Living HD test broadcast begin

With just a few days left until it launches, Living HD is testing in high def now.
Looks like it will be a cable exclusive at launch, which is somewhat surprising.

Virgin outage in London today

Virgin Media's network was suffering problems this morning with cable subscribers in south London and the South East cut off, and the firm's own website - including webmail - down.

Apparently this was due to power problems were at a former NTL site in Winnersh, Berkshire.

As of lunchtime, Virgin Media said services should now be returning.

HD info added to on-screen programme descriptions

If it's broadcast in HD, Virgin's on-screen programme information now seems to show it in the programme details (i on the remote). Not sure how long this info has been there (only saw it today - it may have been introduced a while back) but it may prove useful.
Incidentally, they are also showing the Sky channels' HD tags too, which must be an error in the feed Virgin uses.
(I also noticed the last edition of VM's Electric magazine listed certain Sky Movies as being available in HD, which of course they aren't - unless you're a Sky HD customer.)

Virgin confirms Living HD launch for Oct 6

As mentioned on this blog earlier this week, Virgin has now confirmed the launch of Living HD on October 6th. Listings for that day's programming are here, and the full press release is below.

Virgin Media today announced that LIVING will exclusively launch in High Definition (HD) on its TV platform from the 6th October.

LIVING, home to the Next Top Model franchise, cult phenomenon Most Haunted and the break out hit of the year Four Weddings, is one of the UK’s most watched digital TV channels and will now be available to viewers in HD for the first time. LIVING HD will show some of the channel’s high-profile acquisitions to maximum effect, including programmes such as Ghost Whisperer, Private Practice, Boston Legal, CSI Vegas and CSI Miami.

LIVING HD joins Virgin Media Television’s line-up of great entertainment channels, including LIVING, Virgin1, Bravo and Challenge, and will be simulcast on Virgin Media’s TV platform from Tuesday 6th October. LIVING HD will be available to Virgin Media’s XL TV tier subscribers at no extra charge.

Mark Schweitzer, chief commercial officer at Virgin Media, said: “Our customers watch LIVING more than any other digital TV channel, so I’m delighted they will exclusively be the first to watch it in spectacular HD. LIVING has a powerful brand and a breadth of programming that works so well in HD. Our TV service continues to grow as we focus on content that both complements our existing line-up and benefits most from being shown in HD.”

Jonathan Webb, managing director of Virgin Media Television, said: “LIVING’s HD launch is a significant step forward in Virgin Media Television’s cross-platform entertainment strategy. LIVING offers some of the glossiest shows around and its HD launch will showcase our line-up at its most vivid and colourful.”

BBC confirms Top Gear in HD from Nov 15th

The next series of Top Gear, starting November 15th, will be shown in high definition on BBC HD. More details on the BBC HD Blog

Living HD

Word from a friend at VM I was talking to this week is that Living HD will not be with us until some point in October. Not sure why there's the delay - possibly it will arrive with one or two other additional HD channels (ITV1 HD the most likely addition).
Carriage negotiations with Sky over Living HD continue and, despite the war of words that's flared up again over the Ofcom report, it has also been reported that the relationship between Virgin and Sky "is better than it has ever been". Okay, so the two companies start from a particularly low point but I'm still hopefuly that there's a "Living HD for Sky 1 HD" trade in the offing.

Picture Quality on BBC HD

Danielle's posted an update on the recent change of encoders being used on BBC HD and what is being done to address the perceived loss in picture quality: Picture Quality on BBC HD: a response

Freesat numbers rise, but...

Freesat has officially taken off, with the latest press releases boasting over 600,000 customers which places it above BT Vision in the digital TV race despite only recently entering the fray.
But is it going anywhere? The big selling point initially was that it was free HD for those with a dish, but it still only has BBC HD and a few hours a week of ITV HD whereas Sky, Virgin and the imminent Freeview HD have more. More comment on Freesat on the Home Cinema Choice site.

Call for Freeview HD to be encrypted

It hasn't launched yet, but there are calls for EPG encryption on the forthcoming Freeview HD set top boxes when they finally arrive. According to a report in The Guardian:

The BBC wrote to Ofcom asking it to consider whether the digital television HD signal could be encrypted via a so-called "broadcast flag" so that only selected PVRs will be able to record over Freeview.
The actual audio and video won't be scrambled, but the standard EPG data tables that set top boxes use would be encrypted so that only manufacturers that sign up to a new licence will have access to the right code, which is needed for recording.

More on Virgin Media's IPTV plans

A word of warning: this gets pretty technical in places, but follow this link Cable Digital News for more details about Virgin's IPTV (aka "Next Generation Television") deal with Cisco and plans for the future. (Thanks to Jasmeet for the link)