Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

The sad thing is, they could have been made to work but the people running these stations didn't have a clue.

A wasted opportunity. But if this is the best they can do, I think it would be better if we just cut our losses and closed them down.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

Perhaps local tv should be streamed;)

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

l wonder how many viewers they would get.;)

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

Surely, this is what streaming is about? Getting minority content and seeing how many will subscribe to it?

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

Apparently, TVPlayer are the latest company to withdraw all UKTV channels from its service.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

The Bristol channel, at one time, was quite good at having some decent local-stuff in the 6pm slot even if it was blatantly rock-bottom budget. A couple of ex-BBC local presenters were on there too.

But recently, nah....

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

Well, you do need content to start with to set up a streaming service!

Even London Live has very little on it apart from black and white films.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

Virgin Media and Sky confirm AdSmart start

https://advanced-television.com/2019...media-in-july/

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

It was always going to start sooner rather then later as l remember you posting something about this a while back.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

what is adsmart and is the partnership with sky and virgin a good sign or just being greedy?

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

l think it will be good for both of them Vince.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

So does that mean ITV which make money on adverts will lose some of it as virgin media and sky take a piece of the pie or am i misreading this?

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

It's only on channels that Sky acts as the sales house for.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

I noticed on DigtalBitrate a UHD stream called InternalF

Usually Internal followed by a letter is the start of the name of the channel

Maybe a chance it could be Stingray Digital channel ‘Festival 4k’ as Virgin already carry their Karaoke Channel on the red button music service

Or indeed it may be Fashion TV UHD

Only time will tell.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

InternalF has been on DigitalBitrate for months as far as we know of.

---------- Post added at 15:52 ---------- Previous post was at 15:44 ----------

But We have found that Total Channels did go up by one on Thursday Night.

And we have just seen that an new Horror Channel +1 has been added to C034
DVBC TSid 11:

http://www.digitalbitrate.com/dtv.ph...ng=en&mux=C034

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

The thing about the letters isn’t accurate. As an aside Internal F is the Virgin UHD channel. It links to the same audio and video PID.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

Given there is a separate and correctly labelled VM UHD showing on DigitalBitRate, could this just be a test to see how a UHD stream handles on the multiplex InternalF is on?

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

It’s on the same frequency, so it’s just another version of the same stream.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

So it's pointing to the same place rather than being a copy transmission on the same frequency? If it were the latter it could be load stress test of sorts. I can't see the point if it's simply a pointer.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

It’s been there since before the channel launched in the EPG. So probably just a lack of housekeeping in the NAT.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

There's a whole bunch of "New" channels on C062 and C063 (see DigitalBitRate). There's 9 on each.
I think they are all part of a group of transitions to MPEG4 rather than actual new channels, one of the ones I checked was Crime+Inv SD, and the labelled version is still MPEG2 and on a different frequency.

Additional: I checked a few others, there's a Film4, CNN, History 1 & 2 , Nat Geo and Cartoon Network.

Additional additional: Most are 544x576 resolution.

Additional x3: I just noticed thst most of the ones I mentioned are on C055 in MPEG2. VM are clearly updating the whole of the C055 frequency/multiplex to MPEG4 but doing so by moving them all on to a different frequency/multiplex.

And the other channels I noticed seem to be from C067.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

Channel Guide for April now available:

Desktop: https://www.virginmedia.com/content/...1April2019.pdf
Mobile: https://www.virginmedia.com/content/...1April2019.pdf

Total Country TV on channel 348 is still missing.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

An update on the quoted above.

7 of the "New" Sans Nom on C062 have now got names (Nat Geo, NG+1, Nat Geo WILD, History, H+1, History 2 and Crime+Inv) , the channels being those I noticed from the other frequency/multiplex C067. So that's those switched to MPEG4 now...I double checked via the Diagnostics menu they were now H264 video. There are 3 "New" Sans Nom left on C062, and those 9 on C063 are still there and not yet switched over either, so those C055 channels have yet to be switched.

There's also a new "New" Sans Nom on C031. This is Cartoon Network +1 in MPEG4.

So there's going to be a lot of channels that need to be re-favourited after all these switches. It's an annoying side effect of the MPEG4 switching.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

5 channels switched over to MPEG4 overnight.

MUTV, Sky Sports F1 and Sky Witness have replaced the remaining 3 "New Sans Nom" on C062.

On C063, Channel 4 Audio Description and Boomerang have appeared in MPEG4 replacing 2 of the "New Sans Nom".

Additional: I thought Sky One had changed already. For whatever reason it disappeared from my Favourites like the other MPEG4 switched channels. Maybe it moved mutliplex, or I was mistaken about it being switched already.

Yup, Sky One is showing in 5 places. Discounting the HD channel, that's 2 on C055 and 2 on C063, one being MPEG2 and one MPEG4 on each. So it's moving position on the network (not the EPG, just so you don't misunderstand me) at the very least.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

So just in layman's terms, what does all this moving about channels from mpeg-2 to mpeg-4 actually mean to the normie average Joe viewer?

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

Your recordings will take up less room on the hard drive. Other than that, you shouldn't notice any difference.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

I suspect the PQ will drop a bit

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

It should not , its just a way of compressing the broadcast more efficiently.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

I noticed the Sky One duplications disappeared yesterday afternoon, but I didn't post. So that move is complete.

Following on from yesterday's MPEG4 switches, more happened overnight again.

C063 now has ZERO "New Sans Nom", they have now been named and confirm the frequency/multiplex move that I thought was occurring.

The following channels are now MPEG4 as of overnight: Boomerang+1, More4+1, Film4 SD, Film4+1, CNN, 4Music and Cartoon Network. On C031 the Sans Nom has been confirmed as Cartoon Network+1.

So if you Favourite any of these channels on your Tivo/V6 you'll (probably) need to re-Favourite them.

With these switches/moves on the network the C055 frequency/multiplex is basically going to be empty, as the overnight changes were its remaining channels.

Oh, and C067 is basically empty following the changes I mentioned over previous days, only Sky Sports Racing is on it. So expect a switch and/or more for that soon.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

Having experienced several codec changes in the past, I can catagorically say that each reduced the size of recordings at the expense of Picture Quality.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

When in particular and how did you identify the change?

There are always at least two factors. Encoding and bit rate. You can have a high bit rate MPEG2 that'll look better than a low bit rate MPEG4.

However if you do it right between the two you should see zero difference from a quality perspective.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

I noticed this on DigitalBitrate

5Star testing in HD, maybe another HD exclusive from 5 to join Paramount

http://www.digitalbitrate.com/dtv.ph...&sec=0&lang=en

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

Nice find! :)

Given the Catch-up On-demand for C5 channels tends to only come in HD flavour these days (I only really have Law & Order SVU on 5USA to go on for regular observations of this) it doesn't surprise me as much as it might have in the past, pre-Paramount Network HD.

The screen capture on that DigitalBitRate page is dated 24th March 2019 and it's a bit odd it's in MPEG2, but very interesting.

Had a look prompted by your find ScottishSteve and found that it also on a different multiplex (here) and the screen capture is dated last night, 3rd April. And also here, screen capture dated 29th March.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

Yes I noticed a few versions of it
It’s certainly very promising but as you stated MPEG2 is unusual
But Virgin works in mysterious ways

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

The Vxxx streams are all VOD, so will vary depending on what users in an area are watching. It’s likely that at different times channels with the same label have different compression/resolutions.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

That makes sense. Thanks jfman! :)

This makes me wonder how VM will use the space once they move their On-Demand over to IP-based delivery, only apps like iPlayer are doing it via VM's TV boxes at the moment, to my (limited) knowledge. It will probably go toward broadband services, to allow them to increase speeds.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

Look like the following channels are set to move over to MPEG4:

-MTV
-MTV BASE
-Club MTV
-MTV HITS
-BET
-MTV MUSIC
-VH1
-Disney XD
-MTV OMG
-MTV ROCKS
-Disney Channel
-Disney Channel+1
-Disney Junior
-XXX Brits (Channel 979)

http://www.digitalbitrate.com/dtv.ph...ng=en&mux=C063

As you can see all the channels listed on this post is broadcasting in MPEG2 and MPEG4 on that link I have posted.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

They moved on 1st April, the old data is just retained from historic scans because the same V-PID and A-PID are used. By clicking on 'more' next to any channel it'll show a graph of the video information which changed from red to blue to signify the change.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

We just seen them - sorry.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

No worries- it's harder than it looks interpreting the data at times. Thanks - and to cheekyangus - for looking at it so often.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

According to @RXTvlog (the new name for a516digital after the person running it handed over the keys to someone else) on Twitter, Insight HD has been withdrawn from Sky. Might make it, or its 4K version less likely to come to Virgin Media any time soon. More details on tweet here.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

Poor content is still poor content even in 4K.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

Insight held carriage negotiations with VM to bring their service via VOD about a year(?) ago, so i'm assuming that a deal couldn't be reached.

Now that their HD channel has closed on Sky, I'm not sure if this will mean they will try to increase their reach with their 4K streaming service, or if this means that the money is running out and that they have been forced to pull the HD channel. It was encrypted, but free, so probably wasn't in the Sky Sub Club and was totally reliant on advertising revenue.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

True. I've got no opinion on the content. I'm only familiar with the name of the channel from it being mentioned on here.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

@RXTVlog have now given more details (it's threaded onto the tweeted linked to above if you want to read it yourself). The short version is, they have an EU broadcasting license, not an OFCOM UK one and they decided not to renew their Sky contract as it was up. So you could say it was Brexit.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

Rumours now say on DS Forum that Insight deal with Sky was up that why the axe.

---------- Post added at 19:05 ---------- Previous post was at 18:47 ----------

We can see the following happen:

Universal Channel will close and move shows to Sky Witness, Sky One or Sky Two.
SyFy will close and move shows to Sky One or Sky Two.
E! and Movies 24 will become part of Realives brand.

New Channels?

Sky Three (For replays of the best shows on Sky One or Sky Two)
Real Action (For all the UK Reality shows from Realives, Sky One and Sky Witness to move to)
Sky Two +1
Sky Three +1
Sky Two HD
Sky Three HD
Real Action +1
Realives HD

Why?
If Sky and Universal did the following Sky would cut the replays on the main channels.

---------- Post added at 19:10 ---------- Previous post was at 19:05 ----------

That me put my 50p in

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

To be honest, I doubt that any of that will happen. For example, why would they move Universal or Syfy shows to Sky Two, which is broadcast only in standard definition?

Although I think rationalisation may take place soon, Sky Two is most likely be the casualty as it has pretty well lost its own identity these days.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

l gather you have proof of that OB? as l think it is more to do with your imagination rather then any substantive proof.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

As posted I think Sky may reuse the Universal and Syfy streams to launch new channels with two streams being reuse for Sky Two +1 and Sky Two HD.

I feel UniversalNBC will keep the Sky brand for their UK and Europe networks. Look what Liberty Global (They did add Virgin Media brand to the Rep. of Ireland)

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

I know that's what you think, but I am not sure what evidence you have to suggest such changes.

---------- Post added at 19:33 ---------- Previous post was at 19:30 ----------

I don't have proof, Den, which is why I used the word 'likely'. I do know that consideration has been given to a rationalisation of their channels, but no more detail than that.

I notice once again that you press me for proof, and yet you happily suck in what MB has posted, and no proof there either.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

So in short no substantive proof...

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

No evidence just my views.

Here hoping UniversalNBC/Sky reveal what is set to happen (If any) to their Basic Channels soon.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

Whatever MB has posted got anything to do with our conversation.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

Yes it does, Den, because you are being inconsistent. You disagree with just about everything I post because I am the one who posted it. These latest posts show that very clearly.

Let's just concentrate on the subject matter rather than just arguing the toss over every little thing simply because of personality issues.

It has been reported that a rationalisation of Sky channels is likely soon. It's what this means in practice that is the great unknown. However, to speculate that Universal and /or Syfy will have their content migrated to a standard definition channel does not sound very credible to me, does it to you?

---------- Post added at 19:54 ---------- Previous post was at 19:53 ----------

Thanks for the clarification, MB.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

There are no reports at all just a figment of ones imagination.

---------- Post added at 20:05 ---------- Previous post was at 20:03 ----------

Unsubstantiated IMO.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

C21 Media was reporting on Friday:

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

I know Sky is a household name in the UK but why would the Sky <insert number> name format be better than more distinctive names that have been around for years? SyFy, Universal, E! and Movies24 have been around for years. UK viewers know those brands.

Numbers don't convey content, viewers will forget which channel broadcasts the type of show they like. Will it become obvious that their favourite vampire show is on Sky 6 and so is their US housewife docu-soap?

I think Pick TV can be said to be doing a lot better now than under its old name of Sky3. And a good non-Sky example is Dave, it used to be UKTV G2, though admittedly much of the success there is because it coincided with it going Free-To-Air, but UKTV G2 doesn't roll off the tongue.

And staying with the UKTV example, there was a time when all their channels had UKTV added to their names. That was ultimately deemed not the best idea, so co-branding with Sky e.g. Sky SyFy and Sky Universal isn't necessarily a good alternative.

There were reports a few months ago, before Sky was bought, that Real Lives would close. The ratings numbers are tiny and I doubt most viewers would even recognise the brand. Partially because even though it's Free-To-Air, it's not on Freeview. I can't imagine Sky using that brand instead of the internationally known E!, which UK viewers are long familiar with.

I'd even go as far to say that Sky entertainment channels with numbers, other than Sky One, don't last very long, and those that do are continually relaunched. Sky Two has previously been Sky2, Sky Mix and Sky One Mix and it hasn't been a distinct channel for most of that. With on-demand increasing in popularity it has become increasingly irrelevant.

So I'm predicting the NBCUniversal channel brands to remain the same in the UK. The cost savings will come from the premises move already announced, and overlapping job positions being merged.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

I’d imagine what Comcast do with their brands will be try to make them as broadly uniform worldwide where they can.

It won’t always be possible, but with everything moving in the direction of a small number of worldwide distributors over the air, satellite, cable and online it makes sense.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

I honestly doubt any of the above will occur. I believe probably the opposite will happen.
The NBCU channels, along with FOX, are in my opinion are far stronger both content and brand wise than any Sky branded numeric channel. The glory days of Sky One having all the first run top US drama series ended about 15-20 years ago, even Sky Atlantic, is not the same as its launch first year. Though Sky Witness has improved too and is now far superior than Sky 1.
So I can see Sky 1 and 2 closing with main drama content sifted across to Universal TV, SyFy, Atlantic and Witness, and other content moved to one of the many lifestyle channels. Pick should continue with increased rerun content from NBCU.
I think the Sky branding is now only associated strongly with Football and questionably Sky News, so possibly NBCU may just continue the brand as a provider only, ie Direct TV or Dish Network, as opposed to a branded broadcast network of channels.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

I'd politely disagree , Sky One viewing far exceeds Universal channel , Comcast will use the Sky brand to expand across Europe no way the main Sky Entertainment channels are going anywhere.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

Just what l stated yesterday as where is the substantiated proof that certain Sky Entertainment Channels are closing as there ain't any and there never has been.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

Real Lives is a pay channel (though there have been rumours for a long time that it could go FTA at some point and it's been speculated that this is why it has no Sky branding).

---------- Post added at 14:54 ---------- Previous post was at 14:50 ----------

The very first Sky channel was 'Sky Channel'. When they increased their number of channels it was renamed to Sky 1, so I think that the original intention was to go down the route of numbering them, but then it was decided to name them by genre. With this in mind, Sky 1 etc are a bit of an anomoly so you could well be right.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

I don't think Sky One will close, or Sky Witness or Sky Atlantic.

I do think Sky Two will close though. As far as I'm concerned Pick TV is what any Sky Two should be, but the Sky Two name has too many bad associations with viewers these days as it doesn't (appear to, maybe I'm wrong) have any unique programming and is thought of as a Sky One recent repeats channel.

If Sky Two doesn't close, maybe it will be given an non-numerical name rebrand, or maybe there's an international Comcast brand they could use. It needs a theme, an identity, but not a crime channel... because they are everywhere at the moment.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

At the end of last October the CEO of Sky, Jeremy Darroch, confirmed that Sky would be closing a number of entertainment channels and no longer acquiring niche films. No names or quantity were given, but It's been speculated that these are likely to be Sky 2 and Real Lives:

https://www.a516digital.com/2018/10/...rtainment.html

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

Ooops. :erm:
I swear I thought I had read that it had launched on FreeSat years ago.

But clearly not. :dunce:

Thanks Richard.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

Both of those are pointless but I'm referring to it's better performing channels Sky One , Sky Witness and Sky Atlantic I'd imagine all of those would remain.

In Sky Boxsets 30 Rock , The Mindy Project have been added as Sky One and Law and Order Special Victims Unit as Sky Witness so I'd imagine those channels are safe.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

No problem :) I think that they ought to either make it FTA or close it as at the moment It's neither use nor ornament as we say here in Yorkshire :D

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

It wasn't a prediction, Den. We are all just speculating on the back of very little information. But we do know that Sky is looking to rationalise its channels, as Richard says above. We just don't yet know how they will do it.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

Look like no channels are set to move over to MPEG4 this week.

---------- Post added at 15:55 ---------- Previous post was at 15:07 ----------

Sky One did not start up as Sky Channel (Information found on Wikipedia):

Sky One was launch on February 5th 1989:

When it moved over to Astra 1A

At launch the only UK Channels was (As seen by me in mid 1990):

-ScreenSport (Later tookover by Eurosport)
-Eurosport (Was part own by Sky until 1991)
-The Children's Channel - 6am to 10am Weekdays or 12pm weekends
-Lifestyle
-Sky One
-Sky News
-MTV Europe
-Sky Movies

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

When the Sky multi channel analogue package launched on 5th Feb 1989 - Sky Channel kept it's name.

It didn't become Sky 1 until July 1989 when it became a UK and Ireland only service. Sky 2 was still several years away.

The original channel "SATV" which later became Sky Channel - pre-dates Channel Four.

ScreenSport, Lifestyle, The Children's Channel and MTV Europe were all on air on satellite as cable channels before the Sky multi-channel launch.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

Media Boy HQ has just found out the following DID move over to MPEG4 on April 1st or April 2nd:

We say that due it happen sometime between 04:35 to 12:38 on April 1st. They are -

-Animal Planet
-4Seven
-Discovery Channel
-Discovery Channel +1
-Home & Health
-Discovery History
-TLC
-Discovery Science
-Discovery Turbo
-Quest
-Al Jazeera Arabic
-Baby TV
-ITV2 +1
-ITVBe +1
-Quest +1

Q: WHY DID WE NOT HAVE TO RESET OUR FAVOURITES CHANNELS FOR THEM?
A: Channels posted did broadcast on the same stream before April 1st. Virgin Media UK just move them over from MPEG2 to MPEG4 to make room to add Nat Geo WILD, National Geographic, National Geographic +1, HISTORY2, HISTORY, HISTORY +1, Crime+Inv, MUTV, Sky Sports F1 and Sky Witness to the stream.

http://www.digitalbitrate.com/dtv.ph...ng=en&mux=C062

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

I did not know that as I posted early tonight I first seen Sky in late 1989 or early 1990. I did see WWF WrestleMania 6 on Eurosport.

The first Sky 2 launch was on September 1st 1996 (7pm to 6am) until that well known day of August 31st 1997.

The slot was given to National Geographic. Fox Kids broadcasts in the Daytime hours.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

Though there appears to be nothing new, not even an MPEG4 switch, I just looked at DigitalBitRate and there have been a lot of multiplex/frequency swaps.

These are showing as a massive number of "Broadcast end channel" highlighted in orangey pink, and "New" labels.

Like I've said already, they've just swapped blocks of channels about, even blocks of HD channels have been moved elsewhere as a whole. And even blocks of SD MPEG2 channels have been moved but not switched to MPEG4.

It hasn't affected any of my Favourites, as changes on the network often can.

Given they are all moves, but they remain in the same blocks (i.e. their neighbour channels remain the same), and there are no (obvious to me) technical changes like MPEG4 switches going on, the only thing I can think of is this is some sort of preparatory housekeeping, balancing the network in order to make more obvious changes in the future.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

Just seen it Virgin was busy last night.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

Yup. When I first saw it I was like :shocked: and then I looked closer and thought "oh, nothing much has changed really".

It looks much more major than it probably was, not that I'm very tech savvy on cable networks.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-K6Re8k02HE :D

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

Very appropriate. :D

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

Virgin Media has now combined the Factual and Lifestyle genres in their Channel Guide PDF:

https://www.virginmedia.com/content/...April82019.pdf

https://www.virginmedia.com/content/...April82019.pdf

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

Good. It was looking a bit silly having some Factual channels at the end of the Lifestyle section. And combining them is the most sensible and easy solution.

And they've added Total Country to the Music section, that was missing from the April 1 dated PDF version of the TV guide.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

Although it doesn’t appear to have happened overnight the space freed up will find itself next to the broadband frequencies for more bonded downstream channels and delivery of DOCSIS 3.1.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

Only the Manchester based networks according to information I have seen, which is why it has shown up on DBR (which uses Manchester data). Virgin has a rolling programme of frequency changes usually updating related regional network groups at the same time. The rolling programme also applies to the conversion of any remaining 64QAM frequencies to 256QAM and, apparently, the conversion of the symbol rate used by Langley networks to match the symbol rate used by the rest of Virgin's networks.


These are interesting developments for techies who enjoy studying these changes but they are just housekeeping updates.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

5STAR is launching their first original British drama, Clink, on 18th April.

Also, new episodes of IMPACT! will premiere on 5STAR from 26th April.

It seems the ideal time to launch 5STAR HD.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

Based on that, yes, it would.

However it turned out the V-labelled feeds we were seeing on DBR with 5Star content were On-demand feeds.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

So a false alarm, that's a shame. However, Virgin Media and Sky customers can watch most new 5STAR shows in HD via Catch Up.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

I didn't realise it was the same for Sky customers.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

Apologies if this has already been discussed, but there was a story in The Telegraph this week that caught my eye. It says that Liberty Global is considering opening it’s fibre network to other ISPs, including Sky (which has a fraught relationship with its current suppler, BT Openreach).
Story here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business...sider-opening/
This line caught my attention
Liberty Global might hope to gain reciprocal benefits in the supply of Sky Sports and other channels for Virgin Media’s cable TV service.
Before you punch the air screaming “Yes! Sky Atlantic and 4K channels!”, there’s a more cautious postscript:
“sources said there are fears that Sky may only be flirting to put pressure on Openreach, which is currently developing its pricing plans for full fibre in talks with Ofcom”

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

Is there anywhere in the world where a cable operator leases bandwidth to a third party to provide broadband on its network?

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

NTL used to do it.
https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/artic...eal-aol/166066

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

Being discussed in the news thread:

https://www.cableforum.uk/board/show...2#post35991042

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

I do remember AOL and NTL having a deal, I just wonder if this became a thing anywhere in the world.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

Ziggo in the Netherlands is being forced to open up its network. Articles here and here.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

Ziggo and companies on the KPN network appear to account for 83% of the market share so the intervention appears to be on competition grounds.

I’d be interested to see if anyone willingly has such an arrangement.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

Another set of MPEG4 switches incoming.C029 has a New Sans Nom, and I think it's the BBC Red Button Channel about to change.

On closer inspection all of the other channels on C029 have changed overnight.
So there's BBC1 (of some variety I'm not sure), BBC1 NI, BBC1 AD, BBC Alba, ABN TV, Vice, Crime+Inv +1, bbcalbahid (not totally sure what that is, maybe the off-air info screen for Alba), Clubland, Euronews, Sky Sports Main Event.

Also changed over is the whole of C030.
So MPEG4 switches have occurred also for: Live Events Channel, Al Jazeera English, Blaze, Nick Jr Too, Jewellery Maker, Nick Junior, Sky Sports Cricket, Sky Sports Mix, Nick +1, Nicktoons, Nickelodeon, Babes & Brazzers, Sky Events, Comedy Central +1.

I don't see any other obvious changes showing on Digital Bit Rate.

The channels listed above will NOT require adding to your Favourites again if they were previously on that list as there was no moving of multiplex/frequency that triggers Favourites being deselected.

---------- Post added at 10:17 ---------- Previous post was at 08:40 ----------

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I've just noticed ETVS10 on C029, and I forgot to put that in the list above. And that's BBC Red Button, so RB has made the MPEG4 switch too. The New Sans Nom labelled channel is simply a duplicate stream (they have screen captures from Sounds Of The 80s, which identified them for me).

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

I only just got the chance to confirm the changes on my V6 box rather than based on Digital Bit Rate website information.

All the channels I tried on those two multiplexes/frequencies, of those I listed, are switched to MPEG4. EXCEPT the BBC Red Button 1 channel on 991. It's still showing as MPEG2 on my V6.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

An interesting post, although using DBR's arbitrary channel numbers isn't too helpful. The channel numbers simply refer to the frequencies used on Virgin's Manchester networks and different frequencies will be used in other areas. It would be more useful if you could use the TSID numbers which are consistent across all of Virgin's regions.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

Useful to know, I didn't know, many thanks epsilon.

I mainly include the channel numbers so that any others who want to look at the DBR website themselves know which table of information I was looking at and refering to. And it helps them point out if I got it wrong and misinterpreted something.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

A fair comment but DBR also has a search by TSID so anyone wishing to look at the data could use that.


DBR listings can get quite messy when Virgin is actively updating the network, so it is easy to misinterpret the data.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

Live Events Channel has not and WILL not go over to MPEG4 as Live Events Channel only broadcast on Channel 0 on V+ and V+ HD boxes but Virgin Media are axing them.

Other than that Thanks for info.

Re: Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2019)
 

I'm still learning how to use the DBR website, thanks for the guidance. :)

---------- Post added at 17:13 ---------- Previous post was at 17:11 ----------

Very good point. I didn't even notice that it was only on the table once, let alone take on board what it was and how it is used.

That'll teach me to cut'n'paste. :D :dunce: