Virgin Media are the only major provider of digital TV, home phone and broadband internet over an underground cable network in the UK, and though as with all of their products you will be required to take a Virgin phone line and pay around £11.99 a month line rental, they offer many of the services you would expect from the other big subscription digital TV operators and more.

The pinnacle of their digital TV services is V+, and it's hard to explain just how this can change the way you watch TV in a few short words, so let's look at the specifications and details of the product and the bundles it's available with.

The V+ HD Box

The V+ HD set top box is a sleek, black item that plugs into your TV, and most importantly if you've forked out for a big HD ready LCD or Plasma screen and have yet to get the most out of its capabilities, it has an HDMI output to allow you not just to watch any HD channels that you've got included as part of your subscription, but also it will upscale any other programs that are broadcast in standard definition to HD, which means that it will make anything you watch look better, which is great news.

It will of course hook up to any non-HD TV using SCART connections so it's not just for the early adopter, and inside is a hard disk drive (HDD) that can store over 80 hours of shows and movies that you've recorded. Because it has an HDD inside you can also pause, rewind and record live TV, so you'll never have to miss anything because the phone rings or you want to go make a cup of tea.

You can even record programs on two different channels whilst watching a third, so there should never be any arguments over the remote again. If you have a show that you watch every week but you might not always be able to make it, the V+ HD box can be set up to record an entire series, so it's a very intelligent and versatile piece of kit.

V+ HD Deals

Currently Virgin Media are offering the V+ service, for just £75 when you take a Virgin phone line and subscribe for £5 a month. For that you'll get the basic package of 45 channels, including Sky Sports News, Film 4 and Virgin 1, and of course the V+ HD box.


If you want more channels and don't mind paying a bit more for £21.50 you can get over 160 channels including the big sports channels offered by ESPN and of course kid's channels like Nickelodeon.

Virgin Media is also currently the only digital TV provider offering the BBC's on demand catch up TV service iPlayer that allows you to watch any shows broadcast in the last seven days whenever you want. They also provide a huge library of on demand TV shows and movies so even if there is little on one of the many channels you can always watch on demand. These are the key benefits of the V+ HD box and the Virgin Media digital TV packages.