Virgin Media launches V6 box and ‘TellyTablet’
Describing the unveiling of its Virgin TV V6 set-top box as the industry’s “worst-kept secret”, David Bouchier, Chief Digital Entertainment Officer at UK quad-play operator Virgin Media, also introduced a new HD TellyTablet created by Virgin Media, designed specifically as a personal Smart TV to watch television in HD quality. The Virgin TV launch event also saw a revamped Virgin TV Anywhere app, a new-ad -free kids app and the unveiling of Virgin Media Store.
Bouchier claimed the new Virgin TV line-up raised the bar in home entertainment, marrying the latest and smartest technology with the very best TV programmes, all underpinned by Virgin Media’s ultrafast cable network, describing the service as “game-changing TV”.
The new Virgin TV V6 box is Virgin Media’s smallest, smartest and fastest box yet, half the size of the previous TiVo box with 10x the power and packed with a load of extra features, described by Bouchier as “a step-change”.
The device allows people to record six programmes while watching a seventh recording or stream from services such as iPlayer or Netflix. This increases to 12 simultaneous recordings with two Virgin TV V6 boxes and is designed so that recordings can be accessed and streamed on other TiVo boxes around the home. The new set-top box is completely compatible with Virgin Media’s original TiVo box meaning that existing Virgin Media customers can keep recordings and transfer settings while updating their home entertainment. “We want to take our existing customers with us,” explained Bouchier.
All V6 devices, including additional boxes around the home, support 4K Ultra-High Definition (UHD) TV with Netflix and YouTube available in 4K from launch and more programming coming soon. The Virgin TV V6 box is also High Dynamic Range (HDR) compatible so that, as more HDR content becomes available, a software update will be downloaded and Virgin TV customers can enjoy the very best 4K picture quality on compatible HDR TVs.
The new box will be available to existing customers on a Mix bundle or higher, before the end of the year. Existing customers will not need to change package to benefit. New customers joining Virgin Media will be able to order the Virgin TV V6 box when choosing their TV bundle from January 2017.
The standard price of the Virgin TV V6 box is £99.95 one-off upfront cost.
New and existing customers with a top-tier Full House or VIP bundle will benefit from a promotional price of £49.95.
The Virgin TV V6 box comes with 1TB of storage allowing 500 hours of SD recordings or 100 hours of HD recordings. Every additional Virgin TV V6 box installed will add another 1TB to the overall storage in the home and the ability to record six more programmes simultaneously.
“Our new Virgin TV V6 box is small in size but big on brains giving our customers a simple, smart and speedy way to find the telly they want whether that’s on a channel or on demand,” said Bouchier.
The box has been developed for use by Liberty Global companies across Europe and in Latin America. The UK is the first market to launch the new box, with plans to launch elsewhere in Europe from 2017. …
… read on at advanced-television.com
Originally posted by Colin Mann at Advanced Television News
30th November 2016