Virgin 360 - A massive step back in usability

[adrewetx]

Massively fruistrated with Virgin 360.   Bring back V6, all is forgiven.

My issues are with recording.   
(1) The remote doesn't have a "My Shows" button, so it now takes 7 seperate button presses to get to recordings.  Home button, scroll left x4, click OK, click show all.  With the old remote it took 1 button.  Have I missed a shortcut somewhere?

(2) The interface now longer has "continue watching".  Click into a recorded video, watch 10 minutes.  Now return (using the back button) back to live TV.  Now..  try and continue watching.  It's the 7 clicks just to get to the recording, another 3 clicks to get to the recording you want, and then the ONLY option is "Watch from start".  How do I continue watching?

(3) The interface doesn't make it obvious what is or isn't available to watch.   E.g. I've set up to record Gold Rush, and it shows me for the latest season, the full suite of episodes.  Weirdly, it says I can't watch episodes 12, 13, 14 (because they aren't scheduled until a future date) but I can watch episode 15 which is already recorded.  Why is this broken?

I'm finding the interface so frustrating.  

Am I doing anything wrong?   Or has Virgin, despite making it easy to record 6 channels at once, made it massively difficult to watch anything?

Adrian

[japitts]

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@adrewetx wrote:

My issues are with recording.   
(1) The remote doesn't have a "My Shows" button, so it now takes 7 seperate button presses to get to recordings.  Home button, scroll left x4, click OK, click show all.  With the old remote it took 1 button.  Have I missed a shortcut somewhere?

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When others have mentioned this in the past, the answer has been to use voice control.

I have a V6 still, so can't verify that. TV360 is different to V6, and conversions are voluntary.

You've not mentioned which series of Gold Rush.

[roy247]

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@adrewetx wrote:

Massively fruistrated with Virgin 360.   Bring back V6, all is forgiven.

My issues are with recording.   
(1) The remote doesn't have a "My Shows" button, so it now takes 7 seperate button presses to get to recordings.  Home button, scroll left x4, click OK, click show all.  With the old remote it took 1 button.  Have I missed a shortcut somewhere?

You can use voice control, press the button and say recordings.

(2) The interface now longer has "continue watching".  Click into a recorded video, watch 10 minutes.  Now return (using the back button) back to live TV.  Now..  try and continue watching.  It's the 7 clicks just to get to the recording, another 3 clicks to get to the recording you want, and then the ONLY option is "Watch from start".  How do I continue watching?

Press the Home button and scroll down to Continue watching 

(3) The interface doesn't make it obvious what is or isn't available to watch.   E.g. I've set up to record Gold Rush, and it shows me for the latest season, the full suite of episodes.  Weirdly, it says I can't watch episodes 12, 13, 14 (because they aren't scheduled until a future date) but I can watch episode 15 which is already recorded.  Why is this broken?

I'm finding the interface so frustrating.  

Am I doing anything wrong?   Or has Virgin, despite making it easy to record 6 channels at once, made it massively difficult to watch anything?

Adrian

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[Akua_A]

Hi @adrewetx,

Welcome back to our community forums and sorry to hear you are unhappy about the upgrade to Virgin 360. We truly want to do our best to help. Was the great advice given by @roy247 and @japitts useful? Do you need any further help?

Thanks,

[1979Damian]

I work in software development and whilst I'd never claim to be a UI/UX expert, I'd say that the 360 UI/UX is more 'modern/shiny' looking as well as feeling a bit more responsive in terms of menu navigation. On the downside, users now have to make 7 button presses or use the voice activation functionality just to get the their recordings.

This is an utterly absurd decision. Can you image Ethel (86 years old) being advised by support that she HAS to 'talk' to her remote or wade through 6+ tiers of menus to get the 'her' recordings. Personally I think the Product Owner for the 360 software needs a good slapping!

[jarramackem]

I just "upgraded" to v360. Totally agree with the menu system being rubbish now. Looks better, but implementation is poor.

[ScottyUK]

I don't have 360 but pop in here every so often to see if its any better than at launch. Seeing threads like this is very valuable as it means I'll stay on my V6. Thanks for posting

[adrewetx]

Having now used this for a month,   still frustrated.

* Struggling to find an easy way to view scheduled recordings.  Not found it yet.

* Loss of functionality:  I only want to record new series, but I can't find an option for that.

* No easy way to delete historical series, except one by one.

* I want to fast forward through a movie, and then instinctively use the OK button to continue play when I get to thr right position.  Nope.  OK opens up the menu.  grrrr

* I really really miss the clear button on the remote.  It was my favourite button for easily deleting recordings.  Not now.  You've now got to press at least 3 buttons to delete a recording, and then way to easy to accidentally delete the next recording (as it defaults to it)

As above, the product owner really needs to rethink how this is designed.   I can't recommend Virgin 360 to anyone.   I wish I'd stayed with v6

[Jdap]

I couldn’t agree more. If there was a prize for how to make a system operate using the maximum amount of button presses or actions then congratulations Virgin, you’ve won by a mile. 
Add into the mix a terrible remote control control that doesn’t fit nicely into your hand combined with the fact that you have to juggle it around to reach the bottom buttons, and you now have an amazing recipe for the biggest pile of rubbish that I’ve ever had the misfortune of using. VIRGIN ARE YOU LISTENING? 
Having used the system for just under 3 weeks I hoping that it would grow on me but it hasn’t. Every day it becomes more and more frustrating with on screen banners that don’t go away without multiple button presses and the inability to use the main centre button just to play a recording. You navigate first and then you have to find the play button to start it . What the hell is going on Virgin ? This is a massive downgrade in what was a perfectly good and intuitive system. 
I then try to change the system back to the V6 and I’m given the biggest load of rubbish that I’ve ever heard from a customer service department. Are you aware that your customers are being told that once the V6 has been unplugged, that all of its systems are instantly wiped so that it can be recycled. God help Virgin Media if there is a power cut and I really think that your investors should be made aware of this startling information that could bankrupt Virgin Media overnight. 
Do you think that I have “Idiot” tattooed on my forehead? 
How about a response to this ?

[nodrogd]

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@Jdap wrote:

I couldn’t agree more. If there was a prize for how to make a system operate using the maximum amount of button presses or actions then congratulations Virgin, you’ve won by a mile. 
Add into the mix a terrible remote control control that doesn’t fit nicely into your hand combined with the fact that you have to juggle it around to reach the bottom buttons, and you now have an amazing recipe for the biggest pile of rubbish that I’ve ever had the misfortune of using. VIRGIN ARE YOU LISTENING? 
Having used the system for just under 3 weeks I hoping that it would grow on me but it hasn’t. Every day it becomes more and more frustrating with on screen banners that don’t go away without multiple button presses and the inability to use the main centre button just to play a recording. You navigate first and then you have to find the play button to start it . What the hell is going on Virgin ? This is a massive downgrade in what was a perfectly good and intuitive system. 
I then try to change the system back to the V6 and I’m given the biggest load of rubbish that I’ve ever heard from a customer service department. Are you aware that your customers are being told that once the V6 has been unplugged, that all of its systems are instantly wiped so that it can be recycled. God help Virgin Media if there is a power cut and I really think that your investors should be made aware of this startling information that could bankrupt Virgin Media overnight. 
Do you think that I have “Idiot” tattooed on my forehead? 
How about a response to this ?

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Virgin have very little say in the matter. They have for some time been owned by the US media giant Liberty Global. The Horizon TV platform is their “baby” & it has been imposed on all their other operations in Europe. It is only a matter of time before VMs contract with TiVO ends (Arris V6 production has already stopped, so Horizon only capable Humax boxes are now the only ones manufactured, all V6s being installed are likely refurbished units).