Virgin Media new next generation TV service

oli356

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oli356

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Virgin Media announces details of new TiVo-powered next generation connected TV service
New HD/3D set top box will offer 1TB of personal storage
Thousands of hours of TV on Demand instantly available
Dedicated internal modem to bring internet services and apps direct to TV
Virgin Media today announced the first details of its upcoming TiVo-powered HD/3D set top box which will give customers a whopping 1 TeraByte of storage for personal recordings. The new HD/3D set top box will launch alongside Virgin Media’s new TiVo-powered next generation connected TV service scheduled for later this year, and will be capable of storing up to 500 hours of content. When coupled with Virgin Media’s pioneering TV on Demand service, the new service will give UK consumers unrivalled access to over 4,600 hours of TV shows, movies and music videos, including hundreds of hours of HD and 3D entertainment, plus catch up TV from the terrestrial broadcasters, all available instantly.

Powered by Virgin Media’s unique fibre optic network, the box will also feature its own dedicated internal modem able to deliver HD video and other online services without impacting customers’ regular broadband connections. As a result, Virgin Media’s new TiVo-powered service will not only be able to deliver linear TV alongside an unbeatable instant TV on demand offering but will also be able to support compelling online video in HD straight to customers’ TVs without having to sacrifice other online activities when in use.

Competitors’ ‘connected TV’ products rely on just one central broadband connection, typically DSL, making it difficult for families to watch online TV or TV on Demand and take advantage of the internet at the same time. With Virgin Media, a typical family enjoying the new TiVo-powered TV service alongside Virgin Media's ultrafast 50Mb broadband connection will be able to enjoy a seamless experience with incredible connectivity, allowing the whole family to watch, surf, and play, all at the same time without compromise.

Cindy Rose, executive director of digital entertainment at Virgin Media, said: “Virgin Media’s next generation connected TV service - powered by TiVo - and combined with our superior broadband will blow other ‘connected TV’ products out of the water. We’re really proud of our new next-generation TV service which will appeal to anyone and everyone looking for the best of live broadcast TV, catch up, on demand and internet apps and services.”

Virgin Media and TiVo announced plans to join forces in November 2009. Virgin Media and TiVo have developed a unique converged television and interactive service bringing UK consumers the best in TV entertainment, be it broadcast, on demand or online.

Further details of pricing and availability will be announced in due course. For more information on Virgin Media products and services visit: www.virginmedia.com.
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http://pressoffice.virginmedia.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=205406&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1490920&highlight=

More pushing on the 3D then.. mmm

A 1TB HDD would be nice. Not even sure what the current V+HD is!
 
Want want want!!!

Our current SA V+ Box feels so dated! The UI is very 80's and not even optimised for widescreen let alone HD!!
 
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Meatball said:
Our current SA V+ Box feels so dated! The UI is very 80's and not even optimised for widescreen let alone HD!!
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Our Samsung box feels so modern :p And the UI is fine IMO, simple and effective.

Also my UI is pixel sharp in 1080p on my Samsung, it's a known issue with SA boxes.
 
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About time. I watch more TV in the office thanks to Sky HD+ there compared to crap Virgin HD at home. It decided to reboot mid-way through the Apprentice tonight, on top of generally being terrible, slow, horrible to use, and useless at recording HD.

It's a few years old tho so maybe time to hassle them to get a new one.
 
Beansprout said:
About time. I watch more TV in the office thanks to Sky HD+ there compared to crap Virgin HD at home. It decided to reboot mid-way through the Apprentice tonight, on top of generally being terrible, slow, horrible to use, and useless at recording HD.

It's a few years old tho so maybe time to hassle them to get a new one.
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Is it really that bad :(?
Just ordered our Sky HD channels yesterday on virgin £3.65 a month so not much but want it to work lol
 
Marky said:
Any idea when this happening?
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as far as I know it hasn't changed and is still early 2011.

Beansprout said:
About time. I watch more TV in the office thanks to Sky HD+ there compared to crap Virgin HD at home. It decided to reboot mid-way through the Apprentice tonight, on top of generally being terrible, slow, horrible to use, and useless at recording HD.

It's a few years old tho so maybe time to hassle them to get a new one.
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is it a SA box? I have one of each and the SA box keeps crashing and rebooting, the Samsung box I haven't had one problem with.
 
marcus_667 said:
we have loads of problems with our sa box were waiting for them to swap for a samsung
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Don't phone them up and directly ask for a samsung box. Ask them indirectly: "I was wondering if you can provide a different box, as I'm having some problems (insert problems here), I was hoping you'd have be able to give me a different type of box."

I did that and they sent out an engineer with a shiny new Sammy box within the week.
 
We had the engineer round on friday night to install a new samsung box, he was telling me about the Tivo partnership.

He had been on a training day and they got a chance to play with the proposed device, he said that it was lightning fast, great UI, Massive storage (1Tb) but there were some little annoyances.

1) It has intelligent recording, whereby it looks at your recordings and records programs/movies of a similar type, you then have to decide if you want to keep them/delete them....on the version the engineer played with he was unable to turn the feature off

2)The box isnt as attractive as the Samsung ones

3) the on demand stuff was still slow and hung quite often

4) It WILL be expensive, the figure bandied around was a one-off payment of £150 then extra on top of your monthly bill.


He may be completely misinformed of course, and i am sure that most of the issues are simply a software fix?
 
AcidHell2 said:
is it a SA box? I have one of each and the SA box keeps crashing and rebooting, the Samsung box I haven't had one problem with.
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A quick Google shows we don't have the Samsung box so time to get on the phone to Virgin I think, thanks guys...didn't know about the old/new boxes! And they certainly didn't say when we rang up moaning..
 
Powered by Virgin Media’s unique fibre optic network, the box will also feature its own dedicated internal modem
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wonder what happens if your not on 50mb, perma download limit from people watching on demand stuff :confused:
 
they've already said the network has capacity for in theory up to 400mb speeds

So effectively the tv service will have its own internet connection separate for the on demand stuff.

it wont be using your existing 10/20mb connection. You'll have two. One for your TV stuff and one for your own internet.

Should make traffic managing a lot easier on the link dedicated to the TV, as they will know exactly whats comming / going down the link.
 
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