OPINION: new Now TV set-top box? Don’t get too excited

The unsolicited offer of a new Now TV set-top box was too good to turn down. It would mean an HD quality picture and a hard drive to record overnight football matches on. I was happy to pay the extra HK$72 a month. What I didn’t know, but probably should have guessed, was how much time and trouble it would involve.

The first technician to visit wasn’t equipped to install a new cable. He did his best, but another appointment had to be fixed, for the following weekend. The box was then successfully installed and I looked forward to making my first recording. But the screen froze and I couldn’t watch Now TV at all.

Another appointment was set. The “connection problem” was fixed. All was working perfectly when the technician departed. But then an error message appeared – my hard drive was inaccessible. By now the technical support hotline number was becoming familiar and waiting for a technician to arrive a regular weekend pastime.

This time, the system was rebooted and it worked. Two hours later, it didn’t. The error message was back. There was, apparently, now a hardware problem.

On his next visit, the technician replaced the box and the modem. Everything was new and all was working well … until the error message returned.