Can I get Virgin on my own set top box or PC?

Hello everyone.

I'm going mad at the crappy hardware Virgin provides (Sky too for that matter) - is it possible for me to buy a 3rd party cable/sat box and use it with Virgin/Sky?

I'm more than happy to pay the subscription - I just want it to run on hardware from this century!

Even better would be some kind of feed for a PC so I can use a custom GUI.

I've got a Virgin Tivo at the moment and it frustrates me daily... mainly because it's so slow, but also because the GUI is badly designed and clumsy to use.

I've put up with it for a while, but I recently fired up my old Pentium 3 PC (circa 2000) and Windows 95 is MUCH snappier than my Tivo. I think it shocking that a dedicated box with a really basic GUI struggles so much.

Alternatively, is there any way to upgrade the Virgin box to make it (much) faster? Help me "Pimp my Virgin" so to speak!

Any tips appreciated.

Comments

  • joshua_welbyjoshua_welby Posts: 9,017
    Forum Member
    smc wrote: »
    Hello everyone.

    I'm going mad at the crappy hardware Virgin provides (Sky too for that matter) - is it possible for me to buy a 3rd party cable/sat box and use it with Virgin/Sky?

    I'm more than happy to pay the subscription - I just want it to run on hardware from this century!

    Even better would be some kind of feed for a PC so I can use a custom GUI.

    I've got a Virgin Tivo at the moment and it frustrates me daily... mainly because it's so slow, but also because the GUI is badly designed and clumsy to use.

    I've put up with it for a while, but I recently fired up my old Pentium 3 PC (circa 2000) and Windows 95 is MUCH snappier than my Tivo. I think it shocking that a dedicated box with a really basic GUI struggles so much.

    Alternatively, is there any way to upgrade the Virgin box to make it (much) faster? Help me "Pimp my Virgin" so to speak!

    Any tips appreciated.

    My TiVo box is quite fast but ONLY when using the Menu, Apps and Setting screens
  • stuntmasterstuntmaster Posts: 5,070
    Forum Member
    nope, you have to use their hardware.

    why Virgin dint do the cablecard system like the US is beyond me.

    in the states you can rent a cablecard, this is a small card similar to a PCMCIA card. and you slot this into any cablebox you choose. you then ring up, and get your provider to tether the card to the box. job done.

    Virgin wont do a cam option in the UK because the whole cardsharing will openup again.

    Smallworld cable use a nice swish topfield box for their uses.
  • RickWhiteRickWhite Posts: 1,997
    Forum Member
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    They should let you use you own hardware. I agree that it's shite
  • the_viasat_guythe_viasat_guy Posts: 791
    Forum Member
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    What's to stop a nagravision cam from working though?
  • stuntmasterstuntmaster Posts: 5,070
    Forum Member
    What's to stop a nagravision cam from working though?

    I a not sure, I know with TiVo they can tell if you have stopped using it, and/or moved the card out the box.

    for a cam you will need to pair it, and the box number isn't known I don't think.

    worth a shot tho.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,954
    Forum Member
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    If your TiVo box is slow get another one!

    My TiVo works fine mabey you just have a crap one.
    nope, you have to use their hardware.

    why Virgin dint do the cablecard system like the US is beyond me.

    in the states you can rent a cablecard, this is a small card similar to a PCMCIA card. and you slot this into any cablebox you choose. you then ring up, and get your provider to tether the card to the box. job done.

    Virgin wont do a cam option in the UK because the whole cardsharing will openup again.

    Remember those days :D
  • RichardcoulterRichardcoulter Posts: 30,153
    Forum Member
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    smc wrote: »
    Hello everyone.

    I'm going mad at the crappy hardware Virgin provides (Sky too for that matter) - is it possible for me to buy a 3rd party cable/sat box and use it with Virgin/Sky?

    I'm more than happy to pay the subscription - I just want it to run on hardware from this century!

    Even better would be some kind of feed for a PC so I can use a custom GUI.

    I've got a Virgin Tivo at the moment and it frustrates me daily... mainly because it's so slow, but also because the GUI is badly designed and clumsy to use.

    I've put up with it for a while, but I recently fired up my old Pentium 3 PC (circa 2000) and Windows 95 is MUCH snappier than my Tivo. I think it shocking that a dedicated box with a really basic GUI struggles so much.

    Alternatively, is there any way to upgrade the Virgin box to make it (much) faster? Help me "Pimp my Virgin" so to speak!

    Any tips appreciated.

    Have a look here:

    http://www.techwatch.co.uk/forums/cable-on-pc/
  • steven123steven123 Posts: 3,237
    Forum Member
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    smc wrote: »
    Hello everyone.

    I'm going mad at the crappy hardware Virgin provides (Sky too for that matter) - is it possible for me to buy a 3rd party cable/sat box and use it with Virgin/Sky?

    I'm more than happy to pay the subscription - I just want it to run on hardware from this century!

    Even better would be some kind of feed for a PC so I can use a custom GUI.

    I've got a Virgin Tivo at the moment and it frustrates me daily... mainly because it's so slow, but also because the GUI is badly designed and clumsy to use.

    I've put up with it for a while, but I recently fired up my old Pentium 3 PC (circa 2000) and Windows 95 is MUCH snappier than my Tivo. I think it shocking that a dedicated box with a really basic GUI struggles so much.

    Alternatively, is there any way to upgrade the Virgin box to make it (much) faster? Help me "Pimp my Virgin" so to speak!

    Any tips appreciated.

    Personally, I think since Virgin took over (from NTL) the hardware has got massively better, I started with a Samsung V+ box (still have as second box) and Cisco VHD both of which are great boxes (apart from the small HDD on V+) and the V+ was a big step up from the Sky+ I came from and (VHD and V+) has the best SD picture quality of any box I have EVER used.

    Since then got the Tivo and got rid of the VHD. I love the Tivo and think calling it "crappy" is very unfair. It could be faster, particularly when using on demand services but in many cases I suspect network congestion could be as much to blame. Aside from that i.e. as a 'normal' PVR it is pretty responsive. I think things would get better if Virgin could write the software to use the second core and maybe think about bumping it's Internet connection up to 20mb while they are doubling our BB speeds.

    I have found both the Tivo and even the V+ have more features and capability than most of the Freeview HD PVRs available, which is pretty good considering they can run up to £300.
  • stuntmasterstuntmaster Posts: 5,070
    Forum Member
    steven123 wrote: »
    Personally, I think since Virgin took over (from NTL) the hardware has got massively better, I started with a Samsung V+ box (still have as second box) and Cisco VHD both of which are great boxes (apart from the small HDD on V+) and the V+ was a big step up from the Sky+ I came from and (VHD and V+) has the best SD picture quality of any box I have EVER used.

    Since then got the Tivo and got rid of the VHD. I love the Tivo and think calling it "crappy" is very unfair. It could be faster, particularly when using on demand services but in many cases I suspect network congestion could be as much to blame. Aside from that i.e. as a 'normal' PVR it is pretty responsive. I think things would get better if Virgin could write the software to use the second core and maybe think about bumping it's Internet connection up to 20mb while they are doubling our BB speeds.

    I have found both the Tivo and even the V+ have more features and capability than most of the Freeview HD PVRs available, which is pretty good considering they can run up to £300.

    The 2nd core is active.

    Agreed the box is pretty rapid, however OD is slow but that's it's nature. The problem is that it's using the wrong interface for it.

    The US TiVo has each service in the list then say you click on hulu plus, the grid pops up with the genres. click that and the list then shows with all the content.

    ours is purely list based which does make it hard to locate.

    apart from that the UI is quite stunning, much cleaner and crisper than sky+hd IMO.

    Just wish VM would supply the GLO remote and the keyboard remote. I know you can import it and it works, but some buttons are missing, which my family has got accustomed to.

    I also wish they'd re-enable the stuff they've taken off too.

    TiVo can only get better, I wonder if they will release the Quad Tuner Version?
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