Virgin TV - Advice please

[Moley RUFC]

We are off to a new built house in May and currently have BT phone & Infinity (£51 a month) and Sky TV including HD pack and Sky Sports (£56 a month). The builder has a deal with Virgin Media who have pre-setup the homes to receive Virgin from what I understand.

Below is an email I have received from the local Virgin guy regards the packages. Anyone on Virgin advise how the prices stack up and also what a VHD is.

''Package Options:

Based on our conversation there are 3 packages that I believe to be relevant to your needs. Each will have their pros and cons so you will need to consider them alongside the price:

Essential XL Family Collection
Premier Collection
VIP Collection

Before we get into the specific package details please note the inclusive benefits of our Broadband, Phoneline and TV services.

All Broadband packages include:

Unlimited Usage
Free Wireless Router
Free PC Security Software

The landline includes:

The Essential and Premier Collection includes Free Weekend calls to UK Landlines, Virgin Mobiles and 0870 numbers and Virgin Direct Enquiries (Upgrade to Evening & Weekend Calls for an extra £4.60 per months)
The VIP Collection includes Anytime calls to UK Landlines, UK Mobiles, 0870, 0843, 0844 and 0845 numbers

All TV Packages include:

Size XL - 200 Digital TV Channels + 37 HD channels and BT and ESPN Sport
Catch Up TV - All TV Packages include the most comprehensive Catch Up On Demand Service giving you more control over what you watch and when including BBC iplayer, ITV Netplayer, 4OD, Demand Five and Sky Anytime+
Amazing TiVo - Plus you will get our new TiVo service that allows you to pause and record 3 channels at the same time, access the internet through your TV and stream your programmes to any wireless device giving you the ability to watch your TV anywhere in the house or on the go.

The Premier and VIP Collections include an additional VHD Box for you to watch in another room.

A full list of the channels included can be found at the bottom of this email:

Option 1 XL Essential Collection:
30 Mb Broadband
Free Weekend Calls
200 Channels with 37 HD Channels (XL)
BT & ESPN Sport HD
Sky Sports 1, 2, 3, 4 and F1 (Sky Sports 1 and 2 HD)
1 x TiVo 500GB Box

Based on an 18 Month Contract
=£69.74 for 6 months
=£89.24 for 12 months
FREE INSTALL
AVERAGE COST PER MONTH = £82.74 per month

Option 2 Premier Collection:
60 MB Broadband
Free Weekend Calls
200 Channels with 37 HD Channels (XL)
BT & ESPN Sport HD
Sky Sports 1, 2, 3, 4 and F1 (Sky Sports 1 and 2 HD)
1 x TiVo 500GB Box
1 x VHD Box

Based on an 18 Month Contract
=£75.24 for 6 months
=£102.24 for 12 months
FREE INSTALL
AVERAGE COST PER MONTH = £93.24 per month

Option 3 VIP Collection:
100 MB Broadband
Free Anytime Calls to UK landlines, mobiles and 08 numbers
200 Channels with 32 HD Channels (XL)
BT & ESPN Sport HD
Sky Sports 1, 2, 3, 4 and F1
Sky Sports 1 and 2 HD
Sky Movies HD
1 x TiVo 1TB Box
1 x VHD Box

Based on an 18 Month Contract
=£65.99 for 6 months
=£120.44 for 12 months
FREE INSTALL
AVERAGE COST PER MONTH = £121.11 per month (Not including One Off TiVo charges)

A NOTE ON EXTRA BOXES
TiVo Boxes are very expensive. Each additional box is £11.50 per month and carries a one off charge of £49.95. If you could instead consider a VHD Box then you would only pay £6.50 per box with £0 one off charges. For example, if you replaced two of the TiVo boxes with VHD Boxes you would save £10 per month and £99.95 in one off charges.

VHD Boxes include the Catch Up On Demand service but not the ability to pause and record live TV.

A NOTE ON SKY PREMIUMS
Please note that Sky Sports and Movies including the available HD channels are inclusive in the VIP Collection. In the Essential and Premier Collection they are not inclusive. Sky Sports is charged at £27.25 per month in these packages which is a significant proportion of your costs. It is necessary to have the full Sky Sports collection because we don not offer the F1 Channel as a standalone. However, you do not take Sky Sports as part of your 18 month contract. You can remove it from your package with just 30 days notice. Therefore, if the F1 season only runs 8 months of the year then you could save 4 months at £27.25 by removing Sky Sports.

HELP MAKING YOUR DECISION
In my opinion the best option for you is Option 2 Premier Collection. This is less than £1 on average more expensive than option 1 but you get 60MB Broadband instead of 30MB. 30Mb might be sufficient fro your needs but in a large house we would recommend 60MB and with that you would get our brand new Superhub.

The VIP Collection is packed with added value like Sky Movies HD and Unlimited calls but it is still £16 extra per month on average and based on our conversation I don't think these extras are relevant to you. You do only have £99.95 one off change with the VIP Collection instead of £149.95 on others but again I don't think the saving in one off charges is enough to offset the monthly cost.

FURTHER SAVINGS:

Up Front Payment Discount - If you pay a one off payment of £120 up front at the start of your contract we reduce your monthly bill by £15 per month for 12 months (12 x £15 = £180). This means you save £60 or £5 per month on average if you take advantage of Line Rental Saver for the duration of the 18 month contract.''

[Oakey]

Virgin HD boxes, no Tivo functionality.

[bigandclever]

They're the same prices that you'd get yourself arranging it online, so there's no 'deal' aspect I can see. You should be able to get a quidco cashback too, so I'd be wanting the sales person to at least be matching that.

[Moley RUFC]

Oakey said:

Virgin HD boxes, no Tivo functionality.

Meaning the box is just a freeview box without being able to choose sky channels etc?

[bigandclever]

Moley RUFC said:

Oakey said:

Virgin HD boxes, no Tivo functionality.

Meaning the box is just a freeview box without being able to choose sky channels etc?

No, it's the Virgin HD & 3D box that you use to choose Virgin channels (and Virgin On-Demand content).

[croggers]

Shouldn't the average for option 3 be less than that?

[Moley RUFC]

bigandclever said:

No, it's the Virgin HD & 3D box that you use to choose Virgin channels (and Virgin On-Demand content).

Ah ok, so the TiVo box is like a Sky + box then whereas the VHD is just for 'live' tv.

[marcosgt]

Moley RUFC said:

bigandclever said:

No, it's the Virgin HD & 3D box that you use to choose Virgin channels (and Virgin On-Demand content).

Ah ok, so the TiVo box is like a Sky + box then whereas the VHD is just for 'live' tv.

No, I don't believe so.

I've got Virgin HD (No TiVo) and it's a recorder (3 tuners - record 2, watch another) as well as the HD receiver.

Lots of people seem to rave about TiVo, but no-one's really told me what the 'killer-app' is yet. Stuff like 'it knowing what you like' and 'searches by programme type or actor', don't really excite me, but if it does you, it might be worth the extra.

No doubt someone will highlight some extra things TiVo does (It does have a bigger disk than my HD box, which will be a plus if you like to keep stuff for ages).

M.

[bigandclever]

The new boxes are different (we've got the same as you). If you're a new customer, today you have a choice of 3 boxes:

500Gb Tivo
ITb Tivo
V HD box

http://store.virginmedia.com/digital-tv/set-top-bo...

[Moley RUFC]

bigandclever said:

The new boxes are different (we've got the same as you). If you're a new customer, today you have a choice of 3 boxes:

500Gb Tivo
ITb Tivo
V HD box

http://store.virginmedia.com/digital-tv/set-top-bo...

According to the Virgin site linked the VHD box is purely to watch live tv and no recording facility to it. So I will need a TiVo box for recording programmes and a couple of VHD boxes in bedrooms etc for live viewing only.

[Allanv]

Moley RUFC said:

bigandclever said:

The new boxes are different (we've got the same as you). If you're a new customer, today you have a choice of 3 boxes:

500Gb Tivo
ITb Tivo
V HD box

http://store.virginmedia.com/digital-tv/set-top-bo...

According to the Virgin site linked the VHD box is purely to watch live tv and no recording facility to it. So I will need a TiVo box for recording programmes and a couple of VHD boxes in bedrooms etc for live viewing only.

The VHD box I have in the bedroom is called a V+ HD and it is the + that denotes the recording capability if memory serves.

[Dave200]

TiVo is fantastic, and worth a few extra shekels. Things it can do:
- 3x recordings at once
- Remote control from smartphone
- Apps (including Spotify and YouTube)
- Ability to send YouTube videos from smartphone/tablet to big screen
- Use of Virgin TV Anywhere app

An excellent piece of kit, light years ahead of the standard Virgin box.

[TEKNOPUG]

Dave200 said:

TiVo is fantastic, and worth a few extra shekels. Things it can do:
- 3x recordings at once
- Remote control from smartphone
- Apps (including Spotify and YouTube)
- Ability to send YouTube videos from smartphone/tablet to big screen
- Use of Virgin TV Anywhere app

An excellent piece of kit, light years ahead of the standard Virgin box.

There is a whole raft of functionality that the Tivo is capable of that Virgin don't utilize. The main one being the ability to stream all sorts of media content. The fact that Virgin can't get the licence sorted to stream from one box to another (they have only managed with a few channels) is an utter joke.

I can have 2 boxes and record anything on both. I can then move box A to room B and plug it in and watch everything recorded on that box. But I can only stream certain channels from Box A to Box B. It's all bks and about time they got it sorted.

That being said, having 3 tuners is a major advantage over SKY. The intelligent record function is quite neat, means there is always something to watch. The Tivo box is much better than the SKY+ but ultimately it comes down to content and cost.

One thing I have noticed is that on demand, such as I-Player, is worse through my Tivo than BRP or TVs. By worse, I mean it buffers a lot more on HD content that i-player through my TV or BRP. All are hard-wired to the same Virgin cable router. So I can only assume that they issue is with the Tivo.

[SlidingSideways]

If you get a Virgin phone line, paying the line rental for the year up front will save you £60/year.
Using this and the current offers at the time, we now pay less a year for phone/60Mb internet/free TV package/500Gb Tivo than we were paying for a phone line and 8Mb ADSL connection via BT and Plusnet (with Freeview for the TV)

[Moley RUFC]

I've decided to stick with Sky and BT for broadband and phone. Costing me about £110 a month for both but neither Virgin or BT Vision can match the programme offer that Sky can.

[TEKNOPUG]

Moley RUFC said:

Option 3 VIP Collection:
100 MB Broadband
Free Anytime Calls to UK landlines, mobiles and 08 numbers
200 Channels with 32 HD Channels (XL)
BT & ESPN Sport HD
Sky Sports 1, 2, 3, 4 and F1
Sky Sports 1 and 2 HD
Sky Movies HD
1 x TiVo 1TB Box
1 x VHD Box

Based on an 18 Month Contract
=£65.99 for 6 months
=£120.44 for 12 months
FREE INSTALL
AVERAGE COST PER MONTH = £121.11 per month (Not including One Off TiVo charges)

Erm....the actual average monthly cost of this package is £102.29, not £121.11 as stated. Throw in an additional VHD box and it is £108.79 per month.

[bigandclever]

TEKNOPUG said:

Erm....the actual average monthly cost of this package is £102.29, not £121.11 as stated. Throw in an additional VHD box and it is £108.79 per month.

But don't you also need to add the Virgin phoneline at 15.99 a month?

[Moley RUFC]

bigandclever said:

But don't you also need to add the Virgin phoneline at 15.99 a month?

Correct, and partly the reason why I've decided to stick with my current setup. I'd have happily ditched it for BT Vision or VM but neither can match what we get ie F1 HD, Sky Atlantic, Disney kids channels.

[Dave200]

Jesus! How so expensive? I pay a DD of £41 a month for:
- Unlimited L broadband (streaming, gaming and downloading are all fine)
- All TV channels, except for Movies
- Phone line with free UK weekend calls

[TEKNOPUG]

Dave200 said:

Jesus! How so expensive? I pay a DD of £41 a month for:
- Unlimited L broadband (streaming, gaming and downloading are all fine)
- All TV channels, except for Movies
- Phone line with free UK weekend calls

You have SKY Sports too? And 3 boxes? And all HD content?