Virgin Media lack of tv investment

[nialli]

Originally Posted by mersey70

VM VOD didn't contain all of SKY Atlantic's HBO content.

Far from it.

poor wording on my part - now corrected

[mersey70]

Originally Posted by nialli

poor wording on my part - now corrected

Did it even have the majority of content?

Genuine question I don't really know for sure but it seemed pretty sparse, and static if I recall.

And wasn't some of it PPV too although I think that was mainly adult content.

[nialli]

It was all there, free to VM TV XL customers, in HD where available, too. I think they only had the first season of Big Love, but the rest were shown as complete seasons from what I recall.

[mersey70]

Originally Posted by nialli

It was all there, free to VM TV XL customers, in HD where available, too. I think they only had the first season of Big Love, but the rest were shown as complete seasons from what I recall.

There was definitely PPV stuff too, certainly adult stuff. Not porn, just typical HBO 'documentaries'

Was Mad Men on the iplayer or HBO TVC?

[nialli]

Originally Posted by mersey70

There was definitely PPV stuff too, certainly adult stuff. Not porn, just typical HBO 'documentaries'

Was Mad Men on the iplayer or HBO TVC?

All the stuff I listed here was not PPV but regular VoD.
Mad Men isn't HBO - it's AMC. It appeared on iPlayer after showing on BBC4/HD each week.

[mersey70]

Originally Posted by nialli

All the stuff I listed here was not PPV but regular VoD.
Mad Men isn't HBO - it's AMC. It appeared on iPlayer after showing on BBC4/HD each week.

I didn't know that cheers.

Oddly HBO content was still available on BT Vision, at least it was recently. For how long though I don't know, in fact it might have been removed already.

[Doug P]

Originally Posted by Jameseh

We don't have Sky Sports Red Button or 3 HD channels that output about half a minute of HD a year so VM are negating TV? What a heap.

What does this mean?

[m419]

Originally Posted by mlayzell

29 HD channels - fine
TiVo on the way - excellent
VHD boxes will slowly replace the standard STB - good thinking

Not to bad I would say!

The amount of channels and content which is missing on Virgin TV is bad, if you look at Sky's channel line up compared to Virgin Media's it is not looking too good.

I will not leave Virgin Media because they've been good and remain good, it's just the lack of tv channels. There isn't any point in selling me Tivo if there is nothing worth watching!

There are also channels such as BET which are on freesat but not on Virgin TV, it's a free channel! What is a viacom playing at!

And then we have CBS reality,Horror and Extreme sports from Chello Zone but no CBS action or CBS drama and then you see something advertised that you want to watch and then when it mentions a channel you can't get you just feel like throwing darts at rupert murdoch!

And it's not just Virgin TV, it's all the TV platforms in the UK and ireland, there's bugger all on and i'm blaming everything on sky

[passingbat]

Originally Posted by m419

There isn't any point in selling me Tivo if there is nothing worth watching!

I do agree with you on more channels needed, but by the argument above, then you may as well get rid of VM altogether if you think there is nothing worth watching.

Actually, Tivo will help you with the current content by automatically finding shows you like without you having to serch them out. Whishlists have automatically recorded things I like, but would probably never have found without spending 10 hours a day going through the EPG or other similar programme listing

[devilincarnate]

Originally Posted by passingbat

I do agree with you on more channels needed, but by the argument above, then you may as well get rid of VM altogether if you think there is nothing worth watching.

Actually, Tivo will help you with the current content by automatically finding shows you like without you having to serch them out. Whishlists have automatically recorded things I like, but would probably never have found without spending 10 hours a day going through the EPG or other similar programme listing

Well said and I have to say on the lack of content who wants more talk shows/ shopping channel and what I did to make my parents hate me

[weesteev]

No investment?? What about the £100m+ investment in migrating the 3 legacy headends to one super headend and migrating over to NAGRA3... that was no mean feat. What about the investment to upgrade the analogue areas of Bolton, Leicester, West London and Derry to all Digital. What about the 20+ HD channels that have appeared in the last 18 months. What about the vastly improved Cisco VHD box. What about TiVo. What about an affordable Tivo in the summer. What about Red Button launching as promised.

Do you think that someone thinks of a product and its delivered in a few weeks? Red button functionality, like TiVo is a massive technological change to the distribution network, Cable TV in its current form in the UK cant match the broadcasting bandwidth of satellite until further changes are made. The company certainly isn't doing nothing and I find it insulting that you suggest so. As a member of this forum then surely you must have seen the endless TiVo, HD, Nagra3 threads to be aware that changes are happening... and all happening to provide a stable and secure future for the company.

[devilincarnate]

Originally Posted by weesteev

No investment?? What about the £100m+ investment in migrating the 3 legacy headends to one super headend and migrating over to NAGRA3... that was no mean feat. What about the investment to upgrade the analogue areas of Bolton, Leicester, West London and Derry to all Digital. What about the 20+ HD channels that have appeared in the last 18 months. What about the vastly improved Cisco VHD box. What about TiVo. What about an affordable Tivo in the summer. What about Red Button launching as promised.

Do you think that someone thinks of a product and its delivered in a few weeks? Red button functionality, like TiVo is a massive technological change to the distribution network, Cable TV in its current form in the UK cant match the broadcasting bandwidth of satellite until further changes are made. The company certainly isn't doing nothing and I find it insulting that you suggest so. As a member of this forum then surely you must have seen the endless TiVo, HD, Nagra3 threads to be aware that changes are happening... and all happening to provide a stable and secure future for the company.

Calm down dear

[WDLaserjetGLOVER]

The only complaint I have about VM is my bill each month.
Their HD content is plenty for me, broadband does all I need, and the Tivo is ace.
Compare things to five years ago and you must see that VM have invested heavily.

[HDFootyMan]

Originally Posted by weesteev

No investment?? What about the £100m+ investment in migrating the 3 legacy headends to one super headend and migrating over to NAGRA3... that was no mean feat. What about the investment to upgrade the analogue areas of Bolton, Leicester, West London and Derry to all Digital. What about the 20+ HD channels that have appeared in the last 18 months. What about the vastly improved Cisco VHD box. What about TiVo. What about an affordable Tivo in the summer. What about Red Button launching as promised.

Don't be silly, everyone knows that Virgin don't care about their TV service.

And yes, that WAS sarcasm.

Originally Posted by weesteev

Do you think that someone thinks of a product and its delivered in a few weeks? Red button functionality, like TiVo is a massive technological change to the distribution network, Cable TV in its current form in the UK cant match the broadcasting bandwidth of satellite until further changes are made.

I'm betting that Virgin will be upgrading to a 1Ghz network at some point then.

[m419]

Originally Posted by passingbat

I do agree with you on more channels needed, but by the argument above, then you may as well get rid of VM altogether if you think there is nothing worth watching.

Actually, Tivo will help you with the current content by automatically finding shows you like without you having to serch them out. Whishlists have automatically recorded things I like, but would probably never have found without spending 10 hours a day going through the EPG or other similar programme listing

I can't get rid of it, i've moved into a flat in central london and I can't have sky because there are too many buildings in the way and I need permission, only people on the top floor can get it. The communal aerial doesn't seem to work, there is a Rediffusion sockets with a knob on which is defunct and so my best option would be Virgin's M or L package for now. I tried analogue by plugging the cable directly into the TV, that no longer works not even basic 5 channels.

So it's just unfair for those who can't actually get Sky!