December 13, 2014

What would you like from Virgin Media next?

It's not been a bad year for the average Virgin Media customer, but if you check over at the various forums you'd think there were huge gaps still in the service. One chap has just posted that he'd like to see 22 missing channels, including Universal Channel hd; Life time +1 and hd; Pop Girl; Horse and Country; Nat Geo Wild hd; 5* + 1; Sony movies; +1; More movies ; + 1; True movies 2 and a host of other EPG fillers. Is it me or is that scraping a pretty shallow barrel now? Of these, only Universal HD would be added to my own list of Sky Atlantic, ITV Encore and History HD of stuff we're missing.
So I've put a quick poll together as I struggle to think of holes in the VM offering these days - what would you most like to get from Virgin Media in 2015? Let me know.

22 comments:

DatingKit.io said...

I would just like to see all the channels grouped together in a better way. Channel 5 for example has its HD, +1, regular and so on channels all spread out across the guide. In this day and age of On Demand why do we still need channel numbers? You can drag and drop bookmarks on a web browser where you want them in 1995 so why in 2014 can we not drag and drop channel ordering?
Failing that, at the very least have a technology that allows TIVO users to swap out regular channels for the HD equivalent automatically. So Ch 101 is BBC1HD rather than have a SD and HD version. Is it really that hard to achieve when we have landed a probe on a comet the size of the Empire State Building 300 million miles away, and planning to send men to Mars?

NickJ said...

Definitely agree with Humour Hive's comments about the layout of the TV guide, having the ability to swap out SD for HD and also being able to list things more logically.

Oh and I just received my price increase letter for 2015 - £4.50 extra per month

Jez24 said...

Agree with the others. channel sorting / numbering is top of my list. Can't understand why its not possible on the Tivo. You can have your favourite list, but Tivo always defaults back to the normal guide, so its no use at all.

Unknown said...

Agree with previous comments. I want to be able to filter out SD channels on my TIVO and permanently set my favourites. Would like Sky Sports HD and History HD too. Also Atlantic HD but that is unlikely.

JBhq said...

Recordings playable on a mobile

Unknown said...

I would like to see Amazon Instant prime as a channel on 203 or 205 next to Netflix on 204. Think this would be a huge coup for TIVO and Virgin Media

Nialli said...

A word of warning with Amazon Instant Video - I've tried it a few times via my Smart TV and each time it has buffered and stalled like Now TV does, making it unwatchable. And it wasn't my broadband (which is plugged direct into the TV). It's no Netflix.

Unknown said...

I get perfect 1080p full HD streaming with Amazon for about last 3 months with a Samsung Smart Tv and Ps4 .. Have Netflix aswell but feel recently Amazon streaming quality has improved significantly..
Got some cool exclusive shows Extant, Constantine, Transparent..
Just feel this would be a big coup for Virgin as Amazon have quite a few customers and I love my Netflix on 204.. Get Amazon on 205 then maybe WWE network on 206 .. Would seriously improve the TIVO

Unknown said...

Maybe a moot point as I plan to leave for a half price Sky deal in Feb at the end of my minimum term but SSN HD and Atlantic HD are the only two channels missing which I care about. I'd quite like to see short term access to premium channels as standalone a bundles like the passes offered on NOW TV.

From the system side I'd like to see the restrictions taken off recorded content being played back to a second TIVO and for them to be accessible via the TV anywhere app for remote viewing. Also, smarter handling of scheduled recording clashes.

WRT Amazon streams, I find the quality is reliant on the app you playback with. I've had poor performance on my smart TV (Sony W9) and PS4 (things may now have improved) but the Xbox One excels pushing it ahead of Netflix 1080p and leagues ahead of broadcast quality from VM. Netflix seems pretty consistent in quality across the six(!) capable devices in my AV rack. Now TV is universally dreadful.

Eddie Waring said...

I too have left VM for Sky last month, paying £30 a month less for the same services I got from VM for a year's contract. BB speed is 76 meg vs 100. I was sad to leave VM but got short shrift from them when phoning up at the end of my contract so decided to make the move. It will take a lot for me to return to VM unless I get the same reaction from Sky at the end of this new contract! VM appear to bank on the fact that you won't actually switch to Sky.

tonymontana250 said...

No more pay increase the last 3 years mines gone up a average £4 !!! I'm a Key Worker and have had no pay rise in 5 years so why does my bill go up ?? New customers also get better deals than current customers ?? Give something back to loyal customers instead of taking things

Nialli said...

@Lee Jones. Interesting what you say about Amazon Instant Video varying from device to device. I've got a Sony TV too, so it may well be the Smart TV app that's the problem rather than the back end.
Having said that, when I attempted to watch my "Edge of Tomorrow" HD rental on the Saturday night it was unwatchable but when I tried it again the following morning it was fine. Ditto the season 4 of Game of Thrones I splashed the cash on. Is the Sony version of the App (TV or PS4) known to have problems?

Tim said...

I would like to see Now Music launching on Virgin Media in 2015

Monster Riffage said...

1) I would simply like to see the 'on demand' content inc BBC iplayer stream smoothly on my Tivo at peak times (a dedicated 10mb connection to the box.... errr yeah it doesnt seem to help, and rarley anytime for smooth HD catch up)
I have to stream from the smart tv hub over the regular wifi connection.

2) Have a truly cheaper virgin media service by omitting the land line charge - hardly any househod uses them these days -completely last century for cable tv

Monster Riffage said...

oh.... and Scuzz tv \,,/

properrlfan said...

Just Universal & History Hd for me. Given up on ever getting Sky Atlantic

tassiekev said...

Edited:

Just signed upwith Sky (again) and can't see me leaving again. Difference between the Sky+HD and Tivo is chalk & cheese:
#Dynamic EPG
#Lots of broadcast & On Demand in 5.1 wheras the same progs on Tivo in stereo (Criminal Minds, Walking Dead & many more)
#The box is far more responsive
#Its easier to find content
#There's lots more and better quality on demand
#It has Sky Alantic
#It has MUTV in HD

None of these are deal breakers individually but add them up and....

Bye bye Tivo

paul morris said...

Sky atlantic. VM are falling behind with their channel and program line up.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Danny Boy said...

A easy and smooth GUI for tivo

KESSLER.... said...

Ability to stream/view content from iTunes on my Mac, eg. Music, photos, podcast, movies etc. I have a massive amount of content that I have to switch to AppleTv or PS3 to watch when it would be nice to be able to view it all on the Tivo.

Unknown said...

Scuzz back on instead of mtv rocks playing the same stuff over and over again.