DSTV renege on XtraView promise

Much has been made of Multichoice's new DSTV XtraView offering. The claims of being able to link current decoders to the new HD PVR as well as each other, essentially allowing subscribers to have multiple viewing options making for interesting water cooler conversation.
However, since the original press release and impressive array of graphics showing the various configuration options took pride of place, Multichoice have quietly amended their XtraView webpage. The original promise of being able to link the new HD PVR with the previous, entry level 1110 decoder has suddenly been pulled. This option is now only going to be available 'by the end of the year' according to dstv.com.
For someone who was looking forward to seperating 'feeds' to different rooms in the house, only to find out (with the approved installer) once installed that the service is no longer possible until some time before the end of the year, it's a huge dissappointment.
A further aggravation is that the equipment comes with no user guides or manuals. Very frustrating for a newbie!

To end on a more positive note. The HD PVR only offers one viewable output (hence the need for the XtraView option) however it has two recordable 'channels.' This allows you to browse through the programme listing and with 1-click, select the programmes you wish to record. The beauty being that should there be two programmes at the same time or overlapping in any way, this is no longer an issue ... all while watching a third channel.

Now please click on a banner ad, it goes to the HD TV fund!

Eish!! outmuscles Multichoice AND Vodacom

Here's an opportunity for you SEO experts reading Eish!!

I know very, very little about 'search engine optimisation' and the fact that I utilise Google's Blogger to publish Eish!! means I can maintain this relative ignorance and still get reasonably good hit rates from individual searches on topics I have written about. However, surely if you do a search for a companies product by name, the company in question should be the first search result?

I reported on yesterday's press release on the new Vodacom/Multichoice Dstv select offering. I noticed from my stats that I have been getting quite a few referrals from Google, so I did a quick check.
Google search phrases :

• "Dstv Select" - Eish!! is the top of the search results! Cool for me, but not the way it should be. A Dstv forum entry is the highest ranking search result emanating from a Multichoice/Dstv site.
• "vodacom dstv select" - Eish!! no 3, official Dstv site makes it to no.5
• "multichoice DSTV select" = Eish!! no 6, DstvAfrica just makes it onto the first page @ no 10.

Looks like the webmasters @ Multichoice & Vodacom have a little work to do. In the meantime welcome to those of you who found your way to Eish!! Stick around, the Eish!! community is active and growing.

End of an era

Over the past 17 years MNet open time has been a window into the encoded world of Multichoice.

From Sunday this all comes to an end.

Open Time was a vehicle used MNet to firstly entice new subscribers and secondly as a major source of advertising revenue. It clearly worked and helped a small upstart that no-one gave much hope become the media giant it is now 20 years on.

Interesting Multichoice suggest the following two options if you want to continue getting the soaps previously shown during Open Time :

Option 1: Subscribe to the DStv (Premium) bouquet at R439.90 per month for more than 70 world class video and audio channels including M-Net.

Option 2: Subscribe to the DStv Compact bouquet at R199.00 per month for 26 channels plus an hour every weekday between 18.00 and 19.00 of Egoli and Binnelanders

No mention of the gewone decoder!

Ladies, that means no free Egoli ... guys, there goes the rugby!!