Uk TV Asia has merged with Thai expat tv. – effective 1 March

[Mobi]

I have been using UK tv Asia for several months now and have found the service very good.

The merged entity has promised me I can keep my current software player and I hope so, as it works pretty well, but I was wondering if those using Thai expat tv have also been satisfied with their service.

How much are the set top boxes, and do they work OK?

They have increased the monthly fee from 500 to 600 Baht which is not unreasonable, but would like to hear other people’s comments/opinions.

[MJCM]

If you look here:

https://www.thaiexpat.tv/android.php

Then they are 5.999 Thb, which includes also a subscription for 3 Months or 8.998 Thb (12 Months)

I don't know if their boxes work oke (maybe another member can chip in) but they have a 30 day money back guarantee.

3- Do you have an Office here in Pattaya, as I would like to see the Android Box in working.

<< unfortunately we do not have an office in Pattaya. The box is a mail order item. We do however offer a 30 day money back guarantee on its purchase.

Edited February 28, 2014 by MJCM

[PiPiFFS]

I used their service for while when I had good internet and even for a while when I had not so good. Always got to see what I wanted and the new record feature was good as well. I will use it again when I move for sure.

[properperson]

Why pay ??

You can watch uk tv for free as follows:

using Firefox, download Media Hint add on:

https://addons.mozil...don/media-hint/

once installed, just click on the following link for your tv guide....then click on the programme you want to watch and the site automatically connects you to the relevant player (works for bbc player, itv player and ch4 player - but not ch5)

http://www.televisioncatchup.co.uk/

its very user friendly and free.....

[MJCM]

^

Trust me I have tried that, but the buffering drove me crazy. Now even when watching live stuff (for example F1) this way I don't have any buffering / interruptions.

This works perfect on crappy internet as we have here in Thailand.

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

[KittenKong]

I use ThaiExpat as they were doing a 3-month special price for 1000B recently. Even this price is a bit high considering that all the content is pirated, and they really don't offer many worthwhile channels at all. The video quality is reasonable but the audio on many channels is often appallingly over-compressed and full of compression artefacts.

I also tried UKTV previously. Similar poor channel selection. Their software had an advantage in that you could record programmes to your hard drive for future viewing. Audio was also over-compressed but perhaps a bit better than with Expat.

Would I renew? At the full price of 500B, no. At the 600B you mention, never in a million years. For the 330B I'm paying now? Maybe, but I would have to think twice about it. What's the service really worth? 250B or less.

[Mobi]

I suppose everyone's requirements / programme choices are different but for me I have been well satisfied.

UKtv has every BBC channel, every ITV channel, plus channel 4 (incl film 4) and channel 5, plus Sky News.

I can watch all the UK TV dramas and series, plus many of the top American ones, and I watch a lot of documentaries , mainly BBC, but also Ch 4 and ITV. I also get the news progs, (like Newsnight, Panorama), all live sport (BBC/ITV/Ch4), and even the occasional entertainment or quiz shows, comedies etc, concerts and so on.

For me the trick is to use a good TV guide (I use D Telegraph TV highlights) to sort out the programmes I want to watch. This saves me hours in ploughing through all the prog schedules trying to find what is good to watch.

Due to time difference I rarely watch anything live but usually watch progs in the week of transmission. Anything I want to keep I can copy (using their facility) onto an MP4 video file.

The picture quality is excellent and I have not had any problems with audio. I connect my lap top to my TV with an HDMI cable and sit on my sofa and control everything from a wireless mouse. It is better than a remote control.

It really is the best TV service I have found since being overseas but wonder if this merger will impact my choice/quality etc.

And I can still use Torrents to dl American TV series, movies etc, but rarely do these days as uktv takes care of 99% of my viewing needs.

Edited February 28, 2014 by Mobi

[MJCM]

I am also a UKTV subscriber, and I am now testing the ThaiExpat TV program (ps: your UKTV userid and password work )

The UKTV program seems easier to use (especially for recordings)

a recording with UKTV would be named something like

<program name> <episode of total episode> series <maybe extra info>

but the ExpatTV one is named

<Channel> <Date> <Start time of recording>

Another couple of points :

- I can't find an overview if the recordings (only the files on my HDD).

- I can't record a program just from the TV-Guide.

- The recordings are stored as uncompressed TS which is better quality then mp4 however takes up a lot more space on your HDD

- The UKTV one is faster in going back or forward 1 minute or 5 minutes (only a delay of 2-3 sec, but with ThaiExpat 15-20 sec (I tried it with both 3BB and TOT (no difference)

- Maybe I am wrong on this, but to record a program you also have to watch it, have to investigate further, but if this is true

So there is a learning curve involved, but for now I like the UKTV program a lot more.

Edited February 28, 2014 by MJCM

[Mobi]

I am also a UKTV subscriber, and I am now testing the ThaiExpat TV program (ps: your UKTV userid and password work )

The UKTV program seems easier to use (especially for recordings)

a recording with UKTV would be named something like

<program name> <episode of total episode> series <maybe extra info>

but the ExpatTV one is named

<Channel> <Date> <Start time of recording>

Another couple of points :

- I can't find an overview if the recordings (only the files on my HDD).

- I can't record a program just from the TV-Guide.

- The UKTV one is faster in going back or forward 1 minute or 5 minutes (only a delay of 2-3 sec, but with ThaiExpat 15-20 sec (I tried it with both 3BB and TOT (no difference)

- Maybe I am wrong on this, but to record a program you also have to watch it, have to investigate further, but if this is true

So there is a learning curve involved, but for now I like the UKTV program a lot more.

Yes I had forgotten about all that. I use the quicksearch facility to find progs to record. Usually a few letters from a keyword will bring up the prog I am looking for.

The fast forward / back /1 minute/5 minutes is great for all kinds of reasons. e.g. If I want to watch Sky News, I start it at say 20 minutes back from 'live' and then I can fast forward thru the ads and any news I want to skip. Also great if I didn't catch what someone said and want to see it again. Very quick and efficient. Sounds like it compares very favourably with Expat tv.

Many other obvious uses....skipping thru ads being a biggy....if watching ITV, ch 4, 5,Sky

Edited February 28, 2014 by Mobi

[MJCM]

Yes I had forgotten about all that. I use the quicksearch facility to find progs to record. Usually a few letters from a keyword will bring up the prog I am looking for.

<snip>

This feature looks nicer with Expat then with UKTV ("more slick)

<snip>

The fast forward / back /1 minute/5 minutes is great for all kinds of reasons. e.g. If I want to watch Sky News, I start it at say 20 minutes back from 'live' and then I can fast forward thru the ads and any news I want to skip. Also great if I didn't catch what someone said and want to see it again. Very quick and efficient. Sounds like it compares very favourably with Expat tv.

<snip>

In the "new" the start of buffering seems a lot slower, but the limit of buffering was 15 minutes (with the old) and 30+ with the new.

Better test before you make the switch to the new program, and email them if you find any glitches. I already did just now.

Edited February 28, 2014 by MJCM

[Mobi]

Sorry MJCM, I don't follow.

Using the current UKtv software, there is no buffering when using the forward/back facility on any programme played from the search facility or recorded earlier. It is instant on all time lapsed programmes (not live). Even live - well 10 minutes delayed - it is pretty instant.

[sam sen]

I suppose everyone's requirements / programme choices are different but for me I have been well satisfied.

UKtv has every BBC channel, every ITV channel, plus channel 4 (incl film 4) and channel 5, plus Sky News.

I can watch all the UK TV dramas and series, plus many of the top American ones, and I watch a lot of documentaries , mainly BBC, but also Ch 4 and ITV. I also get the news progs, (like Newsnight, Panorama), all live sport (BBC/ITV/Ch4), and even the occasional entertainment or quiz shows, comedies etc, concerts and so on.

For me the trick is to use a good TV guide (I use D Telegraph TV highlights) to sort out the programmes I want to watch. This saves me hours in ploughing through all the prog schedules trying to find what is good to watch.

Due to time difference I rarely watch anything live but usually watch progs in the week of transmission. Anything I want to keep I can copy (using their facility) onto an MP4 video file.

The picture quality is excellent and I have not had any problems with audio. I connect my lap top to my TV with an HDMI cable and sit on my sofa and control everything from a wireless mouse. It is better than a remote control.

It really is the best TV service I have found since being overseas but wonder if this merger will impact my choice/quality etc.

And I can still use Torrents to dl American TV series, movies etc, but rarely do these days as uktv takes care of 99% of my viewing needs.

totally agree with both your posts

[Dogbarker]

Had some recent issues with sound on UKTV and as my contract was up and I had been away for a week I took advantage of EXpat tv free trial to review .

UKTV told me they had resolved sound problems so lets assume that issue has gone.

Picture quality of Expat TV was better but software controls not as easy..

I preferred UKTV epg so you could see a day across all channels

Buffering was never an issue with either

I have been considering if 600 Baht was worth it but decided to stick with UKTV but now too late ..

I think I may go back to dns servers and the like .. in honest I never felt comfortable subscribing to this service when I actually have a valid UK TV licence for various reasons.

shame really all round ... .

[sam sen]

I am also a UKTV subscriber, and I am now testing the ThaiExpat TV program (ps: your UKTV userid and password work )

The UKTV program seems easier to use (especially for recordings)

a recording with UKTV would be named something like

<program name> <episode of total episode> series <maybe extra info>

but the ExpatTV one is named

<Channel> <Date> <Start time of recording>

Another couple of points :

- I can't find an overview if the recordings (only the files on my HDD).

- I can't record a program just from the TV-Guide.

- The UKTV one is faster in going back or forward 1 minute or 5 minutes (only a delay of 2-3 sec, but with ThaiExpat 15-20 sec (I tried it with both 3BB and TOT (no difference)

- Maybe I am wrong on this, but to record a program you also have to watch it, have to investigate further, but if this is true

So there is a learning curve involved, but for now I like the UKTV program a lot more.

Yes I had forgotten about all that. I use the quicksearch facility to find progs to record. Usually a few letters from a keyword will bring up the prog I am looking for.

The fast forward / back /1 minute/5 minutes is great for all kinds of reasons. e.g. If I want to watch Sky News, I start it at say 20 minutes back from 'live' and then I can fast forward thru the ads and any news I want to skip. Also great if I didn't catch what someone said and want to see it again. Very quick and efficient. Sounds like it compares very favourably with Expat tv.

Many other obvious uses....skipping thru ads being a biggy....if watching ITV, ch 4, 5,Sky

yes yes yes

[MJCM]

Sorry MJCM, I don't follow.

Using the current UKtv software, there is no buffering when using the forward/back facility on any programme played from the search facility or recorded earlier. It is instant on all time lapsed programmes (not live). Even live - well 10 minutes delayed - it is pretty instant.

You haven't read the beginning of my post

I am also a UKTV subscriber, and I am now testing the ThaiExpat TV program (ps: your UKTV userid and password work )

The UKTV program seems easier to use (especially for recordings)

etc etc etc

So what am I describing he buffering etc is comparing the UKTV with the Expat TV program.

In short

- Start of buffering seems to take a lot longer with the new program

- searching looks nicer with the new program.

- recording for example seems a step backwards for us (UKTV Users), for example, you can't record from the TV Guide.

Edited February 28, 2014 by MJCM

[KittenKong]

UKtv has every BBC channel, every ITV channel, plus channel 4 (incl film 4) and channel 5, plus Sky News.

Indeed. This isnt exactly a good selection though as the whole lot (except Sky News) is available via "watch again" services, iPlayer etc.

I would like to see some channels that arent available by other means. As for watching films, I only do that if the source is at least 720p (ideally 1080p), with audio of similar quality. These IP system are a very long way away from that.

For me the trick is to use a good TV guide (I use D Telegraph TV highlights) to sort out the programmes I want to watch. This saves me hours in ploughing through all the prog schedules trying to find what is good to watch.Due to time difference I rarely watch anything live but usually watch progs in the week of transmission.

You are preaching to the converted. I had a UK Tivo 10 years or more ago and haven't watched live TV since (except live news).

The picture quality is excellent and I have not had any problems with audio. I connect my lap top to my TV with an HDMI cable and sit on my sofa and control everything from a wireless mouse. It is better than a remote control.

Yes, I do the same and have done for many years. But if you think that the video is "excellent" and have not had any problems with the audio then I dont know what to say. Maybe UKTV has improved hugely since I last tried it (only a few months ago) and is now much better than ThaiExpat. The compression artefacts on ThaiExpat are clearly audible to me and the general quality is significantly below the quality put out on both Freeview and Freesat (which itself is often only just acceptable, apart from the HD channels). The audio is particularly bad as I mentioned and the video can only be described as mediocre.

[BenCrew]

Why do people still prattle on about websites where they can get this channel and that channel? This is dirt cheap for something with no sound, picture, or buffer problems. 'Live stream' websites are like watching black and white TV again. Watched a few 'live' and recent programs since the midnight transition, and no change in quality at all, and to be honest, I didn't expect any.

[KittenKong]

This is dirt cheap for something with no sound, picture, or buffer problems.

You aren't paying for the content, only the delivery. The content is stolen. As such I think that 600B/month is expensive. It's nearly as much as I pay for my entire internet connection, which runs 24/7. For comparison Sophon provide some 80+ channels and the entire delivery infrastructure for just 300B per month.

As for the no sound or picture problems, I can only suppose that most viewers are very easily satisfied. The sound is particularly bad on most ThaiExpat channels.

The buffering problems you may get when watching streamed video from outside of Thailand are entirely down to the poor quality of international routing and the restricted international bandwidth/throttling deliberately imposed by your Thai ISPs. I agree that the idea of siting the servers inside Thailand is a very good way of bypassing this and there are certainly no bandwidth issues for either of the two services in question.

[KittenKong]

I am also a UKTV subscriber, and I am now testing the ThaiExpat TV program (ps: your UKTV userid and password work )

Does anyone know if the reverse works? (ThaiExpat ID used with the UKTV software.)

[i claudius]

I watch it all free ,

[properperson]

I watch it all free ,

me too.......

[David Barker]

For those that want sports europadigital dot tv will have a Thai server running in a couple of weeks all Sky channels inc sports, movies etc Setanta, Bt sports etc. + over 100 movies on demand.

[MJCM]

^ Looks interesting, but it's a lot more expensive. Cheapest package 30 EURO per month (+/- 1300 THB) however you get around 30 Channels.

[Crossy]

MJCM you have a download link (or a copy of) the Expat TV player, I would like to test same (got a UK-TV sub).

[MJCM]

^ You have a PM

[Mooner]

Not sure what sound problems KittenKong is talking about? Only picture problems i have had is a freezing issue i had sometimes when fast forwarding which support helped me fix.

Have Sophon added any channels? Not a huge amount of English speaking channels from what i can see.

Uktv/Expat tv:

BBC1 HD – National flagship channel from the BBC, offering unrivaled entertainment & drama.

BBC2 HD - National alternative entertainment and informative channel.

BBC3 - Ground breaking comedy and alternative entertainment.

BBC4 - Quality BBC entertainment.

CBBC - Britians leading childrens TV channel from the BBC.

Cbeebies - Wide range of high quality, distinctive content for 6-12 year olds.

ITV1 HD – The flagship channel from the ITV network, offering premium quality entertainment & drama

ITV2 – The alternative entertainment & drama channel from the ITV network

ITV4 - ITV's digital channel specialising in premium sports, classic UK dramas and cult films.

CH4 – Cutting edge comedy, drama & documentaries, from the UK’s favorite independent channel.

Film On 4 – Find the very best independent and cult movies on CH4’s premium movie channel

More 4 - Intelligent documentary, new comedy, challenging drama, and quality art and lifestyle shows.

E4 - Intelligent documentary, new comedy, challenging drama, and quality art and lifestyle shows.

Channel 5 - A general entertainment channel, with internally commissioned shows alongside numerous international programmes, plus sport.

Sky News - Latest news upddates.

Aljazeera and Australian Network recently added.

Sophon tv:

[MJCM]

Sophon has now 100 channels, however not a lot English ones but more then enough Russian ones.

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

[slipperx]

I watch it all free ,

me too.......

Would you be so kind as to elaborate?

[Sheryl]

First I have even heard of this!

How does it work? seems to be computer based? Is there a way to watch on your TV set without having to hook up the computer to it (which I can't do as I don't have wifi out here, using TOT and cable wouldn't reach). ???

[MJCM]

I watch it all free ,

me too.......

Would you be so kind as to elaborate?

Read this

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/707634-uk-tv-asia-has-merged-with-thai-expat-tv-effective-1-march/#entry7503726