It is worth changing from SKY HD to Virgin HD although Virgin will have the Sky basic channels such as Sky News until November 2011
The only reason why I changed to Sky from Virgin was for the extra channel choices. I still have the phone and internet service with them and from a customer service viewpoint I had no problem with them.
I really really miss my Virgin Media connection - enough that it's a factor in me deciding I only want to live in a city from now on.
The only real qualm I have with them is the way they isolate channels - previously channels were pumped out by 3 national centres - C&W, NTL and Telewest. They now all come from 1 centre, and thus every channel throughout the UK is pumped to every box in the UK - except they arrange the channels at your local 'headend' and isolate some, notably S4C. I really don't see the point in arbitrarily isolating channels off is - I'd really like S4C in Nottingham, and even though I appreciate I'm in the minority with that the bandwidth is already being used to carry it, so why not just give it an EPG slot (or provide a hidden "other channels" menu).
V+ also lets you record two programmes and watch a third. Sky is only one programme I think.
Yes, V+ is 3 tuners, so you can record 2 things and watch/timeshift a third
Sky + is only 2 tuners so you can record 2 things but only if you want to watch one of them while it records
The only real qualm I have with them is the way they isolate channels - previously channels were pumped out by 3 national centres - C&W, NTL and Telewest. They now all come from 1 centre, and thus every channel throughout the UK is pumped to every box in the UK - except they arrange the channels at your local 'headend' and isolate some, notably S4C. I really don't see the point in arbitrarily isolating channels off is - I'd really like S4C in Nottingham, and even though I appreciate I'm in the minority with that the bandwidth is already being used to carry it, so why not just give it an EPG slot (or provide a hidden "other channels" menu).
Surely the bandwidth from the local headend to your box is limited and therefore giving you everything means that other channels would have to be lost? Just something like S4C by itself isn't much of an issue, but if everyone got all the ITV/BBC regions for example that would mean having to ditch other things to make room.
Having said that I do have 3 identical versions of BBC1 now for some odd reason
Remember the only reason that satellite has everything is because it can't be regionalised (at least not to a level that's useful in the UK)
The only reason why I changed to Sky from Virgin was for the extra channel choices.
really? I always liked to think of Virgin as "Sky without the drivvel on the EPG" although if you're into Christian Crazy Channel +6 then Sky's the way to go
V+ also lets you record two programmes and watch a third. Sky is only one programme I think.
Yes, V+ is 3 tuners, so you can record 2 things and watch/timeshift a third
Sky + is only 2 tuners so you can record 2 things but only if you want to watch one of them while it records
With Sky+ you can record two channels at once and watch a previously recorded programme - or nothing at all, of course.
You don't
have
to watch one of the programmes being recorded.
Remember the only reason that satellite has everything is because it can't be regionalised (at least not to a level that's useful in the UK)
The channels are regionalised for the customer's EPG. What further regionalisation is required?
None. My point was that the reason why those with satellite get access to everything is because there's no other way of doing it - it's a nice by-product of the technology. On cable they can and do select what everyone gets, as bandwidth (from the headend to the consumer) is limited.
The only real qualm I have with them is the way they isolate channels - previously channels were pumped out by 3 national centres - C&W, NTL and Telewest. They now all come from 1 centre, and thus every channel throughout the UK is pumped to every box in the UK - except they arrange the channels at your local 'headend' and isolate some, notably S4C. I really don't see the point in arbitrarily isolating channels off is - I'd really like S4C in Nottingham, and even though I appreciate I'm in the minority with that the bandwidth is already being used to carry it, so why not just give it an EPG slot (or provide a hidden "other channels" menu).
Surely the bandwidth from the local headend to your box is limited and therefore giving you everything means that other channels would have to be lost? Just something like S4C by itself isn't much of an issue, but if everyone got all the ITV/BBC regions for example that would mean having to ditch other things to make room.
Having said that I do have 3 identical versions of BBC1 now for some odd reason
Remember the only reason that satellite has everything is because it can't be regionalised (at least not to a level that's useful in the UK)
Not sure I follow. All channels (since the recent smart card change) are now pumped nationally, e.g. the capacity is being used up. The local headends are blocking these channels as though there is a serious bottleneck between there and the houses (there is of course a bottleneck caused by the coax to the house, but it's not that much of a restriction). Even if that bottleneck was such a significant factor, S4C has to be of more use than all the BBC variants.
Remember the only reason that satellite has everything is because it can't be regionalised (at least not to a level that's useful in the UK)
The channels are regionalised for the customer's EPG. What further regionalisation is required?
The point, I think, that Inspector Sands is making, is that you can't regionalise beams in the UK - so all regional variants have to be broadcast nationally. He's making the point that most (if not all) the regional variants are on satellite only because they have to be, not because the satellite provider or broadcaster wants to provide them nationally. The only regionalisation that can happen is in the receiver (via the EPG or similar)
The same arguments don't hold true for cable (and DTT) as they can be regionalised by only providing the relevant regional feed(s) down the bit of cable (or the local frequency) that the viewer receives.
Not sure I follow. All channels (since the recent smart card change) are now pumped nationally, e.g. the capacity is being used up. The local headends are blocking these channels as though there is a serious bottleneck between there and the houses (there is of course a bottleneck caused by the coax to the house, but it's not that much of a restriction).
But surely the bandwidth between the central headend and the regional ones (carrying the national range of channels) is far larger than the bandwidth from the regional headend to the street cabinets and on to the consumer.... yes there is a bottleneck. The connection from STB to regional headend will also be taken up with VOD, phone and broadband of course.
So, say for instance they can only provide (plucking a nice round figure out of the air) 200 TV services to each customer but there were 240 different services in their distribution network including all the BBC1/ITV1/C4/Five regions and S4C/TeleG. Of course they're only going to give you the relevant services applicable to your area,.
They have the choice of cutting back on distinct channels with regional variations
Quote:
Even if that bottleneck was such a significant factor, S4C has to be of more use than all the BBC variants.
The point, I think, that Inspector Sands is making, is that you can't regionalise beams in the UK - so all regional variants have to be broadcast nationally. He's making the point that most (if not all) the regional variants are on satellite only because they have to be, not because the satellite provider or broadcaster wants to provide them nationally. The only regionalisation that can happen is in the receiver (via the EPG or similar)
The same arguments don't hold true for cable (and DTT) as they can be regionalised by only providing the relevant regional feed(s) down the bit of cable (or the local frequency) that the viewer receives.
Yes, exactly. It is a consequence of the technology rather than intention. DTT and cable have a more limited bandwidth and they aren't going to provide to their customers channels that they don't have to. If it's the choice between providing S4C and 16 BBC regions or 17 pay channels then the pay channels are going to win
Remember the only reason that satellite has everything is because it can't be regionalised (at least not to a level that's useful in the UK)
The channels are regionalised for the customer's EPG. What further regionalisation is required?
The point, I think, that Inspector Sands is making, is that you can't regionalise beams in the UK - so all regional variants have to be broadcast nationally. He's making the point that most (if not all) the regional variants are on satellite only because they have to be, not because the satellite provider or broadcaster wants to provide them nationally. The only regionalisation that can happen is in the receiver (via the EPG or similar)
The same arguments don't hold true for cable (and DTT) as they can be regionalised by only providing the relevant regional feed(s) down the bit of cable (or the local frequency) that the viewer receives.
Well, Sky has a similar bottleneck to VM - except they're limited in terms of EPG slots. Why, in that case, has S4C got a national EPG slot as well as the Wales-only 104?
The difference is, even if they didn't have an EPG slot on Sky, I could get to it through "Add Channels" (as I still can with S4C2).
I understand that it'd be silly to suggest VM should make every region of Five and C4 available, but seeing as S4C is far from
just
a regional version of C4 I'd say it deserves a slot far more than all the versions of BBC One that are in the 900s.
