Virgin Media - analogue TV service reduction and switch off

AndrewJRenko

mackersdublin wrote: »

I know The Cush mentioned earlier in this thread about a reduction coming soon but this has to be the first area in Dublin to reduce channel line up

All other areas were turned off completely

Has anyone else seen or heard of other areas that a reduction is on the way?

Got the same letter today in D16. The family is revolting as a result.

If we get a new digital box, will the existing coax cable work to connect this back to the wall socket, or will fresh cabling be needed?

The Cush

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

If we get a new digital box, will the existing coax cable work to connect this back to the wall socket, or will fresh cabling be needed?

The same cabling should work with a Virgin Media digital box.

The Cush

mackersdublin wrote: »

I know The Cush mentioned earlier in this thread about a reduction coming soon but this has to be the first area in Dublin to reduce channel line up

All other areas were turned off completely

Has anyone else seen or heard of other areas that a reduction is on the way?

coylemj was the first to post about the actual channel reduction since I posted the link to the VM webpage over 3 months ago. The analogue switchoff appeared to be going so smoothly and without much complaint I was sure they were going to continue with the full analogue switchoff by the end of the year.

Could there be a larger number of analogue subscribers in this area and so the phased switchoff?

JDxtra

My parents lost their analogue service in Dublin 12 there the other week. Pretty sure it was a complete switch off, but haven't checked. They were paying for an extra TV point anyways so Virgin sent out a digital box (Cisco), which works fine. EPG a bit dated looking but works.

JDxtra

Radio Gold wrote: »

Got one of the Virgin letters today here in killiney, co. Dublin, they said on Aug. 20th it will be reduced to 9 channels and switched off completely in 2019 in our area.

Maybe they planned to switch off in Killiney in 2019 anyways, but seems as it's going OK so far everywhere else they are now reducing the service in other areas as a kind of warning message?

AndrewJRenko

Just noticed a strange one tonight!

There has always been a 1-2 second delay on the digital service compared to the analogue, which I put down to the need to decode the digital signal. I noticed this during the world cup, when the last England match was on both TVs, but I roared at one of the goals just a second before the others saw it on the digital service.

But tonight, I noticed that the two services are in perfect synch. If I mute the digital audio, the analog audio fills the gaps perfectly.

Any idea what's happening here?

sonofenoch

I have a point upstairs for BB not tv ....I had a splitter on it that got analogue, if I hooked up a virgin box to it would I get anything ? even just Irish channels

The Cush

sonofenoch wrote: »

even just Irish channels

No.

Delta2113

The Cush wrote: »

No.

- You can't possibly say that for sure.

The Cush

Delta2113 wrote: »

- You can't possibly say that for sure.

There was a brief discussion on this here in recent times and IIRC there was 1 channel available, all the rest were encrypted.

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=106893421#post106893421

L1011

The Cush wrote: »

No.

If it's a working Virgin box with working sub, it'll work. They said they were going to use a Virgin box

There are two unencrypted channels, RTE1 SD and the Virgin welcome channel

The Cush

L1011 wrote: »

If it's a working Virgin box with working sub, it'll work.

Of course, but not available without a sub.

ozmo

HDMI over Ethernet is also an option....

I bought one to test - but having trouble getting it to go any decent length over the Cat 5 cables I have - anyone got 20meters of good Cat6 spare ?

stephend2000

ozmo wrote: »

HDMI over Ethernet is also an option....

I bought one to test - but having trouble getting it to go any decent length over the Cat 5 cables I have - anyone got 20meters of good Cat6 spare ?

I think I have about 20 meters over Cat5e. Are you using a single cable or one of those double cable models?

ozmo

stephend2000 wrote: »

I think I have about 20 meters over Cat5e. Are you using a single cable or one of those double cable models?

Cool! It's a single ethernet cable - all the cheap cat5 cables I've tried so far had failed to give a signal except for the shortest 2m ones. Please pm me

AndrewJRenko

Is anyone having difficulty with Sky1 on Analogue today? No audio for us in D16, though other channels are all working fine.

odyssey06

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

Is anyone having difficulty with Sky1 on Analogue today? No audio for us in D16, though other channels are all working fine.

+1

No sound here in D3 on analogue, SKY News is all ok as are other channels.

sonofenoch

L1011 wrote: »

If it's a working Virgin box with working sub, it'll work. They said they were going to use a Virgin box

There are two unencrypted channels, RTE1 SD and the Virgin welcome channel

What will work? just the 2 channels?


the point has a BB sub connected to it but not tv

AndrewJRenko

odyssey06 wrote: »

+1

No sound here in D3 on analogue, SKY News is all ok as are other channels.

And their response when I did the helpful thing and reported it:

your account doesn't have an analogue subscription so this is unpaid for and unsupported I'm afraid

Way to go on pi$$ing off your already pi$$ed off customers VM.

L1011

sonofenoch wrote: »

What will work? just the 2 channels?


the point has a BB sub connected to it but not tv

If you move a working box, everything that worked on it before.

sonofenoch

L1011 wrote: »

If you move a working box, everything that worked on it before.

I don't understand, what do you mean 'move a working box'? I don't have tv with Virgin just the BB the point could also get analogue ......there is Virgin TV in the house in other rooms that have separate points

NuMarvel

sonofenoch wrote: »

I don't understand, what do you mean 'move a working box'? I don't have tv with Virgin just the BB the point could also get analogue ......there is Virgin TV in the house in other rooms that have separate points

If you were able to get an analogue signal through the point, directly or with a splitter, then you should be able get a digital signal as well. But to be able to watch a digital signal, you need a Virgin TV box, hence L1011's comment about a working box.

The points themselves aren't restricted to a particular service, so even if the point was installed for the purposes of broadband service, it still carries a digital TV signal. You just need the right equipment to decode it.

L1011

sonofenoch wrote: »

I don't understand, what do you mean 'move a working box'? I don't have tv with Virgin just the BB the point could also get analogue ......there is Virgin TV in the house in other rooms that have separate points

If you have Virgin analogue in the other rooms you will get the same channels. Any TV will get the same channels. But they will be gone within a few months max.

If you have Virgin digital, you need a box; if you move that box it'll get the same channels

sonofenoch

So just to clarify, if I connect a Virgin tv box to that point I'd get what was on analogue through that digital box? is it possible to order a box off them without getting tv?

The Cush

sonofenoch wrote: »

So just to clarify, if I connect a Virgin tv box to that point I'd get what was on analogue through that digital box?

Only with a VM TV subscription. Box comes with subscription.

sonofenoch

The Cush wrote: »

Only with a VM TV subscription. Box comes with subscription.

Others seem to be saying differently?


guess the only way to find out is hook up a digital box and see what comes up

0ph0rce0

sonofenoch wrote: »

Others seem to be saying differently?


guess the only way to find out is hook up a digital box and see what comes up

Don't waste your time, you won't get any of the channels you get through analogue by using a digibox unless you have a sub

RTE 1 clears without a subscription that is all. (Maybe euronews too not 100% on that one)

You won't be getting any tv3, bbc, ch4, sky 1, nick, sky news etc..

Living Off The Splash

O.K. Here is my situation. I just realised that I have been made a fool of by Virgin Media for my analogue service.

I pay for my analogue TV a year in advance. Last January I was billed €420 plus €54.60 for an extra point. I was given a "self service" discount of €42. So my total bill was for €432.59. When I got this bill I got no information/inserts/offers to tell me that the digital products were considerably cheaper.

Last week I got the letter to say that my analogue service was being reduced to 9 TV channels from August and removed in 2019 even though I have paid for the full compliment up until next January. I am being offered basically the Saor View channels plus BBC and Sky News.

I had a look at the Virgin website to see their digital offerings..... Freedom TV €240 per year, 20 channels....... Mix TV €360 per year, 50 plus channels....... Full House TV, 100 plus channels, €420 per year.

All cheaper, so why was I being charged €432 a year for basic analogue when Freedom TV was available for €240? Almost identical channels.

If Virgin knew that analogue was going in 2018, why did they not advise me last January and why did they bill me €432 for a years analogue TV upfront?

I'm probably not alone here?

dodzy

Living Off The Splash wrote: »

O.K. Here is my situation. I just realised that I have been made a fool of by Virgin Media for my analogue service.

I pay for my analogue TV a year in advance. Last January I was billed €420 plus €54.60 for an extra point. I was given a "self service" discount of €42. So my total bill was for €432.59. When I got this bill I got no information/inserts/offers to tell me that the digital products were considerably cheaper.

Last week I got the letter to say that my analogue service was being reduced to 9 TV channels from August and removed in 2019 even though I have paid for the full compliment up until next January. I am being offered basically the Saor View channels plus BBC and Sky News.

I had a look at the Virgin website to see their digital offerings..... Freedom TV €240 per year, 20 channels....... Mix TV €360 per year, 50 plus channels....... Full House TV, 100 plus channels, €420 per year.

All cheaper, so why was I being charged €432 a year for basic analogue when Freedom TV was available for €240? Almost identical channels.

If Virgin knew that analogue was going in 2018, why did they not advise me last January and why did they bill me €432 for a years analogue TV upfront?

I'm probably not alone here?

I dunno what's happening with your account but plenty of people, my parents included, were on analogue with UPC and more recently, VM. They were billed 2 monthly. And it was nothing near the price you referred to. IIRC, it worked out at approx €24.50 per month (€49 billed ever 2 mths) for a single TV point. Analogue was never €35 per month.

Anyway, I put in a FTA setup a good while back for them which works well, so no more bills, but I think they killed the analogue in Finglas recently; no phasing channels out. Same happened to us in D15.

Wabbit Ears

Living Off The Splash wrote: »

O.K. Here is my situation. I never shopped around for bills or did anything to reduce my bills and now that I had to I realise I should have done this ages ago.


Somehow this is someone else's /Virgins fault.


I'm probably not alone here?

TLDR version