NOW CLOSED: YouView feedback thread: Non Testers: share the TV programme you'd love to rewind, watch again or pause for a chance to win a £100 JL voucher

[AnnMumsnet]

Hello

This is the feedback thread for the 20 testers who have received a new YouView TV box and who are currently trying it out in their homes.

YouView say "YouView is a subscription-free television service which seamlessly combines live and catch-up television. The service offers over 70 free to air channels and radio stations via a TV aerial and also connects to any broadband service to bring catch-up and on demand programmes directly to your TV. The TV service, which launched in July 2012, is backed by BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, BT, TalkTalk and Arqiva"

The YouView box allows you to record, pause and rewind TV, as well as featuring BBC iPlayer, ITV Player, 4oD and Demand 5.

Testers: we'll be asking you to add feedback twice - we'd like your first impressions now and in a couple of weeks we will add some more questions.

So, in terms of your first impressions. please....
~ give your overall impression when it arrived
~ describe the set up: did you set up your YouView box yourself? If not, who did? How easy did you / your DH/DP etc find it to set up your YouView box?
~ tell us which TV is it on/ in which room
~ share what you/ your family think the first couple of times you used it - what was the best feature and what, if anything, have you struggled with

If you're not a tester, YouView would love to hear from you - for a chance to win a £100 John Lewis voucher please share on this thread the programme(s) you'd love to pause, record or watch again - this could be a programme that's on now, or something special from the last few years or even something from your childhood - the programme which is really special to you and/or your family. Maybe you were on TV as a child and would like to see it again or you want to relive an Olympic moment or even maybe you're a massive Corrie fan and want to never miss an episode! Please share this on the thread and you'll be entered into the prize draw.

thanks
MNHQ

Please note: The final questions have now been added to the thread on Tues 2 April at 11:30

Struggling with: can I record things in the past?
Love the search option and the fact I can watch while series or select from within them.

We're watching endless amounts of Thomas and friends! This is my toddler's favourite!

Hope I'll manage to get the remote back at some point so I can record the new series of doctor who!

Candid Camera, i used to love that show,i know there are a lot of shows now that do these kind of things and probably better but i would love that trip down memory lane and it would be fab to see if it is still as good as i remember it xoxox

Pausing and rewinding is great for most programmes - I often watch things in bits and pieces while life goes on all around.

I do wish we could get access to American programming directly - would love to see NBC's Revolution.

Not a tester.
I would want to watch, pause and rewind Chelsea playing Leeds United :o

I'm not a YouView tester but I'd really love to see some of these programmes again:

Selected episodes of The Woodentops in black and white, my Mum still does a wonderful impression of Spotty Dog.

It would be good to see a night of continuous royalty programmes starting with that documentary done when the cameras were allowed in for the first time to see the current royal family do their Christmas tree at Sandringham etc and following through to present day footage.

Also, how about The Brothers - that sailing series that used to be on a Sunday night I think, I recall my Mum and Grandma fitting family commitments around the episodes.

I'd love to rewind and watch England winning the World Cup in 1966!
Failing that, episodes of Cold Feet and Queer as Folk, I loved those series.

I would love to rewind and rewind and rewind the brittas empire, I used to watch it when I was younger and I loved it for some reason!

Tester here:
I set it up myself, in the living room, took about 10 minutes including working out the Internet connection.
We only have one TV, it's set up on that.
Overall it's great, the remote is intuitive and the menus are good, it records in HD without blocking, and the parental controls are easy to set up.
A couple of niggles so far though:
It takes ages to boot up even in low Eco mode. We switch everything off at the wall habitually, and it takes a good couple of minutes each time we switch it on. Also, the DCs have sussed out how to work the box using the buttons on the front at 5.30am I would have liked some way to "parent control" the buttons on the front, even just until a reasonable hour.

It would be fun to rewind the moment when the lovely Trevor McDonald mispronounced Kent Countryside. . He was so funny about it.

So, in terms of your first impressions. please....

Overall first impressions

It was very well wrapped up and delivered quickly. The excitement in the house was overwhelming! It is aesthetically pleasing - nice, compact, shiny and black with a big glowing blue button. Batteries for the remote were included. Youview booklet also provided which tells us what it will do.

describe the set up: did you set up your YouView box yourself? If not, who did? How easy did you / your DH/DP etc find it to set up your YouView box?

DS1 said it took him about 15 minutes but he is very good at gadgets and is 16. He said it was quite simple and even myself or DH could have done it eventually! (He could have been being kind, I'm not sure!)

tell us which TV is it on/ in which room

Our only TV which is in the sitting room / lounge

share what you/ your family think the first couple of times you used it - what was the best feature and what, if anything, have you struggled with

In our house we have never had sky and cannot get cable so the DCs are delighted to have this opportunity to test this youview box. We all think it is brilliant so far!

DS1 has a comment - all channels are listed even ones that you have to pay for. He wondered if there was somehow you could switch the 'pay for' channel listing off (DS3 aged 8 was getting very excited at certain channels showing but we can't get them as we haven't got any paid for TV).

Also, sometimes programmes show but we cannot get them on demand. For example Panorama was on, realised we missed it and tried to view but could not straight away. (This may be because we have had no real record thing since video cassette player broke down 6 years so a bit clueless)

DH is struggling a bit on how it works but the 4 children have sussed it completely! As 3 of them are boys there is constantly either Top Gear episodes on or some football match. I have worked out how to find previous episodes of Coronation Street (even after a night out and a few wines!) so it is easy to navigate!

Sometimes our internet connection is a bit dodgy but it seems to cope well with streaming and no buffering.

However, really everybody in the house is happy so far

I'd love to rewatch At Home With The Braithwaites - I can barely remember what it's about but my sister and I loved the theme tune and liked to sing it in unison in moments of silence. Drove our parents potty

Not a tester, but I love watching The Walking Dead.

I have to watch it twice because the first time round I have my hands plastered over my eyes and I'm usually running circles round my coffee table in terror.

It really gets the adrenaline pumping! (Who needs the gym?!)

I'd love to watch button moon again

Thing I'd most like to watch is stuff that was on TV a few weeks ago. By the time I get round to trying to watch something on IPlayer/Demand 5 etc it's always too late and it's no longer available.

I would love to show my DC Jim Henson's The Storyteller, and for myself I'd like to see Life Goes On again as it was my favourite programme back in the 90s :).

I'm sure it wouldn't have the same appeal anymore so perhaps it is about rewinding my life as well as the tv show, but I loved This Life first time round. I was just starting out on my life in London as a solicitor and it really resonated (not so much the sleeping with the boss...)

"maybe your a massive Corrie fan"

YOU'RE, mnhq, YOU'RE

Anyway, I would love, love, love to see 'Six Feet Under' all over again, starting from the very beginning of series one. It was simply the best thing on TV ever, it had every ingredient a TV hit needs and more.

CredulousThicko

I love to watch Suits, it is my favourite programme at the moment. Also the West Wing as it was such a great series.

~ give your overall impression when it arrived
Looks good. Family has an older HUMAX box and this looks very smart compared to theirs, children liked it. Nice feel to the remote and the back tag thingy is a great idea.

• describe the set up: did you set up your YouView box yourself? If not, who did? How easy did you / your DH/DP etc find it to set up your YouView box?

DH set it up, he does all that kind of thing here as he loves playing with kit. He found it quite simple, though he is a bit of an expert, and I think left to my own devices I would have spent a bit longer, though it seemed simple enough. It worked immediately, though it seemed to take a while to set itself up, and still takes a while to come on (though it reckons you can improve this by changing the eco-settings)

~ tell us which TV is it on/ in which room

It's on the TV in the main living room. We are toying with the idea of putting it in the playroom once we've had a good play with it.

~ share what you/ your family think the first couple of times you used it - what was the best feature and what, if anything, have you struggled with

We found the TV guide easy to use as well as the remote. I'm having issues with the on/off button on the front, i can only make it work about half the time- maybe I'm not pressing hard enough? Search is good and the kids have no problem using it.

My guilty pleasure is Antiques Roadshow (yes really!) so that would be on my list;
plus the clip of me on local news which no one got a copy of would be really good (for my grandchildren, eventually

Emmerdale! Sad but I have watched it as long as I can remember, my mum watched it religiously so I grew up with it. I can NOT miss an episode!

Would love to have access to great drama series like Murder One, Between the Lines, Our Friends in the North, GBH and House of Cards again.

Pause and replay would be good for things with fantastic dialogue like The Thick of it.

Would love to show my kids my childhood favourites; Rhubarb and Custard, Noah and Nelly, Bagpuss, The Clangers etc.

And for light relief, The High Life!

Currently loving the itv2 series The Real Housewives of ..... franchise. Have watched the New Jersey, New York, OC, Washington, Beverley Hills and am now glued to The Real Housewives of Atlanta series 2. I know it's like mental chewing gum but it's glitzy, fun and at times barking mad. Although the format is the same the characters (housewives) are very different but all quite addictive. It is the only thing I have ever watched on iplayer

At the moment it has to be Miranda. Recorded the last series and have lost count of how many times it has been related already.