Freeview vs Virgin digital tv

[Gluemoon]

I'm looking to sign up to Virgin Media for a broadband package but am trying to decide whether to get a digital TV package at the same time. I've just bought a nice big HD LCD tv and want to get the most out of it.

I'm living in central London and get a very good freeview reception on the whole (bbc excellent, e4 can be patchy). I'm wondering if VM digital tv is going to be any better than good freeview?

I'm not bothered about the HD channels just the quality on the normal channels. Is VM digital TV going to be a much better picture than my current freeview?

Thanks in advance.

[nswatman]

The picture on my Virgin Media box is far, far better than Freeview. It is stable too! I have heard that VM is better in picture quality than Sky, but thats just whay I have head from other members who have compared both systems.

[danielf]

I switched to Freeview from VM a couple of months ago (as I moved to a non-cabled area). I can't say I noticed Freeview having worse picture quality (not on my SD CRT telly anyway). If anything, Freeview appears to have less freezing and pixellation than I used to get on VM.

[Dave2010]

I have always found the Virgin Media picture to be great and really clear, better picture than sky from what i seen and loads better picture than freeview, but i guess with freeview it depends where you live, the cool thing with cable aswell is, you dont get probs with picture when the weather is bad aswell like you do with sky and freeview

[danielf]

Originally Posted by Dave2010

I have always found the Virgin Media picture to be great and really clear, better picture than sky from what i seen and loads better picture than freeview, but i guess with freeview it depends where you live

Also, if you have a bad aerial you will struggle on Freeview.

[nswatman]

Originally Posted by danielf

I switched to Freeview from VM a couple of months ago (as I moved to a non-cabled area). I can't say I noticed Freeview having worse picture quality (not on my SD CRT telly anyway). If anything, Freeview appears to have less freezing and pixellation than I used to get on VM.

Did this happen to you a lot? I have been with VM for a couple of months and never had any problems. My freeview box was alwas breaking up!

Its true though, depends on where you live. My view of the situation is that if it is coming through a propper cable network underground it is far less prone to problems compared to anthing coming through the air. That goes for Sky TV and Freeview TV. If something in the air is in the way of a signal or even just certain weather conditions, that could affect signal quality.

I also don't like broadband coming down a thin copper phone cable. I am in the business and know what a state the old PSTN is in and belive me, you would'nt want your internet coming down it! BT will change that with their new 21 Century network but its a slooow process installing it.

[harmitage]

I've previously had $ky and Freeview and find Virgin far less likely to be affected by the weather. I'm in Scotland though so that might not be as big an issue for you in sunny London.

[Arthurgray50@blu]

I do not normally praise VM, but l can say, that l do have both VM and Sky, and the picture quality from VM, is better and sharper than Sky, l am trying to persuade my wife to get a second box from VM, as we have an HD tv in two rooms, and if the quailty is that good, on VM then l might dump Sky, l do praise people some times, and it is not normally sunny in London, at the moment it is pouring with rain.

[Mick Fisher]

My VM TV was awful. My freeview reception is awful too but thats aerial related.

Luckily for me I have had good luck with a Sky+ installation that outperforms the TV I received from VM in just about every way.

Err.. did anyone mention Sky Anytime , well I did say 'just about'.

[arcamalpha2004]

Originally Posted by danielf

Also, if you have a bad aerial you will struggle on Freeview.

Very good post, as the saying goes dont blame the messenger

---------- Post added at 22:29 ---------- Previous post was at 22:21 ----------

Originally Posted by harmitage

I've previously had $ky and Freeview and find Virgin far less likely to be affected by the weather. I'm in Scotland though so that might not be as big an issue for you in sunny London.

When I had the tv offering from VM then NTL it did not matter what the weather was doing, if the picture was crap or there were issues it happened whatever the weather was doing, so those cables underground do not 100% guarantee a trouble free tv service as VM would have you or anyone believe.

What about the cable connecting to your STB?

Since I have been with sky I have not felt I am being fleeced every month, I could not even tell you the customer service number, shows how many times I have had any issue

[Matth]

I would expect the set's internal freeview / DVB-T tuner to deliver somewhat better results (due to hopefully optimized digital scaling) than a standard definition signal from a STB (digital, to analog RGB, back to digital and rescale).

If you wanted to go to the XL package, are they still doing half price V+ ? - the V+ box gives you currently ONE HD channel (BBC HD) and upscales the rest to HDMI.


PS. One defect that often shows up on LCD and other flat panels, watch the ticker on the bottom of BBC News 24. Sometimes the de-interlacing gets the frame order wrong, and makes the ticker go jaggy. This is the comb problem, when an object moves horizontally between the two half frames, as while it would be optically interpolated by the eye with a scanning CRT, the continuous display of a flat panel requires the interlaced frames to be recombined.

[Kellargh]

Hehe, better picture...no. I have Sky and have had absolutely no issues, don't even know the number to call them - never needed to Picture is superb! I also have freeview and it's terrible!

[Begize]

We have Freeview and VM (a V+ box) and I would have to say, on picture quality alone, VM is better. It seems to be clearer and sharper and less pixelly on the same transmissions (footy on BBC1 for example).

We do have a HD TV (Sony Bravia) and use the V+ on an HDMI connection, so I guess it has a little head start but it even looks better if I set the V+ to SCART and let the TV do the upscaling.

One thing I would say is the "red button" content on Freeview is very good, and just works, everytime, straight away.

Red button on Virgin hardly ever works, is slow, buggy and painful to use.

I suppose another advantage of VM is the on demand stuff, which, again when it works is great, but can be buggy. As we have a V+ we don't really use it at all now though so it doesn't bother me.

Personally, if I was starting from scratch and wanting the best HD experience, I would choose Sky HD. The brother in law has it and the football and movies look stunning. Hopefully, one day, Virgin might get them too I wouldn't say the picture on Sky was particularly better or worse the VM either although Sky can suffer from more interference - my parents get awful problems in bad weather but thats just the way things are for some people.

Thing is, I like VM broadband and having spent a while working things out, it would be more expensive for us to switch to an equiv package with Sky / BT than it is to stay with VM.

[rossco555]

You might want to wait until early May, as about 80 channels are launching on a new satellite service called Freesat. This will include BBC & ITV HD channels and is free. It will use the Astra 2D satellite, so existing dishes should be able to be used. I will try and find a link.....

ah...found it..
http://www.freesat.co.uk/home.php

ps..Rumoured start date 6th May