Virgin Media 360 - early reports not encouraging

I'm always a little nervous when Virgin embark upon something as fundamental as upgrading their boxes but the cautious rollout of the new 360 platform appears to be asking customers to take a blind leap of faith and test an entirely new system in the run up to Christmas seems commercially suicidal if you ask me.

Take this feedback from WhatHifi forums:

As one of the unfortunate early users of the Virgin 360 TV box I'd strongly recommend people avoid it. The hardware of the box itself is a mild improvement, more energy efficient, faster start-up, but the remote is a poor replacement for the old V6 one, far fewer dedicated buttons, it didn't even have a stop button, which means you are much more reliant on navigating on-screen. The software however is the real travesty. It has Minimal Viable Product and Public Beta written all over it. Compared to the mature Tivo-style interface of the V6, the new UI has much less functionality, and appalling navigation. If I could revert to the old V6 I would. This box is is so bad I'm considering moving my TV to Sky, even with the higher cost of breaking the bundle.

That was posted about a month ago, but when I ventured onto VM's own Community pages it was just as bad if not worse, with the most frequent questions being asked along the line of 'can I go back to my V6 software'? Have a look at these posts https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Virgin-TV-360/bd-p/Virgin_TV_360

Having worked in IT for over 30 years I know full well of the pitfalls of trying to put new software on older hardware in a live environment, but the general public has less understanding and shouldn't be used a beta testers and certainly shouldn't be paying for the privilege. I'll be interested to hear if any of this blog's readers have undertaken the 360 upgrade and what their experience has been and will happily post comments here good or bad, but me? I won't be pushing my way to the front of the upgrade queue just yet...

Virgin Media 'adding Disney Plus'?

Same box, new remote. The 360 is on its way

Future's TechRadar is a website with a strong, professional reputation and is a more reliable news source for Virgin Media stories than many, so when they say 'Disney Plus is coming to VM' very soon it's worth your attention.

In a post about the glacial roll out of Virgin TV 360 and the Horizon platform there's some news on us finally getting Disney Plus: 

One of the most exciting tidbits we managed to get from Virgin Media, though, was the arrival of Disney Plus. The Disney streaming app launched in the UK back in March, and has been noticeably missing from Virgin Media boxes so far.

Virgin Media isn't the only outlier, though – while Disney Plus is available on most home game consoles, Nvidia and Apple TV streaming boxes, Fire TV and Roku streaming sticks, and Samsung / Sony TVs, you still won't find it on Panasonic TVs.

A representative for Virgin Media told us in a briefing that “As of next year I'm very confident we will have [Disney Plus] on the platform”.

Hmmm. I won't be holding my breath but I'd hazard a guess we're looking at March when Sky's first year with the service is up? 

For those still using TiVo the Virgin TV 360 is apparently available now for new Virgin Media customers (and those upgrading to the Ultimate Oomph bundle)  though it may take until early 2021 for us existing customers to be eligible for the new box. I can wait - it's had a mixed reception during its pilot stage, appears to be less stable than the V6/TiVo and is missing features and apps still.

We are also promised that Alexa integration, while not present at the 360 launch, may well be in the pipeline for 2021 – which would mean you will be able to connect your 360 box to Alexa smart speakers.

Horizon IS coming to existing V6 boxes - or is it?

There's an interesting thread on Virgin's own Community Board developing about next year's introduction of Horizon software on existing V6 boxes. Around halfway through a Virgin staffer writes: 

Pending successful trials, from next year any existing customers with 2 x V6 boxes will be able to upgrade them to 360 over the air and keep the entire 2TB storage across both boxes. 

Some ultimate oomph customers are being contacted very soon to join the trials. We would like to contact all of them but far too many people are opting out of marketing these days.

This contradicts earlier reports that Horizon won't be replacing TiVo on existing hardware. Meanwhile, the ever-reliable Spiderplant on Cable Forum has confirmed that:

There are 3 boxes: 

Arris boxes: Can run either TiVo or Horizon software

Humax boxes (with or without a hard drive): Can only run Horizon software

I wonder if existing recordings, series links etc on a V6 are preserved during the upgrade to Horizon? I suspect the answer is no but I'd be happy to be wrong on this.

French Open in 4K and HDR

Virgin Media will broadcast Roland-Garros event in 4K with High Dynamic Range (HDR) again when Eurosport’s coverage of the tournament which runs from September 27th until October 11th.
Virgin will utilise Hybrid Log Gamma (HLG) technology to broadcast all matches that feature on the Phillipe Chatrier court in 4K UHD with HDR on its V6 set top box.

Eurosport’s live 4K HDR coverage will be available on each day of the two-week long tournament on all matches that appear on Phillipe Chatrier court.

Sadly, there's still no official word when we will see the promised 4K Sky channels that were supposed to arrive in 2020. These were first announced in July 2019 but since then it's been radio silence from the company, which is extremely disappointing.

New firmware for V6 but still no working Radioline app

There's new firmware being rolled out to Virgin Media's V6 boxes. It's 20.10.1.RC21 and one of the things it is supposed to address is an issue with the sound on some BT Sports channels. There's a thread on the upgrade on the Virgin Media Community Boards.

However, it doesn't resolve the issue with the Radioline app, which has been offline since August. That's a known problem and Virgin say they're working on it. Bad timing though, as Radioline announced on Twitter last month that they've just signed a new deal with Virgin for the app to be on the V6 boxes.

Virgin Media Horizon thread

There's an interesting thread over on Cable Forum started by regular poster Ozsat. He has a Horizon main and mini box and is posting on his experiences. You can find the thread here: https://www.cableforum.uk/board/showthread.php?t=33709333

Confusion over Horizon coming to existing V6 boxes

Mark Jackson on ISP Review has this week suggested that Liberty Global's Horizon software may not be coming to our V6 boxes after all. In a post published this week he says:

"We understand from our sources that Horizon won’t be coming to the v6 boxes after all. Instead Virgin Media appear to be gearing up to introduce two new STBs – a main box with the Horizon software and hard drive inside, and then a mini box with no hard drive (see * below) . 

"Both boxes support 4K video. We assume that the new Mini Box is the same one as Liberty Global recently launched for UPC in Poland while the new Main Box looks a bit like the v6, but on the inside it’s a different piece of hardware. At present it is unclear whether the new kit will be available to all new customers or only specific bundles (e.g. Ultimate Oomph). Likewise, we don’t know if existing v6 customers will have to pay for an upgrade (post-trial) or if it will be free."

All very confusing, especially as Virgin Media confirmed last year that Horizon was definitely coming to the UK and replacing TiVo and most pundits, me included, thought that meant new software on existing boxes. Maybe that's not now the case and there are technical issues that prohibit such a change? I'm confused. I can't imagine Virgin quickly replacing its existing V6 hardware base (too expensive and too inconvenient for customers) nor can I see it running TiVo and Horizon simultaneously across the UK for any prolonged period. Hopefully all will become clear "soon" (to use Virgin's favourite timeline).

* Liberty Global has launched a new internet TV box in Poland and plans to roll this out to other European regions according to this story: https://www.broadbandtvnews.com/2020/08/24/liberty-unveils-4k-mini-tv-box/. 

Price rise question

When was the last price rise from Virgin Media? I haven’t posted about one since August 2018 but may have missed something last year when this blog went into hibernation. I’m normally the first to complain when they raise prices and it feels like a while. Hope I’m not tempting fate here!

UPDATE Royalbeech added this comment: I just found this email I received from Virgin:

“Let’s get to it: after the last four months, and the uncertainty of what’s ahead, there’s no more business as usual. That’s why we aren’t raising your price this year as we normally would.

“This means the price you pay for your current package right now will stay the same for the rest of 2020. There are no catches, and there’s nothing you need to do. In the meantime, we’ll keep investing in our network and doing all we can to make sure you stay connected."

Horizon on a V6 "Mini" box going into field testing

Some Virgin customers have been invited to test the new Horizon software on a V6 "Mini" box. I haven't, but here's the email they've been sent:

We think it’s only right that our customers get their hands on our amazing new TV experience first. Get it at no extra cost today and discover how we bring together all your screens, favourite channels and apps, so you can seamlessly watch and stream the telly you love, at home and on the go. Yep, it’s our best TV experience yet, on the house.

Great power and streamability

Our fastest-ever TV experience, now with new features like super powerful voice search, personal profiles and more.

Entertainment, brought together

The UK’s most popular channels, Catch Up services, movies, TV Box Sets and built-in apps, all in one place. So you won’t need to hop around.

TV that moves with you

Watch in more rooms with a 4K-ready Mini box. Or stream, control and manage your recordings with our free, supercharged, Virgin TV Go app.

Ready to go? We’re making our new TV service available to you early, and you have until 2nd September 2020 to get involved. There’s limited availability, but don’t worry it will be available again soon.

Once you’ve applied, it can take up to 7 working days to receive your confirmation.

Looks like they're entering final testing for a late 2020 launch. If anyone has more information, please email me. 

NOW TV Entertainment price rise

Now TV has announced that its Entertainment Pass will be going up by 12% to £9.99 a month in September (unless you're on an offer - I'm on a half price deal until next year).
The price of this service has crept up a few times recently and I don't think it's quite the bargain it used to be. Like many Virgin customers I only have it for Sky Atlantic programmes but, with this price rise and the Boost HD meaning it will cost me an extra £12.99/m next year I will probably drop it once my deal ends and just dip in when something on Atlantic really demands my attention.

The Horizon 4 software on Virgin Media Ireland's V6 box

Virgin Media Ireland support pages for the Horizon 4 customers: https://www.virginmedia.ie/virgintv360support/

And this one is particularly interesting: https://www.virginmedia.ie/virgintv360support/functions-and-features/ 

The V6 appears to have been renamed the V360 with the new software.

Horizon 4 - Virgin's new software running on the V6

This is interesting: a clip on YouTube of Virgin Media Ireland's V6 box, running Horizon 4

Whatever happened to Sky Q without a dish?

Back in 2017 Sky announced it was to introduce the Sky Q TV without the need for a satellite dish. There were no dates, just a series of vague promises that it was 'coming soon'.
Now, Pocket-lint has confirmed that the broadband-only Sky Q plans have taken a back seat:
"We have been working on it," said Sky's group chief product officer, Fraser Stirling, during a briefing on the new features coming to Sky Q in July. He revealed that, in the UK, IP (Internet Protocol) delivery of content will be more beneficial to the company's existing Sky Q platform in the short term. "We will move more and more of our services - like in how the product works - to be levered over IP and that will include some channels. You will find linear content, VOD content, and other experiences that are going to be IP based, with a really solid backbone: that hybrid delivery part, which is satellite. [It] is going to play a key part of our future for quite some time."
So, whilst it's not dead, a pure IP Q service is not being developed for launch any time soon and any Virgin Media customers waiting for a dish-less Sky offering as an alternative to VM should cross it off their list for now. (Actually, make that "for NowTV", which is a viable alternative to cable if you want to move to Sky for your TV.)
Incidentally, my contract with Virgin Media has just come up for renewal and I gave serious consideration to the NowTV and BT alternatives (local planning laws prohibit me having a dish). After a number of calls to Virgin and the others I found no-one could beat Virgin's offer for the next 18 months, which I guess is good news for fans of this blog.

All 4 on the V6 only standard definition for now

Channel 4 has confirmed that the new All 4 app on the V6 boxes isn't high definition (yet):

"We would advise that HD content is not currently available on the new Virgin app, we had hoped to have it at inception, but the pandemic has delayed this. We do hope to make HD available at some point, but unfortunately we don't have a date at this time."

Broadband outages: Virgin says sorry

Virgin Media has finally apologised after a major network outage left customers without internet access in London and other areas for six hours in late June.

The cable company claimed that the broadband outage on Thursday, June 25th affected a "relatively small pocket of customers in the capital". I was one of them, and I know lots of people outside the capital suffered too: it wasn't the first time during lockdown I found myself activating my mobile's personal hotspot rather than being able to use the Wi-Fi I pay so much for. And for a communications company, they can be frustratingly slow in communicating with their customers and rather economic with details - the silence was deafening.

Virgin now say that the problem was caused by "signal interference between its broadband and TV services at one site", rather than hot weather or over-capacity. The issue was resolved by the early afternoon.

“This morning some of our customers in London experienced broadband and TV issues which have now been fixed. This did not hit all customers in London and it was not a nationwide outage,” the group said. It declined to say how many people had been affected. “While our engineers worked as quickly as possible to solve the problem, we know how frustrating it is to be without our services and we apologise to those affected.”

Well, that's okay then, isn't it?

Meanwhile, Virgin's long-promised upgrade to Docis 3.1, which promises greater speeds and reliability, continues. Details here.

Virgin Media service changes

Virgin Media has announced some significant changes to services this week.

• Virgin is making its 500Mbps broadband available to broadband-only customers. New and existing customers can take its M500 Fibre broadband with any package. That means you can simply subscribe to broadband-only or add this upgrade to any TV and phone bundle.
• Virgin Media’s next-generation Gig1 broadband service is already available across Birmingham, Coventry, Manchester, Reading and Southampton and now it has a lower price; those who have it in their street can subscribe from £64 per month
• As we all know Virgin Media users could only sign up to a new deal for 12 months, which meant, after a year, the prices shoot up to the firm's ridiculous 'standard' rates unless you get on the phone and negotiate a deal. Sky and BT offer 18 months contracts - at last Virgin is doing the same.
• Virgin Media’s Oomph bundles are changing. Virgin Media has more than doubled the mobile data allowance that is available with many of its Oomph SIMs and customers who have already signed up to an Oomph bundle with either a 2GB, 5GB or 15GB of mobile data can more than double their data allowance by moving to the equivalent SIM in the new bundle line-up - without needing to re-contract and at no extra cost. And if you' have Virgin's Ultimate Oomph broadband speeds are increasing to 600mbps at no extra cost as the speed tier becomes available. 
• Virgin Media’s Personal Picks now offer better value so customers can build a personalised TV service for less. Personalised picks start at £7 and each subsequent pack costs £5 per month. Personal Picks were previously priced at £10 for the first pick with each subsequent Pick costing £7 per month.

Disney channels leaving Virgin Media

Not great news for Virgin Media customers who worship at the altar of the mighty Disney corporation: by October 1st 2020 UK customers will only be able to access Disney content by subscribing to the paid streaming service, Disney+.

As Disney+ is not yet a feature found on our Virgin V6 boxes, Virgin customers will have to access the Disney+ platform via NowTV or through other devices.

It could be a deal-breaker, not just for families but also fans of the Marvel and Star Wars films, too. 

The three TV channels being cut from regular Virgin Media services are The Disney Channel, Disney XD, and Disney Junior. Other Disney-owned channels, such as Fox and National Geographic, will still be available on Virgin Media and the Sky Cinema Disney channel is still around, as are a selection of Marvel, Pixar and Disney films on the other Sky Cinema channels. I suspect thought that the writing's on the wall for them, too.

C4 on demand finally in high definition

Thanks to James for the following:

C4's CatchUp on Virgin service on the V6 boxes is now thirty days of HD goodness. All of the C4 boxsets are in full HD too. 

I still don't know if the shows on the new All 4 app on the V6 are in HD - does anybody? The catalogue in the app is far more extensive than the Virgin On Demand service but still has a few notable exceptions (Scrubs and ER). Good to see that the Seinfeld episodes are all in widescreen although they look like SD to my eyes.

Virgin moving to 18 month contracts?

ISP Review is reporting that Virgin Media are planning two imminent changes. Firstly, the 516Mbps plan will no longer be “exclusive” to their TV bundles and can soon be purchased as a normal broadband package. Secondly, the 516Mbps Oomph TV bundle will at the same time be upgraded for free to offer 600Mbps (probably with the same upload as before) – you won’t be able to get this speed without TV (most likely to keep Oomph subscribers happy, given what they pay). Mind you, I'm on Oomph and I'm rarely seeing speeds even half of what I pay for

The changes are expected to be announced at some point around the end of June. At the same time ISP Review believes that Virgin Media will probably make a few other changes to their packages, such as possibly switching from 12 to 18 month contract terms and removing the install cost of a v6. 

All 4 app added to the V6

Here's some good news in these troublesome times; Virgin Media has added the full All 4 app to the V6 and it's available at no extra cost for us Virgin TV customers.

The addition of the All 4 app provides Virgin Media customers with the full All4 experience for the first time, enabling us to watch more programmes and on demand content than the limited seven-day catch up service we had before.

All4 has hundreds of box sets including iconic Channel 4 series as well as original and exclusive shows including US acquisitions Freaks and Geeks and Seinfeld; featured channels such as Adult Swim and the best global drama from Walter Presents; and catch up from all of Channel 4’s broadcast channels including a number of movies from Film4. Some promised series are missing though - notably Scrubs and ER - hopefully these will appear soon as both are available on the NowTV version of All 4.

What I'm not clear on is what resolution it broadcasts in. It's not advertised as High Definition but the picture quality is very good. Does anyone know?

Virgin Media broadband during lockdown

Normally I keep this blog to Virgin Media TV matters, but I guess everyone who reads my posts here is also a Virgin Media broadband customer, so let me ask this question:

Is it just me, or has VM's broadband service deteriorated into a slow and unreliable liability in recent weeks?

Actually, I know in my own neighbourhood in South East London I'm not alone in my frustrations with the service. TV and phone have been good but the broadband, when available (and it frequently isn't) has been unusable during the working day. For example, I've just tested my current connection and I'm seeing 45mbps download, 2.68 upload. Before lockdown I'd have daytime speeds of 200+ down and 35 up. I pay for 500mbps but don't get me started on that one. And I say 'when available' as, despite the VM app telling me that there are no problems in the area, my router is rebooting four or five times a day and struggling to reconnect. 

For home working, that's unusable. For watching any on demand TV service, that's unusable. And all of the Virgin customers I know in neighbouring streets have the same complaint.

BT, Sky etc are rock solid. Virgin say in the press that they have more that enough capacity to provide a full broadband service to meet the demands of lockdown families and workers, but our experience suggests otherwise.

I can't get through to customer services on the phone but I have managed to book an engineer for tomorrow evening via the website. I'm not hopeful. I suspect there are over-populated street cabinets to blame and Virgin don't appear to be in any great hurry to resolve that issue. They just take our money.

My contract is up for renewal in August. I've been with NTL/Virgin since the 90s. I've run this blog since 2007. We've come a long way since the old 'NTHell' days but this current issue is a deal breaker for me and my family. We're have to use our phones' personal hotspots instead of the broadband we pay for. 

So, is it just me or are you having issues, too? Please let me and this blog's readership know.

UPDATE: Just had a friend at Virgin confirm the following:

"you do have a signal fault. Poor SNR showing on some frequencies for both downstream and upstream. I checked a couple of your neighbours' modems and they don't show the same errors, so it does seem to be just your installation. Hopefully the tech will resolve it tomorrow.

Your area is also flagged for a capacity upgrade"

Football returns

Subject to Government guidance, the Premier League is to return to our screens on June 17th. Details here https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/52842600. Every remaining match will be aired on Sky Sports, BT, Amazon Prime or BBC as the football authorities attempt to close the 2019/20 season in empty stadiums.

This means that charges for Sky Sports and BT Sports are back, too, so expect bills to increase to their earlier levels mid June.

Virgin Media shops to disappear

Virgin Media is to disappear from the high street after deciding its network of more than 50 retail stores will stay shut once the coronavirus pandemic lockdown ends.

Details: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/may/28/virgin-media-to-disappear-from-uk-high-street-coronavirus

Sky Documentaries and Sky Nature arrive

Sky Documentaries HD now on channel 277, and Sky Nature HD on channel 279. Also, History (270) and History 2 (272) have been renamed Sky History and Sky History 2

TiVo launches dongle in the US but unlikely to be available from Virgin Media

TiVo has officially entered the streaming war with its TiVo Stream 4K, an Android-powered HDMI TV dongle to rival the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K. Details here: https://www.whathifi.com/news/tivo-enters-the-streaming-war-with-its-amazon-rivalling-stream-4k-stick

But we’ll never see it from Virgin Media in the UK. With Virgin’s V6 equipment confirmed to be changed to Liberty Global’s Horizon platform later this year TiVo and Virgin will soon be going their separate ways. More information about Horizon when I get it.

Virgin Media announces merger with O2

The owners of Virgin Media and O2 have confirmed a £31billion merger to create a new ‘national champion’ to challenge BT and Sky in the UK.
Liberty Global, which owns the UK’s largest cable company Virgin Media, and Telefonica, which owns Britain’s biggest mobile operator O2, are to be merged in a new 50-50 joint venture.
Coverage here: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/may/07/virgin-media-and-o2-owners-confirm-31bn-mega-merger-in-uk and here’s the official press release with more details: https://2zn23x1nwzzj494slw48aylw-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Liberty-Global-and-Telefonica-to-Merge-UK-Operations.pdf

Now TV adds Disney Plus

Now TV customers can now directly access the Disney Plus streaming service from their Now TV device.
With no further news on Virgin Media introducing the app on the V6 boxes this is an easy way for Virgin Media customers who have Now TV for Sky Atlantic to access the new streaming service.
Now TV Smart Stick and Smart Box owners will need to purchase Disney Plus (£5.99 per month or £49.99 per year) directly through Disney before signing into their account through their Now TV streamer’s Disney Plus app. You can take advantage of a free seven day trial if you want to try before you buy. Details at the Disney Plus website.
Note that a Disney Plus subscription is not included in any Now TV passes.

Suspending Sky and BT Sports during the pandemic lockdown - update

Virgin has updated the form where you can suspend payments for Sky Sports during the current pandemic crisis so that you can suspend payment for BT Sports too. Here’s the new form https://www.virginmedia.com/help/thinking-of-leaving/talk-to-us/submitted.
I’m on the Oomph package, and I’m seeing a monthly credit of £27 for Sky and £9.25 for BT.

Brand new in-cinema releases available to watch at home on Virgin for less

To help customers through the pandemic lockdown, Virgin Media has some brand new films on current release to watch now on Virgin Movies, and at a reduced price for Virgin customers. These are Emma, Military Wives, The Hunt and The Invisible Man are available to rent, £9.99 for 48 hours.
Also, from Monday 23rd March Virgin are giving over 2.7 million Pay Monthly customers unlimited minutes to landlines and other mobile numbers, plus a 10GB data boost, at no extra cost, for a month.

Pausing Sky Sports during the pandemic

https://www.virginmedia.com/help/thinking-of-leaving/talk-to-us

Due to the coronavirus outbreak, Virgin Media is offering us the option of pausing our Sky Sports payments until live sport resumes. If you’d like to do this, please enter your details on this form on the above link and Virgin will pause your Sky Sports payments.
During this paused period, you will still be able to watch the Sky Sports channels. Virgin will make this change as soon as possible, if they need anything from you they will get in touch and there’s no need to call them.
(And you don’t need to do anything once live sport resumes, Virgin restart your payments automatically.)

Mixed messages on Disney+

Disney+ has launched in the UK and is available on Sky Q (but not in 4k yet) and various smart tellies. But it's not Virgin’s V6...yet.
Sky are boasting

‘We’ve partnered with Disney to be the only pay-TV provider to offer Disney+ on their platform.’ (https://www.sky.com/help/home/sky-tv/sky-tv-q/using-sky-q/q-tv-apps-test/using-sky-q-tv-apps/diagnostics/sky-tv-apps-on-sky-q/using-disney-plus)

but only last week Disney said they were still in discussions with Virgin and BT. Are Sky making this claim while the other suppliers finalise deals? I think they may be - they’ve made similar ambiguous claims before and we know the Sky/Disney deal is ‘non-exclusive’. And Disney+ hasn't appeared on NowTV yet we know that's a done deal as it's already been announced and that's a pay-TV provider (albeit owned by Sky). Don't give up hope on Disney+ on the V6 just yet.

Disney+ update

Just ahead of the Disney+ launch in the UK on March 24th, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence, Disney is in talks with Virgin Media to bring Disney+ to its devices in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
‘We have a long-standing relationship with Disney and are in talks about Disney+,’ a Virgin Media spokesperson said.
Last week, Disney and Sky announced a similar deal, which is a non-exclusive multiyear distribution deal with Disney+.
It is hoped that Virgin Media will announce a deal shortly. Stay tuned.

Disney + on Sky

Disney+, which is due to launch in the UK and much of western Europe on 24 March, is to be integrated into the Sky Q box, to be followed by Sky’s streaming service Now TV in the coming months.

Disney+ is also being made available as a standalone app. Sky’s deal with Disney is non-exclusive, allowing Virgin Media (and other providers) can agree their own distribution deals.
Content from Fox, such as The Simpsons, and Hollywood films will continue to be available on Sky TV and Sky Cinema as well as Disney+.

New TV Control app for mobile devices

Virgin Media has released a new version (4.5) of its TV Control app for iOS and Android devices. 
My first impressions are that it's faster and looks neater. It looks a little cramped on my iPhone 8 but I'm imagine it will be better on the larger screens of the iPhone X or 11, probably less impressive on an iPhone SE or older.
The reviews in the iOS App Store though are scathing. I found the previous version slow and it was always asking for me to log in again. So far, that hasn't happened with the new version and the release notes suggest that's been fixed, so fingers crossed.
iOS app here
Android app here
and Amazon has a Kindle Fire version too

 

TiVo to be replaced by Horizon - confirmed

Liberty Global’s fourth quarter results filing arrived this week which finally shone some light on Virgin Media’s TV strategy. Liberty has confirmed that TiVo’s long-standing reign at Virgin Media in the UK will soon end and be replaced by the Horizon 4 platform:

Virgin Media will soon roll out the company’s new user interface, Horizon 4, on its V6 boxes (replacing TiVo), and the ongoing integration of OTT apps such as YouTube, Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.
“We are open for business when it comes to app integration,” Liberty Global Chief Executive Mike Fries said.
The Horizon 4 rollout in the UK will also mark Liberty Global’s expansion of a video product that utilises the Reference Design Kit, a pre-integrated, open source software platform being managed by Comcast, Liberty Global and Charter.
“We think it will be transformational to the consumer experience in the same way X1 was for Comcast,” Fries said. “The bundle matters, and video is a big part of the bundle.”

More from Fries, the financial results and an update on Project Lightning: https://www.lightreading.com/cable-video/liberty-global-sizing-up-partnerships-to-expand-reach-of-virgin-medias-network/d/d-id/757527

The sharp-eyed among you may notice that Horizon is being built using Comcast technology. Comcast is the owner of Sky.

Disney+ App for Virgin Media?

According to a report in The Telegraph, Disney+ may be integrated into Sky Q at launch. That means Sky Q users will be able to access content through the Sky interface, similarly to how Virgin Media currently incorporates Netflix and Amazon Prime on the V6. Here are The Telegraph headlines, and you can read more about Disney+ here.

Sky is on the verge of a deal with Disney to bring the Hollywood superpower’s new streaming service to millions of British homes.
The pair were this weekend putting the final touches to a multi-year partnership. Sky’s rivals Virgin Media and BT will be able to carry the Disney Plus app, however, they will be unable to offer Disney Plus fully integrated with other programming.
It is understood that work is already underway to launch the service on Sky alongside its broader British debut on March 24.

So it will be a ‘Sky Exclusive’, but only in as much as that will initially be the only platform where it will be integrated into the Q search. What is not expected though is that it will be included in the monthly cost of Sky Q, which means that if you want much of the programming that was previously available on Sky Cinema (Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar, Disney) you’ll have to pay a little extra.
The good news is that it is anticipated (by The Telegraph at least) that Virgin will have the Disney+ App on the V6 at the time of launch too, as well as the more recent models of smart TVs and other streaming devices like Roku and Amazon Fire. No word yet if it will be added to the Now TV devices.
Disney has confirmed that Disney+ will cost £59.99 for an annual subscription (£5.99 per month). Those are the two available tiers, and you can cancel at any time. Either tier gets you four concurrent streams, unlimited downloads with a maximum of 10 devices and the option to create seven profiles. Disney UK doesn’t specifically mention resolution though, just ‘high-quality’ viewing. In the US Disney Plus had a wealth of 4K HDR content available at launch, including 91 movies from Marvel, Pixar, Disney, and Lucasfilm, as well as a small-but-growing cache of streamer’s original series like The Mandalorian.
It looks like it will be widely available, unlike Apple’s streaming service Apple+, which has a handful of good shows but isn’t yet on many devices except those from Apple, Amazon and Samsung.

LaLigaTV HD on Virgin Media

Over the last few years Sky Sports has lost the rights to many of what used to be the main attractions to their sports channels. Various golf, rugby and tennis competitions have signed deals with various non-Sky channels and even the cash cow Football hasn't been immune to the lure of other broadcasters, notably BT.
The Spanish top football league was something that disappeared quietly from Sky a few years ago, yet the cost of Sky Sports across all platforms has continued to rise regardless of so much top tier sport being found elsewhere these days. Funny that.
Fans of the Spanish take on the beautiful game have had their work cut out in recent years as it’s only been (legally) available online (with a few matches broadcast unheralded on ITV4) but now Virgin Media customers have a new dedicated HD channel on channel 554, LaLiga TV.
It’s available at no extra cost to current Premier Sports subscribers or you can sign up for a combined subscription to both Premier Sports and LaLigaTV for £9.99 per month.

New year, new VMHD

This blog is now thirteen years’ old! That’s pretty incredible for something I first started to campaign for Virgin Media to carry more than a single high definition channel - how times change.
Last year VMHD was put into hibernation for several months as I concentrated on some other work I was finishing. It was also a pretty lean time for Virgin Media news and discussion so there was little I came across that I felt needed sharing. However 2020 looks like it will be a lot more exciting, and I promise I’m back for good again to keep you informed.
We’ve got Sky Comedy launching later in January, the rumoured new UI on our V6 boxes, Sky’s UHD Sports and Movie channels promised and the inevitable usual round of price increases and carriage disputes to get angry about.
I’ve also simplified the blog’s layout. Out with Virgin’s awful purple, in with a cleaner black and blue theme.

Sky Comedy HD to arrive on Virgin Media, January 27th

We still don’t have Sky Atlantic but Sky’s newest channel, Sky Comedy, is to launch on Virgin Media on channel 121 on January 27th.
From the Press Release:

Sky Comedy will be the home of premium scripted US comedy from HBO, NBC and Showtime, including brand new acclaimed comedies like Mrs Fletcher, starring Kathryn Hahn, The Righteous Gemstones, starring John Goodman, Adam DeVine and Danny McBride, A.P. Bio and Sunnyside.  

This is big news for Virgin customers as Sky Comedy will also air all new series of returning hit US shows that had previously only been shown on Sky Atlantic: Barry, Veep, Larry David’s Curb Your Enthusiasm and Ballers starring Dwayne Johnson. Top rated US talk shows like The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver will also be featured, as well as comedy titan Saturday Night Live and a library of older shows including 30 Rock, Will & Grace and Parks and Recreation.

TiVo merges with Xperi

TiVo is combining with Xperi — a licensing firm that specialises in semiconductor technology as well as various audio/video brands — in a $3 billion merger, the two companies announced in December (yes, I’m still catching up!).
More details here: https://www.theverge.com/2019/12/19/21029945/tivo-xperi-merger-dvr-rovi-deal-patent-licensing

NOW TV in HD with Boost add-on

(Apologies for being so late with this news - I’ve been busy!)

https://help.nowtv.com/article/what-is-now-tv-boost

What is NOW TV Boost?
NOW TV Boost is the way to enjoy sports, movies and shows with better picture and sound quality than ever before on NOW TV.
Not only that, but Boost also lets you stream on 3 devices at once instead of the usual 2. All for just £3 a month.
What do I get with NOW TV Boost?

• Full HD: Watch all the Sky Sports channels, plus selected shows and movies, in 1080p video quality instead of the usual 720p.
• Smoother sporting action: Two Sky Sports channels – Main Event and Premier League – are available at 50 frames per second (except on LG TV).
• Awesome audio: Got a surround sound speaker system or soundbar? Boost lets you enjoy a fully immersive audio experience with Dolby Digital 5.1.
• An extra stream: Another handy benefit is that you get to stream on 3 devices at the same time. Perfect for families that can’t agree on what to watch!

Rumoured new UI for Virgin Media V6 in 2020?