[jonw]

Is Virgin HD any good with the TiVo box they do.
Currently got Sky HD but hacked off paying the high monthly subs.

[dxb335d]

How much are you paying??

My own opinion is sky is better than virgin.

[jonw]

About £60 but got my broadband and phone with Virgin which is £40.
Probably not the most economic way of doing it but have no BT landline at home.

[buckethead]

sky best for tv as alot is left out of the virgin packages ie football first afaik

virgin broadband is in most areas is fibre optic which no sky broadband will come anywhere near

so to save costs their has to be a compromise of sky with as not good broadband or virgin with limited tv channels & red button services

[buckethead]

imo the best thing to do is adjust your packages get rid of what you dont watch on sky

sky have just added alot of channels to the basic package anyway

and do you really need 50mb broadband when 30mb is cheaper etc

[M3-FAST]

I swapped to virgin hd with the new TiVo box, it really is very good!

Ok some of the menus are not as nice as sky but it has a triple tuner so can record three things at once or record two and watch a third.

Worked out lots cheaper as before I paid sky for the tv and bt for tel line (unused but needed for broadband) and broadband supply which was always crap (6mb tips on a good day!)

Now pay about £55 for telly inc hd channels and TiVo box, tel line with unlimited landline calls and 30mb broadband.

Can download an album off iTunes in about a minute and great for I player etc on the wifi tv!

[scotgc]

I just had TiVo installed yesterday, upgraded from V hd. First impressions are very good! You can give program's the thumbs up and it learns the type of program's you like and suggests similar ones that you may also like. As others have said its much. Cheaper than sky, I have TiVo downstairs and my old V hd box in the bedroom, TV L package, 10mb broadband, unlimited evening and weekend calls for £47 per month. I have been with them for about 6 years now. You can't beat cable broadband !

[jonw]

Thanks for the info chaps.
Do you get anything similar like Sky Anytime on Virgin ?

[parapaul]

Yeah, I'm sure you do. I'm sure they have an ondemand service of some sort.

[M3-FAST]

The on demand section on virgin is massive, you. An access program by day/time or by searching for the title and viewing all available episodes.

Great for music and music videos on demand too.

Makes sky's offering look very weak

[gIzzE]

Is everything in HD?

I don't remember the last time I watched SD on Sky, sure Virgin still showed alot in SD though?

[Kerr]

Just phone up Sky and tell them you are likely to be leaving to go to Virgin as their offers are better.

Watch Sky match that to retain a customer.

No hassle of changing over and a day off work to have Virgin installed.

[M3-FAST]

Originally Posted by gIzzE

Is everything in HD?

I don't remember the last time I watched SD on Sky, sure Virgin still showed alot in SD though?

It has got the usual the usual hd channels

Bbc1, bbc hd, itv, ch4, ch5, MTV, discovery, etc...

I don't have movies or sports so don't know about that hd content but guessing its similar to sky?

[M3-FAST]

Originally Posted by scotgc

You can't beat cable broadband !

Yep agreed!

Just done a speedtest on my iPhone over wifi

25ms ping, 25mbs download, 3.1mbs upload

Can sometimes drop to 10-15mb when demand is high but still hugely faster than my crap old bt broadband by miles!!!

[BanziBarn]

Ive got a Tivo. The box is a litle buggy but there is an update coming soon. Interface wise, Sky is better, but feature wise, the tivo is miles ahead.

For example, when you fast forward through the adverts there is no risk of overshooting becuase as soon as you see the program start again you just hit play and the box automatically jump back to the end of the break. Very clever.

Also, the TV guide works in the past. Skip back a few days, select a program and watch it on demand.

There is Youtube integration too which looks up stuff related to the progam in the guide you're looking at.

Like a certain actor in a show you're watching? Hit info, select the actor and see what else they are in.....and watch that!

Like has been said, the internet is really fast and doesnt really ever slow down. I get between 9.6 and 11 mbps all the time on my 10 meg connection.

I think Sky has more HD channels though.

[MEGA]

The Tivo box is outstandingly good and well worth the usual Virgin gripes (currently: No sky atlantic, not all sports or movies in HD).

It should also be remembered that it is Mudoch Co restricting the channels virgin can show; Blatent monopolisation attempts - that go unpunished as no one can hold a candle to him in the industry (They tried with phone hacking, but he still got away scott free!).

You can't blame Virgin media for not having certain channels really. Aklthough; if they are must have channels for you then fair enough.. Go sky. IMHO The package they do have though is very good and competetively priced, etc also.

The counter argument for Virgin above all others though would be the indian call center experience. Now I've not had sky so don't know how good Sky's CS is: But yes; it is appaling with Virgin. Absolutely fine if nothing goes wrong, but getting them to understand the issue is nion impossible (Read: After 8 successive call center monkeys read their script and then say that someone will call you back when the solution isnt to turn it off/on again: Someone might eventually call you back. Who will then book an engineer and threaten you that if it's your fault it will cost infinity million dollars to fix. That engineer then won't bother to turn up; And they'll try and charge you anyway. Etc).