We've received a maintenance announcement from Freewire TV, saying that they will be carrying out some upgrade work on Wednesday 1st April 2009 between 1100 and 1500.

This maintenance has been scheduled so that Inuk Networks Infrastructure can upgrade the encoders used for broadcasting the channels listed below.

Setanta Sports News
Setanta Sports 2
Setanta Sports Golf
Arsenal
Liverpool
Celtic
Rangers
ESPN America

Maintenance Schedule
Maintenance Start: 11.00 on Wednesday 1st April 2009
Maintenance End: 15.00 on Wednesday 1st April 2009
Maintenance Window: 4 hours
Planned Downtime: 30 mins per channel

We've just been informed by freewire that they will be doing some maintenance on the TV service this Wednesday, it shouldn't cause any problems but we thought we'd warn you all just incase. details as follows:

Maintenance Details
This work has been scheduled so that Inuk Networks can upgrade the User Interface component of the IPTV platform. This improvement will enable future VoD menu features to the Freewire Television service.

Whilst we believe that this work will be completed within the specified times, we feel it prudent to make customers aware that this work is planned.

We do not expect there to be any interruption in your Freewire services.

Maintenance Schedule
Maintenance Start: 10.00 on Wednesday 14th May 2008
Maintenance End: 11.00 on Wednesday 14th May 2008
Maintenance Window: 1 hour
Planned Downtime: No impact.

We're getting reports that the freewire IPTV client on Windows Vista is encouraging people to upgrade to the latest version (2.1.2.0) - and then failing to work with the following error message:

The problem seems to only affect some Windows Vista users.

We have found a (temporary) workaround. The "freewire lite" client doesn't seem to show the same problems, although it is missing some of the features of the full version of the client. So if there's something you desperately need to watch tonight, that may be an option.

You may like to contact the freewire helpdesk yourself. Contact information for the freewire helpdesk can be found on their website: http://freewiretv.com/helpdesk.html

We'll update this post as and when we get more information from freewire.

Update 4pm: Freewire confirm that they have seen other cases of this and their engineers are investigating. It seems to affect some but not all Vista users.

This is an email we received from Freewire (the people that stream the channels to us)...

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Dear Customer

Please be informed that essential maintenance has been scheduled on the Freewire network infrastructure on Monday 23rd July between 19.00 and 21.00.

During this time our Engineers will work to minimize any disruption to the Freewire services, nevertheless please be aware that the planned maintenance is taking place.

Best regards

Freewire Support

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We (ResNet) hope that this will not cause too many problems.

The IPTV service seems to have gone off air. We're looking into it, initial investigation seems to suggest it might be a problem with the supplier. Mark is currently on the phone trying to get hold of their technical bods. We'll update this as and when we have more info.

Update - 17:00: We've just had an email from the guys at freewire, it looks like the problem is wider than just Bristol, it's effecting other universities as well - but they're working on it.

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Please be informed the 'Freewire' Infrastructure team are investigating the current network problem and are working with 'JANET Operations' to return the TV channels as soon as possible.Sorry for the interruption in service, we will keep you updated.Best regards

Freewire Support

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More info as we get it. (Although you'll probably notice it's working before we do!)

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If you've tried Freewire TV you'll know it's fixed

We have now enabled the clifton and centre halls for ResNet IPTV.

See here for more information:

TV on ResNet trial extended

The complete list of residences where Freewire TV can be tried is:

• Woodland Court
• The Hawthorns
• 29-33 St Michaels Park
• 43/45, 51, 61/63 St Michaels Hill
• 5, 12, 16 Osborne Villas
• 1 University Walk (Principal’s House, Institute for Advanced Studies)
• University Hall - (UH added 30th April)
• Badock Hall
• Churchill Hall
• Durdham Hall
• Hiatt Baker Hall
• Wills Hall (trial now in all Stoke Bishop halls as of 2nd May)
• Clifton Hill House
• Goldney Hall
• Manor Hall (including annexes and Sinclair House)
• Winkworth House
• Deans Court
• Unite House
• Chantry Court
• 115 Queens Rd (Clifton and Centre halls added on 10/05/07)
• Northwell House

See the original announcement about TV on ResNet for details and to try it.

There are a few people living in some of the small or more distant residences that unfortunately we will not be able to provide TV to:

• Langford old & new hostels
• 121 Redland Road
• Rodney Place
• 97 Woodland Road

We cannot provide TV to residents in those houses as there isn't enough capacity on the relatively small links we have to them. We are very sorry about this.

Update 2007-06-19: Comments are now closed as there have been no genuine comments submitted recently, only spam. If you want to comment on this article, please contact the ResNet Helpdesk.

ResNet has started trials of a new TV service, Freewire TV. This provides 15 digital TV channels to watch on your computer. It includes all the BBC digital services and other popular channels such as E4.

The initial trial is only available to ResNet subscribers in some residences. See TV on ResNet to try it out.

We've been working to get this ready for some time now and are very pleased to start the trials. We hope it will be popular - in the ResNet survey 2006 75% of students said they would watch TV on their computer if we offered it.

We may be able to extend the trial to other residences later in the term. If the trial is successful we plan to launch a full service ready for autumn 2007.

We'd love to find out what people think about this and how well it works for them. If you are taking part in the trial and would like to give us any feedback, please comment on the blog below or email the ResNet help desk. Please read the FAQ first though, as that answers most of the questions people have.

Update 2007-06-19: Comments are now closed as there have been no genuine comments submitted recently, only spam. If you want to comment on this article, please contact the ResNet Helpdesk.