What would I lose if I switch to Virgin TV from Sky to save money.

Mad Mike

Currently using Virgin internet and Sky TV. Thinking about ditching Sky and getting TV+internet package from Virgin to save money. Has Virgin TV gotten better / worse over the years? How does it compare to Sky in late 2019?

Had UPC years back and switched to Sky for more channels and better interface. Nowadays we rarely watch live TV but watch a lot of on demand and recorded stuff. Still addicted to Strictly come baking / Temptation Island and similar series. Series link and recording is essential. Not into sport or movie channels.


Aside: Ease of use is important to us so I would like to avoid janky solutions with home made satellite boxes etc.

gareth_c

Sky box vs Horizon for ease of use the Sky Box Wins hands down, theres been no info on the v5 Tivo box being released in Ireland.

I would definitely ring Sky and see if theres any deals to stay if ease of use is the key,

Mad Mike

Thanks for the reply Gareth. That is what I was worried about. Perhaps I'll wait a bit longer in case Virgin does an upgrade.

EdmondShiels3

I called sky and got one of my multi room boxes free for 8 months. Will ring after the 8 months and see about any other offers.

dohboy

People here blather on about the Virgin box like it's like solving a Rubik's Cube while sitting in the Ninth Circle of Hell. It's a tv box; you flick around, you watch stuff, you record. It's grand.

AlmightyCushion

dohboy wrote: »

People here blather on about the Virgin box like it's like solving a Rubik's Cube while sitting in the Ninth Circle of Hell. It's a tv box; you flick around, you watch stuff, you record. It's grand.

It's a slow, laggy, piece of shít that is a pain in the hole to use.

colm_mcm

dohboy wrote: »

People here blather on about the Virgin box like it's like solving a Rubik's Cube while sitting in the Ninth Circle of Hell. It's a tv box; you flick around, you watch stuff, you record. It's grand.

It really isn’t grand though. The TV package with a decent number of channels is €35 a month. For that you’d expect a user friendly box that actually works - it does a lot of cool things like hosting Netflix without an internet subscription but in pretty much all other areas the Sky box kills it.

I’m not a big TV watcher but have had both and couldn’t rely on the Horizon box to record stuff. The on demand only worked when it felt like it, and the catch up tv barely worked at all.

Then there’s the sheer size of it, the amount of noise the hard drive makes, the stupid remote control and TV guide setup, the counter intuitive navigation of menus, I could go on but it’s all well documented.

dohboy

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

It's a slow, laggy, piece of shít that is a pain in the hole to use.

Yet hundreds of thousands of people do use it, everyday. It's grand.

GHOST MGG

I was one of the original few given the horizon box as a beta tester way back....they have not fixed half the issues pointed out by testers and that was years ago..
I am on my 6th horizon box since that time....it clearly is not grand

dam099

GHOST MGG wrote: »

I was one of the original few given the horizon box as a beta tester way back....they have not fixed half the issues pointed out by testers and that was years ago..
I am on my 6th horizon box since that time....it clearly is not grand

Yea I had it on the trial years back. I recall completing a few surveys on it too but not sure why they bothered as they clearly weren't arsed fixing the issues.

Mad Mike

Given the amount of hate for the Virgin media box I think I will stick it out with Sky for the time being. Its funny I never thought of Sky as being particular user friendly but it does work.

AlmightyCushion

Mad Mike wrote: »

Given the amount of hate for the Virgin media box I think I will stick it out with Sky for the time being. Its funny I never thought of Sky as being particular user friendly but it does work.

It's not that the Sky box is really user friendly, it's because the Virgin Media box is so rubbish. For example, if you press 192 on your Sky remote it will go to channel 192. If you do it on the Virgin Media box, a lot of the times it will miss a number input and so only registers, for example 12. Then you have to press another number to get it to go to that channel e.g 120. Then press 192 again and hope it registers all three number this time.

The box is just so slow to respond to button presses it is frustrating. Using the guide is especially bad, it's just painful to use. Last time, I used Sky it didn't have this issue. You pressed a button and the box responding to the button press relatively quickly, no lag.

AlmightyCushion

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

It's a slow, laggy, piece of shít that is a pain in the hole to use.

when it works!

i have a virgin media package for phone, internet and tv and tbh id drop the phone and tv in a heartbeat, one i dont use and the other is a fairly poor service (and yes, mainly down to a slow, constantly resetting, unreliable box)