Analog TV Virgin Media

akadesign

Very annoyed at the moment. :mad:

Have Broadband & Analog TV with Virgin Media, moved property recently and was delighted to see that I had TV points in all rooms. Had Virgin Media switch over my service from the old property and then tried to connect up my TV to the analog coax connection with no joy, thought it was the TV point at first.

Rang Virgin Media and they said they no longer offer a Analog TV service anymore and tried to get me to upgrade to Digital TV, is this a tactic, was always working in the old property.

Just for curiosity sake, I opened up the box and there are two coax cables, one is connected up, the other is just a wire behind the box unstripped.

Anyway what are my options now?

I do not need a digital service, use the broadband for Rte player, Netflix etc and only switch over to Analog when I want to watch Ch4, BBC, RTE etc.

Please help!

The Cush

akadesign wrote: »

Rang Virgin Media and they said they no longer offer a Analog TV service anymore and tried to get me to upgrade to Digital TV, is this a tactic, was always working in the old property.

That's correct, they no longer offer or support analogue TV reception if you're not a legacy analogue subscriber. The analogue channels are probably still there on the cable.

I'm not in a cable area so I'm not sure how their BB is wired up. Would it be possible to run a test cable from the BB connection point on the wall to the TV and scan for the analogue channels? A few pics might help too.

These have been used by people who have posted here previously to split the cable feed between broadband and analogue TV - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cable-Splitter-Modem-Virgin-Dbox/dp/B0014N5YJY

Elmo

OP I think the easiest option for you is to go with a combi-saorview TV or STB.

I have Virgin Media Telephone and Broadband and TV from Saorview and FTA Sat.

akadesign

Elmo wrote: »

OP I think the easiest option for you is to go with a combi-saorview TV or STB.

I have Virgin Media Telephone and Broadband and TV from Saorview and FTA Sat.

Thanks Elmo, would I need an aerial for the saorview?

The Cush

akadesign wrote: »

would I need an aerial for the saorview?

Yes, aerial required - https://www.saorview.ie/en/get and satellite dish also if you go the combi receiver route - https://www.saorview.ie/en/get/saorview-combi

bk

BTW if you moved to Cork, there is no analogue TV service available on Virgin at all to anyone in Cork!

I use a splitter that Cush linked to to get Analogue TV service. One side of the split goes to the modem, the other side of the split to the TV. Obviously you will also need some extra co-ax cables for the splitter to do this.

This item looks lie it has everything you would need for one TV/Broadband split:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Way-Cable-Splitter-Kit-electrosmart%C2%AE/dp/B003ANFBPI/ref=pd_cp_147_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=03818VT8ED2034RMXFSD

Unfortunately it doesn't deliver to Ireland, but you can probably buy the same bits separately from other companies on Amazon or here in Ireland.

It is also possible that the TV connection points in the other rooms aren't actually connected to the incoming Virgin Broadband/TV cable.

Depending on how many TV points there are in the house, they should all lead back to the central incoming Virgin cable and connected with a device like this:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Coax-Coaxial-Cable-Splitter-Signal/dp/B0050N5JJO/ref=sr_1_27?ie=UTF8&qid=1454841362&sr=8-27&keywords=coax+splitter

That is just one example, of an 8 way splitter, they come in all different numbers of splits depending on your number of TV points.

It is quiet possible that your TV points aren't connected to the incoming Virgin connection like this and instead are completely unconnected or instead perhaps connected to a roof aerial. If you are comfortable with DIY, then you could change them and connect them to Virgin yourself. Having said that, there are far more channels and in a far better connection quality on Saorview/Freesat then on Virgin analogue.

akadesign

bk wrote: »

BTW if you moved to Cork, there is no analogue TV service available on Virgin at all to anyone in Cork!

I use a splitter that Cush linked to to get Analogue TV service. One side of the split goes to the modem, the other side of the split to the TV. Obviously you will also need some extra co-ax cables for the splitter to do this.

This item looks lie it has everything you would need for one TV/Broadband split:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Way-Cable-Splitter-Kit-electrosmart%C2%AE/dp/B003ANFBPI/ref=pd_cp_147_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=03818VT8ED2034RMXFSD

Unfortunately it doesn't deliver to Ireland, but you can probably buy the same bits separately from other companies on Amazon or here in Ireland.

It is also possible that the TV connection points in the other rooms aren't actually connected to the incoming Virgin Broadband/TV cable.

Depending on how many TV points there are in the house, they should all lead back to the central incoming Virgin cable and connected with a device like this:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Coax-Coaxial-Cable-Splitter-Signal/dp/B0050N5JJO/ref=sr_1_27?ie=UTF8&qid=1454841362&sr=8-27&keywords=coax+splitter

That is just one example, of an 8 way splitter, they come in all different numbers of splits depending on your number of TV points.

It is quiet possible that your TV points aren't connected to the incoming Virgin connection like this and instead are completely unconnected or instead perhaps connected to a roof aerial. If you are comfortable with DIY, then you could change them and connect them to Virgin yourself. Having said that, there are far more channels and in a far better connection quality on Saorview/Freesat then on Virgin analogue.

Thanks for the very detailed reply. I did actually try a splitter which I had from the previous address, but did not work. Looks like they deactivated it somehow.

Anyway plenty of food for thought.

Wabbit Ears

If the area has virgin Analog a Splitter on the cable should give you whatever Analog channels are available, they cant 'deactivate it somehow'.

Some areas do not have analog signals.

If you do not have a TV subscription then technically you shouldn't be using their analog service at all.

having a UPC point in the house means very little. its whether these points are actively connected to the Tap outside your house. Typically they would not reconnect these if you don't have a multiroom subscription. Its really pot luck if they are left connected or not, seems you are unlucky.

Wabbit Ears

If the area has virgin Analog a Splitter on the cable should give you whatever Analog channels are available, they cant 'deactivate it somehow'.

Some areas do not have analog signals.

If you do not have a TV subscription then technically you shouldn't be using their analog service at all.

having a UPC point in the house means very little. its whether these points are actively connected to the Tap outside your house. Typically they would not reconnect these if you don't have a multiroom subscription. Its really pot luck if they are left connected or not, seems you are unlucky.

akadesign

Wabbit Ears wrote: »

If the area has virgin Analog a Splitter on the cable should give you whatever Analog channels are available, they cant 'deactivate it somehow'.

Some areas do not have analog signals.

If you do not have a TV subscription then technically you shouldn't be using their analog service at all.

having a UPC point in the house means very little. its whether these points are actively connected to the Tap outside your house. Typically they would not reconnect these if you don't have a multiroom subscription. Its really pot luck if they are left connected or not, seems you are unlucky.

I think you've hit the nail on the head, even though it's all wired up, there's no analog signal.

With regard to the tv subscription, I did actually have a BB and TV service. A few years ago I rang and asked to downgrade my TV service as the digi box had too many bells and whistles for me. They suggested the analog service, as I was going to got elsewhere for BB of which I switched to.

They seem to be phasing out the analog service in favour of digital.

Shame I think it still has a purpose.

coylemj

akadesign wrote: »

I think you've hit the nail on the head, even though it's all wired up, there's no analog signal.

With regard to the tv subscription, I did actually have a BB and TV service. A few years ago I rang and asked to downgrade my TV service as the digi box had too many bells and whistles for me. They suggested the analog service, as I was going to got elsewhere for BB of which I switched to.

They seem to be phasing out the analog service in favour of digital.

Shame I think it still has a purpose.

They are 'phasing out the analog service' in the sense that you cannot sign up for a TV service consisting of analog only but if the area you live in has analog then everyone has it - if they choose to use it. As far as I'm aware they can't deactivate analog for individual subscribers as they can do with for example broadband or Sky Sports.

The issue for you is probably not what you're paying for but where you live - can you say roughly which part of the country you're in as otherwise there's a lot of guesswork going on here.

colm_mcm

Some newly added (last few years) addresses never had analogue.

bk wrote: »

BTW if you moved to Cork, there is no analogue TV service available on Virgin at all to anyone in Cork!

Interesting anomaly, but in fact virgin media provide analogue cable to addresses in cork city that are owned by the corporation. A condition of multichannel (or chorus?) getting permission to run co-ax cables around the city was that they would indefinitely provide analogue (but not as many channels as normal-possibly just the Irish ones) tv channels to certain addresses.

L1011

I believe its just the domestic, older 4 channels.

The Cush

The Cork analogue channels - http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=83990809