Lots of you were unhappy with the amount of HD Channels available on Virgin Media TV.
We’ve listened to your feedback on this and the great news is we’re launching more HD channels later this year. We‘ll also continue to add a huge amount of new On Demand HD content for you to enjoy whenever you choose, including The Sopranos, The Wire and Dexter and a great range of movies like Tropic Thunder and Kung Fu Panda.
And as well as more HD content, we’re improving our On Demand service – for example, all our TV customers are now able to catch up on the best of the last seven days of ITV shows with ITV Net Player, along with shows from BBC iPlayer and 4oD.
April 15, 2009
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22 comments:
once again Virgin's favourite comment later this year ... i am waiting till my contract is up in November then bye bye Virgin TV service and hello Sky HD cos probably by then it will be 1st quarter 2010 for HD
does not say how many channels, but anything is better than wot we've got.
at least it's in writing now, and you never know, by the end of the year we might have a tv package that comes close to SKY.
"a huge amount of new On Demand HD content for you to enjoy whenever you choose, including The Sopranos, The Wire and Dexter"
Dexter in HD and OD will be a welcome addition, but The Sopranos has been shown in its entirety in HD in TVCOD a few times over now (as great as it is, and I am rewatching it from the start) and The Wire isn't HD (but it will be good if they get the complete series in OD especially since it's not on iPlayer, think I've only seen 1 & maybe 2 in OD before). If that's all they're promising for HD OD, then it doesn't look like they will be using their technology advantage to give a Sky beating service any time soon!
At the end of this year, Berkett will have "promised" us that the chanels promised will definitely launch by the 2nd quarter of 2010...
It is silly to compare Sky with Virgin, after all Sky has 30+ HD channels and even if Virgin were to get 3 or 4 more, Sky would still be light years ahead...it's going to take a v. long time for Virgin to catch up t Sky in terms of HD
I'm kind of in limbo with this. I have an HD TV in my room, with a normal box, but use a PS3 so watch Blu-Rays and HD games.
We now have an HD TV in the living room, connected to a V+ (and use the PS3 too). I initially went from angry "AHHH NO REAL HD CONTENT!" to "OMG these Nature programs on the BBC HD look amazing so stuff only having 1 channel!!" to this:
Sky I can't stand (yes, a vendetta against Murdoch lol) and technically Virgin is better. Their OD is very good, but DOES need to be larger, and more-up-to-date, with longer times that programs stay for.
VM still should, I feel, have more HD OD and streaming, without just deferring by saying how wonderful their other features are. It's a bit like Ford keeping their cars to 1990's standards, and avoiding ABS, Central Locking and Safety Cells that other companies have, by saying "but we have upgraded our Radio's with an extra 54 channels".
So I'm not angry anymore, but I think that VM need to pull their finger out, I appreciate I know nothing of the behind the scenes details of the OFCOM report, and how much really Sky strangle their HD content (as others have pointed out, a lot is wobbly upscaling and loads of repeats, but still...), but Mr Berkett has earned himself no real respect.
I've bitten the bullet and given up on Virgin as of this evening, I'm all signed up for Sky HD plus broadband and phone with one Sky movies package for 2.50 a month more than I pay Virgin.
Plus the Sky BB is 16Meg while Virgin is 2Meg.
I didn't want to do it but it came to it when I realised I could be watching telly in HD more often than the odd episode of Heroes and Jonathan Ross.
On demand is not a deal breaker, of the stuff that ends up on there anyways and its never a full season but 4 or 5 episodes drip fed over a period of time.
I've been reading this blog for over a year now and it has been very informative, but Sky, you won me over with more HD content.
Don't know if it's the Easter break or the lack of substantial news from Virgin Media, but this blog's traffic is down over the last fortnight for the first time since its inception in 2007. I think a lot of regulars here are now Sky-bound - sorry to see them go, but what does Berkett expect?
Same old shit,Yet another 3 month promise.Top and bottom of it vm cant be arsed and it looks like they have given up on the tv side,Sky are laughing all the way to the bank
3 month wait currently for sky hd though.
Also Santa Karla you may say the broadband is quicker on sky but no where near as reliable.
The Wire was not even made in HD! I mean, what type of idiots do they take us for!!!
Well, no, the Wire wasn't shot in HD but good upscaling can enhance the video.
(Before I get attacked by video buffs - I KNOW it won't be true HD still, but then true HD is kind of a cheat anyway... ;-)
"Blogger Chris said...
Also Santa Karla you may say the broadband is quicker on sky but no where near as reliable."
That's a good one. My Virgin 'broadband' (20 mbit apparently) rarely gets above 1mbit in the evenings, and is often below 100kbits. I've complained countless times, but it never improves.
Virgin's whole service is a complete train wreck. I'll be leaving when my contract is up but not for Sky - I'd rather burn my money than give it to a scumbag like Murdoch. Instead I'll be sticking with Appple TV and blu-rays, and maybe Freesat at some point.
"3 month wait currently for sky hd though"
Ordered my sky HD on the friday and it was installed by the following thursday. That was 2 weeks ago.
Realised what I've been missing whilst waiting for virgin!!
To comment on what Nialli said, I think you're right. The slide of people away from Virgin picks up pace with every flimsy promise they make and every deadline that passes. I'm 2 months in with Sky now and it's just fantastic. It will have to take a monumental change of tack from VM to get me back. I just can't see any attraction, even if they do add some more channels, it won't be anywhere near the Sky offering, and my personal opinion is that their hardware is better. They've even improved the EPG which used to be the one lame part.
As I've commented before, I'm now looking to get Sky HD very soon. I'm just fed up with Virgin's coming soon, and the utter contempt which they seem to have for their TV platform. Even their flagship VOD is so badly organised that a lot of the time it is not worth sitting through an entire series of something as it will probably disappear halfway through. Sky have a superior product - simple as, and while I originally had Virgin as I couldn't get Sky, I now have the option and am going to use it.
I said when I left VM that my only regret was that I'd miss their Broadband. Now 2 months later, with Sky's Broadband & BT's phone service... Virgin have still not switched off my 10Mb Internet connection!! So I've had that free now since I signed off!!! The daft so & so's!!! Ahh it's good to see they can't even keep promises to cut off services to people who leave & stop paying for them!!! Haha!!
Aren't Sky's HD movies upscaled anyway? Most of them weren't shot with HD cameras. I never watch BBD HD anyway. I was looking forward to watching Ashes To Ashes in HD but that's not filmed in HD, or it's not on the HD channel, anyway. I don't watch much C4 or ITV so I'm not desperate for their HD channels. I only really watch US shows and I can download them and watch them in HD (albeit 720p) via my PC on my plasma. The V+ box's upscaling is good enough that I don't crave a better picture quality whilst watching Hollyoaks. Unless Gemma Merna is showing some cleavage.
"Aren't Sky's HD movies upscaled anyway?"
I hope not! True for a lot of channels that are simulcast from SD variants (or channels that are daft), but Sky HD Movies channels are HD I think.
"Most of them weren't shot with HD cameras. "
No, they were shot with film cameras (analogue) and so even with very, very old films they can look great in digital HD! That's why the cinema can look better than 1080p.
Hi, I am having Virgin Media installed with a "V" box bundle...I have at the moment Sky with a Thomson HD box..my question is...can I utilise this in any way to receive HD programmes through Virgin..as part of my package will be full Sky Sports/Movie Channels..TY Brian
You can't use any sort of satelite box with the cable service unfortunately - it's just a different, incompatible technology. If you want HD through Virgin Media you really need to get their V+ box.
And even if you had opted for the V+ box instead of the V box, the only HD channel currently on Virgin Media is still BBC HD - no movies or sports available!
Well, I just got a V+ HD box installed after having Sky + SD. I bought a new 42" LCD to match looking forward to some stunning picture quality.
I got quite excited right up until the point I searched for HD content... 1 flaming channel!! I couldn't believe it - I kinda assumed I virgin would have HD movies and sports content available on Sky that I couldn't view with my old Sky+ box (or at least HD free to air similar to Freesat).
I called Virgin, a foreign operator said they were working on providing more HD content over the next few months but she couldn't tell me more than that or be more specific in regards to the schedule or proposed channels.
After my initial disappointment I was impressed with the on demand, BBC/ITV iPlayer services.
I showed the missus BBC HD and she reckoned she couldn't tell the difference from BBC SD.
Me thinks she was trying to make me feel better!
Bad luck on not finding out all the details of the VM HD lineup in advance. TV Choice on Demand certainly has the potential to replace a lot of HD channels, and it's exciting when you first get the service, but they've been very slow adding new content there. Out of the 6ish new channels supposedly coming in HD in the summer, they are VERY unlikely to be Sky Movies, Sky Sports or even Sky 1 HD.
Good news is: you can cancel and get your money back within 28 days. If you do that, make sure you tell them it's because their HD is rubbish. And if you stay just one more month because you believe the retentions operator's wonderful promises of things to come, you will be locked into your contract.
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