Sky, Virgin or Freesat?

GodAtum

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Just looking at which one to get. The main thing I'm looking for is on-demand TV and movies. Virgin looks like it wins in this area as it has on-demand from the main providers: BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Five. Sky does not.

In regards to movies, Virgin is cheaper as the movie package is free plus 99p for each movie, instead of an extra £17/month for Sky. But to be honest, I use Xbox Zune for most of my movies plus Netflix will come out soon.

Maybe Freesat will be the best option as that includes most of the main HD channels and I can get movies elsewhere?

Any comments or advice on my thoughts?
 
If you must have movies then Virgin just about wins. You can get some on-demand with Sky but you also need their broadband and the selection isn't as good as Virgin.

However, Freesat or Freeview will get you all the main channels (not on-demand, not sports channels, not movie channels, not Sky 1 or Atlantic or Discovery, etc) and with no monthly fee. If you're willing to use Netflix, LoveFilm, etc then you can get your movie fix this way and you can choose what you want to rent and when. As you know, you can either rent the DVD or Blu-ray disc or stream (assuming your broadband is up to it).

If I was starting again for movies I would pick Freeview+ HD PVR to go with my PS3 and just rent/stream the movies I wanted.

Hope this helps.
 
Sorry about posting in the wrong forum. I wasn't sure whether to put this in the Sky or Freesat forum as this topic covers both.

Freesat is nice and cheap, I suppose I could do without the on-demand by using a PVR. My Samsung TV had an iPlayer app anyway but not sure about the other channels.
 
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...

Maybe Freesat will be the best option as that includes most of the main HD channels and I can get movies elsewhere?

Any comments or advice on my thoughts?


Go motorised satellite ... you get the Freesat channels plus [plus] lots of free movie channels .... on other satellites & a lot more than just movies..
 
I suppose I could use Lovefilm for rentals for £11.99/month. Do they have a larger selection then Sky or Virgin in terms of HD films?
 
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You get two discs at a time for £9.99, and they have absolutely everything in every format.
 
You get two discs at a time for £9.99, and they have absolutely everything in every format.

so what do you get on the disks ... how many hours of sd &/or hd -

I looked & noticed some of their new release movies we'd got free on motorised already ..
 
pedro2000uk said:
so what do you get on the disks ... how many hours of sd &/or hd -

I looked & noticed some of their new release movies we'd got free on motorised already ..

You choose what films you want in what format you want and they post the dvd's, blu rays and games etc to you home when your done use the provided packaging and free post them back, they have over 70,000 titles and you can stream unlimited with some packages although the choice is more ltd, in short a bargain for the money! :)
 
I signed up to LoveFilm recently to get a free £20 Amazon voucher (Google if interested). The basic service is good, if they have what you want (chances are they will but they do not have everything.... and some content is not available in the UK) and DVDs/BDs arrive unscratched and play ok. Of course they give you a link to Amazon to buy the stuff you cannot rent. The online streaming is rubbish, choice is very restricted and average quality doesn't match broadcast let alone DVD/BD quality.
 
so how many hours do you get sent on a disk or disks & how many times do you do this a month ..
 
They're the discs that you can buy - DVD - BR - HDD - 3D BR - or game things - whatever you want.
Therefore the answer to the questions "how many hours of sd &/or hd" and "how many hours do you get sent on a disk or disks" is: as many as the film or other item consists of.
You can do it any number of times you like. You could get one Monday, play it, send it back the same day, get the next one Wednesday. The number of times that I do it in a month probably averages three for each of the two discs in the allowance.
Post #17 says that "absolutely everything " was wrong.
 
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Oh... I thought maybe they were doing something special with recordings - but it's just the standard DVDs etc.. like a video rental store .. by post / online ..
 
Yes, I thought you maybe thought that;), and you're right, it's the current equivalent of the old Blockbuster shops.
I got into it by accident this time last year, and soon found that it is good value - all the better as they increased the allocation recently from one at a time to two, without any increase at all in the charge.
 
Absolutely everything means everything that is released in the UK.

They do have a fair number of releases but far from everything released in the UK!

They don't carry any Universal titles for a start ;)
 
They do have a fair number of releases but far from everything released in the UK!

They don't carry any Universal titles for a start ;)

Don't know what we don't get on motorised as to the studios- I think you get most big studios that are releasing films now ... just not many old classic movies, which I think would actually be nice too..
 
I got into it by accident this time last year, and soon found that it is good value - all the better as they increased the allocation recently from one at a time to two, without any increase at all in the charge.
Glad to hear that. It's a while since I've used Lovefilm, but I was thinking of joining again. I always had two-at-a-time, as it was so much better value. So from my point of view that's a cut in the price rather than an increase in service. Still good though. ;)

I usually watched DVDs the day I received them, and sent them back the next day. I think I was getting through about 10 discs a month. The turnaround is dependent on how quickly they send out your next disc, plus the postal service of course.
 
Good to have confirmation that someone actually did my suggestion in post #14. :)
 
Good to have confirmation that someone actually did my suggestion in post #14. :)

I have three 2 months free cards (Badged Tesco - but still Lovefilm) worth up to £35.00. If anyone wants one to trial the service, yours for a self addressed envelope (unless you are local - Redditch Worcs and can pick up). PM if you want one. They send them every Xmas.
 

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