Right don't make fun of me but I have a non-smart TV
I have a TelstraTV (Roku) box so I get Netflix and so on. Easy. It works. It is for the kids to watch when here so not a big deal if it is not available and the smart TV in the main living area is nice. However I'd like to continue to use it.

But Telstra are cancelling the service for no reason (it seems) and we have to go buy a different box. From their website all we get is "we've chosen to partner with Fetch TV"
Well that's all well and good but you sold me a box, never said that one day you will turn it off and require me to buy a different box that does the same thing. I don't GAF who you choose to partner with, you sold me a box and its worked for a few years.

Why turn it off?
How do I continue to in effect have the same service and not spend $$?

Minor thing yes, but it irks me

I wonder if the French laws about planned obselesence would frown upon this.

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Mark _australia said..
Right don't make fun of me but I have a non-smart TV
I have a TelstraTV (Roku) box so I get Netflix and so on. Easy. It works. It is for the kids to watch when here so not a big deal if it is not available and the smart TV in the main living area is nice. However I'd like to continue to use it.

But Telstra are cancelling the service for no reason (it seems) and we have to go buy a different box. From their website all we get is "we've chosen to partner with Fetch TV"
Well that's all well and good but you sold me a box, never said that one day you will turn it off and require me to buy a different box that does the same thing. I don't GAF who you choose to partner with, you sold me a box and its worked for a few years.

Why turn it off?
How do I continue to in effect have the same service and not spend $$?

Minor thing yes, but it irks me

I think you are out of luck. I am a bit surprised though, as my parents had the Telstra Roku box, and they got a replacement FetchTV unit, and I doubt they paid anything. I set it up for them because I use FetchTV already. I googled it now and it looks like you have to pay $96 or something just for the box.

Telstra own Fetch now, so the partnering is unavoidable.

If you want a whinge, I bought a FetchTV Mighty outright because I used to have it when I was with Optus. It is (was) a great digital video recorder. Fetch was then bought out by Telstra. Since then they have tried to discourage the free to air TV recording and push their use of apps and their own content. So much so that they are breaking things every now and then with the recording. Before Telstra bought it it worked great. Now, it looks like I paid $500 for a box that they can disable when they decide to and if they stop allowing free to air recording, I lose even though I paid for it outright. Without a subscription these things will not work. Without an internet connection they will stop working.

I recommend Google Chromecast with Google TV. They are $59 and work well. What you don't get is free to air tv, but your TV does that anyway. They are simple to use and not tied to a specific ISP. I would use them even with a smart TV because the user interface stays the same and you can just plug the Chromecast into the next TV.

I have a Fetch box from Optus - mind you, haven't powered it up in a year or so. I assume that if Telstra have bought Fetch, then my Optus Fetch is then junk? That said, haven't had any comms from Optus about it.

Nonetheless, I, for whatever reason, have three TVs. A smart TV (that has Chromecast built in) in the lounge room, a (far less) smart TV downstairs, and a 'dumb' TV outside on the patio. I run Chromecast on both the 'dumb' TV and the far less smart TV (it's a 'smart' TV, but a PITA to use) - the 4k chromecast is about $100.
Mine are 'old school' chromecasts that you need to run from a phone/tablet - but the new ones seem to have their own remote, which I assume you then don't need to run off a smart phone/tablet (given they seem to have buttons for netflix and youtube)?
Either way, worth looking into.

Have a look at the new Google Chromecast dongle. Paid $79 at JB HiFi for the 4k version. Works very well off the remote once set up.

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Mark _australia said..
...but Telstra are cancelling the service for no reason (it seems) and we have to go buy a different box...

There is a thing called unfair contract terms in Aussie consumer law.

It is relevant where two parties enter into a contract, with potentially unequal powers between them and the use of standard form contracts. That is, the contract terms are written by one party and repeated for every contract with no ability for the other party to negotiate. (I know this beacuse I was recently schooled by somebody on it, who seemed to think it also applied to peer-to-peer contracts which is very much not the intent of this particular legislation).

I'd suspect Telstra can't (technically) unilaterally cancel the service without offering you a full refund of the original contract value or an alternate service of an equal or greater value, unless you entered into a individual service plan when you bought it. But that would depend on many things, including what the original terms of service were and a reasonable expectation as to the validity of the duration of the contract. If it is a TV streaming service that is 10 years old I'd suspect that a court would find that it is not unreasonable for the contract to have lapsed due to the resonable assumption as to the pace of technological innovation.

But also, I suspect it would also cost you more than $79 or $99 for the new ones others have suggested in time and money to argue this on a point of law.

Maybe you could try having a bitch to Telstra about it, but I'd also suspect the experience of talking to Telstra customer service would cost more than $99 in your own sanity.

consumer.gov.au/sites/consumer/files/2016/05/0553FT_ACL-guides_ContractTerms_web.pdf

^^^ Hey now that is what I was after

They told me to wait til the end of the month as offers of free FetchTv are still going out to customers.
But that was just to get me to go away cos the overseas online chat "help" person CBF really.

I bet I won't get an offer..... as I suspect it is going to subscribers who pay every month but as I bought it outright their system has forgotten about me.
1st October I walk to to a Telstra store with Carantocs narrative. I wish I kept the damn paperwork but lets try.



(BTW thanks for the chromecast tip folks, I assumed a bit more so that is an option 4 sure)

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Mark _australia said..
^^^ Hey now that is what I was after

They told me to wait til the end of the month as offers of free FetchTv are still going out to customers.
But that was just to get me to go away cos the overseas online chat "help" person CBF really.

I bet I won't get an offer..... as I suspect it is going to subscribers who pay every month but as I bought it outright their system has forgotten about me.
1st October I walk to to a Telstra store with Carantocs narrative. I wish I kept the damn paperwork but lets try.



(BTW thanks for the chromecast tip folks, I assumed a bit more so that is an option 4 sure)

If I was only after Netflix, I wouldn't even waste my time going into a Telstra store. The people there may be able to help you or they may not, but the best case is they will give you a free fetchtv mini. Which will let you access Netflix. Plus plenty of subscription packages that you probably won't ever use. I signed up for some initially and then dropped them when I wasn't using them.

For $59 or $79 I would just get the Google TV thing and forget about it. If its for the kids you don't even need the 4k version, but $79? Surely that's cheaper than thinking about it?

The annoying thing about Fetch is that you may have content locally on the hard drive or using free to air, but it makes you 'search' for it and generally finds it on other streaming services instead. They really seem to be pushing you to use their subscription services. Which funnily enough is how they make money and why they bought Fetch. They make nothing or almost nothing if you use it to watch Netflix.

I recommend the GoogleTV dongle to people that change smart TVs every now and then. Instead of learning the new TVs interface and adding in your passwords for everything, just plug in the GoogleTV device and nothing changes. It even turns the tv on for you.

My TV is a smart TV, my bluray player is a smart device, my Fetch box is a smart device. I just use the GoogleTV dongle because its simple and it works.

I make boards, I don't have $79


google is sounding better .. At least I will take them to task on it and not be sad if they don't give me free stuff

Just go to Kogan. I bought a massive Google TV delivered for $500. Kids happy, has Netflix, YouTube and all apps. Just a big computer TV

+1 for google chromecast, you can get the HD version for 56$ at officeworks and cast most streaming apps directly from Android phone = no need for smart TV with apps.

There are few apps that don't support casting, from memory Foxtel and Apple TV (surprise, surprise) and I simply used to cast video from Chrome browser, the only downside is that you need to use a mouse to pause, wireless mouse solves that.
If you want to play videos that you saved on your hard drive, you can also cast from VLC player to Chromecast.

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lurch said..
Just go to Kogan. I bought a massive Google TV delivered for $500. Kids happy, has Netflix, YouTube and all apps. Just a big computer TV

Mr. Ruslan Kogan can go and **** himself. He owes me $70. ****ing theif!

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gs12 said..

There are few apps that don't support casting, from memory Foxtel and Apple TV (surprise, surprise) and I simply used to cast video from Chrome browser, the only downside is that you need to use a mouse to pause, wireless mouse solves that.
If you want to play videos that you saved on your hard drive, you can also cast from VLC player to Chromecast.

What's the quality like doing that nowdays? Maybe its different if its local on the hard drive?

In the past it would be pretty jerky if you cast from the browser for streamed services as I think the data was duplicated on the PC and the chromecast. I.e. the data for the stream would come to the PC, and then get sent to the chromecast.

Some apps/websites seem to support some sort of chromecast integration and would not stream on the PC and only on the chromecast, so that the data went directly to the chromecast and it was much smoother. At least with the current chromecast/GoogleTV a lot of apps are integrated so you don't need to worry about the PC.

You don't really need any subscription services if you don't mind closing a few pop-ups and waiting 1 minute for the qr code to dissappear.

ww1.m4uhd.com/

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FormulaNova said..

What's the quality like doing that nowdays? Maybe its different if its local on the hard drive?

I never had any issues with quality when using chromecast, at least not that I could tell by simply watching the TV. The only time I had issues was when watching Foxtel Go on older generation chromecast, but that was few years ago

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lurch said..
Just go to Kogan. I bought a massive Google TV delivered for $500. Kids happy, has Netflix, YouTube and all apps. Just a big computer TV

Did you not see the bit where I said I don't have $79

Then again, about time you ordered a new kiteboard from me

Many years ago I bought a TiVo when they were released in Australia. Mainly because they were super popular in the US. Unfortunately they didn't take off here, and when they folded they offered the Fetch Mighty for $99. Fetch worked OK but these days with catch-up TV there is no need for the ability record. NowI have a Sony/Google smart TV which is easy to use and can be cast to as it has Chrome cast built in. It's like a big tablet hanging on the wall and only one remote needed, or just a control it with the phone.

If I can find the old Chromecast device I'll send it to you.

The old chromecasts without GoogleTV are certainly usable, but not by someone that 'just wants netflix'... although that said, today's kids would probably set it up from their phone without even thinking about it.

I think I will take one of my chromecast/googleTV dongles with me next time I go OS. A lot of hotels/apartments have TVs with apps built in, but I don't want to enter my username and passwords everywhere. If they have an exposed HDMI port, I can just plugin and go after finding the local WIFI.

That said, I used some german guy's netflix for free last time I went kitesurfing OS as he just left his account logged in on the TV in the room I moved into.

Haha, I watched a bunch of excellent Bollywood movies courtesy of the previous tenant last time I stayed in an AirBnB.

Thanks for the offer Remery

already have gs12 sending me a Chromecast

this place is bloody awesome you guys are tops



maybe I shoulda mentioned my van is old and falling apart

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Mark _australia said..

maybe I shoulda mentioned my van is old and falling apart

No worries, I have an old bike here you can have.

Your kids will work out how to use the chromecast, so you should be set. Unless they are alien kids that have no understanding of tech... do kids like that even exist these days?

I just 'googled' the chromecast/google tv, and to my surprise they are not going to make them anymore and are moving to a "Google TV Streamer"... which of course is $159 instead of the $59 or $79 the GoogleTV version is.

It makes me wonder if google are now moving into the same media areas everyone else is? Everyone seems to want to be the controller of the content you see. FetchTV are doing it. Hubl seems to be a local alternative that is trying to do the same thing.

Makes you wonder though. With so many streaming services, does anyone stay subscribed to any of them for that long? At least in Aus, just using the FTA streaming services is pretty good.

I had a Youtube premium subscription, which was pretty good, but at $16 a month its not something I could justify for content that you can see free, just with ads. How many subscriptions would a normal person bother with?

"Subscription Creep" is definitely a thing. I had a cull a couple of months back.

google TV sucks. convoluted menu and seems to hide what you want to watch under a ton of ads and garbage. >20 clicks to navigate to anything you want to see.

I bypass that and use a Roku streaming stick (not the telstra one). Interface is clean and simple. Remote is clean and simple. Voice control works really well. Applets (netflix, amazon, plex, jellyfin etc) seem really stable. Phone app works great- streams the audio back to the phone so you can listen on BT headset. super handy.

I'm rarely impressed with consumer tech. But Roku stuff is outstanding.

Best thing is its easy to show non-smart-tv users how to use it.

Costs about $50 for one. Cheaper sometimes on amazon (eg prime day).