Forum Discussion

Krusty7's avatar
Krusty7
Just joined
25 days ago

Not full TV services

Just moved from Sky Q to Virgin Media TV/broadband and I’ve been given 2 stream boxes which I didn’t know meant no pause of live tv or recording !

It was not clear during online process that ‘stream’ meant no recording.

chat with virgin support said my area doesn’t have ‘full TV rollout’ and that stream boxes was all that’s available.

is there no option to get a box installed to allow recording ? If not I’ll have to cancel and go back to sky which is a pain after all this effort.

Adam

recording
StreamBox

12 Replies

  • carl_pearce's avatar
    carl_pearce
    Superstar
    25 days ago

    Assuming you are in a FTTP area then the traditional TV services VM provide are not available as it uses the 'legacy' coax cabling.

    When you mention you 'didn't know', what services are you referring to that you signed up for in your contract?

  • Krusty7's avatar
    Krusty7
    Just joined
    25 days ago

    My econtract states the following and doesn’t say much else.

    tv services: mega tv, stream box, Netflix, additional tv box.

    broadband: m500 full fibre.

    I didn’t realise virgin had an offering without program recording as it seems a standard thing nowadays.

     

  • Krusty7's avatar
    Krusty7
    Just joined
    25 days ago

    Are you also saying that any new connections where virgin don’t have the old coaxial cable connections that you can’t have virgin tv with recording functionality ?

      • japitts's avatar
        japitts
        Very Insightful Person
        25 days ago

        Correct.

        Partly correct. Stream is now VM's default TV offering. In HFC areas, TV360 is available reactively on request - with a £50 charge.

    • nodrogd's avatar
      nodrogd
      Very Insightful Person
      25 days ago

      The V360 boxes are broadcast technology boxes that operate in the same way as a satellite receiver, taking DVB-C channels from a copper coaxial cable. As a result these can only operate in VMs legacy franchise areas with HFC networks that provide DOCSIS internet. If your box is are in a NexFibre area using FTTP via a hub 5x (fibre directly to the hub), you have no choice but to have a Stream box.

      Even in the traditional areas, Stream boxes are now standard issue with new customers. If your box is want V360 there is an additional activation fee of £50.

  • Stephen93's avatar
    Stephen93
    Superfast
    24 days ago

    You mention No pause of Live tv, that's not correct, you CAN pause Live also rewind Live tv as well, as good as Sky Q, if not better as you can't look back & play programs from previous days

    • nodrogd's avatar
      nodrogd
      Very Insightful Person
      24 days ago
      Stephen93 wrote:

      You mention No pause of Live tv, that's not correct, you CAN pause Live also rewind Live tv as well, as good as Sky Q, if not better as you can't look back & play programs from previous days

      If the broadcaster allows it. Pause or play from the start are available where there is an On Demand service attached that supports the feature (eg. BBC iPlayer). If it doesn't you are restricted to the internal flash storage, which fills up within a few minutes.

    • HathawayD's avatar
      HathawayD
      Joining in
      4 days ago

      Hi - on stream service we can pause live TV. However when you resume the pause we’re unable to fast forward especially the Ads. This service is no where as near as good as SkyQ, are we doing something wrong? Surely no fast forward and no recording is a huge backward step!

      • Matthew_ML's avatar
        Matthew_ML
        Icon for Forum Team rankForum Team
        23 hours ago

        Hey HathawayD, thank you for reaching out and we are sorry to hear about your TV issues.

        Just to confirm are you having some issues streaming?

  • HathawayD's avatar
    HathawayD
    Joining in
    6 days ago

    We also fell foul of the inability to record when moving from Sky. The VM staff were very good but unable to resolve. The whole stream function and tv use is dire compared to Sky Q, functions, menu, even the remote is poor. The stream function appears to be not much more than a Firestick with  additional functions. Fortunately the new broadband is decent so additional subscriptions will allow access but the volume a advertisements will either send us insane, drive us to drink perhaps return us to reading - perhaps that is the idea?

  • Roger_Gooner's avatar
    Roger_Gooner
    Alessandro Volta
    6 days ago

    Streaming is a very different technology to broadcasting - as anyone who compares Sky's Stream with Sky Q will know. VM's streaming is very similar to Sky's except that the latter does provide some very limited cloud recording. In both cases watching past streams will mostly be done by third-party apps or VOD streams.