Opinions on Virgin Media.

[billy2shots]

I rang sky to leave and they have reduced my monthly by £20 if I stay and sign on for another 12 months. They also said that virgin media is not 1080 so I would notice a quality difference when watching football etc. I instantly called BS but said I would think about the new offer for a couple of days. 

What worries me most is BT Sport was what kick started my thinking and Virgin and BT sport signed a 3 year deal in 2013. Fast forward to 2016 and I can't find anything about a new deal to be agreed. Last thing I want is to sign up to virgin then they lose BT sport or it becomes an expensive add on (currently free in HD with XL TV pack). 

[Tipex]

One other thing I forgot to mention, Sky Q is 4K ready as soon as Sky launch their channels, I know BT have beaten them to it with BT Sport Ultra HD or whatever it's called.

[RobK]

36 minutes ago, Tipex said:

Officially Powerline isn't working yet, but you can turn it on in the settings, and it works.

 

Haven't found we need it though, the boxes communicate with each other wirelessly just fine.

Do the extra boxes have ethernet connections?  Wireless is horrible in my house but there are network points in all the rooms.

[Tipex]

Erm, not sure to be honest, I would have thought so, will have a look when I get home.

 

With the wireless connection, the boxes can all talk to each other but don't necessarily have to have a direct link to the main box, they can talk to the next nearest box which in turn will relay to the main box, when they install it, they can show you what they call the 'mesh' on their iPad, it shows which boxes can see which other boxes and how strong the connections are, it's quite interesting.

Edited August 4, 2016 by Tipex

[Tipex]

Forgot to look earlier, yes the mini Q boxes have ethernet connections as well as purple HDMI (apparently purple means 4K in Sky speak), an AV socket that appears to be 3.5mm jack type, an optical out and a USB.

 

I've just worked out what the 'My Photos' app does as well, it syncs to all your photos on a tablet/PC/Mobile or Facebook, not quite sure what the point is to be honest, hopefully they'll start making more of the apps section as currently the only useful ones are Sky News, Sky Sports News and Weather.

 

With a bit of luck they'll add Netflix to it soon, YouTube and Vevo are both available but strangely not from the apps bar, you can stream YouTube (and presumably Vevo) directly from your phone to the boxes with the screen cast thing and music too, so if you have a decent home theatre system/sound bar, you can play music through them (main box and mini boxes).

[billy2shots]

Bottled it and stayed with Sky. They offered me £30 a month off for 12 months which I have been thinking about since Wednesday. 

Decided that I like the idea of having BT Sport  but how much football can you actually watch! Plus I'm hoping to be out on the boat come weekends and have access to the BT app on my tablet for those evening CL games. 

 

[NewNiceMrMe]

I loathe BT Sport but I need it if I want to watch Leicester in the Champions League.

I could miss the odd PL game no problem but I'm not prepared to miss watching the Foxes in the CL.

Now TV will let me pick and choose when I want 24 hours access for football and I may end up only using that once or twice a month. 

I would still have Sky if the kids ever watched it but that just doesn't happen now.

[billy2shots]

How do you watch GoT 

11 hours ago, NewNiceMrMe said:

I loathe BT Sport but I need it if I want to watch Leicester in the Champions League.

I could miss the odd PL game no problem but I'm not prepared to miss watching the Foxes in the CL.

Now TV will let me pick and choose when I want 24 hours access for football and I may end up only using that once or twice a month. 

I would still have Sky if the kids ever watched it but that just doesn't happen now.

 

How do you watch GoT?  Does one of your services have Sky Atlantic as I thought only sky had that. Or is it streamed from somewhere. 

[NewNiceMrMe]

1 hour ago, billy2shots said:

How do you watch GoT 

 

How do you watch GoT?  Does one of your services have Sky Atlantic as I thought only sky had that. Or is it streamed from somewhere. 

Now TV Entertainment pack.  You can buy it for 24 hours, a month or 3 months etc.

However, I also have access to a Plex server and I tend to watch it on that.

[Tipex]

I don't think I understand what Plex is, I'm assuming it's some kind of illegal server but not one the public can access?

[NewNiceMrMe]

Plex isn't illegal.  There is even a Plex app on Apple TV now.

[chasdrury]

1 hour ago, NewNiceMrMe said:

Plex isn't illegal.  There is even a Plex app on Apple TV now.

If the series is on a server running plex it must be ripped from somewhere though?

[Tipex]

45 minutes ago, chasdrury said:

If the series is on a server running plex it must be ripped from somewhere though?

Yeah that's kind of what I meant, a bit like Kodi isn't illegal in itself, but most of the stuff people watch on it is.

[Waylander]

25 minutes ago, Tipex said:

Yeah that's kind of what I meant, a bit like Kodi isn't illegal in itself, but most of the stuff people watch on it is.

I get what you mean but even that is a little unfair - Plex is a great media management platform. for example having it on your mobiles and when you come home it auto-syncs the camera roll to your server; having all your home movies and vids showcased; to stream your (legal) home dvd catalogue to multiple devices etc etc

 

We'll *cough* ignore for the sake of my soapbox moment that GoT is unlikely to fall into this though shall we *cough

 

Nothing at all to do with pining for access to said Plex server as there seems to be a lot of good sh*t on it based on NNMM exprience !

Edited August 6, 2016 by Waylander

[JonC]

5 hours ago, billy2shots said:

How do you watch GoT 

 

How do you watch GoT?  Does one of your services have Sky Atlantic as I thought only sky had that. Or is it streamed from somewhere. 

Pirate Bay (Proxy Bay). High quality. Way to go. 

[Waylander]

Virgin do a pretty good job of stamping on PB proxies when they come across them

[Tipex]

3 hours ago, Waylander said:

I get what you mean but even that is a little unfair - Plex is a great media management platform. for example having it on your mobiles and when you come home it auto-syncs the camera roll to your server; having all your home movies and vids showcased; to stream your (legal) home dvd catalogue to multiple devices etc etc

 

We'll *cough* ignore for the sake of my soapbox moment that GoT is unlikely to fall into this though shall we *cough

 

Nothing at all to do with pining for access to said Plex server as there seems to be a lot of good sh*t on it based on NNMM exprience !

But most devices do that anyway, any photos or videos I take on my iPhone are almost instantly available on any other device linked to my account, which means yes, you can do that, and I'm sure some people do, but let's face it, most people are using it to watch illegal streams.

 

Still, I guess all the risk is upon whoever owns the Plex server.

[Waylander]

I was of course dabbling in pedantry for amusement and teasing value Mr Tipex (as I know you worked out)

[NewNiceMrMe]

Yes to the "but if GoT is on it then it has been ripped from somewhere".

I was simply answering the question literally.

[billy2shots]

U Turn...

I accepted an offer from Sky last Friday to stay put. Yesterday a great offer dropped through my door from Virgin which I have now taken. Sky cancelled and I'm waiting for September 7th for the switchover. 

 

TV XL (everything minus Sky Atlantic and premium channels)

Sky Sports HD

BT Sports HD

Tivo main box

second HD box for another room. 

200mps broadband

call package

line rental

£65 for 12 months (£104 after that). I was paying £102 for sky (£82 after their offer last Friday). 

Over 18 months I will save another £150 from Sky's best offer they gave me Friday. I gain much faster bb, BT sport and a second box. 

Need a HD TV for the bedroom now, any cheap recommendations?

Up to 32" possibly smaller. I want Full HD and it needs to show football fairly well. My eyes are very sensitive to motion blur. Sub £200 so I'm not expecting greatness. 

Found this so far that reviews well http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/tv-and-home-entertainment/televisions/televisions/samsung-ue32j5100-32-led-tv-10131886-pdt.html?srcid=198&cmpid=ppc~gg~0045_(DSA)~Samsung&mctag=gg_goog_7904&s_kwcid=AL!3391!3!50764695935!b!!g!!_inurl:televisions&ef_id=V6jabwAAAAJy29tr:20160809152347:s#inurl:samsung

[Tipex]

I've just ordered 2.5k's worth of LG OLED TV to be delivered on Thursday, had to be done to do Sky's new 4K service justice.

 

I realise that isn't the sort of recommendation you were looking for, but we also have another three LG tv's, including the free one Sky gave us, 37" and worth about £150 I think, it only has one HDMI and a coax socket, so it's about as basic as it gets, but the picture quality is actually pretty good.

 

I don't think you can go far wrong with either LG or Samsung.

 

Don't know what I'm going to do with the Panny Plasma now.

[NewNiceMrMe]

Where's Ash when you need him?

[billy2shots]

So, I made the big switch a week ago. It's certainly feels very clunky and slow moving around the menus. Definitely feels more like controlling a computer rather than the sky digital smooth operating service. Even the recorded shows are stored in 'folders' which seems a bit cheap and unfinished . 

Worst thing is I have had a message across the middle of the screen for a couple of hours saying something is wrong call VM. I have no accessible to subscribed channels. I have phoned and awaiting a fix. 

24 years of sky and only a handful of issues.......

As I type, TG is ok again. 

[billy2shots]

Floating message is back across the screen!!!!!! FFS

[CarMad]

Report it and get them back out. The box isn't the best but a new one is coming out shortly apparently. 

My Dad had an issue with his phone line on Virgin something to do with not cutting calls off on his answering machine. Anyway they went all out and he ended up with a 3 engineers all working together to find out what was wrong, ended up being an obscure setting within Virgin and once changed all was right.