Cyprus-Forum.com

[Crivens]

I currently have the 1mbit Cytanet connection called NetRunnerFast. I also just found out about MiVision. Now it says on the website the following prices:-

Basic Package miVision £17/month
Basic Package miVision with i - choice 256 £19/month
Basic Package miVision with i - choice 512 £22/month
Basic Package miVision with i - choice 1000 £25/month
miVision (Public) £29/month

Now I currently am paying something like £25 a month just for the 1mbit connection (haven't seen bills yet so just using my memory here as they didn't give me anything like a price breakdown in writing for the web). Does it mean then that I can get MiVision with my 1mbit connection for £25 a month, or is it on top of the amount I am paying at the minute. Am a bit confused about what I am paying at the minute and exactly how much I will be paying if I also got the miVision package.

Also, from the look of things it is a completely seperate piece of hardware that plugs into the router. Fair enough. But does it share the internet with your standard ADSL connection? We will be using the link for 2 PC's in the future for constant access to our work in the UK (VPN links) and would be rubbish if the PC's slowed to a crawl when someone else started watching TV, or if the TV quality was rubbish because we were on the web etc.

Apart from that does anyone have experience with MiVision? I'm not after Sky TV type channel coverage here, just a few channels to watch in my spare time. The website says better quality than satellite, but is this really true? I mean assuming they are still using 1mbit connections here surely it cannot be upto a full on Digital (for example Sky which was clear as a bell in the UK, and lets not even go into the new HD one....) satellite experience? As far as I'm concerned average quality will do, but is there a lot of freezes or breakups in the picture? Considering how ADSL works here then I would be suprised if it is totally pain free with crystal clear images and no freezes. Then again could be nice bit of kit with lots of caching etc I suppose...

Cheers

[Sotos]

Now with i-choice + Netrunner you are actually paying 27 pounds. 15 for i-choice and 12 for Netrunner. If you put Mivision you will pay 10 more. i-choice 1000 £15 + Mivision £10 = £25/month + Netrunner £12 = £37 total.

Also, from the look of things it is a completely seperate piece of hardware that plugs into the router. Fair enough. But does it share the internet with your standard ADSL connection? We will be using the link for 2 PC's in the future for constant access to our work in the UK (VPN links) and would be rubbish if the PC's slowed to a crawl when someone else started watching TV, or if the TV quality was rubbish because we were on the web etc.

It doesn't slow down your Internet. It can even increase the performance because your upload speed will increase from 128Kbits to 256Kbits after you put Mivision.

Apart from that does anyone have experience with MiVision? I'm not after Sky TV type channel coverage here, just a few channels to watch in my spare time. The website says better quality than satellite, but is this really true? I mean assuming they are still using 1mbit connections here surely it cannot be upto a full on Digital (for example Sky which was clear as a bell in the UK, and lets not even go into the new HD one....) satellite experience? As far as I'm concerned average quality will do, but is there a lot of freezes or breakups in the picture? Considering how ADSL works here then I would be suprised if it is totally pain free with crystal clear images and no freezes. Then again could be nice bit of kit with lots of caching etc I suppose...

For me the image quality is good and 99% trouble free. Rarely I get some freezes but not a big issue usually.

[Crivens]

So it uses a different ADSL connection to the one you access normally on the PC? Just seems a bit confusing as the image on the website shows the set top box plugging into the same router that plugs into the PC. Interesting about the 256 upload speed though.

Hmmm. Good image quality and rare freezes? Does a program start immediately when you change the channel? I'm just thinking either they are pulling out extra bandwidth just for MiVision or it is caching the data in the background all the time for the different channels (does it have a drive inside?). Just can't see how a 1mbit connection could pull off decent quality Tv without storing a lot of it first on an internal drive. I have 4 media streamers and you will be luckily to get decend SD quality Tv without any freezes over an 11mbit wireless link. I've had 3 of them simultaniously working over a 54mbit "G" wireless link though with no major issues. Even H264 or DivX encoded material would have trouble with 1mbit I would have thought.

Out of interest, is there like a contract period that you can't get out of? For example if I tried it and didn't like it can I cancel within a month or two, or am I trapped for the year?

Also I'm getting my router moved to the office (ie. bedroom number 3) which puts it some distance from the lounge. Again the diagram on the website shows that the box needs to be plugged in to the router. Is this the case or just a stupid mistaken diagram? Even if it is true I guess I could use a wireless adapter (I use 3 on the media streamers I own) on it. They are basically designed to make any ethernet network device think it's plugged into the network when in actual fact it is plugged into the wireless adapter that communicates wirelessly with the router. Nice bit of kit for stuff that doesn't have wireless built in. Slightly better than wireless key devices as they make any device work with wireless if it has a network port (rather than just ones designed to work with wireless keys). Designed for consoles basically. And the devices are designed to work with 54g wireless networks which I'm guessing is more than enough for the MiVision box. Heh, if it was really using more bandwidth than that then I would pay double to stuff the MiVision box and have all the bandwidth on my net connection

Cheers

[BigDutch]

I don't have MIVISION however it is great interest to me.

I beleive that i-choice consists of multiple VC's, one used for 'net access, another for the mivision service. i understand traffic is seperate on the two virtual circuits.

the mivision stb connects into the ichoice router, presumably preconfigured with a static ip as the i-choice "router" is in bridge mode rather than gateway mode. There is a blog (i don't have to hand) where there is step by step instructions on changing the "router" config to provide DHCP and "activate" all the ports AND the integrated wireless access point. However those users that have re-configured the router have reported issues with MiVision.

My Cyta router is not re-config'd but i use a second router with a ethernet WAN port to provide the gateway on my home LAN. Wireless signals are heavily weakend in my house due to all the reinforced concrete so as ever would suggest that running a wire will be far superior.

I think you have to remember that the stream is decompressed and this will cause some delay, same as watching SKY or NTL signal whilst watching the standard aerial broadcast in the UK 3-4 seconds behind. In my experience MPEG2 normally takes approx 10Mb/s for SD image with 5.1 AC-3 audio. Stripping down to stereo audio makes a considerable bandwidth reduction. I understand that MPEG4 will be the favoured method of the near future.

[Crivens]

Sounds about right. Might have to give it a go. If those prices are right then a tenner a month is pretty good. Just got to sort out the router location possible problem. Although the website seems to indicate they can rewire for it. Am assuming thats included in the £50 installation costs. Even so, am pretty sure that the wireless adapters would work perfectly fine with it. I mean they are 54g adapters, and as you said 10mbits should be ok for a standard SD video. I found DivX encoded material perfectly playable over 11mbit wireless links in the past. H264 is the obvious encoding to use (still not the "next big thing" even though it's threatened it for a while), but size wise is similar to DivX files (better for darker scenes than DivX I have been told) and they both came from the same MPEG4 general background. I would bet MiVision uses one or the other, or use more bandwidth than I thought.

Cheers

[Sotos]

I have the ADSL modem in one room and the set-top box in another but they are connected with a Cat-5. Better do it with the wire first to test the quality. Channels change almost immediately probably less than half second. Cyta technicians told me that Mivision has its own dedicated bandwidth and I can confirm this from my experience as it didn't slow down my Internet. There are no contracts. You pay only for the time you use it. You could even try it for a few days and you would only pay for a few days. I don't know if the installation is still free though.

[Crivens]

Where did they put the cat5 cable though? Is it through the walls, or is it visible? My router room would be about 10 foot away from the MiVision room and I don't love the idea of cables going down my hallway.

Cheers

[eternal]

we had mivision, 7 months down the line couldn't wait to get rid of it, we were loosing the picture left right and center, and we got fed up of seeing the same programmes, in the end we got showtime.... no complaints and very happy.