I am not suggesting, or recommending, you should sneak booze on your next next cruising vacation as you could, in worst case, risk being refused boarding if caught. However despite this, there are cruisers who use surprising and unusual techniques to smuggle alcohol on to a cruise ship to avoid having to buy drinks on board. In this video I explore the different ways that people are using to sneak their alcohol onto their cruise ship. The cost of drinking on a cruise is increasing, and with some of the drinks packages you could be spending almost as much as the cruise itself costs and some travellers are resorting to innovative methods to bring their own alcohol onto cruise ships. There are even companies making products, devices and accessories specifically designed to assist.

Cruise drinks packages are becoming increasingly popular. Most cruise lines offer them, and actively promote and encourage cruising passengers to buy one. However, is a drinks package right for you? I explore 8 reasons and times that a drinks package on a cruise ship is probably not worth buying. Cruise lines often have different levels and types of drinks packages, such as lines like Royal Caribbean, Carnival, Norwegian Cruise Line and Celebrity, and what should you be thinking about if deciding between these. Discover if a drinks package is right for you, and the watch-outs and things to consider.

Watch my video about the unusual ways cruisers smuggle alcohol on a cruise: https://youtu.be/xTICZTwMYkY

** Buy my Cruise T-shirts: http://bit.ly/TFTStore
** USA cruisers get great cruise deals CRUISEDIRECT.COM: http://bit.ly/TFTBookCruise
** UK Cruisers get great cruise deals with CRUISE.CO.UK: http://bit.ly/BookCruiseUK

Gary Bembridge's Tips For Travellers aims to help you make more of your precious travel time and money on land and when cruising the oceans or rivers of the world. To help you, in every video I draw on my first-hand tips and advice from travelling every month for over 20 years and 60+ cruises.

Follow Tips For Travellers on:
- Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/garybembridge
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tipsfortravellers
- Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/garybembridge

What are the main differences between a European canal hotel barge cruise and a river cruise? I think there are 8 key things you need to know that makes a canal cruise different to a river cruise. By understanding how they differ you can better decide is a river cruise or canal hotel barge cruise is best for your next European river cruising vacation

Note: I travelled as a guest of CroisiEurope on a 6-night hotel barge cruise in France before making this video Croisieurope had no input into the opinions or content of this video.

** Buy my Cruise T-shirts: http://bit.ly/TFTStore
** USA cruisers get great cruise deals CRUISEDIRECT.COM: http://bit.ly/TFTBookCruise
** UK Cruisers get great cruise deals with CRUISE.CO.UK: http://bit.ly/BookCruiseUK

Gary Bembridge's Tips For Travellers aims to help you make more of your precious travel time and money on land and when cruising the oceans or rivers of the world. To help you, in every video I draw on my first-hand tips and advice from travelling every month for over 20 years and 60+ cruises.

Follow Tips For Travellers on:
- Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/garybembridge
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tipsfortravellers
- Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/garybembridge

Discover the 7 essential things you need to know about Seabourn Cruises Entire cruise ship. Things you really need to know if you are interested in cruising on this luxury cruise ship. I tour all aspects of the ship and share my views on what os good and works less well. I explore many aspects of the ship including dining options, bars and lounges, fitness, entertainment, facilities and experience. Seabourn Cruises is one of the ultra-luxury cruise lines and Seabourn Encore was the first of a new class of ships for the cruise line. The sister ship is called Seabourn Ovation, and os basically the same ship.

Note: I travelled as a guest of the Seabourn Cruises before making this video. They had no input on the opinions or content of this video.

** Buy my Cruise T-shirts: http://bit.ly/TFTStore
** USA cruisers get great cruise deals CRUISEDIRECT.COM: http://bit.ly/TFTBookCruise
** UK Cruisers get great cruise deals with CRUISE.CO.UK: http://bit.ly/BookCruiseUK

Gary Bembridge's Tips For Travellers aims to help you make more of your precious travel time and money on land and when cruising the oceans or rivers of the world. To help you, in every video I draw on my first-hand tips and advice from travelling every month for over 20 years and 60+ cruises.

Follow Tips For Travellers on:
- Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/garybembridge
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tipsfortravellers
- Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/garybembridge

#SeabournCruises #SeabournEncore #CruiseShipTour

What are the 4 Things You Really Need To Know Before Cruising with Seabourn Cruises? I explore the ultra-luxury Seabourn Cruise Line and discuss for essential things about them to help you decide if this is the best, or right, cruise line for your cruising vacation, including what Seabourn is, what they do better and the same as other ultra-luxury cruise lines, what your fare really gets (and does not get you) and who the line is best for.

Note: I travelled as a guest of the cruise line before making this video

** Buy my Cruise T-shirts: http://bit.ly/TFTStore
** USA cruisers get great cruise deals CRUISEDIRECT.COM: http://bit.ly/TFTBookCruise
** UK Cruisers get great cruise deals with CRUISE.CO.UK: http://bit.ly/BookCruiseUK

Gary Bembridge's Tips For Travellers aims to help you make more of your precious travel time and money on land and when cruising the oceans or rivers of the world. To help you, in every video I draw on my first-hand tips and advice from travelling every month for over 20 years and 60+ cruises.

Follow Tips For Travellers on:
- Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/garybembridge
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tipsfortravellers
- Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/garybembridge

#

Discover the 9 top tips and tricks to make your cruise embarkation day fast, stress-free and sets you up for the most enjoyable cruise vacation you can have. I explore the watch-outs and things to focus on drawing on my experiences of setting off on 73 cruises to date. I have learnt, sometimes the hard way, on the things to watch out for, to be ready for and how to make cruise embarkation day easy and get you into your cruise as quickly as possible.

Once you have watched this, why not watch one of these popular recent videos:
10 Cabins to Avoid: https://youtu.be/PgTGLma919A
European River Cruise Watch-Outs: https://youtu.be/oqhz54wStyk
5 Cruises To Avoid: https://youtu.be/CNiPzK4IRWA
Alaska Cruise Need-to-Knows: https://youtu.be/Tn7dpNw5kSI
Things Cruise Lines Don’t Want You to Know: https://youtu.be/cs5UKha9ALc
Rules Passengers Break Most: https://youtu.be/djZLZ3XV_f0
Things You Can’t Do On A Cruise Any More: https://youtu.be/zas6F4wMD0Q
Should You Pay Cruise Gratuities: https://youtu.be/QBYzqxXjEXQ

SUPPORT THE CHANNEL BY:
Buying my Cruise T-shirts: http://bit.ly/TFTStore
Booking your next cruise with CRUISEDIRECT.COM: http://bit.ly/TFTBookCruise

Gary Bembridge's Tips For Travellers aims to help you make more of your precious travel time and money on land and when cruising the oceans or rivers of the world. To help you, in every video I draw on my first-hand tips and advice from travelling every month for over 20 years and 60+ cruises.

Follow Tips For Travellers on:
- Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/garybembridge
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tipsfortravellers
- Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/garybembridge

There are at least 10 good reasons, and times, that you should stay on board your cruise ship when it is in port. Discover the times, and why, you should consider enjoying what your cruise ship has to offer rather than venturing on to land to explore. Cruising is, of course, about seeing places but you are also spending money for a ship that has lots to offer. Find out what and (importantly) when you should stay on board the cruise ship in port.

SUPPORT THE CHANNEL BY:
Buying my Cruise T-shirts: http://bit.ly/TFTStore
Booking your next cruise with CRUISEDIRECT.COM: http://bit.ly/TFTBookCruise

Gary Bembridge's Tips For Travellers aims to help you make more of your precious travel time and money on land and when cruising the oceans or rivers of the world. To help you, in every video I draw on my first-hand tips and advice from travelling every month for over 20 years and 60+ cruises.

Follow Tips For Travellers on:
- Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/garybembridge
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tipsfortravellers
- Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/garybembridge

Discover the 11 Costly Cruise Mistakes that cruise passengers make most often, And how you can avoid making them. Drawing on the 73 cruises I have done to date, and the mistakes that I either made or seen other cruisers make, this is the list of things you need to be aware of to make sure you do not waste money, spend too much or have to fork out a lot of extra money when cruising.

SUPPORT THE CHANNEL BY:
Buying my Cruise T-shirts: http://bit.ly/TFTStore
Booking your next cruise with CRUISEDIRECT.COM: http://bit.ly/TFTBookCruise

Gary Bembridge's Tips For Travellers aims to help you make more of your precious travel time and money on land and when cruising the oceans or rivers of the world. To help you, in every video I draw on my first-hand tips and advice from travelling every month for over 20 years and 60+ cruises.

Follow Tips For Travellers on:
- Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/garybembridge
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tipsfortravellers
- Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/garybembridge

As cruise ships get larger and cruising becoming more popular, cruise ports can get very crowded with cruise passengers. There can be between 15,000 and 20,000 passengers arriving at a port one any one day. What can you do to avoid the crowds and have a great time in a cruise port away from the mass of other cruising people there too? Over the many cruises I have done, over 73 at time of making this, I have found 8 great and proven ways to avoid the crowds in a cruise port. Hope these help you have a great time in every port you call on on your cruise vacation.

SUPPORT THE CHANNEL BY:
Buying my Cruise T-shirts: http://bit.ly/TFTStore
Booking your next cruise with CRUISEDIRECT.COM: http://bit.ly/TFTBookCruise

Gary Bembridge's Tips For Travellers aims to help you make more of your precious travel time and money on land and when cruising the oceans or rivers of the world. To help you, in every video I draw on my first-hand tips and advice from travelling every month for over 20 years and 60+ cruises.

Follow Tips For Travellers on:
- Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/garybembridge
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tipsfortravellers
- Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/garybembridge

What are the pros and cons of cruising on a Princess Cruises cruising vacation. I explore the best and worst things about a cruise with Princess. The things you need to watch out for and be aware of, as well as the great things about cruising on Princess Cruises. This luxury / premium cruise line is the Thord most popular line based on number of passengers they carry every year. Only Carnival Cruises and Royal Caribbean lines carry more. So, want are the Princess Cruises Pros and Cons?

SUPPORT THE CHANNEL BY:
*** Buying my Cruise T-shirts: http://bit.ly/TFTStore
*** Booking your next cruise with CRUISEDIRECT.COM: http://bit.ly/TFTBookCruise

Gary Bembridge's Tips For Travellers aims to help you make more of your precious travel time and money on land and when cruising the oceans or rivers of the world. To help you, in every video I draw on my first-hand tips and advice from travelling every month for over 20 years and 60+ cruises.

Follow Tips For Travellers on:
- Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/garybembridge
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tipsfortravellers
- Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/garybembridge

What are the 9 worst cruise packing mistakes cruisers can (and Do) Make? I discuss the main things that cruise passengers get wrong when packing for their cruise vacation, along with watch-outs and things to be careful of based on where you are cruising to.

SUPPORT THE CHANNEL BY:
Buying my Cruise T-shirts: http://bit.ly/TFTStore
Booking your next cruise with CRUISEDIRECT.COM: http://bit.ly/TFTBookCruise

Gary Bembridge's Tips For Travellers aims to help you make more of your precious travel time and money on land and when cruising the oceans or rivers of the world. To help you, in every video I draw on my first-hand tips and advice from travelling every month for over 20 years and 60+ cruises.

Follow Tips For Travellers on:
- Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/garybembridge
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tipsfortravellers
- Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/garybembridge

Discover the 10 tips I have for making sure you have the very best cruise possible on Princess Cruises. I have cruised with Princess Cruises a number of times and these are the things that `I have learnt make for having the best cruising vacation with the cruise line. Hope these help make your Princess Cruise a great one.

Note: I travelled as a guest of the cruise line a number of times before making this video. Princess Cruises had no input on the content of this video.

SUPPORT THE CHANNEL BY:
Buying my Cruise T-shirts: http://bit.ly/TFTStore
Booking your next cruise with CRUISEDIRECT.COM: http://bit.ly/TFTBookCruise

Gary Bembridge's Tips For Travellers aims to help you make more of your precious travel time and money on land and when cruising the oceans or rivers of the world. To help you, in every video I draw on my first-hand tips and advice from travelling every month for over 20 years and 74 cruises.

Follow Tips For Travellers on:
- Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/garybembridge
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tipsfortravellers
- Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/garybembridge

Discover the 10 biggest cruise rip offs that you need to watch out for, and tips on how to avoid or overcome them. There are a number of things that, if you are not careful, you could find you are being ripped off and spending too much on. These are the 10 main rip offs that I have seen and watch out for when I go cruising.

SUPPORT THE CHANNEL BY:
Buying my Cruise T-shirts: http://bit.ly/TFTStore
Booking your next cruise with CRUISEDIRECT.COM: http://bit.ly/TFTBookCruise

Gary Bembridge's Tips For Travellers aims to help you make more of your precious travel time and money on land and when cruising the oceans or rivers of the world. To help you, in every video I draw on my first-hand tips and advice from travelling every month for over 20 years and 74 cruises to date.

Follow Tips For Travellers on:
- Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/garybembridge
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tipsfortravellers
- Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/garybembridge

What are the 8 best things you can do on Norwegian Encore cruise ship for free, as they are included within your cruise fare? Norwegian Encore launched in November 2019 and, like the rest of the Norwegian Cruise Line fleet, has lots of choice and facilities. However, many of these do costs a fee above your cruise fare to use, including some restaurants, activities and facilities. So, I reveal what the very best things you can do on board Norwegian Encore that you do not have to pay extra to do. Some, I hope will surprise and please you!

Note: I travelled as a guest of the cruise line before making this video on a short shakedown cruise before the ship went to fare-paying passenger service

SUPPORT THE CHANNEL BY:
Buying my Cruise T-shirts: http://bit.ly/TFTStore
Booking your next cruise with CRUISEDIRECT.COM: http://bit.ly/TFTBookCruisE

Gary Bembridge's Tips For Travellers aims to help you make more of your precious travel time and money on land and when cruising the oceans or rivers of the world. To help you, in every video I draw on my first-hand tips and advice from travelling every month for over 20 years and 60+ cruises.

Follow Tips For Travellers on:
- Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/garybembridge
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tipsfortravellers
- Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/garybembridge

Is Saga Cruises the best cruise line for your cruise vacation? In this I explore what I think Saga Cruises do better, the same or worse than other premium cruise lines. I also look at who they are and who they are most suited for and why. Saga Cruises is a UK-based line with a different take on a number of areas of cruising, which you will discover...

Note: I travelled as a guest of the cruise line a number of times over the last few years before making this video

SUPPORT THE CHANNEL BY:
Buying my Cruise T-shirts: http://bit.ly/TFTStoreBooking your next cruise with CRUISEDIRECT.COM: http://bit.ly/TFTBookCruise

Gary Bembridge's Tips For Travellers aims to help you make more of your precious travel time and money on land and when cruising the oceans or rivers of the world. To help you, in every video I draw on my first-hand tips and advice from travelling every month for over 20 years and 60+ cruises.

Follow Tips For Travellers on:
- Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/garybembridge- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tipsfortravellers

- Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/garybembridge

I give the answers to 8 of the more offbeat, unconventional and unusual questions that many passengers, including me at one time, were afraid or embarrassed to ask. I explore everything from what water is in the toilets to how many people die on a cruise and what happens to the body and what waste is (and is not) out into the ocean. Find out the answers to some of the more offbeat questions many cruise passengers have about cruise ships and cruising.

SUPPORT THE CHANNEL BY:
Buying my Cruise T-shirts: http://bit.ly/TFTStoreBooking your next cruise with CRUISEDIRECT.COM: http://bit.ly/TFTBookCruise

Gary Bembridge's Tips For Travellers aims to help you make more of your precious travel time and money on land and when cruising the oceans or rivers of the world. To help you, in every video I draw on my first-hand tips and advice from travelling every month for over 20 years and 74 cruises at time of making this video.

Follow Tips For Travellers on:
- Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/garybembridge

- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tipsfortravellers

- Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/garybembridge

Discover the 12 biggest cruise disembarkation day mistakes and blunders that you need to avoid. These are things that I have seen, heard from other cruisers they did and even did myself. There are 12 top tips and things to watch out for and do to make sure you have a smooth, stress free and good embarkation from your cruise.

SUPPORT THE CHANNEL BY:
Buying my Cruise T-shirts: http://bit.ly/TFTStore

Booking your next cruise with CRUISEDIRECT.COM: http://bit.ly/TFTBookCruise

Gary Bembridge's Tips For Travellers aims to help you make more of your precious travel time and money on land and when cruising the oceans or rivers of the world. To help you, in every video I draw on my first-hand tips and advice from travelling every month for over 20 years and 60+ cruises.

Follow Tips For Travellers on:

• Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/garybembridge
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tipsfortravellers
• Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/garybembridge

What are the things you should never do in your cruise cabin and stateroom? I explore the 11 big things that you should never do and why. Some of these are about being respectful of the crew and other passengers, but some could get you into trouble and even have you disembarked from the cruise. Are you guilty of any of these?

SUPPORT THE CHANNEL BY:
Buying my Cruise T-shirts: http://bit.ly/TFTStoreBooking your next cruise with CRUISEDIRECT.COM: http://bit.ly/TFTBookCruise

Gary Bembridge's Tips For Travellers aims to help you make more of your precious travel time and money on land and when cruising the oceans or rivers of the world. To help you, in every video I draw on my first-hand tips and advice from travelling every month for over 20 years and 74 cruises at time of recording.

Follow Tips For Travellers on:
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/garybembridge

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tipsfortravellers

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/garybembridge

Who actually owns and operates the most popular and your favourite cruise lines? Be prepared for some surprises as I take a look at who the biggest cruise lines in the world are based on number of passengers carried, and then who owns and controls the lines. Although there are many cruise lines, they are all pretty much owned by three large cruise corporations. Discover who owns and operates the cruise lines you have heard of, love or considering cruising with.

Gary Bembridge's Tips For Travellers aims to help you make more of your precious travel time and money on land and when cruising the oceans or rivers of the world. To help you, in every video I draw on my first-hand tips and advice from travelling every month for over 20 years and 60+ cruises.

Follow Tips For Travellers on:

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/garybembridge

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tipsfortravellers

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/garybembridge

There are at least 9 things you should never hide from your cruise line when booking, embarking and once on your cruising vacation. Some may seem obvious but some are less well-known but could cause you problems, stress and difficulty on your cruise if you try and hide or withhold these from the cruise line. Find out what I have discovered as being the things not to hide.

How can you cruise better and cheaper as a solo cruise passenger? I often cruise solo and have 8 tips and things you can do as a single travellers to have a great cruise experience and find ways to do it cheaper. Cruising solo can be costly as most lines charge up to double occupancy rates even for a single occupancy of a cabin. Find out the best lines, where to book, times to go, what to do once on board and other tips I have discovered on my cruising journey to date.

Gary Bembridge's Tips For Travellers aims to help you make more of your precious travel time and money on land and when cruising the oceans or rivers of the world. To help you, in every video I draw on my first-hand tips and advice from travelling every month for over 20 years and 75 cruises at time of recording this.

Follow Tips For Travellers on:

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/garybembridge

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tipsfortravellers

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/garybembridge

You're about to discover eight services that I think could change the way you cruise forever! In this, I talk about eight amazing, innovative and sometimes unusual services that I think could help travellers think about and cruise very differently . Some will help people cruise when they thought they could not.

SUPPORT THE CHANNEL BY: Buying my Cruise T-shirts: http://bit.ly/TFTStore and Booking your next cruise with CRUISEDIRECT.COM: http://bit.ly/TFTBookCruise

Gary Bembridge's Tips For Travellers aims to help you make more of your precious travel time and money on land and when cruising the oceans or rivers of the world. To help you, in every video I draw on my first-hand tips and advice from travelling every month for over 20 years and 60+ cruises.

Follow Tips For Travellers on: Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/garybembridge - Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tipsfortravellers - Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/garybembridge

Princess Cruises were the first cruise line to introduce the Ocean Medallion smart wearable device that is supposed to change the way you cruise. It helps you board the ship faster, find your way around the ship, order food and drink to wherever you are on the ship, gamble and play games , locate your friends and more. But how does it really work? What are the pros and cons? Find out my thoughts, take and review of the Princess Cruises Ocean Medallion.

Numéricable has selected the Calix E7-2 Ethernet Service Access Platform and gigabit passive optical network technology to upgrade its service delivery platform in Belgium and Luxembourg. Calix, along with optical specialist Arcadiz Telecom, will work closely to roll out Numéricable’s new high-speed broadband networks to deliver business services across the region. The new platform will enable Numéricable’s customers to take advantage of advanced voice, video, and data services at symmetrical speeds ranging from 30 megabits per second (30 Mbps) up to 1 gigabit per second (1 Gbps).

Numéricable serves over 150,000 customers in Brussels with triple-play services for residential subscribers. Owned by Coditel and with a close relationship to the French Numéricable organization, with whom it shares a range of resources, Numéricable Belgium is a long-established operator with a highly dispersed coax cable network. The company has traditionally delivered triple-play residential services over its hybrid fiber coax infrastructure, but in recent years has moved increasingly towards using its fiber to connect businesses and has developed a number of specific niche markets. The company is now looking at ways to maximize the potential of its fiber infrastructure in Belgium and Luxembourg and deliver revenue-generating advanced services to its business customers.

Amino Communications will showcase at TelcoTV 2012 in Las Vegas a new breakthrough version of its Live media gateway that delivers a powerful combination of pay-TV security and exciting Android-based OTT content delivery.

The Live media gateway is the first hybrid/OTT media gateway to be powered by the new Intel Atom CE 5300 media processor. This combines dual core processing power with a range of new enhanced transcoding and encoding capabilities with multi-screen distribution to deliver content seamlessly to TVs, smartphones and tablets around the home.

Now the product has been enhanced – with a secure Linux environment, based on Amino’s proven Aminet software stack, for the delivery of payTV video, and a controlled Android virtual machine to support a wide range of OTT applications and services. The device will utilise the unparalleled hardware virtualisation features available in the Intel CE5300 SoC to run multiple virtual machines at full speed.

IPTV operators will now benefit from industry-leading revenue security solutions when using Dune HD media players, thanks to a new partnership between Dune HD and Verimatrix. Verimatrix is the specialist in securing and enhancing revenue for multi-screen digital TV services around the globe, and its Video Content Authority System for IPTV solution and embedded ViewRight security client are now available across Dune HD’s award-winning range of digital media players, enabling operators to better protect content from piracy while enhancing service revenues.

Verimatrix VCAS software-based security solutions are the most widely deployed content protection systems amongst tier-one operators globally, with a growing base of over 600 deployments. These operators and other Verimatrix partners will now be able to install Dune HD’s extensive range of digital media players and set-top boxes, which combine high performance, engineering excellence and customisable features, backed up by the highest levels of content security.

Netgem announced that Sure has partnered with Netgem to launch a new hybrid IPTV service for its customers in the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.

By working with Netgem, Sure has been able to make use of its broadband network to deliver Over the Top live and non-linear content to a hybrid STB. This means the operator can now add premium TV to its bouquet of services and offer its customers triple and quad play packages.

The new service is powered by Netgem's N8200 hybrid PVR integrating its nCloud middleware; subscribers will benefit from a brand-new TV experience that supplements UK DVB-T2 free-to-air channels for popular non-linear entertainment content and a fluid and consistent user interface.

Orange Slovensko the leading telco operator on the market uses the nangu.TV Media Platform for IPTV and OTT delivery. "With the growing demand for interactive television and more viewing possibilities, Orange sought a proven solution to bring to the market," says Product Manager at Orange, Martin Hainzl.

Orange offers their customers TV with value added features, which gives them more options and comfort than classic live TV. The VoD selection stores 50 movie titles, accessible on multiple screens: TV, PC, Smartphone or tablet. The TV Archive allows playback of content up to 7 days in the past. Customers can utilize the time shift feature to browse content already aired and watch it at their leisure with pause, play and star t over commands. They have flexibility in watching television on the go with the newly released applications for both iOS and Android devices. The nangu.TV solution allows operators to stay ahead of competition by giving cutomers the chance to be in control of how they watch TV.

TVover.net and Echo Communications are giving away 2 free Expo passes to TelcoTV 2012, Ocotber 24-26, 2012 in Las Vegas, NV, USA. The Expo pass gives you access to Exhibit Hall, Keynotes, and Vendor-Hosted Workshops. For mroe information about TelcoTV 2012 and registration, click here.

Enter to win by emailing us at media@tvover.net with subject line 'TelcoTV 2012 raffle', name, email, company, address and phone number by noon CST, October 21, 2012. The winner will be randomly drawn.

TelcoTV released a preview of results from the annual Heavy Reading State of the Video Consumer Survey. Complete findings from the 2012 survey will be presented at the TelcoTV Conference and Expo taking place October 24 to 26, 2012 at the Las Vegas Hotel, Nevada. Aditya Kishore, Senior Analyst, Heavy Reading will present the findings during his keynote address on Wednesday, October 24, 2012.

Heavy Reading’s highly anticipated State of the Video Consumer Survey, now in its fifth year, is an annual report that reveals consumer opinions about video consumption across device platforms, provider perceptions and satisfaction levels with video services. In years past, it has proven to be a valuable planning tool for any organization serving the video distribution marketplace.

Operators looking to deploy IPTV and Video on Demand will benefit from faster, lower-risk implementations that enable them to offer more services to users through a major partnership between Dune HD and Beenius announced today at TelcoTV2012. This will be demonstrated on the Beenius booth (number 105) at TelcoTV.

As part of the partnership, Dune HD’s advanced set-top boxes have been certified by Beenius and are now integrated with Beenius’ Beesmart open, flexible, and feature-rich interactive TV middleware platform. Together this provides an adaptable, integrated and best of breed solution to operators and system integrators, backed by the engineering expertise of both partners.

Octoshape announced a partnership with INVISO to deliver Internet TV contribution services throughout Latin America.

"At INVISO, we seek the most innovative and high quality products to serve our customers through the brands we represent,” said Jose Luis Reyes, Vice President for Sales and Operations, INVISO. “In the case of Octoshape, we found a company and a product that bring these qualities to our supply chain, sales and service.”

Octoshape offers an innovative cloud-based solution that provides instant infrastructure for the distribution of both linear and video on demand content. The Octoshape Infinite Uplink service provides point-to-point distribution of TV signals over the Internet for source signal acquisition to traditional IPTV and cable headends as an alternative to traditional methods like satellite and video fiber.

Dune HD announces a new partnership with Qarva designed to enhance the IPTV experience. The integration of Qarva’s FastSwitch technology into Dune HD’s digital media players and set-top boxes will give IPTV subscribers improved interaction and higher quality through faster channel changing and the elimination of packet loss. The joint solution will be demonstrated by Dune HD on stand 17 at TV Connect MENA 2012.

An enhanced, high quality experience is proven to increase subscriber loyalty and is central to operators reducing churn and growing revenues. FastSwitch improves the viewing experience by dramatically reducing the lag associated with controlling IPTV services, bringing response times down from 5 seconds to less than half a second - in line with the speeds achieved through traditional TV broadcast channels. Through its integral Packet Loss Recovery technology, FastSwitch also eliminates IPTV issues such as picture freezing and blocking, delivering an improved viewing performance.

Qatar Telecom has selected Mariner's IP video service oriented monitoring solution, Mariner xVu. The latest version of Mariner xVu is specifically designed for integration with IPTV probes. Qtel will use Mariner xVu for the Mozaic TV service, making this the first Mariner xVu deployment in the Middle East.

Alfalak Electronic Equipment & Supplies Co., partnered with Mariner to deploy xVu. Through easy integration with network probes — at the head-end and/or individual network element — Mariner xVu offers Qtel additional insights into the IPTV network by extending video service monitoring reach to each subscriber, allowing the operator to maintain the highest possible video quality while simultaneously reducing operating expenses. Statistics collected by external data sources such as probes are compiled and configured as status indicators on Mariner NetworkVu to enable a deeper understanding of IPTV traffic and customer experience issues. The probe enhancement is now a configurable option of NetworkVu, rather than a custom development, and was created based on service provider requests for integration with external data sources.

Netgem has joined the Wireless Broadband Alliance in October 2012. Founded in 2003, one of the aims of the WBA is to enable seamless data Offload for operators. The WBA and its industry leading members are dedicated to delivering high quality user experiences through technology innovation, interoperability and robust security.

Netgem strengthens its commitment to the WBA by announcing the launch of QUATTUOR, the first LTE mobile router with embedded Wi-Fi Offload. Netgem's next generation mobile router will be available in 2013 and has been developed for mobile operators that wish to differentiate their service offering and to maintain full control over their wireless connectivity manager. QUATTUOR will automatically choose the best available connection from 3G, 4G and Wi-Fi networks, placing the device firmly in line with the WBA's objectives. Based on a fully customised platform, QUATTUOR is designed to improve operators' data service profitability.

Envivio announces that Atyaf Telecommunications and Infrastructure International has selected Envivio Muse software-based encoding solutions to power its live and on-demand TV Everywhere services. Atyaf is a leading IPTV service provider for the Middle East region, based in Bahrain.

The recently launched over-the-top multi-screen service delivers more than 130 channels in multiple adaptive bit-rate profiles for delivery to connected TV sets, PCs, Android and Apple iOS devices. In the new multi-screen headend, Atyaf is using Envivio Muse Live and Muse On-Demand on the Envivio 4Caster appliances, as well as Envivio 4Manager for headend control and monitoring.

MRG is excited to release its highly comprehensive annual study IPTV Market Leader Report by Product and Region — Fall 2012.

MRG’s IPTV Market Leader Reports identify which IPTV systems and software companies are leading each of the six IPTV market segments: access systems, video headend systems, video-on-demand server software, set-top boxes, middleware, and content protection/digital rights management. The data is further segmented by geographic region as follows: North America, Latin America/Caribbean, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific and the Middle East/Africa.

“IPTV is continuing its rapid growth worldwide but some of the more exciting opportunities are only just beginning in the Middle East/Africa and Latin America/Caribbean regions,” said Jose Alvear, Senior Research Analyst at MRG. “While the growth in the number of new IPTV service providers has been slowing down because telcos around the world have already deployed IPTV services for a number of years, there are still plenty of new opportunities available to vendors in emerging markets. In addition, vendors are now supplying multi-screen, content delivery and OTT services, as the global pay-TV industry continues to evolve into new screens and devices.”

Several factors were key in this northeastern Kansas telephone company's decision to choose APMAX IPTV middleware from Innovative Systems. However, according to Tri-County Telephone Association's General Manager, Dale Jones, putting the customer experience first above everything else was their main goal in making the decision.

Jones stated, "The capabilities that the Innovative solution gives us to reach out and touch the customer from our back office to help them over the phone is critical in the customer experience. Without having to send out a service technician, which takes time and costs more, we are helping our customers in a timely manner and reducing our own operating costs."

Jones likes the fact that Innovative Systems is continually growing their products with new features to help the rural telco market stay on top of a very competitive market. Jones advises other telcos to look to companies that are thinking outside the box especially when it comes to video. Jones says, "Today's business is nothing like it was in the past, if you are going to attract and retain video customers you have to give them the technology that is going to drive that experience."

The Digital Development Group foresees dynamic growth in its industry. “On Nov. 21st we launched our first channel. We are excited to announce 5 more channels coming before year-end. On the heels of those developments we believe it is important to continue to define our mission.”

DigiDev is targeting the revolutionary “OTT” technology arena. “OTT” or Over The Top devices piggyback on existing network services in consumers’ homes or offices; pull content from the Internet and deliver it to their TV or Internet enabled device. DigiDev uses OTT technology to deliver programming to billions of desktops, mobile and smart/Internet enabled TV devices around the world.

“The market for digital distribution to 'smart' (Internet enabled) devices (smart-TV, tablet, smart-phones) continues to grow at an astonishing rate,” states Martin W. Greenwald, Chairman and CEO of DigiDev. “AppleTV, GoogleTV, and Roku sales this Holiday season are running considerably ahead of last year’s tally.”

NOW TV is now available on Roku streaming players. NOW TV offers instant access to Sky Movies – the UK’s most popular subscription movies service – with no contract, set-up costs or installation. New customers can take advantage of a free 30 day trial of the service, plus also benefit from a three-month introductory offer of £8.99 a month.

Roku users will, from today, be able to find NOW TV within the Roku Channel Store and once registered for NOW TV online will be able to access the movies they choose instantly. Once they have connected their Roku box to their TV and home WiFi network, NOW TV customers will be able to watch their favourite movies on their main TV, as well as continue to watch them out and about through their smartphone, tablet or laptop. NOW TV is already available on PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, selected Android smartphones, and other connected devices.

No, they aren’t going to pay for themselves.

This sector has long been battered by forces beyond its control.

There are ways to curb the pain of economic and political changes.

Messages between a GOP strategist and a Census Bureau official make clear the politics and bias behind the proposed citizenship census question.

His unforced errors would make it hard on a U.S. manufacturer.

His department has ignored visas for trafficking victims.

She has apparently tricked the president into thinking she supports his fiscal ideas. Her actual ideas are worse.

Lawmakers need to be grown-ups to avoid a global economic crisis.

Sadly, the most recent horrors are not an aberration.

Trump has gutted the asylum system that grew in part out of our shame over our heartless refugee policies in the 1930s.