Stream from Virgin Media

[Larry the Loafer]

https://www.techradar.com/news/virgin-me...-rival-sky

Not a massive amount of information about this just yet, but it sounds like they're trying to give Sky and their Pick a run for their money. They're pushing the convenience of having all your streaming services integrated on one device, but they're offering a bonus of having little discounts on each subscription you sign up to. Not sure what's on offer in terms of live TV, whether there's any Freeview functionality, or if it's running on some kind of Now basis like BT TV.

It would've sounded like a nice idea for anyone who didn't want a cable drilled through the wall, but by the sounds of it, it's only available to VM broadband customers.

[telebox2001]

You do need Virgin broadband to be able to use it - suggesting it might be Unicast rather than Multicast.

Does this also mean you can have extra boxes without having to run Coax to them?

UPDATE: Live TV will be Freeview channels. So potentially a great solution for "second" sets etc.

https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/sci...y-TV-rival

[Larry the Loafer]

Hopefully it'll open up to other ISPs one day like Sky Q did. Seems like a bit of a waste considering the Stream box doesn't appear to need anything exclusive to cable.

[BG2260]

Channels, apps and pricing can be found at the end of this document
Virgin Media O2 - Stream PDF

[Rdd]

Presumably the live channels are still provided via DVB-C rather than actually streamed? The interface is Liberty’s Horizon 4, the same used on TV360, and I suspect this is probably adapted from the TV360 multiroom box.

[thomalex]

Is that.... a carpet tile on the top?

[telebox2001]

Interesting - ITV2, 3, 4 and other HD versions which are usually behind a paywall will be available on this device without a subscription to Virgin's premium TV packages (albeit for a one-off payment)

[Jon]

Presumably the live channels are still provided via DVB-C rather than actually streamed? The interface is Liberty’s Horizon 4, the same used on TV360, and I suspect this is probably adapted from the TV360 multiroom box.

Considering there appears to be no aerial connection I think we can assumed they will be streamed.

[Larry the Loafer]

Having had a look at the PDF, the amount of HD channels that come free is very interesting! Though going by the lack of That's TV, I presume not all Freeview channels are available (I only noticed that because of my recent interest in that channel thanks to a bunch of classic comedy shows they've been churning out recently, don't judge me)

Not sure exactly what Essential Entertainment includes, but it looks very similar to a Now pass, albeit a few quid more. Though this is surely one of the cheapest ways to get BT Sport on TV, right? £18 a month versus £30-40 on Sky, IIRC.

And fair play to them for drawing attention to the lack of extra charge for HD. In 2022, I really would've thought Sky would've dropped that.

[i.h]

You do need Virgin broadband to be able to use it - suggesting it might be Unicast rather than Multicast.

Does this also mean you can have extra boxes without having to run Coax to them?

UPDATE: Live TV will be Freeview channels.  So potentially a great solution for "second" sets etc.

https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/sci...y-TV-rival

If it was multicast it'd definitely need Virgin BB. Unicast could theoretically run over any ISP (as most streaming services do), though there are reasons why Virgin might not want to (such as lower cost / greater quality of service when you control the whole thing from end to end)

It's good that they seem to put all channels over IP. Something BT still lacks.

I guess this will help them in their fibre rollout, as it means they will no longer need to worry about carrying the RF signal too.

Hopefully it'll open up to other ISPs one day like Sky Q did. Seems like a bit of a waste considering the Stream box doesn't appear to need anything exclusive to cable.

It would require some investment in CDNs and infrastructure that they don't need when it is running over their own network.

Sky has the issue that a large section of its customer base has never had (and does not want) Sky Broadband, so they had to open it up.

[BG2260]

As you can only have one box at the moment, I’m not sure how popular it will be, especially considering there are much cheaper alternatives such as NOW and Discovery+, which is basically the same set of channels as the Essential entertainment, and can be accessed on a range of devices like Roku, Fire TV and Smart TVs at the same time and obviously don’t require you to have VM broadband.

I notice there are quite a few apps still missing from this box such as Discovery+, Apple TV+ and even UKTV Play, but hopefully that will improve over time.

The fact that quite a few Freeview channels are available in HD effectively subscription free nice and could be a good option for people who don’t have an aerial or don’t get a very good signal on Freeview

[JetixFann450]

I didn't even know 5Action had an HD feed! Nice that you can get these channels for just a one-off payment.

https://youtu.be/9hJx8jVe3e8