Question about becoming a Virgin+
 

Hi everyone, I'm new to this forum and have limited techy knowledge in the realms of satellite telly. My HDD recorder has recently packed up and rather than spend a load of cash on a new one I was looking at the idea of obtaining a V+ box (EBay, etc). Can anybody tell me whether I need to have a subscription to use the box just for recording FTA channels?

Hope this makes sense!

Re: Question about becoming a Virgin+
 

Virgin Media operates a closed system whereby you rent the box and pay the tv subs. There are no FTA channels as such on cable other than in their "cloned" freeview sense of getting M television package with something else for free. Unfortunately 160Gb V+ is what you're stuck with and whatever tv package you subscribe to.

If you want to spend cash on a box that's your own you're best off going the satellite route where you will get FTA channels.

Re: Question about becoming a Virgin+
 

yes you do it won't work
buy a freeview box they are also capable of recording live tv hd tv ect

Re: Question about becoming a Virgin+
 

Not until November 2009+ they aren't. Nor do DVB-T2 boxes physically exist yet.

Re: Question about becoming a Virgin+
 

Current Freeview boxes are not capable of receiving HD - when it does go 'public' you will need to get a new box.

<edit> already picked up, I see

Re: Question about becoming a Virgin+
 

Thanks all for clearing that one up! I'll probably opt for some kind of package with V then - would go for freeview, but have very poor reception where I am.

Re: Question about becoming a Virgin+
 

What sort of channels do you watch/want to watch? If you're interested in subs channels it's obviously virgin or Sky. If you're not there's no particular reason to go with either of those.

Re: Question about becoming a Virgin+
 

Scince you dont partically want pay channels have you thought about freesat? http://www.freesat.co.uk/ same idea as freeview but via satalite (so more channels + HD channels )and much better reception (for the most part)

Re: Question about becoming a Virgin+
 

my mistake sorry they upscale to 1080p
they also have a 160gb hard drive sony do a good one

Re: Question about becoming a Virgin+
 

For full PVR function you will need the Freesat+ box, which is around £300.

---------- Post added at 18:36 ---------- Previous post was at 18:26 ----------

but if you spend money on a freeview box, now, you will need to buy a new one when the 'proper' HD transmissions start.

Re: Question about becoming a Virgin+
 

Not to mention the twin installation of over £100, if you don't already have a dish with a dual LNB (pointing in the right direction, most are). If you switch your phone line to VM, take TV M and V+ then it would take 5 years (99+(5*12*5)=399) before it had cost you £400!

Sam

Re: Question about becoming a Virgin+
 

This (probably) is partly due to the box being manufactured by Humax. My Humax freeview PVR was around £200. They are very good boxes, but Humax is one of the more expensive manufacturers. I would expect cheaper alternatives to become available in the (near) future.

Off-topic: There are so many potential gags in this thread title :D

Re: Question about becoming a Virgin+
 

hopefully so, it was just that the OP seemed to require recording as a priority so I wanted to point out that a 'standard' box wouldn't do that :)

Re: Question about becoming a Virgin+
 

Thanks again for all your useful replies!:D

I do already have a freesat box and am very pleased with the channels - i really just need something to replace my hdd - it's a shame the freesat hdd machine is so pricey (you can probably tell - i'm on a tight budget!) perhaps it will soon come down in price.

The only channel that is not on freesat which i sometimes watch is Virgin1 - so, perhaps i'll keep the freesat box and get a new hdd/dvd recorder with inbuilt freeview - that would probably solve a lot. The original idea of the V+ box would have been good because it's all in one machine (the recorder and all the channels i watch.

Re: Question about becoming a Virgin+
 

You need a subscription for V+, £5 on top of TV:M or TV:L, free if you have TV:XL
You need a subscription for Sky+, either any Sky channel mix, or a subscription to maintain recording capability if you are only on FTA channels.

Freesat may be expensive to begin, but no further charges other than insurance/repair.