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FGW TV Entertainment

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dvboy

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What actually do you get on the TV entertainment service on FGW?

I was on a FGW service with it on Friday but wasn't in the right coach to have a play with it (only saw it as I walked though to the buffet). I did notice most people sat in the coach weren't using it.
 
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hairyhandedfool

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When did they make it free? You had to pay at the beginning of April when I was last on a FGW HST, well, except for the map and a couple of other minor bits.
 

W-on-Sea

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Well....there has certainly been (a limited amount of) publicity about in the last month saying that it was about to become free....but I've not been on an FGW HST in the last couple of weeks, so am not sure if it actually has.

It was £1.75 for a code valid all day (or £3 if you paid by SMS, with other subscription options available).

Lots of comedy programmes, a few films, some cartoons, some highlights of particularly noteworthy sports fixtures in the past, probably some things I've forgotten...
 

CC 72100

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According to FGW Facebook page, it was made free on Friday 'for the considerable future'.
 

Ivo

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Having travelled on Saturday, Monday and Tuesday I can confirm it is now free.

About time too. Something like that really isn't worth it if you have to pay for it; the length of time involved doesn't justify the expenditure.

The Moving Map is the only worthwhile function.
 

TEW

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You did see people paying to use it on London-Cornwall trains, considering you could be on the train for up to six hours I'd say it's long enough to justify £1.75
 

noddy1878

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I used it today between Exeter and Plymouth. Made the journey very quick but wouldn't pay for it.
 

IanXC

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It is also of course available in the solo cabins on the Night Riviera, where it has always been free.
 
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Oh good it is free, brilliant, fantastic and all things wonderful - now maybe I will be able to get a seat in the other carriages as people pile into (Coach D I think) the entertainment centre foresaking the normal pile up at Paddington when the platform is announced.....

Cynical - moi? Noooo I have my IPad and preloaded films and with a decent pair of non sound leaking headphones.... guarantees I am asleep before Reading!

C
 

Greenback

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Now that it's free I may have a look at it. I wouldn't have paid for it. I think it was free when it first cmae out as a trial but I was neve rona train that had it then!
 

Class172

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I got on coach D yesterday from Paddington and used the TV for the first time. I like the moving map feature. How accurate is the speedometer on the map: we reached a maximum of 123mph before stopping for Slough?
 

CC 72100

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My brother used the entertainment feature for the first time the other day, but being as a didn't have any headphones with me, the (always been free) moving map kept me entertained enough! ;)
 

ex-railwayman

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It's finally got onto Britain's railways then has it, when I worked for ADTranz, I had the pleasure of travelling to Hong Kong in 2000 from the new airport at Chek Lap Kok to Kowloon Island and saw how this on-train TV system worked, it was brilliant back then, I wondered how long it would take for the Brits to catch up, 12 years then, we aren't such a backwater after all. I just wonder how long before the oiks start to vandalise them and the whole system goes out of action.

Cheerz. ex-railwayman.
 

headshot119

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It's finally got onto Britain's railways then has it, when I worked for ADTranz, I had the pleasure of travelling to Hong Kong in 2000 from the new airport at Chek Lap Kok to Kowloon Island and saw how this on-train TV system worked, it was brilliant back then, I wondered how long it would take for the Brits to catch up, 12 years then, we aren't such a backwater after all. I just wonder how long before the oiks start to vandalise them and the whole system goes out of action.

Cheerz. ex-railwayman.

Considering they've been on the trains for at least 12 months now, and I think it's much longer than that, why are you worried about them being vandalized?
 

CC 72100

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A couple of older ladies on my train just thought that Coach D was first class and they were sat in there by accident because it had 'TV like screens on the seats' :P
 

bnm

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It's finally got onto Britain's railways then has it, when I worked for ADTranz, I had the pleasure of travelling to Hong Kong in 2000 from the new airport at Chek Lap Kok to Kowloon Island and saw how this on-train TV system worked, it was brilliant back then, I wondered how long it would take for the Brits to catch up, 12 years then, we aren't such a backwater after all. I just wonder how long before the oiks start to vandalise them and the whole system goes out of action.

Cheerz. ex-railwayman.

Volo TV was first trialled on FGW in 2005. Fitted to the Night Riviera in 2007 and rolled out across the FGW HST fleet through 2009.

So not quite 12 years behind.

Still should've been wi-fi fitted to the HST fleets instead of this under-used seat back TV system. The fact that it is now free and will be supported by advertising does rather suggest that the previous business model has failed. The company accounts don't look particularly healthy either.
 

Nevasleep

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Considering they've been on the trains for at least 12 months now, and I think it's much longer than that, why are you worried about them being vandalized?
Probably about 3 or 4 years now.
I like them, £1.75 is good value, free is even better.
Last time I travelled to London, I watched a couple Simpsons, American Dad, and Modern family episodes on a two hour journey.
 

TEW

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Still should've been wi-fi fitted to the HST fleets instead of this under-used seat back TV system. The fact that it is now free and will be supported by advertising does rather suggest that the previous business model has failed. The company accounts don't look particularly healthy either.
Wi-Fi would have been better, but Volo paid for the TVs themselves, FGW would probably have to pay for fitting wi-fi themselves.
 

island

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My brother used the entertainment feature for the first time the other day, but being as a didn't have any headphones with me, the (always been free) moving map kept me entertained enough! ;)

I think the buffet car sells headsets if you don't have one.
 

BestWestern

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Still should've been wi-fi fitted to the HST fleets instead of this under-used seat back TV system. The fact that it is now free and will be supported by advertising does rather suggest that the previous business model has failed. The company accounts don't look particularly healthy either.

Ah, you answered my next question! So it'll be funded, Metro newspaper style, by free ads. That might work I suppose, but then how many ads is a viewer going to be prepared to have to sit through I wonder, and how many would be required to make a return? Presumably there will be much observation of usage figures. I suppose if the new plan is successful, we may well see it being fitted to the whole train?

I agree that Wi-Fi would have been of more use to the customer, but would also presumably have cost a great deal.
 

CC 72100

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I think the buffet car sells headsets if you don't have one.

Yeah they still do - £1.50 I think. I wasn't that worried about actually watching naything - I'd just left my phone headphones at home that day and it was more for the novelty ' hey look it's free now factor' as opposed to wanting to watch something.
 
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