Virgin Media XL review

Hard disk recorders may have changed the way that we watch broadcast television, but Virgin Media has added even more flexibility with its on-demand service.

Unlike rival services from Sky and Top Up TV Anytime, Virgin Media's service doesn't push a small selection of programmes to a set-top box's hard disk. Instead, programmes are requested and streamed in real time over the company's high-speed network. The benefits are immense and mean the library of available content is as big as Virgin Media's servers can hold. As no local storage is needed, the on-demand services are available on all Virgin Media set-top boxes, not just the V+ PVR.

We looked at the XL TV package, which has the best selection of content and comes with the HD V+ PVR. The service's biggest draw is TV Choice Ondemand, which is free to use. This is like a massive DVD library of TV series, and includes Band of Brothers, Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Sopranos.

The choice is almost limitless, but more impressive is the way it works. Simply select the programme you want to watch and a few seconds later it starts playing live. You can pause, rewind and fast-forward just as if you were watching a normal recording.

If you're up to date with your TV shows, there are lots of other things to keep you entertained. The movies choice is excellent. For between £2 and £3.50 you can 'rent' a film for 24 hours. There's a good selection of the latest titles, but there's also a big back catalogue, including every James Bond film from Dr No to Casino Royale. It's far better than anything Sky has to offer. If you've got an HD TV, there's even a selection of HD movies, although these cost up to £4.50. Movies support resuming, so you don't have to watch one all the way through in one sitting.

XL TV subscribers also get free access to the music video choice. Virgin Media has created several playlists, including big-name bands and common genres, so you can watch a good chunk of your favourite videos in one go. Sadly, you can't build your own playlist to make the service the ultimate video jukebox. Finally, there's Catch Up TV, where you can watch the best of the last week's shows from the BBC, Channel 4, Bravo and Living.

The only problem with the system is that the interface can be a bit sluggish and it takes some time to scroll through the list of programmes. This is only going to get worse as the list gets bigger, and it would be nice if a local cache of the listings were stored on the V+ box's hard disk. As the on-demand service can work from any set-top box this wouldn't solve the problem for everyone, but it's a start.

When you want to watch live TV, the XL service is about as good as Sky's. There's currently no Sky One, due to a disagreement over pricing, and there's only BBC HD in high definition (Sky only lets Virgin Media users subscribe to the standard-definition Sky Sports), but otherwise there's the same choice of channels, and you get Setanta Sports thrown in for nothing.

The V+ box has three tuners, compared to the two in Sky's set-top box, so you can record two channels and watch a third. The 160GB hard disk is good for around 80 hours of recording, which is the same as Sky HD. Sadly, unlike Sky's set-top boxes, V+ never goes into a low-power mode, so its loud fans run constantly, even in standby mode.

The only other things that put us off this service are the poor quality of the installation (see the pictures at http://tinyurl.com/268l8h) and disappointing customer support, which we've been told is being improved (www.computershopper.co.uk/news/122060).