Virgin Media cannot yet compete with Sky when it comes to the range of HD material available, but with its V+ Box it has firmly signalled its intention not to let Sky have it all its own way with High Definition content provision.
Virgin’s stylish shiny black box, the V+ Box is actually a fully featured PVR with a 160GB hard drive which allows it to record 80hrs of Standard Definition (SD) or 20hrs of High Definition (HD) viewing. Although the V+ box is the cornerstone of Virgin’s HD strategy, it is for its PVR capabilities that it will rely upon to generate much of its consumer interest.
The V+ box sports a HDMI output, two RGB Scarts, component video along with optical audio output. In addition the unit comes equipped with an Ethernet port for broadband connection. With three on board TV tuners you can record two channels simultaneously while watching a third.
An extra tuner is an advantage over Sky’s twin offerings, and the V+ steals another march with its export capabilities. Any recording can easily be transferred to VHS or DVD by simply compiling a list of recordings through the remote and hitting the ‘export’ button.
Pause, rewind and replay live TV competes directly with the comparable feature from Sky and the on board cache extends to a full 90mins.
Virgin cannot compete with the number of HD channels that Sky has to offer, but it is offering a growing library of on demand programming along with access to the BBC’s HD trial channel. V+ Box users can watch a range of programmes from the BBC, Channel 4, Living and Bravo broadcast over the previous seven days.
HD content from the BBC includes The Blue Planet, Wild Weather, Superhuman, Judge John Deed and Bleak House which incidentally, as well as all HD content can be streamed in both 720p and 1080i format.
Virtually every aspect of the V+ Box’s operation is intuitive, with the selection and viewing of content whether on free to view or paid for on demand proving easy. Most notable is the increase in speed with which selected menus appear (especially if you have been used to previous NTL/Telewest offerings).
Picture quality from Virgin’s V+ Box is excellent for Standard Definition as well as High Definition content. With some of the BBC HD programmes, a small amount of video noise was apparent, but this unit is at least a match for Sky in this respect.
The 5.1 surround sound, available through the optical audio output suffered from the occasional bout of interference, but on the whole this intrusion was minimal.
You have to weigh the strong technical performance of the V+ with the subscription costs, which can be quite complicated. The V+ Box will currently set you back £15 a month (£10 if you are already a Virgin Media XL Package subscriber) and then you will have to work out just how much paid for content you are likely to watch.
If Virgin maintains its push towards the provision of on demand services, especially movies, then the V+ may tempt those with HD on their minds as a serious alternative to Sky HD. Even without the HD element, Virgin’s V+ Box is one of the best PVR’s out there and at the very least a match for Sky+.
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