Sky channels back on Virgin Media
Rejoice ! After 18 months, Rupert and Richard have ended their standoff and the Sky channels will be returning to Virgin Media.
Now, I wonder if some kind soul could fill me in on the last 18 months of 'Lost'.
High Definition TV on Virgin Media V+
I finally caved in and replaced a 15 year old Sony TV with a Panasonic 32″ LCD TV (TX32LXD700) for Christmas. Although the aging Sony still worked fine, it did cycle through Red/Green/Blue and took 5 minutes to fully warm up.
Before taking the plunge, I read various reviews and looked at the televisions on my shortlist in shops. Most stores (understandably) use High Definition (HD) broadcasts or Blu-ray discs to show the digital technology at its best. Cartoons are another popular choice to demonstrate LCD TV’s displaying a very high quality picture.
As the range and number of programs actually broadcast in HD on Virgin Media is currently relatively limited, I explicitly asked to see a conventional TV channel which was enlightening. You could often see pixellation and blurring which was disappointing but not wholly unexpected.
Undoubtedly, the Panasonic had the best picture quality both for standard and HD programs. I could have got a better deal on the previous model (TX32LXD70) but opted for the 700 for the better sound and additional HDMI input (3 in total).
Finally, the time came to actually buy the TV but, unfortunately, I now discovered the model was out of stock at most online retailers and good old fashioned shops. Eventually, I found the TV in stock (1-2 days delivery) at dabs.com for £769 including free delivery (normally £25) so I placed the order and waited.
After placing the order, I received various helpful emails from dabs:
Thank you for the order you placed with dabs.com on 01/12/07
which included an item or items which were out of stock at the time of
order.We’ve just received notice of a lead time change from our supplier which
affects the following product(s) included within your order:Quicklinx : 4HFN
Manufacturer : Panasonic
Product : TX-32LXD700 32″ LCD TV
Old Estimated Delivery : 05/12/2007
New Estimated Delivery : 13/12/2007Please note that the new estimated delivery date given above is the best
possible date we can provide at this time. Rest assured that should this
date move forward or backwards, we will keep you fully informed by email.
Strange. The TV wasn’t actually listed as ‘Out of stock’ when I placed the order. Worse, the projected dates kept slipping and slipping (like an IT project) until, tantalisingly, we reached 18 December.
I took the precaution of printing a large picture of the LCD TV on glossy paper and wrapped up the HDMI cable to give to Norma for her Christmas present - ‘This is what you could have won’.
Finally, some good news - dabs took the payment from the credit card which meant the TV was shipping imminently and the expensive package was delivered just in time for Christmas.
I resisted the temptation to open to package to check the contents and hook the TV up and managed to leave it propped up in the hallway until Christmas day.
Connecting the Panasonic to the Virgin V+ box was easy. You just need to buy an HDMI cable (not supplied with the TV) and modify the settings on the V+ box to output a HD signal.
Using the V+ Remote, select ‘Home’ followed by ‘Settings’. Then select ‘Change Display and Audio Settings’. Then select ‘TV Display Format’ and change the value to ‘Hi Def HDMI’. You can experiment with the screen resolution by changing the value of ‘V+ Box HiDef Output’ but I found the optimal setting was ‘1080′.
Currently, Virgin Media only carries one High Definition channel (BBC HD) but the picture quality is simply staggering. We watched ‘Extras’ and ‘Robin Hood’ on HD and were able to compare and contrast the picture with conventional BBC1 (as both programs were broadcast simultaneously). The picture is absolutely razor sharp and has a sense of ‘depth’.
Watching conventional channels is a bit of a come-down after HD but my fears that a conventional TV broadcast (albeit upscaled) would actually be inferior to the 15 year old Sony set were unfounded.
Having said that, the picture quality does depend on the program. Fast moving images (like sports) are still prone to pixellation and blurring which is irritating given the amount of football I watch. The good news is that the England friendly international in February should be available on BBC HD so it will be interesting to see how the quality differs.
The V+ box solely uses the HDMI cable to connect to the Panasonic so I connected the DVD player using the Scart cable and the LCD TV has breathed new life into my DVD collection.
There is also a SD card slot for viewing digital photos which now show up every single blemish in full colour 32″ glory and Norman Jnr is delighted as he can also connect the Xbox 360 via a handy HDMI slot on the front panel and again, the picture quality, as he saves the world, destroying zombies with a flame thrower and hand held rocket launcher, is superb.
Overall, I am delighted with the Panasonic LCD TV and I find myself watching wildlife documentaries on BBC HD just to admire the astounding picture quality.
review of the Virgin Media V+ box
I upgraded to a Virgin Media V+ service three months ago. Although I have had some initial teething problems, I am pretty satisfied with the V+ service. The V+ box is a personal video recorder (PVR) similar to the Sky Plus service. The V+ box contains a 160GB hard drive which can store 80 hours of recorded TV programs. Recording a TV program is very easy. You simply navigate through the 7 day TV guide, select the desired TV program and hit 'Record'. You get the option to either record the individual broadcast or the series (if appropriate). This is much preferable to finding an old video tape, wondering what is on it and inadvertently erasing 4 hours of Olympic Gymnastics from Sydney 2000. The whole operation is so easy, the rest of my family have mastered it and my only problem now is educating them to erase programs once viewed. Although the V+ box does have an option to automatically purge the oldest recordings. You can pause and rewind live TV too. This is especially useful for 'Have I Got News For You' which requires ones full attention to appreciate all the one-liners and rapid fire jokes. So, if the wife wants to discuss GCSE options for next year or the mother-in-law calls, you can simply pause the program, make a cup of tea and resume when the coast is clear. I once suspended a football match for 75 minutes and I assume the duration of 'Delay TV' is only constrained by the amount of free disk space. The football match was a excellent example of the benefits of V+. In the olden days, I would have to record the game on a tape, then wait until the game had finished before discovering, to my horror, the tape ended abruptly mid-way through the second half. With 'Delay TV', I was able to resume watching the game (exactly where I left it) while the actual match was still in progress. You can rewind and forward at varying speeds (2, 6, 12 and 32) which makes finding the crucial moment much quicker than tape technology. The other great feature of the V+ box is that you can watch one program while simultaneously recording two other channels. You get a warning if you try to record three overlapping programs. This feature essentially completely negates the need for the VCR for recording purposes, at least. Another useful feature is that if you watch a recorded program, you get the option to resume viewing from where you left the program which saves you having to waste time, fast-forwarding to the correct place. Tapes do have only minor advantage though. You can play them back in any TV with a VCR while V+ programs can only be played back on the V+ box. This sounds obvious but my children did once ask 'Why can't I watch the recorded program on the little telly ?' And when the program in question is 'Big Brother' or 'Breast Reductions Gone Badly Wrong', they do indeed have a valid point. I also assumed the V+ box was intelligent enough to decode signals to indicate the start and end of a program to cater for the World Snooker Final overrunning by 3 hours. However, on one occasion, I swear 'Jonathan Ross' was replaced by, err, 60 minutes of World Championship Snooker. Overall, the introduction of the V+ box has changed the way I view TV. I tend to select programs I really want to watch, hit 'Record' and forget about it. Then, instead of mindlessly channel flicking, I simply scan the library of recorded programs. I can't comment on the High Definition service as I don't have it nor have I ever transferred recordings from the V+ box to DVD which is also possible. More info on V+:- Virgin Media (costs and marketing fluff)
- Wikipedia (what do all those connectors do ?)
- Digital Spy V+ Forum