The Install

Early Monday morning two installers ( Nick is the one in the first pic ) arrived to get the system in for me. Nick had already been out the week before to review the building an my requirements so was ready for the job at hand. My install was for phone, Internet & cable TV and while earlier Internet installs used ADSL via the phone line new installs like mine use the cable box only. While they where working I snapped a few photos for you guys so you can see how its done.

Been grass my install was easy just slipping the cable under stopped any major damaging of the front lawn	They then used this 'feeder' cable to pull the new twin coax from the nearby junction box
Here you can see the 'street access' open	This shows the 'feeder cable' going to the local junction box ( the yellow one ). Currently its not very full with only one other user on my street as far as I can see but as they get more it will get crowded in there
and here you can see it in place heading to the house from the 'Street Access' point.	The black coax was used out side only and the white ( seen here ) was used to attach the feed to the internal junction box. You can see the phone connections too in this picture
As I required three feeds they installed a splitter for my self.	Once completed they sealed the box and tagged it.
This shows the start of the internal install with the large whole in the middle for the external feed	Here is the junction box still with the old OMNE logo on
And this pic shows it fitted. Note they install a separate phone junction box to the BT one on the left.	I started with the black version of the cable box...
but if you request it when you make the initial order you can have a nice silver one - much better	There are not many connections on the rear... left to right... Mains, RJ45 ( for Internet ), USB, 2 x, IR Blaster In Blaster IR Out Scart, RF in & out & DVB-C.

The Pace Di4100 Review

I've had this box for a few weeks now so feel I can make a good review so here it is. The box its self is very well made with very simple and easy to read connections on the rear. Available in Black or Silver it provides the picture and sound quality you would expect from a Pace unit. Unfortunately that's where the good points stop..... just before I do go one its worth noting that these same issues plague other Cable TV companies and not just WightCable.

First and most notable is the apparent lack of get up and go in processing power in these units. The do take around 5 mins to power up including the latest software down load. This can be a pain when your in the middle of a programme and need to restart your Broadband ( more on that in a sec ). The same lack of processing power is noticed when changing channels, browsing the TV Guide & interactive features. The service would be massively improved if these boxes where changed. I have also noticed a further dip ( not a big one ) in speed when using my Broadband though it when its process intensive and having tested the second box can say its not the total bandwidth available that's an issue.

Internet - the box its self is issued via DHCP a 10.x.x.x range address and then issues a 80.x.x.x address for the DHCP client ( ie your PC ) that is attached via the RJ45 port on the rear. Having a flood wired house my self I simply connected this to my network switch how ever you may need a cross over cable installing if you don't have this available.

The broad band its self is very quick compared to my old 2MB ADSL - this how ever may be down to no QoS ( Quality of service ) control which I prefer and am happy to pay for instead of some 'cheaper' services available. The speed tests I have completed also confirm that 2MB is about what I am getting too.

What I have yet to try is double teaming both cable boxes to see if I can achieve 4Mb down the same line ( 8Mb in theory if I upgrade ) how ever this is just for fun and only just to see if it can be.

One problem I did find with the Pace Di4100 & the Internet is some thing I eluded to earlier in this article... that is currently my new DLINK 624 router has firmware bug where it hangs every so often and has to be rebooted. Because of this it needs to re-grab its 80.x.x.x address from the Pace - easy ? Nope. The Pace will not re-issue the address unless you reboot the whole box and to top it off you need to have the router powered off. I've tested this with my laptop directly to it as well and what it shows is that if the client ( my router or PC ) tries to grab an IP too soon the whole process fails... apparently this is also a known issue.

A little note for those that don't know. The remotes for these units work on the same system that laptops & PDAs use to transfer data ( IrDA ) - as such normal 'generic' universal remotes and accessories will not always work as they work differently. First of all check compatibility of your chosen device before purchase - on the whole if it says NTL / Telewest / Virgin Telewest / Cable & Wireless you should be ok.

On the whole - great picture & sound but defiantly needs more processing power - 5 / 10
 

Activating Your Internet Via The Set-top Box

Wight Cables Interactive Service

Coming Soon

Reviews of the new Small World Media network & its hardware & services.