Thinking of ditching Sky+ HD for Virgin L HD
Thinking of ditching Sky+ HD for Virgin L HD
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Discussion

eybic

Original Poster:

9,212 posts

204 months

Tuesday 30th November 2010
quotequote all
I've had sky for about 5 yrs now and haven't had any major issues.

I am currently on a money saving drive and was thinking of changing the TV over to virgin as I have their 10mb fibre optic bb and a landline through them so could save at least £10 per month by switching.

My current sky package costs me about £30pm, my package includes HD and everything but, sports, movies and kids channels. I had a quick look on the VM website at the channels on offer and it seems I would be best off going with their "L" package as it also includes discovery etc, motors TV and comedy central which are the main channels I watch.

Sports and movies dont really bother me at all so wouldn't pay any extra for them.

Does anyone have experience of doing the same change and how have you found it? For £10pm if it isn't close the sky then I wont bother but as tesco say "every little helps"

Thank you

Spartan luke

423 posts

222 months

Tuesday 30th November 2010
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I will find out tomoz about virgin as iv just signed up with them, free instalation where as sky wanted 118 quid. Plus i get HD and internet, and its all cheaper than what sky have to offer.

eybic

Original Poster:

9,212 posts

204 months

Tuesday 30th November 2010
quotequote all
I'm hoping sky will reduce my costs to keep me, I've tried it on before with them and got a little bit of a discount but I will really mean it this time lol

eybic

Original Poster:

9,212 posts

204 months

Wednesday 1st December 2010
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Bump & I realised last night it would be their "XL" TV package I would be getting, not "L"

ewenm

28,506 posts

275 months

Wednesday 1st December 2010
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I'm very happy with our VirginMedia TV & Broadband. V+ works well and allows you to record 2 channels while watching a third. No weather interuptions either.

youngsyr

14,742 posts

222 months

Wednesday 1st December 2010
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I had Virgin at my old place and am now on Sky. IMO Virgin knocks the spots off of Sky for three main reasons (the ability to watch a programme whilst browsing the tv guide has now been fixed on Sky, but was a fourth reason why Virgin was better):

1) Virgin box could record 2 channels and allow you to watch a third. Sky you can only record 1 and watch one or record two if you're watching one (pointless).

2) The interactive TV guide is better on Virgin (you can see full titles rather than them being cut off like on Sky).

3) The pay per view movies on Virgin start when you want them to, not at scheduled times like on Sky.


Russ35

2,710 posts

269 months

Wednesday 1st December 2010
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Virgin are also due to release a new box next year powered by TIVO (very little information available as yet).

If I could get Virgin I would ditch Sky when this was available. I still use a 10year old series 1 TIVO with my standard Sky Digi box.

russ_a

4,725 posts

241 months

Wednesday 1st December 2010
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Virgin TV XL, Phone and BB Large is about £42

TonyToniTone

3,928 posts

279 months

Wednesday 1st December 2010
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Russ35 said:
Virgin are also due to release a new box next year powered by TIVO (very little information available as yet).

If I could get Virgin I would ditch Sky when this was available. I still use a 10year old series 1 TIVO with my standard Sky Digi box.
Some info on the reg

http://tivo.virginmedia.com/
http://www.reghardware.com/2010/12/01/virgin_media...

eybic

Original Poster:

9,212 posts

204 months

Wednesday 1st December 2010
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I might call them tonight to see what they can offer. The £49 "HD Activation Fee" puts me off slighty. Tight arse? Me? hell yeah

chris watton

22,547 posts

290 months

Wednesday 1st December 2010
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russ_a said:
Virgin TV XL, Phone and BB Large is about £42
I don't have the TV package, but I have the 50mb broadband and phone package - and I can say that the internet speeds are by far and away the fastest I've ever had!

eybic

Original Poster:

9,212 posts

204 months

Wednesday 1st December 2010
quotequote all
I'm currently paying about £25 pm with them for phone and 10mb fibre optic BB so worst case that will rise to about £50 rather than me paying £60 in total with sky and virgin.

aclivity

4,072 posts

218 months

Wednesday 1st December 2010
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If you know a member of staff, you could ask them to refer you for Mates Rates, which is a very good deal. It's only open until the end of the year so you need to ask them soon.

The new TiVo box is out on general release in the new year, installation fees are not cheap (£100 to £200) but it's a very very very good box. It's leaps and bounds ahead of anything else on the market in the UK. The integration of linear TV, timeshift and on demand is just amazing, and the potential for apps is vast.

toxicated

718 posts

243 months

Wednesday 1st December 2010
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The one thing that will annoy you with Virgin is the crap remote. It's got a lag, sometimes picks up the signal, sometimes doesn't.

There was a thread on here a while back about some bloke who was going to meet Branson and asked for suggestions as to what to ask him. First response was 'why's my remote so ste?' biggrin

Aside from that, there's no reason to stay with Sky+, especially with the huge catch up and on demand libraries.

mp3manager

4,254 posts

226 months

Wednesday 1st December 2010
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aclivity said:
The new TiVo box is out on general release in the new year, installation fees are not cheap (£100 to £200) but it's a very very very good box. It's leaps and bounds ahead of anything else on the market in the UK.
TiVo has been leaps and bounds ahead of everything else for the last 10 years.

I've had my TiVo since launch in 2000 and it pisses all over Sky+ for reliability and ease of use.

mp3manager

4,254 posts

226 months

Wednesday 1st December 2010
quotequote all
toxicated said:
The one thing that will annoy you with Virgin is the crap remote. It's got a lag, sometimes picks up the signal, sometimes doesn't.
There's nothing wrong with the TiVo peanut.

LeoSayer

7,839 posts

274 months

Thursday 2nd December 2010
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youngsyr said:
1) Virgin box could record 2 channels and allow you to watch a third. Sky you can only record 1 and watch one or record two if you're watching one (pointless).
You can record two channels on Sky and at the same time as you watch something you've previously recorded.

To be honest, that's enough for me!

aclivity

4,072 posts

218 months

Thursday 2nd December 2010
quotequote all
LeoSayer said:
youngsyr said:
1) Virgin box could record 2 channels and allow you to watch a third. Sky you can only record 1 and watch one or record two if you're watching one (pointless).
You can record two channels on Sky and at the same time as you watch something you've previously recorded.

To be honest, that's enough for me!
If you set te V+ box up correctly (using a video sender), with a little creative menu surfing, you can record two live broadcasts, watch another live channel (with timeshift working as well, so that you can pause it at the beginning of the playout and then ffwd through the adverts), at the same time as watching a pre-recorded program on a different TV.




youngsyr

14,742 posts

222 months

Thursday 2nd December 2010
quotequote all
LeoSayer said:
youngsyr said:
1) Virgin box could record 2 channels and allow you to watch a third. Sky you can only record 1 and watch one or record two if you're watching one (pointless).
You can record two channels on Sky and at the same time as you watch something you've previously recorded.

To be honest, that's enough for me!
The problem comes at prime time when you're recording programmes in continuous time slots. Sky sees the following as two programmes recording simultaneously for about 6 minutes from 7.57 to 8.03, due to the overlap at the start and end of programmes:

Channel 1: 7 to 8 pm
Channel 2: 8 to 9pm

So, even though you're only actually wanting to record one programme at a time, in the above example Sky won't let you watch another channel (say channel 3) at 8 pm, which is a pain on a Saturday night etc.