I get the feeling this won't happen, namely because it's a major incentive to ensure people keep their accounts in good stead - in order to watch recorded content, the box needs to confirm that your smart card is still active on VM's systems, therefore it needs a network connection.
This is why Virgin notify you when there's going to be network disruption, because it stops everything working!
Your computer doesn't need a network connection because it's not trying to verify that you're allowed to access the content stored on it, TiVo and almost all subscription STBs are.
It's exactly the same reason that you can't just fill up your V+HD box and then take it on holiday to your caravan, it needs an active network connection to verify you're a fully paid subscriber.
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c53204 wrote:I have a Freesat HD box (Humax) which plays back recordings - needs no connection apart from one to TV and one to power source! And it's free - 500gb, no fees. OK limited channels, but I can also copy films from iTunes or DVD's onto it!
Precisely - FREE! There's no subscription required to use the service so you don't need any form of network connection at all.
Phil_C wrote:I had no idea about that, never having seen an error message or had any problems with the V+. But I have seen the "network" error message several times with the TiVo box when trying to watch a recording. They only lasted a matter of seconds so they were never a problem, but they did cause me to ask a CS person where the recordings are stored - HD or VM's servers. I'd started to wonder if the system stores programmes remotely and uses the TiVo's BB when playing them back. I'vve certainly been learning some stuff in the short time since I found this forum.
Why would VM lease you a 1TB box, with a 1TB HDD in it, and then store all the recordings remotely? It'd be an horrific waste of bandwidth!
It tells you under the System Info menu how much TV the disk will store in both SD and HD.
Phil_C wrote:It was a thought that occured to me since I saw no reason for a network error message to come up when I was trying to watch a recorded programme. It does make sense. The cost of leasing could just as easily be for remotely stored programmes (allocated space) as for locally stored programmes. I did think that 10M of bandwidth was probably a bit thin for the purpose though.
The amounts recorded and available to record don't come into it. They would be the same if a remote server were storing the programmes.
Cost of leasing perhaps would be similar, but you'd need a dedicated 20Mb connection just for one channel of HD content, let alone anything extra.
Though if that were the case, then your TiVo box would be the size of most Freeview boxes, because there'd be no need for the HDD inside.
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