Virgin V+
The basics
Virgin V+ is a Personal Video Recording (PVR) devise with high-definition features. It is manufactured by Virgin Media for their digital entertainment subscribers. The V+ set top box is available for rent, at 5 quid per month. Its features include three (3) tuners, which enables subscribers to record two shows at the same time while watching a third show. It also comes with a 160 GB hard disk that could record footages up to 80 hours.
The good
Cable still feels like the technology of the future. You get better TV reception than with satellite (with no ugly dish), much faster broadband than DSL (up to 50Mb) and access to thousands of on-demand shows. The V+ HD box does its best to control all this power, giving you upscaled Freeview programmes, some 1080i High Def content and storing up to 80 hours of TV. Three tuners (one more than Sky HD) let you record two channels while watching a third, and having instant, fingertip access to the BBC iPlayer is a joy beyond words.
The bad
Hi-Def channels are still few and far between. Unlike Sky’s glittering HD line-up, Virgin struggles on with just BBC and ITV native HD channels, plus a bunch of on-demand content. If you want to enjoy the full 5.1 surround sound, you’ll need an optical audio cable, as the HDMI link doesn’t support it. Virgin is slowly moving over to a new V+ box made by Samsung, which apparently has faster channel changes.
The bottom line
If you signed up with Virgin Media for the fattest internet pipe in the UK, the V+ HD box is sweet bonus. It needs (way) more HD content to rival Sky but it’s well priced for the tech.
User comments (4)
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Caldoo08 August 2009
just this week virgin have added loads more HD channels to their line up making it way more attractive to me, they added Channel4HD, MTV HD, ESPN HD, Nat Geo HD and FX HD. With talks of living hd in the pipeline plus discovery hd, uktv hd channels and hopefully some sports channels, i'll definately be buying V+. I also feel the OS on virgin is much more eye friendly compared to Sky's rather dated chunky high contrast blue menu.
Report as inappropriateJohnDragon08 November 2009
I was with sky for several years, and to be honest the service stinks! I had problems with both the broadband and the sky reception, the help line was always unhelpful, and to top it off, they charge you £65 for an engineer to visit your house!! I have since changed to Virgin and have been more than happy. Along with the increase in HD channels, and the unbelievable on demand service. Any problems I have had, have been dealt with with friendly advice and personal visits (AT NO CHARGE!) to my home to resolve any issues. Virgin Media all the way!
Report as inappropriateGill29 November 2009
I'm looking forward to recieving V+ having found sky customer service so bad. Am curious about how to archive what I record on the V+ box to my mac. Any solutions that don't involve buying expensive kit?
Report as inappropriateJames14 November 2010
I have had cable ever since they put the cables in the road and have had not a bad thing with them. It just gets better and better. Only one negative, why does sky get all of the UKTV channels whilst virgin does not even though they own 50% of the company, can't fathom that. The v+ decodes all the HD audio and sends it out via HDMI, so one of the cons above is wrong.
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