Current Virgin Media Customer thinking about changing - cannot find info on Play Lists

[Lazza1973]

1.I am currently Virgin Media usng Skysports and TNT Sports amongst others

2.I watch virtually tv using 'recording' up to 6 channels at once i.e. i dont understand watching tv when the carrier wants BUT when I want

3.On Sky web ste its says no record but stream by uisng play lists

4.So I want to kno w:

        -how long programmes stay stream ed on play list as i may record series over weeks then binge watch over weekend

        -i can keep programmes for months inc s sports etc 

        -can i several programmes on play list at same time

        -any other info on play lists    

[Steve93]

The Playlist, adds bookmarks to it, add as many as your want, as soon as you add a program it loads all the series, if it's bbc, itv, ch4 & ch5 when your want to view the program it takes you to their app but Sky shows load instantly, you can't record anything, 

Regarding app, itvx is very slow, the rest arent too bad, you have to have a robust Internet, if you don't you'll get alot of buffering 

Stuff stays on the Playlist for as long as the relevant apps allow, you could click on a show on the Playlist & it won't load because it's been deleted from the app, hope that's clear 

[Chrisee]

@Lazza1973 the playlist acts as a book mark for material in the library. Most of these point to programmes in each broadcasters catch up app so ITVx for a ITV programme titles which remain for however long the broadcaster keeps them typically a year.. For live sports these tend to be a recording in the cloud. Once you add a title to the playlist it will link to any past and current seasins of the title and will pick up future episodes as they are broadcast. There are probably limits but for normal use you can add whatever you want. 

So for example I have added each F1 race weekend in UHD so the playlist entry gives me the most recent weekend and roughly 12 months back so I can watch these and and when I want. There can be glitches and what gets stored depends on the broadcaster's rights so there can be oddities for example if you add a movie broadcast on Film on 4 when you comecto watch it you can find the link points to Prime as Film on 4 do not hold the streaming rights only the rights to show it on their linear channel. If a titlecswitches to another broadcaster the playlist link should switch as well. Sports rights can be complex so its worth asking about the sport which is important to you.

This page explains more https://www.sky.com/help/articles/your-playlist-and-tv-guide-sky-glass

and there are several videos on You. Tube showing how it all works. 

[BenJoBanjo]

@Lazza1973 

It's important to know that the playlist is not a list of recordings. When you add something to a playlist it just gives you a link to a file for streaming on demand. The availability of that file is down to the broadcaster.

Some live sports can be 'cloud recorded' which is a basically a saved portion of a broadcast stream which allows you to watch that sporting event back when you want, but it can be removed by Sky at any time. It's not stored on a unique cloud storage area (like a hard drive) for you to archive or delete, it's a single file which anyone who has playlisted that particular broadcast can stream for as long as Sky allow it. 

It sounds like your viewing habits are more suited to a more traditional PVR type service like Virgin Media or Sky Q where you record broadcasts onto a hard drive. This gives you the most control over what you watch and when you want to watch it.  

[MarkGoldsmith]

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@Lazza1973 wrote:

1.I am currently Virgin Media usng Skysports and TNT Sports amongst others

2.I watch virtually tv using 'recording' up to 6 channels at once i.e. i dont understand watching tv when the carrier wants BUT when I want

3.On Sky web ste its says no record but stream by uisng play lists

4.So I want to kno w:

        -how long programmes stay stream ed on play list as i may record series over weeks then binge watch over weekend

        -i can keep programmes for months inc s sports etc 

        -can i several programmes on play list at same time

        -any other info on play lists    

---

The majority of the content saved to a playlist will replay from the relevant on-demand app for the broadcaster that has rights (e.g ITV X, Iplaer). The playlist is just a bookmark to the content. The content may be in an on-demand app or it may be cloud recorded onto sky's servers (this is typically the case for the smaller fringe channels that don't have their own on-demand app and for sports on Sky Sports, where the event will be cloud recorded and then would be later replaced with the on-demand viewing).

For cloud recorded content expires will vary based on the rights. For some sports content on Sky sports i've seen the recording expire after 48 hours and disappear ( as its not content Sky has the rights to store on-demand), for some of the smaller fringe channels i've seen this the cloud recording expire after a couple of weeks.

One thing to bare in mind is that some channels only have broadcast rights and not on-demand rights, so playlisting a show or film on say Channel 5, may not take you to the 5 app to watch it but to one of the paid-for apps like Paramount Plus or Netflix as that is who holds the on-demand rights for that show/movie.

[Bill051]

@Lazza1973 
The thing I missed most when I moved was the ability to  have six live channels with the ability to always have the last hour on each available without setting them up.

In most cases when you play something from your  Playlist you will be redirected to the appropriate app.
EG if you record Match of the Day you'll be directed to Iplayer and it's there for a week.

For the few channels that don't have apps your recording will be available for no more than 28 days.

[nmbailey]

I don't think Stream will meet the needs of the OP. Bad though Virgin Media can be, sometimes it's better the devil you know

[MatChapman]

Don't switch pal. Sky stream is terrible feels so buggy always having to reboot the box. I've been with sky for years now and thinking of switching to virgin at renewal