I have switched......

[demented]

Originally Posted by gadge

True hd channels
BBc HD
FX HD
Bio HD
luxe tv HD
Rush HD
Discovery HD
Nat Geo HD
History HD
Crime HD

those are the only ones that show hd and not upscaled the others have a mixture off hd and upscaled.

Strictly speaking that is not a fair comparison. Comparing like for like BBC HD would be classed as the same as 8 of the 9 movie channels, which are 100% HD with exception. Strictly speaking BBC HDs criteria is a maximum of 25% SD or low grade HD content per programme and BBC HD has shown upscaled material in the past. I know they like to pretend otherwise but is has physically actually happened. So there are infact 17 true HD channels on your criteria.

[joyrider1]

Originally Posted by Mobes

it's a bit sad it upsets you so much mate

Sorry missed your post, too busy eating my cheese on toast......

[Mobes]

Originally Posted by joyrider1

Sorry missed your post, too busy eating my cheese on toast......

Give me a slice!

[joyrider1]

OK, you can have the "standard" cheese, I will keep the good stuff for myself......

[Mobes]

I'm sure i saw a piece of upscaled cheddar in the back of your fridge.

[joyrider1]

It was only a rumor....

[Mobes]

Ah, that must be it...

[gc10360]

Originally Posted by joyrider1

stuart, yout loyality to VM is to be applauded, but you cannot go on sticking your head in the sand over this issue. You must agree that SKY are the market leader, and where they lead, others would be foolish not to follow. How can you say HD is not upmost in a lot of VM subscribers minds. Just look through the posts on this forum....how many are about HD, or the lack of it? Putting the same point back at you....how many people are on the CF internet board screaming out for 50meg BB? Hardly a priority is it Stuart?

The simple truth is that VM are painfully slow to embrace this new technology. Many have speculated as to why this is so, lack of available bandwith, lack of funding etc. i have given up following the "coming to VM soon" thread here. Nothing seems to be moving on that front....

Antway, as promised, I have had SKY HD installed today, and I will give my honest opinion to the plus and minus points of both platforms. As I said before. I have been loyal to the Virgin brand for many years, and as a trade unionist I am no big fan of R Murdoch either. So this honest apprasial is without prejudice..

V+ Plus points
Extra tuner as opposed to SKYHD
Slightly better upscaled picture on SD compared to SKYHD
Catch up TV on Demand
Watch TV while going through menus
Free Setanta on XL

SKY HD plus points
Much better, quicker interface when going through menus
more channels in total
30+ HD channels
30+ Channels in 5.1 Surround sound
Much quieter hard drive
160 gb Hard Drive

Anyone else seen any comparisons I missed, please feel free to add. So all in all I am very happy with the SKYHD box and the HD Channels, and 5.1 sound for more or less the same price as I was paying. I have my Plasma hooked up to my PC, so catch up TV is still available to me to enjoy through the various catch up on demand services (iplayer etc). The quality the picture and more impressivley, the Dolby 5.1 sound gives makes me think that the V+ is just wasted on the current set up of Cable TV. There is much more the V+ could do, but it is very underused.

Stuart, I think you will see that the figures you quoted above regards SKY HD subscriptions is now hopelessley out of date. The engineer who installed my SKY HD said (without prompting), the HD offer was so well subscribed they had trouble keeping up with demand. Pity VM's board didnt focus on HD, they would have kept me as a subscriber.........

Tbh you pretty much covered everything, there but there are a couple of points - SKYs new EPG that is coming soon - has the ability to watch tv whilst on the EPG like virgin, also ive heard u can upgrade the HDD in the Sky boxes to larger capacity 1s - thats good - theres other little bits like the ability to remote record from ur mobile or pc and the red button functionality.
it makes all the difference. Which box did u get with ur install - i got the samsung box, after reading the forums on digital spy, ive heard the samsung and amstrad boxes are the better option.

[AndyCambs]

Originally Posted by joyrider1

More up to date Stuart, andSky are creating 1000 jobs to meet demand in the next quarter


Sky has cut the purchase price of its flagship Sky+ HD box from £150 to £49 with immediate effect.
...............

The rise in subscriber numbers coupled with reduced churn and increased revenue per subscriber contributed to total revenue of £2,601m in the second half of the year, up 6% on the year before, and an adjusted operating profit of £388m.

So if the product is selling as well as Sky claim - why did they feel the need to cut the price to £49? Companies are not usually in the charity game?

[gc10360]

Cancelled my VM tv subscription on monday and when i told them why, they gave me the blurb on VMs HD channels coming in the next few months - apparently they are doing it in 4s - the first 4 include ITV hd (only a part time channel) and Discovery HD then they should have 4 more by the end of the year - not much of a hard sell to get people to stay - so VM may have 9 HD channels by the end of the year - how many will sky have - 31 and counting lol

---------- Post added at 15:58 ---------- Previous post was at 15:54 ----------

Originally Posted by AndyCambs

So if the product is selling as well as Sky claim - why did they feel the need to cut the price to £49? Companies are not usually in the charity game?

Sky are obviously investing heavily in HD so they are pushing that into peoples homes - they obviously want people to wake up to HD quality - how many people have updated their TVs and now have HD ready sets - by making HD affordable for every1 (skys words) they are opening the doors for people to actully make use of their investments which will in turn have a knock on effect - people who have seen Sky HD and Blu Ray at my house cant believe how good the quality is - and are now keen to make use of their newer TVs

[joyrider1]

Originally Posted by AndyCambs

So if the product is selling as well as Sky claim - why did they feel the need to cut the price to £49? Companies are not usually in the charity game?

I agree, especially SKY..! So you would imagine that they have thought this one out, and the possible subscriber base makes it viable.

Regards the VM spiel to make you stay with their TV service.., well I thought they just went through the motions. The possibility of "some" HD channels was never really pushed forward to me. It seemed the assistant had gone through this procedure many times and was resigned to the fact people couldnt be swayed by very vauge promises of HD advancement

[Gadgie]

Well I switched over to Sky today, for the lot, TV/Phone & Net. We spent ages debating the pros & cons of it all, and in the end we went over to Sky. Have been a loyal customer to Virgin for years, but we had problems with the Net speed and our TV picture freezing and jumping, they were out 3 times to fix that, but they never did.

Now we will get 31 H/D channels, with 2 more being added every month, and the Net & Phone packages were cheaper as well.
Mind you, when we phoned Virgin and mentioned that we might be leaving, they offered me a £6.50 a month less in our payment, and upgrade our Net from 10 to 20Meg! Having said that, we were never getting near the 10Meg we were paying for before?

I feel a bit bad about it just now, but no doubt that will change on Monday when we got our 31 H/D and movie channels
Cheers, Smudger.

[gadge]

Originally Posted by Gadgie

Well I switched over to Sky today, for the lot, TV/Phone & Net. We spent ages debating the pros & cons of it all, and in the end we went over to Sky. Have been a loyal customer to Virgin for years, but we had problems with the Net speed and our TV picture freezing and jumping, they were out 3 times to fix that, but they never did.

Now we will get 31 H/D channels, with 2 more being added every month, and the Net & Phone packages were cheaper as well.
Mind you, when we phoned Virgin and mentioned that we might be leaving, they offered me a £6.50 a month less in our payment, and upgrade our Net from 10 to 20Meg! Having said that, we were never getting near the 10Meg we were paying for before?

I feel a bit bad about it just now, but no doubt that will change on Monday when we got our 31 H/D and movie channels
Cheers, Smudger.

What 2 more hd channels a month where did you here this?.

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by joyrider1

More up to date Stuart, andSky are creating 1000 jobs to meet demand in the next quarter


Sky slashes price of Sky+ HD box

Wednesday, January 28 2009, 09:22 GMT

By James Welsh
Sky slashes price of Sky+ HD box

Sky has cut the purchase price of its flagship Sky+ HD box from £150 to £49 with immediate effect.

<snip>

Or are they cutting the price by a third to try and accelerate demand?

BSkyB, which broadcasts live England Football Premier League games, is winning subscribers after adding high-definition channels last year and offering broadband access since 2006 to compete with cable-TV provider Virgin Media and BT Group.

Yes they have had a record breakign rise in subscriber numbers. But are people buying the HD subscriptions?

BTW, for copyright reasons, please do not post entire articles. A few quotes and a link is enough.

Both those articles talk about expected figures. I am talking about actual figures.

[joyrider1]

Sorry about the full links, didnt know this was copyright infringment material.

Yes these are projected figures. Remember Stuart that the thing about posting on the internet is that this is a permanent record of your thoughts. I will keep an eye on developments and discuss this with you in the future, thanks for your input........