UPC MYprime Horizon

Kurn

Anyone know anything about this service apparently available from February, and how it differs from On demand?

icdg

Very little is known. What has been revealed is here:

http://www.upc.ie/television/my-prime/

I personally can't see what distinguishes it from On Demand, which started very promisingly but has suffered death by a thousand cuts. There are few box sets now left and the TV players have a lesser amount available than their PC equivalents (though I will still watch on the UPC version if the programme's available - not only does this save time in not having to hook up the laptop to the TV, it all means not having to sit through the now insane amount of adverts on the PC version of RTE Player).

Wabbit Ears

From what I gather previously most movies were pay movies and some of these will be free now as part of your subscription...Soooo basically just the same on demand but more stuff.

itsnotmyfault

"Enjoy thousands of films and series with My Prime - all included as part of your bundle subscription, with regular updates so there’s always something new to view."

That's a pretty bold claim in fairness. Let's see if it's not just more lies.

The current on demand content is nothing short of laughable.

Kurn

Found this on their french site
https://www.horizon.tv/fr_ch/my-prime.html

Wabbit Ears

its their swiss site french language version

Kurn

Wabbit Ears wrote: »

its their swiss site french language version

Yes... it's in french - just wondering if the content might be similar...

dam099

I hope the interface is better than the previous On Demand which is pretty poorly organised, though given UPCs track record on the Horizon UI I wouldn't be hopeful.

Kurn

I'd say it will be the same horizon interface, only with actual content - what that will be....

princemuzzy

Kurn wrote: »

I'd say it will be the same horizon interface, only with actual content - what that will be....

Has this launched yet it only said February in the email haven't noticed anything new

donal.hunt

no.

princemuzzy

donal.hunt wrote: »

no.

Dobwe have a date for launch

icdg

Nope. Could be any time up to the 28th, of course!

beauf

If it was any good I'd assume they'd be demoing it to get people to sign up for the latest price increase.

Leslie91

Cmon UPC throw us a bone here!......

Give us a date or let some of us have at it as demo.

steveon

Leslie91 wrote: »

Cmon UPC throw us a bone here!......

Give us a date or let some of us have at it as demo.

It is out in Switzerland and holland where they test the services first before rolling it out. Why rush it...and have problems and have more complaints....


It will be upc's answer to netflix

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1c6pgSWTcA

http://vimeo.com/100306273

icdg

The understandable reason people want to know more is that it's been given as the reason for the price increase but people who are in contracts only have thirty days to avail of the contract variation get-out. Perfectly understandable frustration when you are told that a new feature is the reason for an increase but little beyond the name is revealed until people are locked back in to their contract.

UPC already has an answer to Netflix - On Demand. It started very promisingly. We were told new series would be added as time went on. Instead content has dropped until it's reached the point where it's a pale shadow of it's original self. Can you understand why people are skeptical here?

beauf

steveon wrote: »

It is out in Switzerland and holland where they test the services first before rolling it out. Why rush it...and have problems and have more complaints....

Didn't seem to help the horrorzone box.

Leslie91

I was on to their tech support last nite about the fact that the increase in price was to mean 20 channels extra but I could not access them. Anyhows got that sorted in the end but asked the tech guy what is the story with MyPrime. During our long chat about getting those 20 up and running he casually mentioned that MyPrime should be on my Horizon box now (after about 15 mins earlier saying he did not know the ETA). Unfortunately I'd let him go before checking to see was it on the box. I looked all over and could see no link or ref to MyPrime. Perhaps the box needs a power off/on? might try that later.

Kurn

Leslie91 wrote: »

I was on to their tech support last nite about the fact that the increase in price was to mean 20 channels extra but I could not access them. Anyhows got that sorted in the end but asked the tech guy what is the story with MyPrime. During our long chat about getting those 20 up and running he casually mentioned that MyPrime should be on my Horizon box now (after about 15 mins earlier saying he did not know the ETA). Unfortunately I'd let him go before checking to see was it on the box. I looked all over and could see no link or ref to MyPrime. Perhaps the box needs a power off/on? might try that later.

Or he lied to get you off the phone. Did anyone actually automatically get their 20 channels activated, did not get mine yet. MyPrime is not on my box this AM and I did a reset too. I would not expect too much from it anyway, doubt it will be anywhere near netflix

pippip

The way I look at it if UPC Prime had ANYTHING worth mentioning over the existing on-demand service they have they would be shouting it from the rooftops across all their marketing media.

The fact they are not leads me to believe its just a new logo on an already provided service.

beauf

pippip wrote: »

The way I look at it if UPC Prime had ANYTHING worth mentioning over the existing on-demand service they have they would be shouting it from the rooftops across all their marketing media.

The fact they are not leads me to believe its just a new logo on an already provided service.

+1

total former

Is the point of Prime not that it's on your computer and smartphone, rather than on the box?

jkmanc1974

Read somewhere that launch date is the 23rd?

Tom

"Exciting news on the 23rd" according to the UPC Reps in the Talk To UPC forum

icdg

Just shy of the 28th, then. Be interesting to see what they have lined up.

total former

icdg wrote: »

Just shy of the 28th, then. Be interesting to see what they have lined up.

It won't matter. People will want the HBO content that they see on Sky Go and will go mad when it's not available. They'll want the Netflix content that they see on, erm, Netflix and will go mad when it's not available. There could be a shedload of good stuff available via a beautiful interface but it won't be good enough.

icdg

Unfortunately the HBO deal means that content will only ever be available on Sky Go, at least for as long as that deal runs. It's a double edged sword of course as HBO content (Game of Thrones honourably excepted) hasnt managed to enter the popular consciousness that it did in the days when HBO sold its content to a multiple of broadcasters includingn FTA channels.

total former

icdg wrote: »

Unfortunately the HBO deal means that content will only ever be available on Sky Go, at least for as long as that deal runs. It's a double edged sword of course as HBO content (Game of Thrones honourably excepted) hasnt managed to enter the popular consciousness that it did in the days when HBO sold its content to a multiple of broadcasters includingn FTA channels.

Yeah exactly; it's something that is completely out of UPC's hands, but wait and see the reaction.

Totally agree re HBO's content; it's very rare that any of it really hits the big time any more, True Detective was maybe an exception, but it's rare it hits the heights of The Sopranos, The Wire, Sex and the City, Curb Your Enthusiasm etc.

Caliden

Spotted this on the horizon go app this morning.

Channel: "MyPrime"

barrackali

Just looked through the available selection. ..to market My Prime as a competitor to Netflix is disingenuous. For the price increases we have experienced, this is a pretty poor offering from UPC.

icdg

Yeah, the box sets selection has bearly expanded, although it does seem to have a reasonable selection of movies (which remember, they were charging per movie for before).

As a Mediabox Digital Max customer I'm quiet worried about the apparent stipulation that you take the Horizon STB to gain access - does this mean they are taking away our access to what limited box sets previously existed? I'm not particularly enthusiased about switching from the stable Mediabox platform to the apparently buggy Horizon. Surely even if our STBs aren't capable of running the software (and there's no reason why we shouldn't able to access them through the existing interface) we should still be able to access them through the Horizon Go website and app (which we've previously been able to use).

total former

barrackali wrote: »

Just looked through the available selection. ..to market My Prime as a competitor to Netflix is disingenuous. For the price increases we have experienced, this is a pretty poor offering from UPC.

Where is the list of content available? Just dead links on the UPC website.

http://www.upc.ie/television/my-prime/

icdg

Try this:
https://www.horizon.tv/en_ie/my-prime/

The movie selection: Less quantity than Netflix, but more newer movies.

The box sets: awful. Barely an increase in what was there already.

Kensington

Someone already mentioned, Sky and Netflix have most "must-have" boxsets and TV drama tied up in exclusivity deals (Sky own the exclusive rights to the entire HBO catalog for example - past, present and future - until 2020).

So the selection was never going to be move than archive and cheap-to-acquire stuff that neither Netflix nor Sky felt worthy of paying exclusivity for (exclusivity rights = VERY expensive).

barrackali

Kensington wrote: »

Someone already mentioned, Sky and Netflix have most "must-have" boxsets and TV drama tied up in exclusivity deals (Sky own the exclusive rights to the entire HBO catalog for example - past, present and future - until 2020).

So the selection was never going to be move than archive and cheap-to-acquire stuff that neither Netflix nor Sky felt worthy of paying exclusivity for (exclusivity rights = VERY expensive).

Very expensive = the successive price increases that UPC have added to their customers bills. They have the necessary funds to purchase better content for MyPrime.

Kensington

barrackali wrote: »

Very expensive = the successive price increases that UPC have added to their customers bills. They have the necessary funds to purchase better content for MyPrime.

Sorry, should clarify. What I meant by very expensive is that Sky and Netflix considered it "must-have" enough to bid for outright exclusivity, meaning no other operator can access the content without reselling it via Sky (either by reselling their branded linear channels, or their branded on-demand service).

Right this instant, all that must-have content is already tied up by Sky and Netflix, so UPC cannot access it until those rights are up for renewal, in the case of HBO content, the earliest would be 2020. So there's absolutely nothing they can do no matter what they do.

Therefore the only content UPC have available to put on MYprime is the stuff no-one bothered bidding exclusivity for - generally because it's either archive content or probably not worth watching anyway...

total former

Kensington wrote: »

Therefore the only content UPC have available to put on MYprime is the stuff no-one bothered bidding exclusivity for - generally because it's either archive content or probably not worth watching anyway...

Which is what 99% of Netflix content is too, once you strip away the likes of Breaking Bad, House of Cards and Orange is the New Black, i.e. the small number of "headline" shows that probably most people sign up for.

The links still aren't working, but to me it looks like a massive step up from the previously available on demand content, but falling short of Sky Go and Netflix, i.e. exactly what I expected it to be.

jack presley

Yet UPC still claim this is an exciting development and well worth the price increase. I think their PR team needs to go back to the drawing board.

mollser

Not bad for films, very disappointing for tv box sets.

Just a user interface point (which plagues horizon generally)... why the heck is there an individual icon for each series of each tv show? Wouldn't it be a lot cleaner to have an icon for a show, click through and then you can choose the series you want?

Maybe it is just padding to make the library seem more extensive than it actually is??

icdg

Hmm, when I log onto the UPC website or Horizon Go app the selection of movies listed under My Prime earlier appears to be reduced down to about 26. Far from the "hundreds of classics" that were there earlier?

Edit: seems the reduced selection is due to a problem. Not a great start.

icdg

Mediabox customers have My Prime as an option on their On Demand menu, fully browsable, but are unable to watch anything - getting the "Your subscription needs to be upgraded" message.

So it seems that among the purposes of My Prime is to try to entice long-term customers, most of whom have Mediabox (or even NTL or Chorus) STBs, to change over from a proven, stable platform to the less than proven Horizon platform, even though we are paying the same or more than some Horizon customers.

EDIT: To add even more insult to injury, there's even a guide on the UPC website to show us how to use it on a Mediabox!!!!
http://www.upc.ie/television/my-prime/how-it-works/

Kensington

icdg wrote: »

Mediabox customers have My Prime as an option on their On Demand menu, fully browsable, but are unable to watch anything - getting the "Your subscription needs to be upgraded" message.

So it seems that among the purposes of My Prime is to try to entice long-term customers, most of whom have Mediabox (or even NTL or Chorus) STBs, to change over from a proven, stable platform to the less than proven Horizon platform, even though we are paying the same or more than some Horizon customers.

EDIT: To add even more insult to injury, there's even a guide on the UPC website to show us how to use it on a Mediabox!!!!
http://www.upc.ie/television/my-prime/how-it-works/

The whole launch seems to be dogged in technical blips left, right and centre - content not showing, free content showing as PPV, people being told to upgrade their subscriptions.

Is it possible the not working on the mediabox is just one of them?

icdg

It'd be nice to think that but the main My Prime page mentions that it is for Horizon customers only.

My suspicion is that it will work on Mediaboxes which are second or subsequent boxes in homes where the main box is a Horizon box - AFAIK there was (at least initially) a limit of one Horizon box per household and any subsequent boxes were Mediaboxes (the mooted "Horizon slave" STB having never materialised),

Dermot224

Just got this reply from UPC on the Talk to UPC forum. I pay for 120 MB BB Max TV Sports and Movies HD and multiroom and they want to charge me an extra fiver. Don't think so:


My Prime is included in all of our Horizon bundles as standard but you can still avail of this service if you so wish. A charge of €5 per month would apply and this must be kept for a minimum of 1 month. A once off downgrade fee would apply when removing the service also.

If you'd like to order this we can do so for you?

Thanks, Brian.

icdg

You'd be better off changing to a Horizon package at that rate, particularly as you're also paying for HD. If the Horizon STB isn't an issue for you, that is.

total former

Getting somewhat off-topic here but having had various UPC digital boxes over the last 13 years, Horizon is by far the best and most stable of them all.

Dermot224

icdg wrote: »

You'd be better off changing to a Horizon package at that rate, particularly as you're also paying for HD. If the Horizon STB isn't an issue for you, that is.

or Pay for a Horizon Package but keep your Mediabox and router.

Dermot224

total former wrote: »

Getting somewhat off-topic here but having had various UPC digital boxes over the last 13 years, Horizon is by far the best and most stable of them all.

Whats this then?
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057022965

iguana

Dermot224 wrote: »

or Pay for a Horizon Package but keep your Mediabox and router.

Can you do that? My parents would ideally like to have a Horizon package but want to keep the upstairs computer hardwired to the router.

beauf

You can order the Horizon box with a de-consolidated modem. Mine its set up like that, UPC put in a splitter one to the Horizon box, the other to a modem. Then you are into a whole different thing of getting the modem into Bridge mode. You lose any internet features of the horizon box.