Virgin V+ Poor Picture Quality
I have notice a significant drop in the resolution of main SD channels (BBC1 BBC2 IVT1 ETC which you would not expect to be compressed) over the past few weeks. Previously, I had intermittantly noticed an occasional drop in resolution of an evening's viewing over the past few months but this seemed to 'clear' the following day with the picture has returning to 'normal' quality.
I had a Virgin Media service engineer at my house this morning who swapped the V+ box and even adjusted/checked the feed DB signal levels at the network NTE (at the end of the street) and everything checked out. NONE of my setting on the TV have changed and I have been enjoying perfectly good image quality on the same screen with the same setting for months.
I am concerned the problem is a fundimental network / bandwidth transmission issue? To me this looks like Virgin are compressing feeds to cope with increased bandwidth demand on the network through either increased users and/or widespread use of the recently launched BBCiplayer. (I wonder if the rollout of 4 > 10Mbupgrade to DSL services is creating this additional load on the network?) The engineer mentioned they were changing the signalling on the platform to a different compression codec for TV over the next few month so maybe Virgin are experimenting with this currently?
I'm now at the point that if it doesn't improve over the next week i'll probably terminate the service in lieu of SKY + SKY HD.
What was a TV quality picture service seems to have deteriorated into a tier 3 quality offering.
At this stage If you are considering the Virgin Service and have anything above a 20" TV then at this stage I would not recommend this platform.
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I have notice a significant drop in the resolution of main SD channels (BBC1 BBC2 IVT1 ETC which you would not expect to be compressed) over the past few weeks. Previously, I had intermittantly noticed an occasional drop in resolution of an evening's viewing over the past few months but this seemed to 'clear' the following day with the picture has returning to 'normal' quality.
I had a Virgin Media service engineer at my house this morning who swapped the V+ box and even adjusted/checked the feed DB signal levels at the network NTE (at the end of the street) and everything checked out. NONE of my setting on the TV have changed and I have been enjoying perfectly good image quality on the same screen with the same setting for months.
I am concerned the problem is a fundimental network / bandwidth transmission issue? To me this looks like Virgin are compressing feeds to cope with increased bandwidth demand on the network through either increased users and/or widespread use of the recently launched BBCiplayer. (I wonder if the rollout of 4 > 10Mbupgrade to DSL services is creating this additional load on the network?) The engineer mentioned they were changing the signalling on the platform to a different compression codec for TV over the next few month so maybe Virgin are experimenting with this currently?
I'm now at the point that if it doesn't improve over the next week i'll probably terminate the service in lieu of SKY + SKY HD.
What was a TV quality picture service seems to have deteriorated into a tier 3 quality offering.
At this stage If you are considering the Virgin Service and have anything above a 20" TV then at this stage I would not recommend this platform.
Screen - Samsung UE46D8000. Sources - Dell Zino HD 410; Sky HD; Sony BDP S550; Wyred 4 Sound DAC1. Amps - Yamaha RX-A3010; SimAudio Moon I-3 RS. Speakers - Vienna Acoustics Mozart Grand; Vienna Acoustics Waltz Grand centre; Proficient Audio W690 rears; Monitor Audio RSW12. Cables - Van Damme Blue 4mm speaker cable; Townsend DCT300 and Atlas Voyager interconnects; Van den Hul Optocoupler.