Sexy Sky+ adverts?
Discussion
First of all, can I just say to the mods that I was totally unsure whether this would be better off in computers and gadgets or home cinema and hi-fi because ufortunately the subject matter crosses both boundaries.
Simple question. I've just moved and require some super fast broadband, a landline, and some extra TV stuff would be good.
There are obviously stacks of different options out there, I find myself being seduced by sleek sexiness of a Sky+ HD package and all that that entails. I fear this may be almost exclusively down to the power of marketing.
What is best in the opinion of the esteemed PH'ers?
What must be avoided?
Ollie
Simple question. I've just moved and require some super fast broadband, a landline, and some extra TV stuff would be good.
There are obviously stacks of different options out there, I find myself being seduced by sleek sexiness of a Sky+ HD package and all that that entails. I fear this may be almost exclusively down to the power of marketing.
What is best in the opinion of the esteemed PH'ers?
What must be avoided?
Ollie
OllieWinchester said:
What must be avoided?
Sky Broadband. I found it very slow as we are not in a cable area and it's not LLU at our exchange. Changed to bethere and haven't looked back in terms of speeds.
Go with Sky HD if you like Sports and Movies - if you're not bothered with Sports then Virgin is an option. Virgin (cable) BB is superb.
I thought this was going to be about the rather lovely bird on the bed 
I moved house a few weeks back and have gone from virgin cable (not available) to SkyHD, the biggest loss is virgins on demand service which was excellent, I had looked at the sky broadband but decided to go for an unlimited service elsewhere.
The Sky box has a recorder bundled in whereas you have to pay a monthly fee for the virgin recorder.
I don't find the HD package particularly good value for money and I understand you get BBC, ITV and C4 HD anyway so we shall be downgrading the package.
I had also looked at freesat and would have probably had that but we got a deal through the Mrs work for sky.
I moved house a few weeks back and have gone from virgin cable (not available) to SkyHD, the biggest loss is virgins on demand service which was excellent, I had looked at the sky broadband but decided to go for an unlimited service elsewhere.
The Sky box has a recorder bundled in whereas you have to pay a monthly fee for the virgin recorder.
I don't find the HD package particularly good value for money and I understand you get BBC, ITV and C4 HD anyway so we shall be downgrading the package.
I had also looked at freesat and would have probably had that but we got a deal through the Mrs work for sky.
If you live in an area where you can get cable, virgin's 50bmit service is ace.
Otherwise, if you live in an area where you can get LLU'd ADSL, BE are superb.
And if regular ADSL is your only option, I'd probably try Fast or Zen.
Sky HD is OK, the picture quality isn't bad etc. For me it's pretty much a waste of the 60 odd quid a month as I never watch any of it other than the F1, which isn't in HD.
Otherwise, if you live in an area where you can get LLU'd ADSL, BE are superb.
And if regular ADSL is your only option, I'd probably try Fast or Zen.
Sky HD is OK, the picture quality isn't bad etc. For me it's pretty much a waste of the 60 odd quid a month as I never watch any of it other than the F1, which isn't in HD.
Sheets Tabuer said:
I have to say I find the sky SD picture woeful, I had wondered if they turned down the bandwidth to make HD available but I never had sky before to compare it.
It seems to vary depending on the TV for me. My panasonic plasma makes it look a bit worse, whereas I've got an older samsung LCD bought a few years ago and it looks much better on that for some reason I can't explain. I've recently moved - at the old place had virgin HD, at the new place has sky HD - it really is swings and roundabouts.
For TV sky is a better interface, much faster / more reliable - but the on demand from virgin is excellent - you really are never short of something to watch. TV quality wise in both HD and SD I can't tell the difference. Recording in sky plus is a lot easier - and there is the record app on the iphone which is quite handy (although maybe just a novelty that will wear off)
I cant have sky broadband in my new place (poplar exchange) - but from friends family that have it I hear it can be patchy. The virgin boradband is superb when it works - we had 20mb I think - seemed to work brilliantly - apart from Monday evenings - when the on demand didnt work all that well either - I dont know if this is down to user numbers or system upgrades or what.
Anyway - if its about the TV get Sky, if its about the broadband get Virgin.
For TV sky is a better interface, much faster / more reliable - but the on demand from virgin is excellent - you really are never short of something to watch. TV quality wise in both HD and SD I can't tell the difference. Recording in sky plus is a lot easier - and there is the record app on the iphone which is quite handy (although maybe just a novelty that will wear off)
I cant have sky broadband in my new place (poplar exchange) - but from friends family that have it I hear it can be patchy. The virgin boradband is superb when it works - we had 20mb I think - seemed to work brilliantly - apart from Monday evenings - when the on demand didnt work all that well either - I dont know if this is down to user numbers or system upgrades or what.
Anyway - if its about the TV get Sky, if its about the broadband get Virgin.
esuuv said:
Anyway - if its about the TV get Sky, if its about the broadband get Virgin.
This used to be the case, but things are changing massively in the TV market this year:Virgin were the first to get HD out to customers, then lost all of the advantage by not having enough content. Now Virgin will be getting all of the Sky HD channels and red button content (announced last week, part of the deal selling the Virgin TV channels to Sky).
Virgin are in advanced testing of the new TiVo powered set top box, expected to be on release by the end of the year. Early feedback on the TiVo box is that it is phenomenal - a massive leap forward over any other set top box in the UK.
Sky are not sitting around waiting for this, though - they have their 1Tb box out, which will enable something more like the VM on demand service through "push VoD" and are also enabling streaming over broadband (whether it will live up to the VM on Demand service is yet to be seen, but they have a lot of ground to catch up I think).
The only downside of the advances is that it's a bit like the smartphone situation - iPhone users may have seen the HTC desire, and can't switch without costing them a lot. The iPhone 4 comes out ... more cost to switch back. Yuo have to pin your colours to one and accept that sometimes you will be ahead, sometimes behind. The clever thing to do is switch at the start of the surge; I really believe that the second half of 2010 and early 2011 will be a VM surge.
Virgin media tivo box does not seem to be a huge leap ahead of the v+ box and current on demand service though to be honest. I certainly would not pay extra than i am now for a tivo box, series link one touch record etc already available. Streaming would be nice addition though. Virgin have a good package, on demand freezes occasionly. Unlike sky bad weather does not fook up the signal for obvious reasons.
chrisxr2 said:
Virgin media tivo box does not seem to be a huge leap ahead of the v+ box and current on demand service though to be honest. I certainly would not pay extra than i am now for a tivo box, series link one touch record etc already available. Streaming would be nice addition though. Virgin have a good package, on demand freezes occasionly. Unlike sky bad weather does not fook up the signal for obvious reasons.
AIUI it's not the existing TiVo box - it's a new software platform developed by TiVo. The platform can be exploited in far more ways than just series link or one touch record - think "home entertainment server" more than "set top box".Edited by aclivity on Monday 14th June 18:03
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