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Mobile operator EE launches set top box

by Mark Tyson on 8 October 2014, 12:35

Tags: Everything Everywhere, PC

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Today mobile operator EE launched its new EE TV, said to be "coming this autumn". The product is a set top box which allows users to enjoy TV shows in any room of their house on the TV and up to three tablets/smartphones simultaneously.

Channels and PVR

The EE TV offers over 70 Freeview channels and the ability to use catch-up and on demand services including BBC iPlayer, Wuaki, YouTube and The Box+. EE says "we're adding new services all the time," so expect that list of services to expand. As well as tuning to live Freeview and various online services the EE TV box is a PVR with a 1TB HDD. That means you will be able to pause, record and rewind live TV shows. EE TV also allows you to set up six 'Replay' channels which are all recorded in a 24 hour loop giving you an extra day to go back and forth among that content. That functionality brings a quick 'Restart' feature where you can speedily skip back to the start of a program which is already on.

Viewing around the house

As mentioned in the intro as well as your main TV your EE TV features can be shared by three other devices simultaneously. That includes recordings you've made. Also all four viewers (the TV and three mobile devices) can watch/pause/rewind different channels/shows at the same time. Your smart device can be used to control your EE TV box and be used as a remote/guide/scheduler thanks to the EE TV app.

'Flick' is a convenient feature where you can move something you're watching on your smart device to the living room TV for example. Simply "sweeping your fingers towards the television," from the mobile screen will send the display there, we are told (see the video below).

EE TV tech specs

  • 4 HD (high definition) tuners – DVB (digital video broadcasting) – T2
  • 1 terabyte hard drive
  • Dual-band WiFi (2.4/5 gigahertz)
  • 1 gigabit per second ethernet
  • Latest Broadcom processor (3000 DMIPS)
  • Full home broadband TV support

Looking at pricing, the EE TV is going to be available for 'free' as part of an EE broadband deal. "You can get EE TV free with EE Broadband for just £9.95 a month plus £15.75 line rental," boasts the EE promotional site. Interested folk are asked to surrender their emails to be notified about availability.



HEXUS Forums :: 9 Comments

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“Interested folk are asked to surrender their emails to be notified about availability.”

Hahaha this is so true. I switched from Orange to giffgaff about 10 months ago, then to 3 when giffgaff utterly screwed over their customers a couple of months ago. I STILL get texts from EE, it's really annoying!
Sounds like the sort of functionality that youview are aiming for however with BT/talk talk now calling the shots i'm not sure it'll ever make it… Seem more interested in locking it down than sharing content (for example no netflix/now tv entertainment/amazon prime due to a silly rule that all TV content must be ‘broadcast’ for it to appear despite ignoring this rule for films…)
It's the sharing feature that grabs my attention, Windows Media Extenders were an amazing idea and I would be buying in instantly if YouView could share recordings and features around to my other TVs (App or client box, whatever) and to tablets via an app.
These are feature I have on my HTPC, but it certainly wasn't an out of box experience to setup.

I have 6 HD tuners (4xT2 and 2,S2) and can share them with media extenders (got a 360 in the bedroom for this alone), other PCs, andriod phones/tablets my windows phone etc. I am not limited to any number of devices which is nice but am limited to 8 streams or 6 muxs.

As said it took a lot of setup so if this work out of the box it might be worth it for my parents (currently youview).
Am I the only one who does not watch live TV ? There's so much junk.