The VM HD Discussion Thread

[Andrewcrawford23]

Originally Posted by Mobes

So are we still expecting CHN4 HD Andrew? I'm a tad confused now.

we have been expedctign it for 15 months i aint going to say much for a few reasons most of them personal

[Mobes]

O.K

[akki007]

It's madness, if a deal has been signed for Channel4 HD, surely VM would be shouting about it? Honestly, I've never seen such a haphazard way of conducting business.

[Mobes]

It does seem a bit pathetic! Ignoring the Sky HD channels that still leaves CHN4 HD, ITV HD, EUROSPORT HD, Discovery, FX, MTV etc.... are we REALLY saying that VM has or cannot negotiate/afford/be arsed to put a couple of these channels on their system??????

It beggars belief TBH with you.

[demented]

C4 HD and ITV HD will be on freeview in the not so distant future. C4 will be on freesat. If they don't fix this pronto it's going to be a very large joke indeed. You can't realistically have less than what's going to be FTA on two other platforms.

[rare uk]

I rang them up earlier on to discuss a quote for keeping my BB 10MB (old L, new L?) and Phone XL and cancelling my XL TV as am moving just my TV to SKY+HD. the guy on the phone said we're getting ITV HD in March and Discovery in March/April, and he was vague about any others.

Is this the standard "carrot on a string" practice from VM Customer Services? I don't know. So I'll hang around till 2nd June as supposedly that's when my contract is up, the date my V+ got installed and hopefully some of this will come true........

With Sky:
SKY+HD, variety pack (equivalent to XL) + 8MB BB, Unlimited Phone comes to £56.25, £8 more than what I pay at NTL but hey I think it's worth it for the HD

[Mobes]

That's a good point. Demeted. VM will then be seen as a lesser platform than the others if it happens.

I know HD users are in the minority BUT if your platform doesn't have HD (whioch lets face it is the future of broadcasting) then it will feel a very archaic one... and the markets don't like a backward thinkning company!

Also VOD is all well and good but if it doesn't have a decent amount of HD content on it then it too will seem backward very quickly.

---------- Post added at 15:12 ---------- Previous post was at 15:10 ----------

Originally Posted by rare uk

I rang them up earlier on to discuss a quote for keeping my BB 10MB (old L, new L?) and Phone XL and cancelling my XL TV as am moving just my TV to SKY+HD. the guy on the phone said we're getting ITV HD in March and Discovery in March/April, and he was vague about any others.

Is this the standard "carrot on a string" practice from VM Customer Services? I don't know. So I'll hang around till 2nd June as supposedly that's when my contract is up, the date my V+ got installed and hopefully some of this will come true........

Seems to me that the CSR's are asked to say or off their own backs say pretty much anyting that comes into their heads.... they're probably as in the dark as Neil Berkett seems to be.

[demented]

The problem is naming ITV HD in March is almost plausible. Last time I checked my ITV Net Player upgrade still had nothing in tv choice. So there's further work to be done there so why not ITV HD?

The thing is though say it's true, why aren't they shouting it from the rooftops?

[Mobes]

I was pretty hopeful a couple of months back.. i'm just ****ed off now lol...

[akki007]

I'm going to see out my contract and then I'm off to Sky. I like Virgin, it's a shame that they have their heads fixed firmly up their anal passages.

[Mobes]

You're lucky you have the choice

[nialli]

I have the choice but won't be going to Sky. I've posted before my reasons for sticking with VM and they're still relevant today. Here's what I posted on my blog back in September:

As anyone who's followed this blog will know I've been growing increasingly frustrated with Virgin's attitude to HD. Despite the promises, we actually have LESS On Demand high definition programming now than we did a year ago, and the improvements we have seen with HD - a better BBC HD and wider selection from FilmFlex - have been a result of other companies' recognition of the HD future of TV, not Virgin's.
But after much consideration I'm sticking with Virgin. For now, at least. If it was just my decision my family would have adopted Sky for TV years ago around the time the Sky+ first appeared. But it's a family thing and it's not an easy switch to make if I'm trying to keep everyone happy. So here are the crumbs of comfort that help me live with that decision:
1. HD is great, but it's not our TV's raison d'etre. Video On Demand, especially iPlayer, is used almost everyday by my family and we're a democratic household. My wife likes Virgin Media (she'd also be happy with Freeview, but let's not go there). My daughter likes the music On Demand. We all find new stuff in TV Choice on Demand we enjoy and iPlayer and the C4 catch up services have proven invaluable. It would for us all be a big loss to move to Sky Anytime's second rate service.
2. The programmes/channels we actually watch aren't available in HD. We watch the BBC and Channel 4 channels mostly (including Film4, our favourite movie channel). We sometimes watch ITV channels, TCM and Dave, and sometimes Virgin1 or Living. None of these are in HD (except C4, more on that in a mo) yet. Showcase HD channels are impressive but not what we want. We get our documentary fix from the BBC, which I personally much prefer to Nat Geo, Discovery or History. Sky1? Got over that last year - we watch Battlestar and Lost on DVD now. So even with Sky HD we wouldn't actually watch much HD. Not yet, anyhow.
3. Film4 HD, where art thou? We do watch Sky Movie channels at weekends, but if it's a film we're really into we will have seen it at the cinema, will have it on DVD or may watch it on FilmFlex - by the time it hits Sky Movies it'll be a second or even third viewing for us. The one film channel we would possibly switch for is Film4 HD, but no sign of that on any platform yet.
4. The V+ upscaling is "good enough". It's not HD, but for our viewing it's more than adequate. We have two LCD HD-ready TV's in the house; a 32in Tosh and a 20in Sony. Neither are really big enough to make the most of HD. I doubt we'll look to replace either before 2012. The V+ upscaling is very good, especially on BBC4 (which is my fave channel most weeks), More 4, C4 and ITV1 (the latter being notoriously poor on Sky). I've been less impressed with the Sky HD box's upscaling and find the V+ better.
5. The Temptation of Footie in HD. Yes, I know I'm clutching at straws here but the picture on Sky Sports has improved considerably since they're been shooting in HD, even on the SD channels. I'm not a sports junkie though and the Sky Sports package is a luxury I would drop if money became an issue. (Having said that, am I alone in finding the Sky Movies' picture worse of late? It used to be great but now looks over saturated to my eyes.)
Anyway, for the forseeable future we'll stick with Virgin. Which I guess will please fans of this blog as I desperately continue to hunt down information on Virgin's HD scraps. And maybe even those with Sky HD will visit here still to see how sad a search that can be. I guess there are many who want more HD on Virgin but not to the point where they can or will switch to Sky. So, as they used to say, stay tuned.
And, who knows? Maybe one day we'll have a high definition service after all, even if it is after the Freesat and even Freeview services have their HD offerings available to tempt us...

[Mobes]

Film 4 wnt an HD version...waddya reackon the chances VM will have it? lol

[frogstamper]

Well bang goes another VM HD fantasy, the fact nothing has been mentioned since Burketts boast on 15/12/08 of three or four HD channels in the next three or four months, had me doubting they would materialize.
Listening to his "rosie" blather about VMTV on the subject of HD, I had to laugh as he said "we are not going to let our competitors build a competitive advantage in the HD area".
What on earth does he call our paltry HD content compared to Sky's ever growing 31 plus HD channels??? I expect in his deluded mind VM is hot on the heels of Sky. No doubt he'll announce another HD fantasy soon just to keep as many VM customers on board in the hope he can pull a rabbit out of his backside.
Well not me Mr Burkett, fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.

[hmptec]

On questioning the availability of HD products via the virginmedia twitter channel, they replied :- "There are some exciting things planned which we are still working on - look out for announcements we'll be making in due course".

Don't hold your breath though!