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Here’s my review on the WELTV with specific comparison to TVpad1:
Shipping & Handling: 5
Ordered on Thurday late afternoon, received on Saturday in Texas US. Everything well packaged. Kudos to clubtvpad.
User Interface: WELTV - 4.5, TVpad - 3
Everything is quick and smooth. A lot faster then TVpad. However, it doesn’t seem to have a way to rearrange icons (or least I haven’t found it). Also, as pointed out by other users, there is no setting to have movies and dramas to play in HD by default. So there are definitely improvements that WELTV can make.
Video quality: WELTV - 4.5, TVpad - 4
WELTV has a native resolution of 1080p while TVpad is 720p. The video from WELTV appears to have richer color with better resolution and saturation then the TVpad. It is definitely a joy to watch English channels like Discovery HD, Nat Geo HD, HBO HD etc on the WELTV. As for the Cantonese channels, it’s a close match between the WELTV and TVpad but I think the WELTV is the winner as it gives better picture overall on those as well.
Audio quality: WELTV - 5, TVpad - 1
WELTV has clean audio and watching concerts on channels that have stereo audio output is a great enjoyment. On the other hand, TVpad’s audio is terrible, especially when you are listening thru headphone. It feels like listening to an AM radio with poor reception.
Cantonese Live Channel selection: WELTV - 4, TVpad - 4
WELTV has a wider selection of Cantonese channels, plus the NOW channel. However, it only has two time-shifted channels (TVBHD & TVB News) while TVpad has three (TVB, TVBHD, and ATV). I personally don’t see the point of time-shifting on the TVB News which is playing (and replaying) news all day. I think resources would have been much better allocated if they swap this one out with the regular TVB channel. Also, having a time-shift ATV channel will be welcome as it appears that some people do watch ATV (hey, ATV claims that they have 40/60 audience split with TVB )
English Live Channel selection: WELTV - 5, TVpad - 1
There isn’t much comparison here as TVpad only has very limited selection of English channels, with none of them in HD (as far as I know). Watching those cable/satellite channels like Fox, HBO, Discovery, Nat Geo… etc in HD on WELTV further reaffirms that my decision to drop satellite was a wise one (And don’t forget the Barclays Premier League HD channel for us soccer fans )
Which one would I buy if I start over again?
If it’s for myself, I would definitely choose the WELTV as it offers more bangs for the buck; but that’s because I’m familiar with Android OS and I like to explore and troubleshoot. There was a time when I had to delete files on the WELTV using the ES File Explorer because it ran out of space (I accidentally pressed the “Record” button in CloudTV app before setting the record path to the external SD ). I can see this as a challenge for someone who doesn’t have certain level of knowledge in Android; especially when there is no on-screen instruction on how to perform the cleanup. (As a matter of fact, I was getting download failure messages when I try to install apps from the App store, but there was not even a hint to tell me to check the space left or to delete some files.) As for my two years ownership of TVpad, I never had a problem that was not resolved by a reboot (except for the recent TVpad server issues of course ). However that is also a result of TVpad not having advanced feature like recording, which could consume internal space that is vital to the stability of the system. If WELTV wants to capture the elders market, I think they will have to make the UI more fool proof. They should not expect the elders to know how to delete files using ES File Explorer, or at least they should provide some user-friendly app to clean up file store.
Things that I would like WELTV to have available or to improve on:
1). Replay/catchup app just like the 粵海寬頻2 VOD. I understand that they are working on it, but they really need to speed it up as this is truly a MUST HAVE for every Cantonese user. I’m sure they’ll see a jump in sales once they release that .
2). Time-shift channel based on the user time zone, or an user specified time-shift setting (i.e. # of hours delay). Once they have the replay app ready, all they need to do is to have the time shift app to start from a specific program based on the setting, and continue from that point on.
3). More Cantonese channels, especially the i-cable ones and the upcoming HKTV that is supposed to start in 7/1.
4). Better video quality on Cantonese and English channels. Those HD channels in CloudTV are slightly better than their counterparts from WELTV … so there is definitely room for improvement here even though the WELTV ones are already very good
IQIYI - This app has lots of movies and dramas in true HD resolution. What I like about this app is that those wide screen HD movies are being displayed with a proper aspect ratio on the TV; unlike many other apps where everyone in the movie looks as if they were stretched vertically by an alien, if you know what I mean. Also, it 's a great joy to be able to watch Chinese dramas replay in true HD 1080p resolution (not on every drama, at least not on the TVB ones ).
Tips:
If you hook up to your TV the first time and it shows a blank screen after turning the WELTV on, don’t panic because this could be due to display format incompatibility between your TV and the default resolution of WELTV. This happens on my older TV (a Sharp 42’ that I bought in 2008). I then moved the WELTV to a Samsung TV, changed the resolution to 1080p60, rebooted WELTV, and moved it back to the Sharp and it was working flawless since then.
You can hook up a regular USB keyboard. Very useful on 3rd party apps that requires letter input. For example, I have to use the USB keyboard in order to change the record path settings in the CloudTV app. If someone knows a way to use the native remote to enter letters, please let me know.
Now back to playing with my new toy
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