Virgin Media HD is a scam
UPDATE 17/07/09 – Since writing the below article, I’ve read news that suggests Virgin Media are finally set to give us more proper HD channels! Read my latest post on the matter
With news that Virgin Media have halved the price of their V+ HD set top box, you’d have thought that everything was on the up for the company, listening to customers needs and getting everything right for a change. How wrong could I have been!
Selling this as an HD box is downright offensive. The only HD content you get as a V+ customer is BBC HD (which until last week was only a trial channel) and a handful of free BBC OnDemand shows of no real value.
I’ve been a V+ customer since the summer and hoped they would have sorted out some new content by now. Yes there are HD films and other programmes to watch through OnDemand but these cost around £4 each for 24 hours.
Compare that to Sky HD where you get film channels, sports, etc all included in the price.
Regarding the HD box hardware, yes you can record two and watch a third channel but flicking between channels is frighteningly slow as the software struggles to clear out memory before displaying the next channel.
I can’t understand how Virgin aren’t throwing more bells and whistles at their customers. For those looking to switch to Sky, you’re offered 16Mbps ADSL (through BT) plus all the HD content you can shake a Murdoch-shaped stick at.
Virgin have also mumbled something about increasing their top tier broadband package to 50Mbps downstream (no mention of upstream though, probably still a feeble 256Kbps or similar) sometime in 2008 but it’s not 2008 yet… it’s 2007 and we’re on a throttled 20Mbps where if you use too much bandwidth by playing on the same Xbox Live that Virgin were promoting a couple of months ago, you get slapped down to an abysmal rate.
V+? V- more like.
couldnt agree more i cant stand the poor excuse of a servce they say they provide. Due to the software being so slow it makes watching tv very annoying and not enjoyable. It will randomly change channel on you as the remote is no good ill try to fast foward a recorded programe and it will tell me i cant record a recorded programe.
And as for the so called on demand service it only seems to work when it feels like it.
Oh and i have had 3 of these boxes within a year as the HDMI port just goes as the so called technicians say when they turn up just to swap a box causing me to lose all my recordings.
I cant have sky as the building i live in wont allow the instal but i thinking about getting rid and just having freeview as that seems to carry about as many channels as virgin does.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not anti-Virgin Media – I was looking forward to getting a viable alternative to Sky and the OnDemand service is bloody good… it’s just not the complete package that it deserves to be. The complete package that customers expect.
Yeah V+ sux. Lack of content, noisy, unresponsive unreliable hardware. Abysmal GUI. I’ve had 3 boxes now and they all suffer the same issues. It cant be very environmentally friendly for my V+ to be spinning its hard disc all night even when not recording and in standby mode. The Virgin engineers solution for me? Unplug the box from the wall. Erm, if I do that, it obviously loses its PVR functionality. Clueless twits.
I like virgin its great i just think that you lot ar moanin about nothin just be grteful if nythin does break it free to be fixed i had sky hd n my box kept breakin i had to pay out hundreds to get it fixed and the on demand is bta and so what if sky have more channels do u actualy watch them extra channels ? i don’t think so unless your some sad bird watcher or a wedding freak !
VIRGIN HD IS RUBBISH I AM GOING TO SKY
I’ve had V+ for coming up to a year, and while I agree with everything said so far the biggest frustration is why no ITV and CH4 HD services???
My problems with…
V+:
1. Painfully slow channel surfing.
2. If you press forward button too quickly it tries to record what your watching.
3. NO HD Channels!!!
4. No Sky 1
5. Noisey box
6. Expensive
Internet:
1. Forget surfing the net or downloading if your playing Xbox live.
2. Much slower than they promise.
I don’t find the Internet to be a problem, even when on XBL, but you’ve perfectly summed up everything that’s wrong with V+!
I thought it was just me going mad when pressing the forward button, thinking I must have slipped and pressed the record button. Glad I’m not alone! What a stupid place to put the record button!
The V+ box is awful, channel surfing is near impossible, infact i never really get past the abismal Virgin 1 because i cant be arsed its that slow, i used to love watching the discovery channels but they never get a look in anymore because they are too far up the channel list.
i know i could input the channel number but its 9 times out of 10 that you find something to watch by channel surfing.
I have v+ and it is quiet, never an issue, got it cheap as part of package and i am a scrooge lol.
Hd channels wikll come soon, oh and by teh way from nov 17th 08 all sky one and the other channels removed will be back on
I really don’t believe Virgin have ANY interest in HD whatsoever. We’ve had our V+ set for about 18 months now and the only HD channel has been the part time BBC HD.
Absolutely pathetic Virgin.
We’re now seriously considering a switch back to Sky, phone from BT and broadband from Be. Virgin might eventually roll out 50Mbps, but it won’t be for XL customers – they’ll instead introduce a higher tariff to cream off even more from us fools.
There is some pretty good on demand HD stuff… but the selection is still small. The biggest problem is the box, which is (as people have already saiud) too slow and constantly wasting energy. I also have really poor browsing (but not download speeds) on my Macs. Not tried the PCs yet.
Anyone know a fix for the browsing (especially first page load) speed problem?
Why does nobody mention the fact that Virgin HD is only a quarter of the resolution that it should be? I never knew this until the engineer that came to replace my V+ box (again) told me.
I think for most people (well myself anyway) the quality of the picture isn’t ever really an issue, certainly not on HD anyway. Everyone preaches about true 1080p displays but I think the reality is that most people will never notice the difference.
as a replie to fredrick… the v+ box isn’t quater resolution… it is in fact half the resolution as in can only out put 1080i which is interlaced and have the pixel count of a true 1080p t.v
Just to let you know sky’s the same… as well as freesat…. its too much bandwith to stream true 1080p pictures… all this misconception comes from the greedy manufacters of t.v… as in sell hd ready… then true hd…,, we could have done without the hd ready and just got true hd…. and as a vm technition… we cant fix broken boxes at the property… out job is to find the fault.. if the box is too fault it goes back to get repaired in the factory… Oh and yes more hd is coming as well as a new v+ box.
I would have thought by now that Virgin would realise they have to offer ITV & CH4 HD
as well as Eurosport HD and Sky Sports HD to sell the V+ box in greater numbers.
Assume they cannot afford these packages from those TV channels!
Would appreciate some information from Mr Branson & co otherwise there will be more loss of customers to Sky
Hello just got a new 32inch LCD screen and was looking at getting a V+ box to go along with the telly, As of now the TV conetent on a normal box is a bit pixely in the menus that virgin use, will this and the general picture improve when using a V+ box?
Thanks
In a word Rick, ‘Yes’.
.
Provided you connect your V+ box to your TV using an HDMI lead your V+ box will automatically upscale your picture. While this isn’t true HD it will give you noticeably better picture quality on your new TV than an SD picture from your old STB via a SCART lead.
For true HD you need to view one of the linear HD channels (currently just BBC HD & C4 HD but more are planned throughout the year) or one of the HD On Demand films or TV programmes (currently over 100 hours worth) and you’ll really notice the difference then
i think virgin is exellent compared to the sky+ i have been with both companys and the sky + always use to freeze up,the final straw for me with sky was when i got a letter through at the end of my 12 months contract saying it would be an extra 9.59 pe r month to cover there crappy box,at least with virgin my box is covered free of charge also the 3 way tuner is alot better than skys 2way or if you work off a shared dish in a flat you only get a one way tuner,and dont get me started on skys broad band that is only the old company easy net that sky took over from and if you have a look east net went bust for having such a rubish bbi service.
Bloody hell,Im currently in the process of switching from my full sky package [see,surf,speak}to virgin media full HD package. After reading these comments, I think i will stay with sky and tell them virgins where they can shove there V+HD box. Never had a problem with Sky the phone line is perfect, the broadband is perfect and the tv package is er…..ok,there customer service is pretty good too,although they speak in either scottish,american or klingon, they do try to help and 9 times out of ten, the problems are resolved there and then, its just a shame they charge the earth but you all know that old saying ‘you get what you pay for’
Have been a customer of Sky for 8 months never again, I have been getting 1MB service despite paying for 10meg. Tv, far from adequite, Expensive highly volitile in all weathers, and yes new dish and cables were used. Customer service is a swear word for sky. Outraged that ESPN is not covered by Sky without charge and I could go on, they are nothing short of thievs. Mr Murdoch keep your box modem and phone line and shove it right up your arse!
Have been a cable customer for the past 15 yrs from comtel to NTL to virgin media. The sky + box is a pig of a box compared to the latest V+ box. I was one of the few Tivo owners and was very sad to see it go but financialy it made sense to move to V+. The play again service is truly outstanding, reliable and fast and compared to Sky+, I find channel changing faster too. I pay a substantial less for Virgin media than the equivalent of sky and the broadband is totally reliable – internet radios on almost constantly with no drop in signal. Sky cannot achieve the same as they lack cable technology. Even though Virgin is just rebranded NTL, vast improvements in customer service and stability have been seen. Maybe I have got lucky but £45 a month for all my phone calls, line rental, 2 Virgin media boxes ( one of which is V+), free HD channels (unlike Sky) and 10Meg broadband seems good to me.
I have been with Virgin and its predecessors for more than 20 years. I lose internet connection whenever it rains. The junction box, 50 yards from my study window has been damaged by a careless driver. It is held together with tape. From time to time kids pull the connectors and a few days later an engineer tries to fix it. I did not believe some of these contributions prior to upgrading to Virgin HD+. Wish I had! Instructions for making box controller to control volume on TV are not correct! Found the answer by googling. Unbelievably you cannot guarantee to have HD picture and be able to use your existing surround sound (HK) – either HD picture OR HD audio not both! There are phono sockets on the SCART lead but what is the point if this is not used for HDMI? An optical out lead is available but produces no signal. What is its purpose? Discussions with technical support were not helpful. After some round-about attempt at some technical stuff the manager concluded by suggesting that they do not guarantee providing anything other than a picture and sound to your TV. Who buys an HD tv (Philips reviewed best in class some time ago) and expects the small speakers to compete with a dedicated external speaker and amplifier? She was very well trained in anodyne reassurances but not technical at all. Conclusion? Move to Sky HD plus broadband and to my amazement will save £110 a month! Thanks for making the decision so easy Virgin and goodbye.