Sky+HD vs Virgin Media TiVo

VIRGIN MEDIA

Cable TV in the UK had been through numerous mergers and rebrands before finally becoming Virgin Media around 2006. It’s estimated that cable TV is available to over half the homes in the UK, so even if you aren’t hooked up now, it’s still a possibility. Before reading any further you might as well check to see if there’s coverage in your area using the online postcode checker.

Having cable in your home not only means a wide range of TV channels, you can also get superfast broadband with speeds up to 100Mbit/s. In addition you can sign up for cheap landline calls (a triple-play package) and even discounted mobile phone contracts, making it the only ‘quad-play’ provider. However, back to TV, Virgin Media doesn’t produce its own TV content and so has a long-running and fractious relationship with rival Sky, which provides some of its content through the cable platform, but not all.

TiVo’s triple tuners make recording clashes very rare indeed

In practice, as with Sky, you’ll need to transfer your telephone, broadband and TV service to the provider in order to get the best value. However, with all three proving reliable in our experience, and with only a single bill to then deal with every month, that’s no bad thing. In addition, the TiVo box and router remains Virgin Media’s property, so any repairs or replacements are at its expense.

INTERFACE AND REMOTE

The centrepiece of Virgin Media’s TV offering is the technically impressive TiVo set top box. It has three tuners to help alleviate scheduling clashes, plus you get practically all of the 500GB or 1TB hard disk (depending on your model) to store recorded programmes.

The main menu system is easy to understand and navigate, though the bar of suggested content can be annoying

Outwardly the interface has changed little since its launch two years ago, it’s still flexible and capable in places, while feeling awkward and fragmented in others. This is partly due to the sheer wealth and disparity of content on offer; with lots of channels plus thousands of hours of on demand and catch up TV. To help you navigate this jungle is TiVo’s clever search and preferences system.

The TiVo box creates links between programmes to offer you content you might want to watch. Some of these are obvious ones, such as having actors in common. Watch Frasier, for example, and it will proffer up Cheers, plus a listing for Ted Danson’s other work. You can also give thumbs-up, or thumbs-down to shows at any time. This information is then compiled amongst all TiVo owners, so the box will offer you shows that other people who liked Cheers also enjoyed. In addition it uses your own preferences to automatically record content it thinks you might enjoy.

With TiVo you can see a variety of connections between programmes

The TiVo system also has a fully-integrated search function. For example, search TiVo for ‘Tom’ and it quickly pulls up options including Tom and Jerry and Tom Cruise, pick the latter and you get a list of available movies from various sources. Browse through these and you can see which are on TV and which are available on demand.

Our main gripe is that you can’t adjust the search parameters to match the content available to you. While search won’t show you TV content for channels you don’t have, it will show you pay-per-view rental content and movies on subscription services you aren’t signed up to. You have to navigate through to find this out though, which is frustrating.

The EPG works brilliantly, you can filter by genre and record programmes quickly and easily

The main programme guide works excellently though, it’s clearly laid out and catch-up content for the major terrestrial channels is integrated into the timeline – like Sky there’s a video window in the top right-hand corner. Unlike Sky the HD channels aren’t placed at the top of the list, so you have to browse down to find them. You can filter channels by type, including HD, but we’d recommend setting up a favourites list instead and clearing away all the rubbish.

The remote control is excellent, comfortable to use and with good feedback from the buttons. There are lots of shortcut buttons to take you to regularly used menus. The coloured buttons are used for some shortcuts, though they aren’t as central to the interface as with Sky+. One plus is that the Red button can now be used to access additional content on BBC channels.

Recording programmes is easy, either while watching or from the EPG. Press record and you can set up a single recording or a series link. There are three tuners in the TiVo, one more than in Sky’s box, making clashes unlikely. If there is a clash, then the box deals with it well, looking for an alternative screening. As with Sky, your recordings are neatly grouped by programme title and it’s easy to manage series links, changing what gets recorded and on what channel. This means you can filter out Top Gear repeats on Dave and just record new episodes on the BBC, or record them all if you’re a huge fan.

LIVE CONTENT

There are no shortage of TV channels on Virgin Media, although, as with Sky, most of them will never be watched by most viewers. You can get a full list of Virgin Media TV channels by package. In short, the M+ package has over 100 channels, L has over 135 channels (both with six in HD) and XL has other 200 channels (with 30 in HD). Note that the cost of HD is built into each package, rather than being an additional cost.

Virgin has a complex relationship with Sky, both its main competitor and provider of much of its premium content. Sky Sports is available through Virgin Media but only Sky Sports 1 and 2 are available in HD, rather than 4 HD sports channels plus F1 HD through Sky on satellite. There’s greater parity in movies with both having the full raft of Sky Movies channels in HD – Sky also has MGM H.

Other notable Sky Channels are Sky Sports F1, which again is included with the Sky Sports package but not in HD. Sky Atlantic is the other big draw, with lots of HBO content, this channel is not available on TiVo. Sky 1 and Sky 2 are available across all the packages.

Virgin media includes ESPN HD and EuroSport HD in its XL package, as well as the new BT Sport HD. Sky charges £12 a month for ESPN and BT Sport in HD, although if you have BT Broadband you get BT Sport for free in SD and only have to pay £3 a month for the HD stream.

CATCH-UP AND ON-DEMAND

Virgin Media continues to lead the way when it comes to catch-up and on-demand content. It has had catch-up services for the main terrestrial channels (BBC, ITV, Channel Four and Five) integrated into the timeline for some time now. Some of this is sent via cable TV and uses one of the boxes cable tuners to play – saving your broadband bandwidth – while other programmes come over IPTV such as iPlayer. There’s also a separate iPlayer app, with the latest interface and full HD support, so you can browse for BBC TV and radio content. All of this works via the cable connection, so there’s no extra cabling, as with Sky.

TiVo provides a dedicated iPlayer app for browsing BBC content

In addition there’s a wealth of on-demand content, with huge lists of TV boxsets you can browse and watch whenever you want. The amount of content you get varies based on your TV package M, L or XL, but there’s stuff here you won’t get on Sky – both classic series and newer ones. This content is changed periodically, so new stuff is always appearing. It’s a pain to browse but you can search it using the TiVo box’s powerful search tool. Also included here is catch-up content for any Sky channels you subscribe to.

APPS AND MOBILE DEVICES

For some time now you’ve been able to check listings and set up recordings via a simple app for iOS and Android devices. More recently Virgin Media has recently added an iOS app that allows both local and remote connection to your TiVo box. You have to connect your TiVo box to your router via its Ethernet port and go through a setup process to ensure your box stays secure, but once done you can access it from anywhere you have an internet connection.

If you’re at home the app can act as a kind of super remote control. You can access a touchscreen version of the TiVo’s interface, with the box reacting instantly to your inputs. It’s faster and slicker than using the remote and you get more thumbnails too for shows. You can even browse for a new show while your box plays another full screen.

Controlling your TiVo from the iOS app is brilliant, even more responsive than the remote, plus with easy text input for searches

Away from home you can manage your recordings and series links and browse the guide. There’s also a handful of streaming TV channels, the only ones of note are Eurosport and ESPN, but Gold and Channel 5 might help pass the time in a pinch and there’s a few kids channels too.

You can browse and manage your recordings in the home or on the go

You can also watch this small selection of live channels from Virgin Media’s website using a PC browser, although you also get Sky 1 and Sky Sports here (if you subscribe to the latter). Plus you can stream some on demand content – including boxsets of programmes from the BBC both recent and classic, lots of kids TV and even Walking Dead episodes from Fox.

The website also provides a brilliant interface for managing your TiVo box. If you want to have a clear out of old shows, re-organise your series links, or update your Thumb-up/down list then grab a laptop and do it online. With a mouse and the slick menu system it will be easier and quicker than navigating the box’s own menus.

HOW TO GET IT

While most people can get Sky, not everyone is lucky enough to have the option of cable services. If you do have it on your street the installation should be fairly straightforward. The engineers will likely have to drill a small hole through the front wall of your home to get the cable into your house. A small plastic box then covers the incoming hole and the splitter – which divides the cable so it can connect to both the TiVo box and the supplied cable modem router for broadband customers.

Pricing is complicated, with a huge variety of options on offer, but the bottom line is that you’ll need to sign up to a phone line, calls package, broadband and TV to get a really good. It’s hard to compare like-for-like with Sky’s services but if you want HD TV and fast broadband but don’t want to pay for Sky’s premium channels then the Premiere Collection is the one to go for.

You get 60Mbit/s broadband, free weekend calls, 200 channels (with 30 in HD including ESPN) plus both a 500GB TiVo box and a second HD-playback box for a second room. It costs a substantial £63 a month including line rental, but a comparative package from Sky would set you back a whopping £89.50 a month. With Sky you would get Sky Atlantic HD (and Sky Sports F1 HD if you move quickly), but then the Virgin Media package has around twice the broadband speed. Of course, if you have no use for the second box, and no interest in ESPN, then an equivalent Sky package costs around the same.

At the top end the VIP package contains everything on TV (including Sky Movies and Sky Sports) plus 100Mbit/s broadband, all for £114 a month. At the bottom end you can have speedy 30Mbit/s broadband, the great 500GB TiVo box and free weekend calls for £33 a month including line rental – though there is a £50 installation charge.

CONCLUSION

If you can get Virgin Media’s cable services then the choice between these and Sky’s services largely comes down to whether you want more premium content in HD or you’d prefer faster internet speeds. Either way Virgin Media tends to be a little cheaper across the board, throwing in extras like ESPN and an extra set top box, when compared to Sky’s equivalent packages.

In terms of hardware and apps there’s little between the two services. We narrowly prefer the TiVo box for its third tuner, as it’s particularly handy for family use, although it can take a while to get used to the menu system.

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