TV Options - Second Room

[rdfcpete]

Guys,

Need to pick your brains here please - bit of a television situation that needs sorting.

In short, since Sky Sports News was removed from freeview  I've been getting serious withdrawals with the lack of football injection in my daily life not forgetting unlike nearly all of you, my football club went bust, never mind also missing the sight of the SSN girls like Miss Jackson, Miss Thompson and Miss Clode 

There's a Virgin media box downstairs with the family pack deal which is paid monthly, including phone & internet etc...
A short phone call to Virgin last year at some point revealed that I could get a second wired Virgin media TV box upstairs in my bedroom for around £8 a month, as well as a £50 installation fee (these prices may have changed now...).

That's fine on paper, but to run the cables upstairs is going to be a ballache and makes it become a real hassle job with the layout of the house.

In short, is there a better option, ideally a wireless one that would allow me to have independent channel control over the same TV package within Virgins terms and conditions, bearing in mind they didn't offer me a wireless solution?

If there's anything aftermarket that gives me Sky1/SSN or a comparable package for no more than £8/month and say £100 up front/installation, then I'd appreciate any suggestions that you've got? 

Thanks.

[sub39h]

my parents house have a splitter, that allows your regular freeview channels and then has another 2 channels for whatever's playing on the 2 sky boxes

AS IN

it's just a feed. you can't change the channel, just watch whatever the channel is set to.

if you can find a way to put a splitter into the system so that all your TV aerial sockets have access to your virgin media box, then just put the 2 boxes together, and get one of those infra red signal things that allows you to extend the range of your remote

i dunno if that makes sense to you, but that's probably how i would do it

[biilyb]

Hi
  Can you not get virgin out to run a cable around the side of your house and into your other room. Sky is 50 pound plus free box   to do that to get another box but its  10 pound a month for multiform. Apart from that i think BQ have something about a 100 pounds for wireless but i don't know how it works.
  I know sky is desperate to keep there customers  i got an updated  3d box and multiroom for 50 pound fitted  without to much arguing. its just a case of getting the right person i always feel.

[rdfcpete]

my parents house have a splitter, that allows your regular freeview channels and then has another 2 channels for whatever's playing on the 2 sky boxes

AS IN

it's just a feed. you can't change the channel, just watch whatever the channel is set to.

if you can find a way to put a splitter into the system so that all your TV aerial sockets have access to your virgin media box, then just put the 2 boxes together, and get one of those infra red signal things that allows you to extend the range of your remote

i dunno if that makes sense to you, but that's probably how i would do it

Won't that mean I've still got to run an uber long cable upstairs? That's the key bit I'm looking to avoid if possible fella.
I understand the bit re. the remote change 

Hi
  Can you not get virgin out to run a cable around the side of your house and into your other room. Sky is 50 pound plus free box   to do that to get another box but its  10 pound a month for multiform. Apart from that i think BQ have something about a 100 pounds for wireless but i don't know how it works.
  I know sky is desperate to keep there customers  i got an updated  3d box and multiroom for 50 pound fitted  without to much arguing. its just a case of getting the right person i always feel.

The cable round the house and upstairs simply is the 'hassle' item Billy, hence asking for a wireless solution where possible 
Sky also isn't an option as not only am I tied into Virgin for a while yet, Sky is also not cost feasible.

What's the BnQ component you mentioned? Ta.

[PDT]

Upgrade to a tivo box downstairs (well worth the extra £3 a month) and then ask for the free tivo installation and activation (you do need to ask for it for free as they wont offer) and they will fit the virgin box upstairs for an extra £5 a month. They will still need to run a cable but you may avoid the installation cost doing it this way.

[MarkMarked]

All the newer VM boxes don't have any type of aerial socket so its a lot harder to split a signal

VM don't offer a wireless solutioon for TV

VM are really good at installing the cable to a second point, they listen to the home owner and do their best, unlike some of the Sky cowboys 

don't forget if you have Sky Movies and Sports in HD on the main box, its free to have the same HD channels on the second box (used to be a £7 a month extra forced on VM by Sky)

[rdfcpete]

Upgrade to a tivo box downstairs (well worth the extra £3 a month) and then ask for the free tivo installation and activation (you do need to ask for it for free as they wont offer) and they will fit the virgin box upstairs for an extra £5 a month. They will still need to run a cable but you may avoid the installation cost doing it this way.

Not a bad shout Dave. What would Tivo give me that Virgin media wouldn't with a fairly basic TV package?

All the newer VM boxes don't have any type of aerial socket so its a lot harder to split a signal

VM don't offer a wireless solutioon for TV

VM are really good at installing the cable to a second point, they listen to the home owner and do their best, unlike some of the Sky cowboys 

don't forget if you have Sky Movies and Sports in HD on the main box, its free to have the same HD channels on the second box (used to be a £7 a month extra forced on VM by Sky)

I'll bear in mind the HD part, cheers.

I appreciate VM don't offer their own wireless solution, but the thread really was to find out if there's an affordable aftermarket wireless option? 

[edd666999]

Dont virgin do a online service where you can watch the channels you pay for on a pc? like sky player?

[rdfcpete]

^ Don't know in honesty Ed, what's it called if there is one? I'll try and login if I know where to go.

[edd666999]

When I get to work I will take a look for you

[rdfcpete]

I think it's this: http://www.virginmedia.com/player/

When I signed in, it said the account holder hasn't enabled your account for media player use  Hmm.
I'm not sure whether the player is past stuff, or whether you can watch channels live (which is what I'm looking)? 

[edd666999]

If its live, you might have to pay a little extra for it but could be the cheapest solution

[rdfcpete]

Fair enough, I can't seem to find where to enable it anyway. It seemed to hint at enabling it online.

It's Sky Sports News and Sky One that I'm particularly after. What other options are there that require only a box and standard cabling to the TV that would give me these options (in an upstairs room)?

Is there a Tivo package that includes these two with a monthly subscription?

Thanks.

[edd666999]

sky have:

http://www.sky.com/shop/tv/sky-go/get-it-now/

But the cheapest package is £15 a month and has sky one not news

You have to pay £35 a month for news.

Virgin will stick a tivo 500gb box in a 2nd room for a installation charge of £40 and a monthly cost of £10.

The virginmedia.com/player you need atleast XL tv package and to stream live i think your need the XXL package?

[rdfcpete]

sky have:

http://www.sky.com/shop/tv/sky-go/get-it-now/

But the cheapest package is £15 a month and has sky one not news

You have to pay £35 a month for news.

Virgin will stick a tivo 500gb box in a 2nd room for a installation charge of £40 and a monthly cost of £10.

The virginmedia.com/player you need atleast XL tv package and to stream live i think your need the XXL package?

Sky isn't an option I'm afraid.

The Tivo box is a strong contender but the wiring will be a nightmare up through the house & floorboards.
I think we've got the XL package so that buggers the live media player  

What I need is a box only or wireless solution. There must be another digital option, Sky aside?