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So I gave wherever TV a try. They offer a 2-week free trial (after that it will be $29.99 for ERT WORLD, MEGA COSMOS, and STAR INTERNATIONAL).

Here are things I noticed (I watched it on ROKU using their app there by the way):

Their signal is good and there are no interruptions. However (and I suspect this will be a deal-breaker for many) it is not good enough to allow a wide screen format. It is similar to watching some non HDTV-program on a HDTV network, where the signal is only good enough to give the traditional square format and leave two dark side bars.

ERT's signal seems to be slightly better than the other two, but that still does not allow for a wide-screen signal as you would have when you get the channel from cable or satellite. I was afraid this would be the case as there have been some free channels on Roku with similar problems.

If someone can get over this, some positive things are that a single channel would only cost $14.99 there. So you can get MEGA, let's say, for $5 cheaper than Home2US. Also if you have a Roku you need no new equipment. You can also watch on the PC, but I don't think someone would pay that much money for that.

As I said, the signal has a steady stream, and the channels were never once interrupted. If someone does not/cannot mess with dishes or with the unholy mess that is MEGA and their constant satellite platform changes, it is a good solution. But I suspect that the signal strength and the format will deter many. I don't know if they plan to fix that--it would be nice. I also don't know if other IPTV providers have similar issues. Those who had NEXTV or have ELLAS TV can inform us I guess.

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Talked to Roku tech support about the screen format. Apparently I can set it for traditional (4:3) display and the signal covers the whole screen. It is better, but you can still notice some loss of clarity compared to cable (I compared ERT as transmitted on NGTV to ERT on "wherever TV" and I could notice a difference; not a bad signal, just not as clear).

Also I checked with a friend who does have Ellas TV and there is the same issue, so I guess this is an IPTV issue.

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With IPTV serves the price per month can not be the same as the channels on Satellite.

First the Video Quality is not there no free IP BOX the cost for doing IPTV is not so expensive as doing a satellite platform.

The price of $39.00 a month for 5 Greek channels is to much for IPTV serves special when you can watch some those channels on line for free.

DKSat

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With IPTV serves the price per month can not be the same as the channels on Satellite.

First the Video Quality is not there no free IP BOX the cost for doing IPTV is not so expensive as doing a satellite platform.

The price of $39.00 a month for 5 Greek channels is to much for IPTV serves special when you can watch some those channels on line for free.

DKSat

More than some, I would say, since ERT seems to be putting ET1, NET and ET3 on line free for all.
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With IPTV serves the price per month can not be the same as the channels on Satellite.

First the Video Quality is not there no free IP BOX the cost for doing IPTV is not so expensive as doing a satellite platform.

The price of $39.00 a month for 5 Greek channels is to much for IPTV serves special when you can watch some those channels on line for free.

DKSat

The box is free if you already have roku, as many people do for netflix.

I agree that "$39.00 a month for 5 Greek channels is too much" but let's not forget that many people in this forum claimed that $20 is not a lot for ONE Greek channel, MEGA COSMOS on Home2US, when the same channel is available for $9.99 on cable.

I mean, freaking $20? Even HBO doesn't charge that much, but I guess watching Liaga and Skorda is worth the price?

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  • 2 weeks later...

My last update on this service, and you will see why the last: I am unhappy to report that the streams have stopped being so reliable. A frequent phenomenon now (has happened in all 3 channels on a variety of days) is for the picture to skip. When that happens on Roku, the picture and the sound get out of sync, which is completely problematic. Reloading the channel does not help as within minutes the phenomenon repeats. The PC handles it better, but of course I did not sign up to pay $30 to watch on the PC...

Calling customer support (trying to get their tech support) leads to voicemail, so I guess mine and the service's ways part.

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Just getting to the point where the only channel worth keeping is Ert. The rest are just trash to me. Who knows, I may even dump all the Greek channels. Nothing good on. Spend most of the tv watching on American channels.

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My last update on this service, and you will see why the last: I am unhappy to report that the streams have stopped being so reliable. A frequent phenomenon now (has happened in all 3 channels on a variety of days) is for the picture to skip. When that happens on Roku, the picture and the sound get out of sync, which is completely problematic. Reloading the channel does not help as within minutes the phenomenon repeats. The PC handles it better, but of course I did not sign up to pay $30 to watch on the PC...

Calling customer support (trying to get their tech support) leads to voicemail, so I guess mine and the service's ways part.

Likos,

We are sorry you experienced this skipping issue. I watch the service all day in the office and have not once seen this. And although you called us and got a voicemail recording, I can assure you that we do respond to all messages in a timely manner - even at night and on weekends.

I apologize for the problem you experienced and have asked our technical team to look into why this was happening.

Rob Johnson

WhereverTV

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  • 5 weeks later...

Out of fairness, I am posting what ended up happening with this:

Wherever TV's customer support did contact me and they offered me a free month, and also went over the problem. They said they were monitoring the program on their pc and did not notice problems, but the problem happens when you watch on Roku, on the TV (again, why would I pay $30 to watch on my pc?)

In the last 30 days it only happened twice, while the rest of the time quality is very good. When it does happen, Roku's app for Wherever TV seems unable to handle the out-of-sync problem with sound and picture, and only reloading the app helps. However on these two times when it was happening, I had to reload a lot. Picture quality for ERT and MEGA are excellent about 95 % of the time, while STAR seems to not have as good a feed, but still decent.

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Out of fairness, I am posting what ended up happening with this:

Wherever TV's customer support did contact me and they offered me a free month, and also went over the problem. They said they were monitoring the program on their pc and did not notice problems, but the problem happens when you watch on Roku, on the TV (again, why would I pay $30 to watch on my pc?)

In the last 30 days it only happened twice, while the rest of the time quality is very good. When it does happen, Roku's app for Wherever TV seems unable to handle the out-of-sync problem with sound and picture, and only reloading the app helps. However on these two times when it was happening, I had to reload a lot. Picture quality for ERT and MEGA are excellent about 95 % of the time, while STAR seems to not have as good a feed, but still decent.

On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate it?
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On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate it?

Mmm,

MEGA COSMOS is better (brighter, better sound) on it than it is on RCN

ERT WORLD is as good as it is on DISH

haven't seen STAR on a sat platform to compare.

I'd say between a 7 and an 8. It has to EPG and you can't record but it requires no dish installation, wires, etc.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Likos,

Do you keep the Roku receiver on playing 24/7 or you turn it off after watching a channel.

DKSat

I leave it on. If I leave it for many hours, like overnight, usually the channel will have gone on sleep mode and I will need to press enter to bring it back, but otherwise leaving it on poses no problem. I use one of the roku outputs to connect to an old tivo, that way I always have the last 30 minutes of the channel that is on to look back if I want to catch up on some program. I will only exit the application if I am doing some other internet traffic-heavy thing, like using skype.
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Doesn't that use up a lot of bandwidth, leaving it on all day long?!

I am not really familiar with how this device works but I would think if it is on continuously that it would keep using bandwidth?!

I've checked, and it doesn't really use a lot. Wherever TV compresses and decompresses the signal, as many IPTV services do. I just checked and I have a 15.3 Mbps download speed, whereas without it I have a 15.8 Mbps download speed (and a 2.1 Mbps upload). Not a significant difference. I have vonage for a landline also, and that often runs at the same time. As I mentioned, only with Skype will I turn it off, because having IPTV and Vonage and Skype may be pushing it.

The only thing with Roku that seems to be demanding more bandwidth is when it is running HD movies from Netflix.

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What is your monthly bandwidth usage with the service running so long? Does your ISP or router provide a bandwidth monitoring tool for you to keep track? More and more ISPs are adding monthly bandwidth caps for their customers, and streaming can eat up a lot of it.

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What is your monthly bandwidth usage with the service running so long? Does your ISP or router provide a bandwidth monitoring tool for you to keep track? More and more ISPs are adding monthly bandwidth caps for their customers, and streaming can eat up a lot of it.

Both providers I had (Time Warner before, RCN now) have never capped usage. But as I said, a netflix HD movie is many times more demanding, and tens of millions of users have that in the US.
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Yes, I believe currently (and according to this article) that AT&T and Comcast are the only major ISPs in the US to have (official) bandwidth caps. I say more and more ISPs are adding caps, because AT&T just rolled out a bandwidth cap earlier this year, and now Verizon is evaluating usage based caps as well. The Verizon article actually mentions that one of the possible reasons for ISPs instating caps is to try to curb TV losses to online streaming. So it will be interesting to see how bandwidth cap usage evolves in the future as more and more people are “cutting the cord”. As for Netflix, they officially state that 1 hour of SD streaming uses approximately 1 GB or 2 GB in HD.

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Anyway, back on topic. :) Has Wherever TV said when they plan to add the rest of the channels?

No, but really the only one missing is ALTER and that is not broadcasting in the US yet (I mean, nobody is anxious for GMTV and RIK). I don't believe Wherever TV plans to add anything not offered through Greek Media group, like ANTENNA and ALPHA.
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  • 4 months later...

Anyone know if GMtv & PIK Sat have been added yet?! The Wherever TV website has not been updated in a while, it still lists Alter Globe on there (which has shut down) so I am not sure what channels they currently offer?! If I were them I wouldn't bother adding either of those channels, they should concentrate instead on trying to add ANT1 Satellite.

I wonder how many subscribers this service has- anyone here subscribe to Wherever TV?!

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