PVR Wire

Following almost two years of constant updates about a product which never looked like materialising, BT has finally launched it's Vision service (previously codenamed 'Nevis').

The service promises a Freeview unit, with an 80-hour capacity PVR, along with the capability to watch/stream/download movies and TV shows on-demand via BT's proprietary IPTV service.

As I've said before, I'm completely underwhelmed by BT's efforts thus far in this arena, and I'm no-where near convinced that this will make any kind of impact on the market. It's a bit like Microsoft's Zune; if they chuck enough money at the advertising, people might go for it - but they'll probably regret it later when the product is upgraded and reduced significantly to draw in more suckers.

However, despite what the service is supposed to offer, you can currently pick up a 'V-Box' for free. Unfortunately, you still need to have BT's Total Broadband service in order to sign up for Vision, plus there's a £60 installation fee and a £30 connection fee just for Vision alone.

Movies start at £1.99, with TV shows and music more moderately priced -- or you can sign up to one of the monthly subscription packages, starting at £6.00 per month.

It's still not clear if the PVR will record off-air content for later viewing, or if it only stores downloaded, paid-for content.

You also need BT Home Hub to use Vision (which will cost you £50 over the phone, or £30 to purchase online) -- which, combined with the 2MB Total Broadband service, you're already looking at £9.99 for the first six months, then £17.99 per month thereafter (that's for an minimum of 18-months) just for Broadband.

So, you're looking at a minimum of £120 to get set up with BT Vision and BT Hub, plus at least £9.99 per month for Total Broadband.

That, my friends, is what's known in the real world as a joke -- and if you're prepared to part with all that money for what is essentially a pony, then you deserve everything you get.