Virgin V+ Box vs Sky+

[Guest]

Having used Sky and now having a V+ box, the V+ box sucks so much arse! The program guide is slower than surfing on a 56k modem, it's ridiculous. Both my TV's Freeview EPG and another Freeview box I have have much faster EPGs than Virgin.

 

You'd think being able to supply 20Mbps broadband they could at least make an EPG work faster than a snails pace.

 

The build quality of the Virgin boxes is also very low.

 

Not really impressed at all.

[Cyclone 10]

this thread is so biased, the Sky+ pros are missing a couple, which are on the V+ pro's on the original post, for a start..

 

Sky also has wider coverage, and a greater choice of channels for less/the same money, Sky also now have Sky Anytime, which is like virgins "On demand" -- and I also saw a thread about a V+ box doing 80 hours and sky+ doing 40, again, this depends on the box, ours will do 80 hours (or more) as its a 160GB version, the standard ones are 80GB ones.... you can now even get 120 hour Sky+ boxes.. Ours is also 'upgradable' bu adding a HD module we can then view High Definition, this works out quite a bit cheaper than going for V+ (With less channels) or for a SkyHD box.

 

Why would this be biased. If Sky+ is getting a kicking then chances are it's not as good. I doubt anyone here has a vested interest in bigging up Virgin.

[Ghozer 112]

Why would this be biased. If Sky+ is getting a kicking then chances are it's not as good. I doubt anyone here has a vested interest in bigging up Virgin.

 

 

its biased as there seems to be some strong GOOD points with regards to sky+ that are missing, and some strong BAD points with regards to V+ that are missing..

 

ok, there may also be some more strong for V+ and more weak for Sky+ too..

 

also, on the V+ box, on the original post under "Pros" it stated..

"The box looks good"

 

That to me isnt a valid point, or if it is, Sky+ boxes look good too, and theres a wider variety for you to chooose from so it can suit your TV equipment better etc..

 

also..

 

"Free if you are on the top whack package with Virgin"

 

Sky+ is free now also, if you have ANY ONE of the premium packages (Movies, or Sports for example) so again, that argument is the same for both, which also removes that from the con's..

 

Also, "It Plays Up" under the 'cons' for Sky+ -- Again, this can happen with V+ boxes, and also depends on the make / age of the Sky+ box, yes there was a 6 month period when they first came out where there was some bug in the hardware which caused many to be faulty, these got replaced FREE OF CHARGE if reported at the time etc...

 

so like i said, there's alot of details missing making Sky+ look pretty bad...

[Rich 12]

SKy has more HD content than Virgin, so it gets a big from me for that.

 

But then again, I can't get VM either here or up at Mum and Dad's, so I'm stuck with Sky regardless.

[Cyclone 10]

its biased as there seems to be some strong GOOD points with regards to sky+ that are missing, and some strong BAD points with regards to V+ that are missing..

That isn't a bias, it's just people putting forwards the points they know. Feel free to put forward your points, but accusations of bias are unwarranted and silly.

 

ok, there may also be some more strong for V+ and more weak for Sky+ too..

 

also, on the V+ box, on the original post under "Pros" it stated..

"The box looks good"

 

That to me isnt a valid point, or if it is, Sky+ boxes look good too, and theres a wider variety for you to chooose from so it can suit your TV equipment better etc..

Well 'good' is just an opinion, hopefully anyone who actually cares will take a look first anyway.

 

also..

 

"Free if you are on the top whack package with Virgin"

 

Sky+ is free now also, if you have ANY ONE of the premium packages (Movies, or Sports for example) so again, that argument is the same for both, which also removes that from the con's..

 

Also, "It Plays Up" under the 'cons' for Sky+ -- Again, this can happen with V+ boxes, and also depends on the make / age of the Sky+ box, yes there was a 6 month period when they first came out where there was some bug in the hardware which caused many to be faulty, these got replaced FREE OF CHARGE if reported at the time etc...

 

so like i said, there's alot of details missing making Sky+ look pretty bad...

 

Who's pro's and con's list is it you're analysing? And why didn't you just create your own?

Presumably for some of the comments that people have made they've used both services, I haven't, so I've only given what I've found to be both positive and negative with V+ and I can only compare to the basic Sky service.

I've even agreed that Sky has a lot more HD content as I've seen that on other peoples systems.

 

There is no 'bias', there are just peoples opinions, which may happen to differ from yours.

[sparklygem 10]

thats the exact same deal i got

no catches, everything stays the same. a one of £25 payment and you get the v+ installed

it is so so so so good

 

Theyre coming out to fit it in a couple of weeks

[floyd77 10]

thats the exact same deal i got

no catches, everything stays the same. a one of £25 payment and you get the v+ installed

it is so so so so good

 

It is good - nearly as good as Sky!

[sparklygem 10]

It is good - nearly as good as Sky!

 

I hope so, cos they seemed a bit confused when i rung them back to sort it out, asking if id said i was going to cancel etc. and if thats why they offered it me just said i got a phone call saying i was a good customer and been with them for a long time, although i dont think from October 07 is such a long time but im not complaining about getting it for that cheap

 

Im still a bit optimistic about it tho (if thats the right word), i just cant see how they can offer it so cheap with its normally £150 plus a monthly fee if your not on the top package, just hope im not going to get any extra added to my monthly bill because of it even tho they said not

[SimpyTimpy 10]

I can give you the Sky + Pros and Cons, I don't have a V+ Box, so can't comment on that:

 

Pros:

- Easy to record programs, with the series link feature being fantastic.

- Sky Anytime gives you a selection of 'On-Demand' shows.

- Can record two channels whilst playing back recorded content.

- Is free if you get Sky Sports/Movies.

- GUI is impressively simple.

 

Cons:

- Sky Anytime content is downloaded to the box, due to Sky's restriction as it uses a satelite (therefore cannot upload information) this means a true on-demand service is unlikely to happen.

- HD content is not, by default, accessible.

[neza 10]

My V+ box records 80 hrs, whereas the Sky+ box I had only recorded 40 hrs. So double the memory with cable for less money.

 

But it's not hard to upgade the Sky + box with a bigger hard drive

V+ is buggy and very slow to change channels and has only one HD channel.

I'm on my third V+ box and the only thing keeping me with VM is the fact I'm 2.6 km as the crow flies from the nearest BT exchange

[hels1977 10]

yeah but think of all the other ppl who have had no problems with v+

absoloutley fine

 

and either way yeah ppl have problems with virgin media but they sort it out quick, thats just your problem with your boxes

 

You have got to be joking. We're on our 3rd Virgin box in as many months. The boxes constantly reboot, we have had to use a scart splitter as the Virgin Box goes mental if you turn the DVD player on (and yes, it's all connected properly), even the Virgin engineer didn't understand it. Of course you do need to spend a good 40 minutes on the phone to India to get this far, then you threaten to cancel to actually get someone to do something about it and then you still get charged for the premium rate call to the Support line even though it's their equipment at fault.

 

The list is endless, of all my communicate to Virgin (and dear God, there's been a lot), I've only even spoken to one lass who was helpful enough to see there really was a problem, fix the problem, financially compensate us and return the £5 we incorrectly paid for us to tell them their equipment was knackered.

 

That said, I am a huge fan of Virgin on Demand and I think Sky is grossly overpriced. But please, do not labour under the impression that Virgin sort things out quickly - nothing could be further from the truth in most cases.

[Cyclone 10]

I'm still on my first V+ box after over 12 months. I guess it just depends. Mine has never had a fault apart from crashing about once every 6 months and needing reset pressing.