Coming to Virgin TV

[jem]

Originally Posted by the-cable-guy

it wont be completely exclusive to freesat then will it cuz if its on freesat it'l also be on Sky.

Apparently, and as I'm not a Sky user I can't directly confirm this, ITV are using a non-standard transport stream for the HD feed which means that Sky boxes just don't see it. If so then in fact it will be completely exclusive to Freesat.

[the-cable-guy]

you can add the channel using add channels.

[jem]

Apparently (and this is just from what I've read on other forums) you can't. Even if you manually enter the information in, the Sky box just can't recognise what it's receiving as a valid channel and doesn't display the picture. People have had some success with DVB-S cards on PCs with a lot of fiddling around but no luck with a standard Sky HD box.

Now if it's true it does seem a bit odd that ITV would implement it this way. Presumably they must have a good reason.

OK been having a hunt around and it seems that actually there is no ITV HD channel! What they are doing is showing the standard ITV channel and when a programme has been made in HD a 'red button' type prompt appears, press red and it switches to the simulcast HD stream. If the programme isn't in HD then no prompt and no HD 'channel'. The clever part is that since there is no actual channel just a data stream, ITV don't have to pay for a broadcast licence-looks like a loophole in the Ofcom regs. This is why the Sky boxes can't see it and ITV can claim that it's exclusively on Freesat. Have to admit it's quite clever really.

So if anyone calls VM and asks when will we get the ITV channel, they can truthfully say, "What ITV HD channel- no such thing"

[the-cable-guy]

thats rubbish mate a channel doesnt have to be in the EPG for you to watch it hence why you can use a Sky receiver to watch channels on a diff satellite eg Astra 19.2 East & Hot Bird 13 East etc. iv had Sky on & off for nine years so i know what im taking about. iv watched many test channels on Sky at 28.2 & 28.5 East over the years, including once a raw feed for Richard & Judy & they were having an argument off air it was quite funny to watch lol

[Wicked_and_Crazy]

Originally Posted by the-cable-guy

thats rubbish mate a channel doesnt have to be in the EPG for you to watch it hence why you can use a Sky receiver to watch channels on a diff satellite eg Astra 19.2 East & Hot Bird 13 East etc. iv had Sky on & off for nine years so i know what im taking about. iv watched many test channels on Sky at 28.2 & 28.5 East over the years, including once a raw feed for Richard & Judy & they were having an argument off air it was quite funny to watch lol

In years gone by you used to be able watch the down link from the states for boxing. They sent it over clean, it was downlinked scrambled and sent back out for the subscribers to downlink and descramble

[the-cable-guy]

yep anyways the point that im trying to get across is that a channel doesnt have to be in the EPG in order for you to watch it. also if you have a C Band satellite dish & receiver you can still get sports feeds, however im not on about 28 East as most sports feeds nowadays are broadcast on diff C Band satellites.

[jem]

Originally Posted by the-cable-guy

thats rubbish mate a channel doesnt have to be in the EPG for you to watch it hence why you can use a Sky receiver to watch channels on a diff satellite eg Astra 19.2 East & Hot Bird 13 East etc. iv had Sky on & off for nine years so i know what im taking about. iv watched many test channels on Sky at 28.2 & 28.5 East over the years, including once a raw feed for Richard & Judy & they were having an argument off air it was quite funny to watch lol

Yes I know that you can manually enter information in and don't have to rely on the EPG, my brother has Sky+ so I have had a little play around with it in the past although I'm certainly not an expert. The point I'm making is that ITV HD is not even a test channel, it isn't a channel at all-it's more like a red-button interactive data stream. It doesn't matter what you manually enter, the Sky box simply doesn't recognise the data as being a valid video stream.

ITV are insisting that the HD is exclusive to Freesat but I'm quite happy to be proven wrong if anyone does manage to get it on a Sky box. For the moment I'm happy to stick with VM, I'm just curious as to how they have implemented it.

[R HOOD]

Originally Posted by mertle

sorry tv boy never intent upsetting you I only saw this info wanted to know if it was true.

I also heared little rumour that vm is considering to tender the boxes to cisco who bought scientific atlanta and we are going to all get shiny upto date boxes to upgrade the service. Dont know if this is true or not but just something I heared but I doubt VM would do such a move. They make quite alot money on the hire surely.

Hope this is true, I just love Scientific Atlanta's equipment, it's so reliable in comparison to Samsung and Pace.

[Andrewcrawford23]

samsung is makign the new boxes SA are droppign makign them by end of 2008

samsung box are better than SA slightly but both are miles better than pace

[moroboshi]

Originally Posted by tucker61

how many hd chanels do sky have compared to our 1.

They currently have 18 HD channels.

[kgollop]

Originally Posted by jem

Yes I know that you can manually enter information in and don't have to rely on the EPG, my brother has Sky+ so I have had a little play around with it in the past although I'm certainly not an expert. The point I'm making is that ITV HD is not even a test channel, it isn't a channel at all-it's more like a red-button interactive data stream. It doesn't matter what you manually enter, the Sky box simply doesn't recognise the data as being a valid video stream.

ITV are insisting that the HD is exclusive to Freesat but I'm quite happy to be proven wrong if anyone does manage to get it on a Sky box. For the moment I'm happy to stick with VM, I'm just curious as to how they have implemented it.

Some info here:

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/digitalt...exclusive.html

[JG3870]

A new Digital Only radio station called 'NME Radio' is to launch on 24th June 2008 and will be available on Virgin Media

Source: RadioToday

[Media Boy]

Originally Posted by TV Boy

ITV on Virgin Media:

I have just email ITV asking them when will their missing ITV Channels and also ITV on Demand will appear on Virgin TV.

I hope to have more news for you all by Thursday (With today being an Bank Holiday).

UPDATE:

I got this in an email from ITV

Thank you for your enquiry.

These channels will be launched on the freesat service, we do not have any information if/when these will appear on Virgin Media.

Regards

DUTY OFFICE

[frogstamper]

Well when free sat launches with its HD content and up to 200 channels before the end of 2008, that will be even less reason to stay with VMs second rate TV offering.

[Mobes]

Eurosport launches international HD



Stupid question, i know BUT any news if Virgin will get this ...... LMAO....

http://www.broadbandtvnews.com/?p=3976