Looks like Virgin Media have launched their new streaming TV service and box:
€15 per month for new customers who also sign up to Broadband:
Yes that's them all. No Disney+ or RTE Player, DAZN, Spotify etc.
Just got my box. Very easy to set up but I have a question about apps. There only seems to be 13 available? Is that all there is? Looking for Disney+ and a few more. How do I get them?
Yes, definitely more than one. All recording is done to the cloud, so it's not dependent on physical connections to or from your particular box.
Try this.
Could anybody who has the VM streaming box post a pic of the EPG so I can see what it looks like before I jump ship and order one. I'm hoping for something less cluttered than SKY Q. Which I can't stand - first world problems I know.
Thanks. Can you record more than one program at a time like on Sky Q?
Look for a hdmi switch, usually fairly reliable but some devices can be picky about connecting through. (Don't hold your breath on the BBC recording, it's a big issue across all the streaming services now).
So I finally got rid of Sky TV as they would not recognise my loyalty and kept price gouging. I already have broadband with Virgin so rang today to get the streaming box. €15 per month. A lot better than the Sky price. Only gripe is that you can't record RTE or BBC yet but I was assured that it was only a matter of time before you can.
My TV is 13 years old and only has one HDMI socket which is currently used by a Google Chromecast. Is it possible to get a splitter so I can have 2 cables plugged in at the same time?
Yes you could watch the BBC show on any other streaming 360 box or 360 multi room viewing box (MRV). Your main 360 box with the hard drive will need to be powered on.
@Delta2113 so let's say I have 2 TVs. 1 connected to the 360 box, 1 to a streaming box. My 360 box records a show on BBC1 but I want to watch that show on the TV with the streaming box, not the 360 box.
I was wondering if the streaming box can connect locally to my 360 box to pick up the BBC show I recorded.
It doesn't seem like it from what I am reading
Not exactly sure what you mean but the bottom line is a 360 main box with a hard drive needs a co axial cable feed from an outlet box (o/b).
You could have the 360 main box in a bedroom, kitchen etc. but you need that co axial cable feed.
If you have the small streaming 360 box or boxes you can move them around all you like once they can pick up your wi-fi signal from your modem.
Is there anyway to get the best of both worlds where you hold on to the 360 box so you can record all channels, but can also use the streaming box?
I have co axial cable into home and so have to run a 10 meter cable from TV to 360 box. I'd love to get rid of that cable and maybe have the streaming box show recordings from my 360 box as well as live tv...
No replay tv function on TV5Monde but not an issue once you can record.
Yes, both are available. I kicked off a test recording on each of those channels, and it seemed to work fine.
@AndrewJRenko on your VM TV package do you have channel Eurosport1 (400s) or TV5Monde (800s)?
I record a lot from them and wondering if recording or replay available on them on the new box.
Thanks.
Initial impressions of the Virgin streaming box is that it is definitely superior to the Sky Stream box, even though it's about half the size! Flicking between channels is instant on Virgin, whereas Sky takes a second or two for the new station to appear. Channel 4 content seems to be all available, using the 'native' Virgin player rather than using a 'special' C4 player as happens on Sky. This means that there are fewer inconsistencies with how ads are displayed, and how they can be skipped. Display of subtitles in much better on Virgin, whereas Sky frequently has subtitles overlapping each other, with the start/end of the previous long sentence left visible while the short next sentence appeared in the middle.
Integration with the TV just seems to work out of the box, so switching off the Virgin box switches off the TV. With Sky, this worked for one of my LG tvs, but didn't work for the LG tv with the soundbox. Netflix and Apple TV apps seem to work fine. There's no Disney+ or RTE Player app, but the RTE content is available within the native Virgin player.
You don't get access to the full Sky library on the Virgin box, so it's lucky that we finished the White Lotus last week. I might have to start recording some Sky stuff to the cloud to have it available as required. Or else take out a Now subscription.
I haven't seen any feature of the box where Sky is better than Virgin so far.
The change is only irreversible if they cut or remove the old cables.
Technically they can re-activate your 360 box with hard drive but will they - not sure, and they will tell you that it's not possible. You could ask them for a copy off your phone call. They should have told you about new equpment. Maybe ask for a final written response from them and then go to Comreg.
I rang up today because my contract was up. She offered me a great deal (€57 for tv and 1gb broadband for 9 months and €114 for 3 months) and said "I always like to upgrade my customers". I should have known it was too good to be true
I first got an inkling there was new equipment involved when I got a text from DPD. None of that was mentioned when I was on the phone.
Very slippery of them in my opinion. If not blatantly dishonest.
Don't know what this new product is but it sounds like a fancy description for IPTV (which I'm not a fan of)
DPD is delivering the devices later today so I think I'll reject delivery and see if I can hang on to my 360 box. Although that Irish Times article says the change is irreversible.
Sounds great, Sky Stream has no recording at all, so it's probably an improvement there.
As far as I'm aware - using the replay tv function you can skip ads on all channels except for RTE.
On 17 April 2023, All 4 rebranded as Channel 4. This VOD app is not available via Virgin. I've never used Sky Stream but I think you will find 360 streaming box pretty good.
Replay function, catch up, on demand,apps - it can get complicated trying to compare like with like. Again as far as I'm aware you can record every channel except for RTE and BBC and yes you are able to skip ads just like the replay function. Recordings are held in the cloud.
On the Sky Stream box, you can skip ads when watching Sky content, on the C4/All4 player and on the RTE Player app. This feature is free for the first year, but then a charge arises after that.
I'm looking to switch away Sky Stream and move to Virgin's streaming box. Will I be able to skip ads on Sky content, C4/All4 content, RTE content when using the Virgin box?
Picture quality is fine but sometimes changing channel it can take a few seconds before full resolution is achieved. Also it is several seconds delayed compared to say Saorview or the old cable based transmission. Can be annoying when watching live sports and you get a message from a friend saying what a goal!
Better hanging on as long as you can with 360 box with hard drive and no recording limitations. Picture quality is no better.
Is this new stream box any good is it a backwards move going from 360 box with built in hard drive.
Any problems with picture quality?
If your modem (VM hub) is beside "the main one" and box is shaped like a beermat then the coax cable is going in to your modem and not the box.
If its the same one that I have been dealing with, there is still 1 coax cable, but the 2nd one is redundant. The boxes (shaped like a beermat, but thicker) use either ethernet(if available) or wifi to communicate to the VM hub, which is where everything is distributed from. One end of the HDMI cable is plugged into the box (maybe the hub?) and the other end is plugged into the electricity socket via a supplied plug. Both boxes in this case are plugged into the electricity supply (to pick up the wifi?? doesn't seem right)…… not sure why the coax is still needed for the main one, but a technician left it in place on the main tv setup when he called out to fix the incredible buffering on the tv service even when no recordings are being accessed.
Anyone migrated over because their home has been moved to full fibre cannot physically change back even if they wanted - as I understand it there’s no longer a coaxial cable outlet to plug the DVB-C boxes in.
Anyone come across a situation where a 2nd streaming box that was working fine suddenly stopped working when the user accidentally hit a 'wrong button'? Both are connected over wifi (VM hub) as ethernet gave even more buffering and box 2 is nowhere near an ethernet outlet anyway.
On reset (of everything, I'm told), a msg came up faintly on the screen saying 'not programmed', which seems to have been down to panic unplugging and replugging the wrong HDMI socket.
However, sound, but no picture is the current situation (including no display of menu, settings etc., not even the banner that would allow HDMI to be selected), and the tv remote doesn't display the menu to allow brightness etc. to be checked.
My assumption is that the screen may have been dying, and finally expired coincidentally with the hitting of the 'wrong button' but its not my tv, and the owner won't want to buy a new one, if its a VM solvable problem.
Any suggestions?
Its not that people don't do the research, but when you phone for a better deal, they sell you the streaming box without checking if you use recording a lot, and ethically advising you to wait a while before changing.
I've tried to support 2 people who got stuck - there's no way back to the Horizon, or older 360 box because they took the software option away from the technical staff that would have allowed a reverse.
I wish BBC and RTE would sort out an agreement but RTE in particular and the fact you have to pay the tv licence but they insist on handicapping the streaming boxes (also replay function on 360 box) is particularly annoying.
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