Forum Discussion

bazzadp's avatar
bazzadp
Joining in
3 days ago

Suggestions from a recent Sky user

Long time Sky user who finally made the switch. On the whole it's a comparable experience (better than expected to be honest as heard it wasn't as good), but there's some very small niggles that could really improve the user experience. So, in the vague hope someone from Virgin reads this, here goes (in no particular order).

Software feedack:

  • For the love of God, allow me to turn off the "Watch live/Watch from start" pop-up from the guide! Should be watch live by default INHO, and right click to watch from start. Or what Sky does and have a "watch from start" option AFTER you switch channel.
  • When you press home button and press right and left to flip through the top-level options I think they should auto flick though them, rather than require a click to do this. I dunno why this upsets me so! :-)
  • TV guide a little slow to refresh when using page up/page down.
  • Would love Picture in Picture of other channel when going through the on-screen info bar (Watch channel, press OK to bring up info bar, press up and down to view other channels).

Remote feedback:

  • Probably just a matter of me getting used to it, but I find the remote a little difficult to feel my place on it. A gap before or after the rewind, play/pause, fast forward buttons would help me pressing the wrong buttons.
  • The button to flick between last two watch channels is great! But only discovered it recently.
  • Could do with an Info button to get more info on current programme/currently selected program.
  • Would prefer the mute button nearer the volume buttons.
  • Microphone button on every remote by default and bluetooth on every remote by default (instead of optional extras only on some remotes!) is much appreciated.
  • White TV on/off button seems kinda pointless. And kids taking a while getting used to just using the red one!

Hope that's useful feedback!

Feedback
remote
stream box

9 Replies

  • Roger_Gooner's avatar
    Roger_Gooner
    Alessandro Volta
    2 days ago

    For EPG selections, the metadata is already cached with the program info, so the "Watch live/Watch from start" pop-up can appear immediately. You can't turn it off (why would you) and it appears at the right time, i.e. before you choose what to watch. This is the programme-centric approach.

    However for direct channel access by using voice commands or numeric input, the system skips metadata parsing and jumps straight to the live stream. This is deliberate decision to not fetch the metadata from a server (which would cause a delay and be an additional network load) and prioritise rapid access. This is the channel-centric approach.

    So it's not a matter of lack of consistency but an implementation of two types of viewing.

  • 45RPM's avatar
    45RPM
    On our wavelength
    2 days ago

    Hello Newapollo, 

    press the Live TV button to switch between the last 2 channels viewed.

    On mine, it switches to previous channel watched. A second press toggles back to the original.  Also, my "back" button does nothing when watching live TV.

     

     

  • newapollo's avatar
    newapollo
    Very Insightful Person
    2 days ago

    I suggest using the voice button and saying "info" as a shortcut.

    Here's a list of voice controls that work on Stream boxes  the-edit/voice-control-on-virgin-tv 

    As far as I'm aware there is just one standard official remote supplied by VM and it's used by the 360, mini 360 and Stream boxes.  If there are other ones supplied by VM please post pictures of them, along with the model number which should be on the inside of the remote.  You can use the TVGO app as a second remote control.

    Each Stream remote pairs 1 to 1 with the box, it does not have an infra-red (IR) receiver,  therefore it uses a bluetooth remote for pairing. This means you can only use one remote with a box and not multiple.

    The Stream boxes receive updates overnight so some people would rather just turn off the TV and leave the stream box connected to save waiting for it to receive over the air updates. 

    A single click on OK in the Guide will give the option to watch live or watch from the start. The second click chooses the first option to watch live. That applies only to shows that are currently on.

    There's an online Stream user guide <here>   and the following pdf lists common Stream error codes along with possible resolutions virginmedia.com/Stream Error Codes.pdf 

    There is sometimes buffering when switching between channels so it wouldn't really be suitable to have PIP when going through the on screen info bar.

    The 'Back' button is a good shortcut, although you can also use Voice control and say, "Back" or "Last Channel".  You can also press the Live TV button to switch between the last 2 channels viewed.

    When pressing the Home button you don't have to press right and left to flip through all of the top-level options on the navigation bar. Instead you can use voice control and say, "Guide", "EPG", "Apps (or the name of an app for example Netflix or Prime)", "Watchlist", "Settings"

    You can also filter the EPG by the channel genre by pressing the Home button, then pressing right. This opens the navigation section of the guide with All Channels highlighted. If you then click on All Channels it brings up a category list Documentaries, Entertainment, International, Kids etc so you can go straight to that section.

    • bazzadp's avatar
      bazzadp
      Joining in
      2 days ago

      Thanks useful. I don't use the voice command as much as I should. As I implied only some of my old sky remotes had that feature.

      The Stream boxes receive updates overnight so some people would rather just turn off the TV and leave the stream box connected to save waiting for it to receive over the air updates. 

      I would expect off to still allow background activity (e.g. download updates, record channels - though as that's in the cloud I don't think that needs the box to be on?)

      A single click on OK in the Guide will give the option to watch live or watch from the start. The second click chooses the first option to watch live. That applies only to shows that are currently on.

      Yes I understand but it's an annoying extra click. And you can't even "double click" as the pop-up takes some time to show. The fact it only shows for some programmes (and I understand why that is) makes it even more annoying IMHO.

      There is sometimes buffering when switching between channels so it wouldn't really be suitable to have PIP when going through the on screen info bar.

      Yeah that one was a stretch goal! But I found it useful on Sky to keep an eye on when ads finished on another program. A small delay would be acceptable but obviously a longer one less so.

  • Richardr1's avatar
    Richardr1
    Fibre optic
    2 days ago

    have a "watch from start" option AFTER you switch channel

    Minor point on this - on a sports channel / programme one doesn't want to know the live score if wanting to watch from the start of a match in progress. Not sure if that is compatible with your suggestion.

    • bazzadp's avatar
      bazzadp
      Joining in
      2 days ago

      Sure then make it an option. Or have a three dots option to have that as a secondary option as I say. Maybe I'm old fashioned and maybe most people prefer to watch from start? But the extra popup just annoys me. And it seems inconsistent with the UX of typing in a channel number of flicking up and down channels.

      • newapollo's avatar
        newapollo
        Very Insightful Person
        2 days ago

        it seems inconsistent with the UX of typing in a channel number of flicking up and down channels.

        Hi again bazzadp​ 

        It's good that you're making suggestions, even though the Horizon system that the Stream and 360 boxes run on has been around for a few years now, see <here> and <Here> it is actively being updated, (although probably not in the way we'd like) so you never know. 

        You don't have to type in a channel number or flick up/down channels.

        I know I'm a PITA, but use the voice control and either say the channel name or channel number.  The voice control is pretty good, it even recognises what I'm saying most of the time, and I'm a Teessider, and so talk too quickly (more like a Geordie) 

  • jpeg1's avatar
    jpeg1
    Alessandro Volta
    3 days ago

    Unfortunately you are not likely to get the changes you would like, because Virginmedia has to use a standard operating system that is used in several countries by VM's US owners.