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DG4's avatar
DG4
On our wavelength
21 hours ago
Solved

Recording TV

My son in law has virgin broadband and contacted virgin to upgrade to include virgin TV. He made the point that he wanted to be able to record TV as well as stream. He was told that he could only get a streaming box and virgine no longer supplied a TV box to be able to record. Is this correct and if so why is this?

  • newapollo's avatar
    newapollo
    20 hours ago

    Hi DG4​ 

    The Stream (Flex) box became the default TV choice for all of VM's new customers around 7 months ago. 

    When your son in law used the online postcode checker to confirm if VM can provide a broadband service at the proposed installation address https://www.virginmedia.com/broadband/postcode-checker  did it offer him a 2 Gig connection amongst the various broadband options? 

    If so then he is in one of the current expansion areas which only supplies a full fibre connection for new customers. In those areas then only IPTV is available via a Stream box.

    VM's recordable TV set top boxes (TV360) only work on the older DOCSIS cable network which uses coaxial copper cables which carry both the linear broadcast TV channels & the DOCSIS internet. A TV360 box (if available) carries a £49.99 activation fee, and can only be ordered by contacting the sales team on 0800 183 1234.  Any additional boxes would be the non recordable Stream boxes.

7 Replies

  • Roger_Gooner's avatar
    Roger_Gooner
    Alessandro Volta
    12 hours ago

    In legacy DOCSIS areas, which is most of VM's network and known as HFC and RFoG, you can record with legacy boxes such as the V6 and 360. VM is however actively working to completely replace these networks with what's known as XGS-PON where only non-recordable streaming is possible with its Stream boxes - whether you like it or not. VM is also supplying Stream boxes to new TV customers in DOCSIS areas but reportedly, if phoned, can supply a 360 at a cost of £49.95 (don't know if this still happens).

    Now I, like everyone else, has been accustomed to being able to record every broadcast channel for decades, but the content owners hate this and so have siezed the move to streaming to enforced streaming which cannot be recorded. (I know that the BT/EE TV's Box Pro can record multicast streams but BT negotiated this under existing broadcast distribution agreements - which is not the case for IPTV streams now.) This isn't a big a deal as it was as a combination of on demand from VM's VoD servers, FAST channels (will become huge and I'll explain if anyone's interested) and 3rd party apps like BBC iplayer providing both catch-up and on demand will ease the loss of recordings. And TBH I'm watching only a fraction of the huge amount I record anyway.

    One thing to note is that we're talking about Pay TV, a quite different market to free TV (meaning Freeview and Freesat) which is in a decline both permanent and steep (IMHO).

  • jpeg1's avatar
    jpeg1
    Alessandro Volta
    20 hours ago

    If he has an aerial he can buy a box that will record all the Freeview channels, and watch streaming channels over his existing broadband connection without changing his contract. 

  • newapollo's avatar
    newapollo
    Very Insightful Person
    20 hours ago

    Hi DG4​ 

    The Stream (Flex) box became the default TV choice for all of VM's new customers around 7 months ago. 

    When your son in law used the online postcode checker to confirm if VM can provide a broadband service at the proposed installation address https://www.virginmedia.com/broadband/postcode-checker  did it offer him a 2 Gig connection amongst the various broadband options? 

    If so then he is in one of the current expansion areas which only supplies a full fibre connection for new customers. In those areas then only IPTV is available via a Stream box.

    VM's recordable TV set top boxes (TV360) only work on the older DOCSIS cable network which uses coaxial copper cables which carry both the linear broadcast TV channels & the DOCSIS internet. A TV360 box (if available) carries a £49.99 activation fee, and can only be ordered by contacting the sales team on 0800 183 1234.  Any additional boxes would be the non recordable Stream boxes.

    • DG4's avatar
      DG4
      On our wavelength
      20 hours ago

      Hi many thanx for your informed reply. I myself have a recordable box in an old established area. So for me so far so good. However when there is an upgrade to the infrastucture in my area i pressume that eventually i will be subject to the new system. So my question is ......Everything i watch i have usually recorded to view at my convenience. How would i be able to do this, would i be able access everything that virgin broadcasts at any time ie catch up. 
      Sorry to sound a bit nieve but im knocking on a bit and its all going a bit too fast for me. lol

      • newapollo's avatar
        newapollo
        Very Insightful Person
        19 hours ago

        No need to apologise DG4​ 

        I'm now at the age where I'm older than my teeth but I'm pretty up to date with a lot of things. You don't find out unless you ask.

        By the time everybody is upgraded to new network (which may take a few years yet) everything may have changed, but at present recordings aren't possible via VM in the new built areas, hence we will be beholding to the broadcasters and their apps, On Demand, and Catch Up Services. Since most of the programs will be held in the cloud (a kind of online internet storage like googledrive or dropbox)  the broadcasters will dictate how long they will allow those 'online recordings/programs' to be available for us to view.

        Even the free channels available through a normal TV aerial are going to go that way eventually and it looks like everything will be streamed. It might be worthwhile investing in a recordable freeview box for now so you can at least record and store some programs for future viewing on equipment that is yours to keep, unlike that which belongs to VM, Sky or BT (EE) which will have to be returned when they fully switch to streaming boxes.

        What appears to be the best freeview recordable box at the moment is the /manhattan-t4-r

        There is talk of another streaming box that might be released shortly which may include a hard drive for recording purposes. It has the usual freeview channels available via an aerial and also a number of freeview and streaming channels carried over the internet. This is the /freely-recording-box-humax but even though it's been spotted on various websites nothing official has been confirmed.

  • nodrogd's avatar
    nodrogd
    Very Insightful Person
    21 hours ago

    To add to the above, VM now runs two types of distribution network. Traditional cable services run over copper coaxial cables still make up most of the network & these are capable of driving the V360 recording boxes. In the newer cable areas services are provided over full fibre. You cannot connect V360 boxes to these networks & can only use Stream boxes which interface 100% with the hub for all services.

  • jpeg1's avatar
    jpeg1
    Alessandro Volta
    21 hours ago

    That's almost right. VM want to move everyone over to streaming because it's better for their business model. Recently some people have been able to get a "360 box" that records, for an extra charge, but that may not still apply.