD's, also have done for a long time, and most importantly, Seagate do NOT own WD.

I am pretty sure only Toshiba and Fujitsu are the only 2 other name brands left that are not owned by someone that owns someone that owns someone.

So basically it's, WD, Seagate, Toshiba... That's about it... Anything Hitachi is WD technology nowadays, not like their old stuff.

[emmsee]

That's not quite the full picture emmsee, look a little deeper...

Firstly, WD own HGST (hitachi), have done for a long time. Seagate own Samsung HDD's, also have done for a long time, and most importantly, Seagate do NOT own WD.

I am pretty sure only Toshiba and Fujitsu are the only 2 other name brands left that are not owned by someone that owns someone that owns someone.

So basically it's, WD, Seagate, Toshiba... That's about it... Anything Hitachi is WD technology nowadays, not like their old stuff.

Quite right Mark,
I read this article some time back and assumed (yeah, I know) that the buyout had proceeded - http://www.storagenewsletter.com/rubriques/mas/seagate-acquires-wd-for-16-billion-new-company-named-seawest/

Not so, it seems!

Re the reliability of Hitachi v WD v Seagate.
Have a read of this - http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/175089-who-makes-the-most-reliable-hard-drives
I'd certainly buy Hitachi before a WD or Seagate.
cheers
emmsee

[warkus]

I wouldn't, it entirely depends on the drive series, and model and time of manufacture.

As is evident by that article, manufacturers, all of them, at one time or another have had bad batches of drives, it's across the board and not a specific brand thing. Seagate had a bad batch of 3 and 4tb drives, most definitely, but does that mean I wouldn't buy them, no definitely not.

I have had just as many hitachi failures lately, I used to love them, so believe me, they are mechanical and they can fail...

That article by the way was an April fools joke... Look further down.

Mark

[injidup]

Getting back on track, I've just ordered the Skippa. For the pre-order price, I couldn't justify the T3 or T4 price difference.
Let's hope us early adopters won't be doing too much guinea pigging. (Yes, to guinea pig is now a verb)

[Vortical]

Getting back on track, I've just ordered the Skippa. For the pre-order price, I couldn't justify the T3 or T4 price difference.
Let's hope us early adopters won't be doing too much guinea pigging. (Yes, to guinea pig is now a verb)

An IceTV device developed by IceTV should work exactly how they want it to, that's what I'm expecting anyway.
I'm also hoping for Eastern states owners these boxes can automatically handle daylight savings time changes without too many dramas.

Other devices I've owned from Topfield & Beyonwiz rely on overseas firmware coders to try to get it right but I'm yet to see a box that can perfectly do everything icetv is capable of doing.

eg Latest icetv capable topfields (2400/2460) can't handle shows that change time after the timer is already set on the pvr, I've had to do it myself manually.
Luckily icetv has timer clash notifications sent via email to let users know.

[csutak40]

An IceTV device developed by IceTV should work exactly how they want it to, that's what I'm expecting anyway.

I agree, but I am not convinced that is the same as what the users want.  In the beginning, Heinz was asking us users for ideas, but none of those ideas were ever acknowledged.
Now that is is finally out, we are still in the dark about what it will do as far as the software is concerned.  We already know that some of the initial promises have been changed (i.e. number of tuners) with no explanation as to why. 

[warkus]

Well my 2 cents again...

We are not in the dark about what the software will do at all, much of the info has been answered and is out there...

In theory, a PVR that has the following...
Easy to use and is user friendly without the need for complex system knowledge
3 tuners - enough for pretty much 85% of people
Record 6 shows on 3 networks whilst watching a another show
App support (secretly hoping that Netflix is one of them).
Ad skip manual and auto
Plex app
DLNA server and client built-in
Possible FTP app or built in client - hopefully - for transferring recordings off the box
USB recording playback

Is what most standard / basic PVR users could ever want, if you want more than that then you probably fit better into the T3/4 mould due to its complexity and additional configuration / features but sadly they goes too far and are definitely not easy to use so definitely won't appeal to everyone and of course what comes from complexity is system bugs and constant updates to rectify them.

I'm quite sure the skippa won't appeal to everyone either and there will be many that wish it had this and that etc etc, but honestly, on paper it looks like it has most of what is needed, about the only extra things i think it probably should have or is missing would be AV input and gig LAN, but I can live without that.

I agree with vortical, a unit from ICE should work just how they want it. It's also probably based on a lot of user feedback. why they changed the tuner number to 3, no idea, nor do I care really as it's not that big a problem. i honestly doubt there would be more than a handful of times a year that ANYONE would need to record 4 shows on 4 networks all at exactly the same time, it's definitely not going to be an everyday occurrence. People appear to want it just for the sake of having it.

The only question I have left now is does it live up to itself on paper... That will be the big question and I can't wait to find that out...

Mark

[tvremote]

This may have been answered but is there a better picture of the remote and all its functions available also can the remote control the TV's volume.
Thanks