New Sky Movies Suck on VM

Redfan · 04-04-2007, 14:56

Hi,

There I was checking out the "Redesigned" Sky Movies, when I notice that low and behold all the movie channels have moved, including SM Prem / and new +1.

Not to mention the fact that it would appear all of the channels now require a pin.... which leads me to my questions;

1) Is there any way of stopping my V+ asking for a PIN everytime I want to view VOD or now Movies .. my household does not have anybody under 18 and this is really annoying?

2) Will V+ record a SKY Movie given that a PIN now has to be Entered?

3) Despite the above, I cannot even watch the Movie channels as pressing RED to enter my PIN does not even work ... any ideas how to resolve this?

Cheers ....

markjohn777 · 04-04-2007, 15:02

1. The pin protection is an ofcom regulation - it's the same on sky - so no you can't turn it off I'm afraid

2. Yes it will - you will need to enter the pin upon playback (which doesn't help people recording to dvd/vcr)

3. Ring faults and ask them to enable your interactive services.

Redfan · 04-04-2007, 15:29

Cheers for that ...

My interactive services were working fine, and it would appear that the red button now works on these channels. Oh well, as for PIN protection, it would be ok if it worked like SKY, As in it asks you to enter it then press select and bob's your uncle it all works!

With VM, going into the channel means you cannot then look at your mini guide without coming out of the channel ... this will get very annoying.

Also, what's with Movies 9 still being Movies 9 I thought they were all supposed to have some uber trendy new name ... ?

Cheers.

quadplay · 04-04-2007, 15:41

The new Virgin-branded software supports that kind of PIN entry, but the old software doesn't. Until the Virgin-branded software is rolled out across the country, we can't use this feature. So hopefully, the current "red button" PIN entry method is only temporary.

Movies 9 is no longer broadcasting, so there was no need to rename it!

grabbi · 05-04-2007, 01:16

Does it not Pee you off that they keep they none-broadcasting channels?

VIRGIN: Get rid of the channles no longer on air!

They're a waste of Bandwidth! For god sake!

Tristan · 05-04-2007, 02:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by markjohn777

1. The pin protection is an ofcom regulation - it's the same on sky - so no you can't turn it off I'm afraid

That's only half true. The Ofcom regs only stipulate that 12, 15 and 18 rated movies starting before certain times need to be pin protected. After these times they don't. So, for example, there would be no need for PIN protection for a 15 rated film starting at 9pm, or an 18 rated film starting at 10pm. Virgin can get these things right for VOD, so why can't they do it for Sky Movies too?

Quote:

Originally Posted by markjohn777

2. Yes it will - you will need to enter the pin upon playback (which doesn't help people recording to dvd/vcr)

You may be able to schedule a recording, but Delay TV (that is, pausing and rewinding whist watching the channel) doesn't work. Neither does pressing the record button whist watching a film. In fact, you can't do anything at all -- even bring up the miniguide or home screen! -- without first exiting the "red button" application (which, given that it causes a channel change, is ridiculously slow on the V+).

It's utterly crap.

Quote:

Originally Posted by grabbi

They're a waste of Bandwidth! For god sake!

No, they're not. A static slate takes up virtually no bandwidth whatsoever. If you were to remove every single slate Virgin are broadcasting (on Sky Movies 9 and all the old Sky channels), you wouldn't have nearly enough to squeeze an extra channel on. I doubt you'd even have enough for a new radio station.

If having the slate up saves just one person calling up Virgin and going "where's my Sky Movies 9?" then it's done its job.

(Of course, I would ask why VM feels the need to broadcast the slates in old-fashioned looking 4:3 rather than modern 16:9, but maybe I'm just being picky...)

quadplay · 05-04-2007, 09:22

PIN entry isn't required after 9pm - the application will just autotune to the real channel. It takes a second or so to automatically launch though.

spiderbundy · 05-04-2007, 12:16

I just came acrooss this last night while trying to watch any Sky movie channel...can't pause, rewind or record direct from the screen...what a load of nonsense...what are we paying for if you can no longer do something as basic as pause on 'live' tv!!!

THIS IS A CROCK OF S*IT !!

dev · 05-04-2007, 12:32

only way i can see this being good is if they make the movie channels defaulty locked before say 10pm but have the option of disabling the pin requirement. obviously it'd require the pin to disable the locking of the channels but would only need to be done once. for example, in our house there is no one under 18, so why does it need a pin?

**Paul M** · 05-04-2007, 13:06

This is already being discussed in another thread ;

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/11...ed-movies.html

This one is now closed.