pigSTi

iTrader: (5)

!st question on the survey, Sky asked:


On a scale of 0-10 where 0 is not at all likely and 10 is very likely,how likely would you be to recommend Sky to a friend,family member or colleague?

10

Why did you give that score?


I explained my score of 10:

Both Sky software and hardware are superior to Virgin Media:

Sky remotes work well, logically placed buttons, good sized soft buttons Vs small hard buttons, direct LOS not needed in order for the box to pick up the remote signal.

Sky EPG is smooth, easy on the eyes, does not suffer from lag, does not freeze.

Sky+ does not miss recordings, does not miss the last episode in a series for no reason. The percentage remaining Vs VMs hours are easier to understand - VM used 2 hours for 30 mins HD program. Sky+ records from the start of the program, not just from the point that you press record.

Sky broadcast quality is more consistant, pictures do not freeze, audio on HD material is in sync with the picture, transition between DD soundtracks and DS soundtracks do not suffer from large variation in volumes.

Sky Anytime+ does not freeze, does not give error messages, does not crash if you pause a program for too long (5mins...) Sky Anytime+ actually has entire box-sets not just random episodes. You can record from Sky Anytime+ to your HDD. Waiting times when switching between menus is non existent - no more "please wait loading..." rubbish.

The mini menu does not require the TV button to be pressed in order to remove it, it goes on its own.

Recordings on Sky+ do not incessently ask for passwords - and passwords on Sky are only required for material with age ratings i.e. movies. Not anything under the sun, such as documentaries.

Well, the list goes on.. and on. Basically Sky trumps Virgin Media in every way possible. Virgin Media is an insult in this age of technology - to have such poor hardware/software is enexcusable.

.................................................. ................

I know, I'm a bit sad but hey...

FlightMan

I don't know what VM you've been watching, but your description is nothing like the system I've been watching for 5 years.

And for that reason, "I'm oot"

Jamescsti

We now have sky.and.virgin fan boys on scoobynet love it!

Tidgy

mmm, i went from virgin to sky, and have to say they both arn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination.

personaly i prefer the interface on the virgin box to the sky box, but thats a pesonal choice thing, and it may be because i used to learned virgin fist.

i find the on demand selection better an easier to access on virgin

channel selection, there all on both, except sky has an extra 20 channels that are crap, physicic tv, africa channe etc etc are all total pish. you pay for sky sports/movies on either

Hardware, we left sky due to major issues, 9 box's in 18 months, says it all. But my best mate went from sky to virgin and had the exact oposite problems, sky played up virgin hasn't for him.

as said neither of them ar perfect so dont kid yourself, it just depends which you prfer, virgin internet is better than sky though lol

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

You watch, it'll be Apple next

Sosbanite

And before you know it, Subarus

TopBanana

Aren't Virgin about to release a new Tivo powered box?

pigSTi

iTrader: (5)

Where's Pete?

pigSTi

iTrader: (5)

Yes they are, began rolling them out late 2010 to a select few. Starting to pick up now though I believe, ring VM if you want to jump on the waiting list.

Boxes have 3 tuners, 1Tb HDD, all the trappings of Tivo. They also have a built in modem. They will cost £200.

Jaybird-UK

No virgin experience I have ever had, besides TiVo makes your Sky+ box look very very dated

The best remote control ever is now from Virgin


Fantastic EPG, better than Sky


VM has never done that for me
VM TiVo records programs from start, not just when you press the button. How can you have a problem with hours remaining? arnt programs listed in hours and not % value of your sky+ ?

Again, never seen any of those issues on VMLike any computer its prone to crashing, maybe once every 3-6 months?, you must have some mythical magical skybox if it never crashes.

Sky anytime+ is playing catch up to Virgin, VM have had on demand programming including movies for years.

Yes, this is an issue on older boxes, much better on Samsung hardware and better still on TiVo

I really hate the Sky mini guide vanishing on its own when I am reading it, id prefer it to go when I have finished

Sky box lets my kids watch anything that may be unsuitable for them, I with it had programs rated 12+ pin locked......

It doesnt. Both have faults and pluses, the new TiVo box really does blow Sky away, then again my 10 year old series 1 TiVo does things that Sky+ cant.

Im glad you are happy with Sky+, it is pretty decent after all, but really, 10/10?

PS. Does sky give you 100mb broadband?

pigSTi

iTrader: (5)

Yep, pretty sure it's still a 10/10 for me

Jamz3k

Sky is a fooking mess of a company, it has taken 5weeks for the moving home team to get me a phoneline, now I can't even get broadband from sky themselves because the phoneline is registered to some obscure postcode and no one seems to beable to fix this...not that it matters as they can't process my order anyway as they sent me a router in 2009 that I didn't want nor need and it hasn't been returned to them even though I never received it!

W ANKERS!

alistair

I booted out Sky after no end of trouble with HD boxes - I was running 3 and there was always 1 not working - I had Sky engineers out more times than I care to think about.

I've had 4 V+ boxes for over a year and they have been faultless

Enough said.....

EddScott

Is Virgin cable only?

If so we only really have Sky Sky or Sky. There is Freeview but we don't get as many channels as my mother does in Cardiff.

We had a spell of going through a silly amount of boxes in 2 weeks - no joke. First one let go, the next 2 didn't even work when the engineer took them out the box. One let go after a few days the the penultimate one sounded like a 747 taking off. The last box lasted about 18 months and its power supply packed in - its a Thomson box so the worst of the lot apparently. I get a new PSU from ebay and changed to HD to a 500HD I had spare. It had a bit of a wobble a couple of weeks ago but it's been pretty good.

It does lock up from time to time and get stuck on one channel. Just have to put up with it.

We have multiroom in our bedroom and one of those remote operator things for the nippers room - 1 box for 2 rooms. You have to watch the same channel but it's no big issue as we haven't clashed yet.

MickWrx

Yeah cable only, I will stand to be corrected though.

I have VM all through the house v+ in the main room, HD in back room and boxes in all the bedrooms, no loss of quality or speed throughout, I run with the XL package and it simply covers all my bases 'on demand' is pure quality.

I had sky before VM and I can't even compare the 2, VM is far better and far cheaper too, Sky cant come close to my Monthly cost of £66.00 for all the above, the channel add ons to get to an equivalent of VM-XL with sky was way out of bed, and if I started on customer service I could rant all night.

I understand we all have different experience and our own comfort zones, but VM wins all day for me, just waiting for the 500gb Tivo to come out in May then that is coming into the main room.

GC8WRX

sky is better if you like tv, virgin is better if you like internet.



I have fttc which gives a true 30mb and isnt traffic shaped unless i download 3.5 in 5 hours or less, which is fine by me.


My ping in cod is between 5 and 20 ms for the uk servers.




I was on sky adsl at the old flat and it was sh1te, throttled back to 3mb btween 4pm and 12pm and 8 the rest of the time, my sky adsl ping was 40 to 80 ms!




Virgin internet rocks! (apart from the static ip)

stonejedi

iTrader: (51)

Leslie

I have never tried Virgin Media but so far have found Sky to be satisfactory in most cases and have not had the inclination to change.

Les

pimmo2000

iTrader: (6)

No, Virginmedia does ADSL too ..