Telstra's already dropped support for its old T-Box, but now it's forceably removing its smart functionality. The T-Box also offered online movie rentals from Bigpond Movies, along with access to a handful of Bigpond's streaming channels. Over time, Catch Up TV and streaming Foxtel channels were added to. The rise of Netflix Almost 900,000 boxes were issued to Telstra Bigpond customers, many bundled with the telco's high-end broadband plans, until the T-Box was retired in late 2015 not long after the arrival of Netflix. The T-Box was replaced by the tiny , which scrapped both the digital TV tuner and support for streaming Foxtel. Instead the Telstra TV embraced subscription video, offering access to Netflix, Presto and Stan co-owned by Fairfax Media along with Catch Up TV and movie rentals. Last year the Telstra TV was superseded by the , which added Foxtel Now streaming and restored the digital TV tuner — but only for watching live free-to-air broadcasts, not recording. Soon after with the same limitations. The demise of the T-Box Telstra is finally ending support for the T-Box at the end of March, planning to disable all of its streaming video apps with a firmware update and cancel any remaining Foxtel on T-Box subscriptions. Crippled apps and services will include Foxtel on T-Box, BigPond Movies on T-Box, SBS On Demand, Plus7, YouTube, AFL, NRL and Tune-In. The My Media app for playing files from USB storage or across a home network will also be removed, plus the T-Box Remote Application will be pulled from the Google Play and iTunes app stores. The T-Box will retain the ability to watch and record free-to-air digital television, but only with access to a basic onscreen Electronic Program Guide. The changes follow the , permanently crippling the popular PVR which launched with great fanfare in 2008 but was left to stagnate. The decision to deliberately cripple the T-Box's smart TV features has , with Telstra pushing unhappy customers towards the Telstra TV 2 puck or Foxtel's iQ3 PVR which can record both free-to-air and pay TV. The iQ3 is available as part of a Foxtel from Telstra package which is more expensive than Foxtel on T-Box. Meanwhile Optus is as it shuts down its HFC cable network as part of the NBN rollout, with Foxtel offering special deals for homes which have been kicked off Optus cable. Look to the alternatives While Australian broadcast television continues to , as a nation we still spend an average of 2. There's still a place for Personal Video Recorders, with around 11 per cent of our viewing pre-recorded. If you don't want to subscribe to Foxtel the best PVR is the Australian-made. It's available from several internet providers as part of a bundle, but it's also possible to buy one outright and use it with any ISP including Telstra. You must buy your Fetch TV box through Optus if you want to watch its English Premier League service. Fetch TV's channel bundles are more affordable than Foxtel yet still offer a wide range of movies, TV shows, documentaries, sport and foreign channels — plus it has a movie rental service, Catch Up TV and access to Ultra HD Netflix and Stan. The Mighty can record up to six channels at once from three different networks or streaming pay TV, utilising a more reliable EPG than the one embedded in the free-to-air signal. The icing on the cake is tight integration with the Fetch TV Mini set-top box, allowing you to from the lounge room to the bedroom. As of this week Fetch TV also works with Google Home, letting you ask Google Assistant to change the channel, find movies and record programs. Australia's other PVR options include models from Humax and Strong, which offer solid recorders even though they're found lacking in smart TV options compared to Fetch TV. More tech-savvy homes might look to network tuners such as the , perhaps combined with a media server such as for watching live broadcasts on a wide range of devices.
