Question about becoming a Virgin+

[miketv]

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!

[demented]

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.

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

[demented]

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

Originally Posted by martyh

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

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

[miketv]

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.

[demented]

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.

[beeman]

Originally Posted by miketv

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.

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)

Originally Posted by homealone

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

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

Originally Posted by beeman

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)

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 ----------

Originally Posted by martyh

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

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

[sammyjayuk]

Originally Posted by homealone

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

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

[danielf]

Originally Posted by homealone

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

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

Originally Posted by danielf

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.

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

[miketv]

Thanks again for all your useful replies!

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.

[Matth]

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.