Virgin HD content

[admin_exported]

So i've had Virgin for 2 years now and few months ago bought myself samsung Full HD telly and upgraded to V+

Thankyou, very nice, yes please ! i thought to myself but there is only so much i can take of BBC HDs repeats and lack of new/live content

This topic may have been raised before and i'm probably blowing up and old subject, but is it worth me forking out money to join SKy seeing as they have 20 times more HD channels available now or is it worth holding out for Virgin to pull their finger out ?

Does anyone know of any news recently that i have missed or cant locate ???

Many thanks another frustrated V+ consumer !!!

 

[pete321]

I've had the Telewest TVDrive, now V+ since it was launched and have been patiently waiting for more HD content. It will obviously be along time, if ever, before we get any of the Sky HD channels available on V+, but Virgin Media did confirm that they will get ITVHD at sooner rather than later. I'm hoping for more content next year.

The one consolation I take from it is the HDMI connection, even SD braodcasts look so much better with your V+ set to 720.

 

[Andy Clough]

Hi Garth

I too am a frustrated Virgin V+ customer. We've spoken to Virgin about this and the truth is, they don't see HD content as a top priority (unlike Sky). They're more focussed on the video-on-demand and download service. It's unlikely we'll see ITV HD on Virgin for a while either, as it's currently exclusively on Freesat and when the contract expires I suspect Sky will be keen to get the service.

Like you, I'm toying with switching to Sky which, let's be frank, walks all over its rivals as far as HD content is concerned.

 

[Anonymous]

I too am a frustrated Virgin customer. I did actually start the motions of switching to Sky until I found out that BT wanted £125 to reconnect my previously existing line! Paying for this, the HD box, the £10 extra subscription, Installation etc etc put me off in the end.

 

[Jonathan Evans]

Thirded. Or is it fourthed?

ÿI'm getting very itchy feet now.

ÿProblem is that I've recently negotiated a very good deal (I get TV, phone and internet through Virgin), and I'm hooked into that for a year.

Fingers crossed, by the time that is up, in eight months or so, I won't need/want to change.

I bet I do though... ÿ

 

[pete321]

Jonathan_E:

Thirded. Or is it fourthed?

I'm getting very itchy feet now.

Problem is that I've recently negotiated a very good deal (I get TV, phone and internet through Virgin), and I'm hooked into that for a year.

Fingers crossed, by the time that is up, in eight months or so, I won't need/want to change.

I bet I do though...

I think you've hit the nail on the head, we're all still staying with V+ because it's easier to get a good deal price wise with Virgin. Every January I ring 'em up with the competitions prices for phone and broadband (usually Carphone Warehouse Talk Talk), threaten to change to that and get Sky HD, and I've been getting £20 off my bill each month for a year at a time! Previous experience of Sky's customer service and attitude would certainly rule out any such deals!

As I said earlier, I just take consolation in the V+ HDMI connection which gives so much better picture quality with the SD broadcasts. I'm pretty sure Virgin Media will get plenty of HD channels in time, but it will only be when all the other service providers, i.e. Sky, Freesat, etc. have established a good customer base with their own HD services.

 

[Anonymous]

It's a capacity issue for them, I suspect. They CAN'T be too focused on HD, even if they want to be, because it's too capacity hungry. Shame for them, actually. It's the way forward....
They're not even pushing HD into their on-demand section. This is a HUGE mistake for them, as it's a big differentiator against Sky and could mean that they could increase HD without pushing capacity.
I'm wavering, too.....

 

[Andy Clough]

Casca:It's a capacity issue for them, I suspect. They CAN'T be too focused on HD, even if they want to be, because it's too capacity hungry. Shame for them, actually. It's the way forward....

Shouldn't be, they're sending everything down fibre-optic cable and if they can deliver 20Mb broadband (well, sometimes) then a bit more HD content shouldn't kill them. Mind you, could do with more storage capacity on the V+ as even recording a couple of BBC HD programmes can soon fill it up.

 

[Jonathan Evans]

Andy Clough:ÿMind you, could do with more storage capacity on the V+ as even recording a couple of BBC HD programmes can soon fill it up.

you're not wrong there.

I've given up recording stuff on HD: it takes up about five hours for every one in SD - I get 'Critical' on my space remaining bar before I blink.

One other V+ advantage: I still find the three tuners worryingly useful (record two while watching one).

I must get out more. Or lose a couple of kids, I guess...ÿ

 

[Anonymous]

I wasn't referring to bandwidth, per se. It's more to do with Virgin's actual Channel capacity. They don't have any space for any more and where they could squeeze something in, it makes more sense to go SD because they're less greedy of bandwidth generally.

 

[daveh75]

Andy Clough:

Casca:It's a capacity issue for them, I suspect. They CAN'T be too focused on HD, even if they want to be, because it's too capacity hungry. Shame for them, actually. It's the way forward....

Shouldn't be, they're sending everything down fibre-optic cable and if they can deliver 20Mb broadband (well, sometimes) then a bit more HD content shouldn't kill them.

only in part, its fibre optic from the headend(exchange)out to the multiplexers(street cabinets) where its converted to electrical and sent down co-axial for b/b and tv and copper pairs for telephony

 

[John Duncan]

Jonathan_E:I must get out more. Or lose a couple of kids, I guess...

I can help if you're struggling to decide which?

 

[celsius]

i am also a frustrated vm customer more due to the fact that i can't get vod at all or the movies.i live in one of the few areas that doesn't get any on demand features even though i have broadband and after 4 years of waiting will be switching too freesat or sky hd

 

[Anonymous]

So basically there's alot of frustrated V+ customers out there in one form or another.

Maybe what HiFi could do an artical about this to put some pressure on Virgin. I dont wish to put your noses out of joint but What HiFi is a smidgen bias to SKYs content and i dont blame them, but maybe there could be a petition fronted by The illustrious magazine to give some kind of kick up the rear end to "the man of the people" Richard Branson ?!?!?!?!??!

I suppose i should add, if this has been done then i apologise, has been a while since i bought the mag (credit crunch denies such privileges!!!!!!!) Its not often i'm wrong and then i'm right again . . . . . . .

Anyway on the plus side SKY 1 is back soon !!!

 

[Anonymous]

How many HD channels are available with Virgin V+ ? I have Sky HD and it has 28 HD channels, most of which are garbage.

R

 

[Anonymous]

All Virgin have is BBCHD and a variable feast of HD stuff in their various On-Demand sections. Not a lot, really and they're on record as saying (pragmatically, to my mind) that HD is not their focus.

 

[Anonymous]

I have V+ and I also have a 47" Full HD TV set, BluRay player and very expensive cabling whilst my nephew has an equally impressive 52" Full HD setup with Sky HD and what I can say with absolute conviction is that most of the HD content is not that great (on either)

The technical reasons are that a large proportion of HD content is broadcast with a resolution of 1280x720 rather than 1920x1080, which means that the TV (or other assigned hardware) is having to scale the image. Although, because of the maths involved, the scaling is much easier from 720p than from SD, it still does lose fidelity. In addition to this, the HD broadcasts are compressed, so even though they start off as HD some of the detail is lost. The few 1080i broadcasts I have seen do look a lot better, but still not anything like the quality of true HD on BluRay.

Don't take this the wrong way though, HD content is better than SD, just not THAT much better. Also, if you have a 720p TV then you will probably benefit more from the HD services available (But equally will not benefit as much from BluRay)

One thing I have noticed is that on Virgin, BBC1 is usually a reasonable picture, but if the same program is being shown on BBC HD then the picture on BBC1 is more highly compressed and practically unwatchable at times, so, for example, I would not recommend watching Strictly on BBC1 on Virgin if you don't have HD as the terrestrial picture may well be better... but the results show will be fine because it's not on HD!

 

[northantsbloke34]

ITMonkey:
I have V+ and I also have a 47" Full HD TV set, BluRay player and very expensive cabling whilst my nephew has an equally impressive 52" Full HD setup with Sky HD and what I can say with absolute conviction is that most of the HD content is not that great (on either)

The technical reasons are that a large proportion of HD content is broadcast with a resolution of 1280x720 rather than 1920x1080, which means that the TV (or other assigned hardware) is having to scale the image. Although, because of the maths involved, the scaling is much easier from 720p than from SD, it still does lose fidelity. In addition to this, the HD broadcasts are compressed, so even though they start off as HD some of the detail is lost. The few 1080i broadcasts I have seen do look a lot better, but still not anything like the quality of true HD on BluRay.

Don't take this the wrong way though, HD content is better than SD, just not THAT much better. Also, if you have a 720p TV then you will probably benefit more from the HD services available (But equally will not benefit as much from BluRay)

One thing I have noticed is that on Virgin, BBC1 is usually a reasonable picture, but if the same program is being shown on BBC HD then the picture on BBC1 is more highly compressed and practically unwatchable at times, so, for example, I would not recommend watching Strictly on BBC1 on Virgin if you don't have HD as the terrestrial picture may well be better... but the results show will be fine because it's not on HD!

I have v+ and i have never noticed reduction in picture quality on bbc1 when same program is being shown on bbc1 HD . I have px80 42"

 

[Anonymous]

heh, like said this has been running for years, since rebranding virgin have no intrest in providing HD, which makes their HD service a bit of a sham.

I gather this is in part down to when the regulator set the tariffs sky charges cable, HD wasn't included so is a additional service & if virgin want it rupert will charge silly $$$$, and nothing will change untill there's another review. Virgin can increase capacity by losing the analogue channels- there can't be that many people still using analogue boxes surely?

Jonathan_E:

Andy Clough: Mind you, could do with more storage capacity on the V+ as even recording a couple of BBC HD programmes can soon fill it up.

you're not wrong there.

I've given up recording stuff on HD: it takes up about five hours for every one in SD - I get 'Critical' on my space remaining bar before I blink.

One other V+ advantage: I still find the three tuners worryingly useful (record two while watching one).

I must get out more. Or lose a couple of kids, I guess...

Guy on digitalspy swapped it for a 750 gig, works fine but in theory virgin could get upset about it (not upset enough to bother enabling the SATA link for offboard HDD it seems though. Yes it's copy protected and ready to go, but for someone at virgin pressing a button...)

whether the V+ could handle more than 1 HD operation simultaneously is questionable though, and perhaps part of the problem...