Ubc Pvr Policy

[paul700]

I paid 15000 baht to Truevision about a year ago for the new Humax PVR. The guy came out set it up, took my old box away and eventually they refunded my deposit for the old box. That was it great. I can record programmes easily and to be honest it was the best thing since sliced bread. Two weeks ago it went wrong and wouldn't work at all. It was a Sunday morning so my wife rang Truevision and they said they would send an engineer out the next day. The engineer arrived Monday night about 6pm when it was dark. It checked the satellite outside and went through a procedure of trying to set the PVR up for about twenty minutes. Then he phoned people for information then said there was nothing he could do because it was too late and the office was closed. He said there was something wrong with the PVR.

OK. Trying to be a patient person I asked him if he could do something just to get the picture on temporary. I was thinking maybe he can install an old style box or something for the time being. He couldn't and he left the house saying he would ring us tomorrow Tuesday and find out if he can find another PVR to take the place of the one we have.

We had no contact with this guy again, so my wife rang Truevision, told them the story and they said they would send someone out because we had had no picture now since Sunday morning. Late Tuesday afternoon, an engineer arrived, went through the same process of installing the PVR and it wouldn't work. he then said there is nothing he can do and he would be on his way.

We then told him to hold on a minute whilst we phoned Truevision and told them our story again. After a lot of shouting and showing anger the engineer spoke to the Lady at Truevision and the phone and then he went outside and brought in the old style box and set it up for us. Great we now have our Gold Package working. I then asked him what he was going to do with my PVR that I paid 15000 baht for. He said he did not know anything about them and it would have to be repaired. He said it will take about a month to repair. I asked if he had a new one to replace it and he said , no.

I am writing this story, just to let people know that they should be very careful if they buy a PVR from Truevision. The PVR's are really good when they are working, but when they break down, there seems to be a problem. Truevision advertise these things like hel_l, but there doesn't seem to be any support when things go wrong. They should have a plan when selling these gadgets to customers. It just is not good enough to say it doesn't work and will be away a month for repair. One would expect a replacement PVR until your own has been repaired, or is that too much to ask?

So at the moment I have my football and everything else and I am waiting now to see how long it takes before they bring my 15000 baht PVR back in working order.

[tombkk]

I don't know what a PVR is. However, the satellite TV works well in this house, and when the Thais have any problem, the service comes and fixes it (happened once or twice in the last couple of years). This raises the question: Where do you live?

I myself don't use any TV. When I need to watch something on TV in exceptional cases (like the recent football WC), my internet is fast enough for that. That doesn't refer to your question but explains why the Thais in my household fix their TV problems by themselves.

[paul700]

I don't know what a PVR is. However, the satellite TV works well in this house, and when the Thais have any problem, the service comes and fixes it (happened once or twice in the last couple of years). This raises the question: Where do you live?

I myself don't use any TV. When I need to watch something on TV in exceptional cases (like the recent football WC), my internet is fast enough for that. That doesn't refer to your question but explains why the Thais in my household fix their TV problems by themselves.

With respect, if you do not know what a PVR is, why do you feel the need to comment. My article was purely for information , just in case someone is thinking of buying a PVR off Truevision. Normally there service is quite good, but my experience with their PVR condradicts what I have just said. By the way, a PVR is a box of tricks called a Personal Video Recorder.

Edited August 24, 2010 by paul700

[thaimate]

Not wanting to appear stupid ,but why pay all that money ,plus a monthly subscription fee to truevisions ,why not just buy a recorder with a hard disc ,i believe you can record up to 40 hours on them/

[eyebee]

I have a Philips HDD/DVD Recorder that I bought in Australia for just AUD 300. Has a 250Gb hard drive, which can hold up to 96 hours of video (in the default setting). And you can copy to DVD any stuff you want to keep. I bought it in November 2008, and have had no trouble with it at all, and it works well in Thailand (with both TrueVisions satellite and Sophon cable). I'm sure you can get much better ones at a cheaper price by now.

[bkkjames]

I thought about PVR once then looked at the cost and said, is there really anything on True that I want to record that isn't replayed 3 times the following day already? 

The answer was none. PVR I suspect is as successful as some elite card programme. 

To the OP, i suggest writing to the Post or Nation letters section - trying to get True to refund you will be a very tiring experience. 

[dominique355]

I had similar problems with my PVR (Personal Video Recorder) from Truevisons, which sometimes just stops playing back in the middle of the recorded movie and nothing can make it continue. Truevisions is unable or unwilling to do anything about it.

Fed up with their bad products and bad service I installed a Dreambox and have not had any problems since. My new Dreambox 8000 HD has a 1 TB harddisk built in, that's enough for the foreseeable future .

It beats me why Truevisons insists on installing their own receivers, and doesn't just sell the decoder card, giving the customer the choice of whatever receiver he wants. I suspect they buy all the outdated stuff from junkyards and sell it here with 100% profit.

Their PVR is a totally outdated machine and Truevisons knows about the problems. Yet they continue to sell this piece of j**** to unsuspecting customers. Perhaps a case for a consumer complaint?

[tombkk]

I don't know what a PVR is. However, the satellite TV works well in this house, and when the Thais have any problem, the service comes and fixes it (happened once or twice in the last couple of years). This raises the question: Where do you live?

I myself don't use any TV. When I need to watch something on TV in exceptional cases (like the recent football WC), my internet is fast enough for that. That doesn't refer to your question but explains why the Thais in my household fix their TV problems by themselves.

With respect, if you do not know what a PVR is, why do you feel the need to comment. My article was purely for information , just in case someone is thinking of buying a PVR off Truevision. Normally there service is quite good, but my experience with their PVR condradicts what I have just said. By the way, a PVR is a box of tricks called a Personal Video Recorder.

Oh sorry, I didn't make the connection to "Video Recorder". I thought this was a word from the 1970s. I'll keep quiet in this thread now.

[CanInBKK]

I think the advantage of a True branded PVR is that it already knows when the next repeat of the program you missed is and can be set up very easily to record that program, but this really is just a guess.

They were advertisingtheir HD service before the World Cup, I called up to order and was told there was a shortage of decoders till August. Now they're delayed to November yet continue to advertise heavily! Why bother to promote a product you can fulfill the demand for?

[dominique355]

I think the advantage of a True branded PVR is that it already knows when the next repeat of the program you missed is and can be set up very easily to record that program, but this really is just a guess.

They were advertisingtheir HD service before the World Cup, I called up to order and was told there was a shortage of decoders till August. Now they're delayed to November yet continue to advertise heavily! Why bother to promote a product you can fulfill the demand for?

The Dreambox also shows you when this program will be repeated. Long list, hahaha

I ordered HD service last week and they promised to send the technician on Aug. 27. We will see if he shows up...

[rixalex]

Thanks for the info Paul.

I got PVR a month or two back and think it's great. 95% of programming on True Visions doesn't interest me. Before whenever i would sit down to watch TV, invariably i was forced to watch that 95%. PVR works like a filter. It traps the 5% that i'm interested in and i can sit down whenever i want, watch what i want, and then turn the TV off and go. Means i probably watch less TV than i did before, but it's much more enjoyable and worthwhile.

I really would though have prefered to rent the machine off them because in buying it, it does mean you are stuck should it go wrong. I hope they help you out although you might want to consider just biting the bullet and buying another PVR off them (10,000 baht now) or go for the Dreambox as others have suggested. Might save you stress in the long run, if not money.

[paul700]

I had similar problems with my PVR (Personal Video Recorder) from Truevisons, which sometimes just stops playing back in the middle of the recorded movie and nothing can make it continue. Truevisions is unable or unwilling to do anything about it.

Fed up with their bad products and bad service I installed a Dreambox and have not had any problems since. My new Dreambox 8000 HD has a 1 TB harddisk built in, that's enough for the foreseeable future .

It beats me why Truevisons insists on installing their own receivers, and doesn't just sell the decoder card, giving the customer the choice of whatever receiver he wants. I suspect they buy all the outdated stuff from junkyards and sell it here with 100% profit.

Their PVR is a totally outdated machine and Truevisons knows about the problems. Yet they continue to sell this piece of j**** to unsuspecting customers. Perhaps a case for a consumer complaint?

Thanks for your interest dominique 355

I honestly have never heard about the Dreambox that you mentioned. If you could enlighten me a little on this subject as regards whether you buy or rent it and who supplies it I would be very grateful. I live in Bangkok.

[astral]

It is good to have this update, thanks.

Many satellite companies are now linking the card to the machine,

to prevent people using alternate PVR's like the Dreambox.

[nocturn]

considering true repeats everything ad nauseum, why would you need to record?,

[JohnLeech]

Tha main point of the PVR as against a standard recorder is that it will change channels as programmed (as will the newer de-coder, although it is far less relaible than the old one) and it has a dual tuner - you can wach one channel while recording another.

(I don't have one, although we do have two decoders)

[relentless]

considering true repeats everything ad nauseum, why would you need to record?,

because people do not want to be tied down to the set. with this they can get what they want. Then watch it when  they want. Now why is this concept so hard to understand?

[rixalex]

considering true repeats everything ad nauseum, why would you need to record?,

For many people in their lives they have a fairly fixed and limited window as to when it is convenient to watch TV. Most commonly this is a couple of hours after returning from work - say perhaps between 8 and 11. This means that for those 3 hours they can watch what is scheduled. The other 21 hours in the day of programming might as well not exist. Now what are the chances that the programs that most interest you will fall into that 3 hour window? Sods law says zero.

PVR allows you to cherry pick. You might not necessarily watch any more TV, but that which you do will be something you really want to watch. That's why it works for me anyway. Of course if your machine breaks down it ceases to work!

[astral]

PVR allows you to cherry pick. You might not necessarily watch any more TV, but that which you do will be something you really want to watch. That's why it works for me anyway. Of course if your machine breaks down it ceases to work!

Exactly.

I have not watched live TV for over 10 years now.

I started with 2 vcr's, one for recording, the other for playback.

Next came a Pioneer DVR

and now my Dreambox 7200.

[paul700]

The latest update regarding my Truevision PVR that they took away for repair on August 14th 2010.

It is now September 9th 2010 and I rang Truevision this morning to find out what had happened over the last month, bearing in mind I am still paying for a PVR service that I am not receiving. I am told it is going to cost me about 3,800 baht to repair the PVR. The PVR is only 2 years old and this is the position I find myself in after paying out 15,000 baht to Truevision to buy it. They do not tell the customer when he buys the PVR that if it goes wrong you have to pay for it yourself. So I am left in a position if I do not pay it, they will return the PVR to me and charge me 2,000 baht deposit for the rental of the old IRD style box they have given me for the last month. This leaves me with a PVR that is no use to anyone. All as I can say is, there has been no compromise with Truevision, they are quite happy to continue to sell and advertise these PVR sets, which I must say are very good when they work, but for the people who are thinking of buying one, be very careful. They tell me they are only guaranteed for one year and then it is your problem. Going by my experience, this is a very costly affair and I have decided by best bet to retain the programmes I like to watch, is to cough up the deposit for the old box and try to forget this whole saga ever happened. Forget PVR full stop!

If this is the best that Truevision can do, in my opinion it is a very poor show. As far as I am concerned they are just cheating the public.

[OOB]

I don't believe they are advertising and selling them anymore. We inquired about one in Chiang Mai a few months ago and they had pulled the product.

It is not unreasonable, however, for them to issue a warranty of a fixed duration. One year is standard for electronics.

That they won't offer a compromise of any sorts is probably the only beef you can have. You have one remaining bargaining chip though, and it is one that I used with Sky in the UK when my dish broke, and that is to cancel everything and take no service from them. Of course, if you threaten that you need to back it up...but it may just work (it did with me and Sky - they fixed the dish at their cost).

Edited September 10, 2010 by astral
Removing quotes

[astral]

I would pay the 3800baht and get it fixed.

Or better still use your money to buy a Dreambox.

[rixalex]

That they won't offer a compromise of any sorts is probably the only beef you can have. You have one remaining bargaining chip though, and it is one that I used with Sky in the UK when my dish broke, and that is to cancel everything and take no service from them. Of course, if you threaten that you need to back it up...but it may just work (it did with me and Sky - they fixed the dish at their cost).

It's a great idea but in the case of True Visions, i think doomed to fail. They have a virtual monopoly and as such really don't take much, if any, notice, of threats to leave them.

Some time ago they announced that they were dropping a popular BBC channel and many hundreds, possibly thousands, complained, wrote to the papers, threatened to leave them. Didn't make any difference.

I agree with Astral. I would pay the money and if it breaks down again, ditch it and get a Dreambox.

[ProThaiExpat]

Just back from two years in Australia where their IQ PVR is a dream, never broke down in two years and changed my TV life. After eight years in Thailand saddled with UBC, I was delighted to hear of True's PVR. When I started up with UBC at the beginning of September, I was informed that they would call me when a PVR was "available". Last week, I called their central help line and was advised that the PVR series three was not working well and they couldn't fix the hard drive. I was led to believe that another version would be available sometime and they would call me. As previously posted, in Chiang Mai at least, they have been withdrawn. Does the Dreambox provide the features below, I doubt it???!!!

For those who have not used a sophisticated PVR like IQ, here are some features you can drool over.

1. You can scan ahead for days on the TVs index to search for programs you like and task the recorder to record them when they come on.

2. Easily flags every program in a series and records it when it comes on so you never miss an episode of your favorites.

3. Pauses a program, even if you are watching it live, and allows you to make trips to the front door, toilet or fridge, or wherever.

Sports fans, some major events are shown in the middle of the night in Thailand and not re-broadcast. Not a problem, watch it until you get tired, then record the balance to watch at your convenience. This is possible with most video recorders, however features one and two described above, I don't believe, work with a classic video recorder.

[mightyharriss]

Very typical. Thai company jumping the gun without having the correct infrastructure in place... hel_l they can't even do full HD channels (only 2 available which you have to pay extra for)yet. So behind a lot of countries in Asia. You won't see competition because of the constant backhanders as well

Edited October 6, 2010 by mightyharriss

[rixalex]

Just back from two years in Australia where their IQ PVR is a dream, never broke down in two years and changed my TV life. After eight years in Thailand saddled with UBC, I was delighted to hear of True's PVR. When I started up with UBC at the beginning of September, I was informed that they would call me when a PVR was "available". Last week, I called their central help line and was advised that the PVR series three was not working well and they couldn't fix the hard drive. I was led to believe that another version would be available sometime and they would call me. As previously posted, in Chiang Mai at least, they have been withdrawn. Does the Dreambox provide the features below, I doubt it???!!!

For those who have not used a sophisticated PVR like IQ, here are some features you can drool over.

1. You can scan ahead for days on the TVs index to search for programs you like and task the recorder to record them when they come on.

2. Easily flags every program in a series and records it when it comes on so you never miss an episode of your favorites.

3. Pauses a program, even if you are watching it live, and allows you to make trips to the front door, toilet or fridge, or wherever.

Sports fans, some major events are shown in the middle of the night in Thailand and not re-broadcast. Not a problem, watch it until you get tired, then record the balance to watch at your convenience. This is possible with most video recorders, however features one and two described above, I don't believe, work with a classic video recorder.

True Visions PVR does all those things you mention. All the while it is working, it is an excellent system. It does freeze on recorded programs from time to time, but as i understand it this is a common problem with almost all of these types of devices.

[suave]

The best part of a recorded program is you can FF through the ads

[mogy]

Does anyone know what are similar options/makes to the Dreambox that are available here in Thailand ?

[Sayonarax]

Does anyone know what are similar options/makes to the Dreambox that are available here in Thailand ?

Not sure why you posted this here. But to answer your question, that would be an Open-box.