Replacing a box for parents

[CT4BB8]

Hello, my parents have had Virgin for years but I can’t find out what type of box they have - there’s an Amazon Prime channel but it won’t let me access it, so I think they need an upgrade but I don’t know how to go about that?? 

[jb66]

Firstly do they have virgin broadband?

[CT4BB8]

Yes, broadband, phone & TV

[jb66]

That means they can upgrade to the 360 box. The interface of this box is completely different to the tivo so bear in mind if you call VM up to get an upgrade you might have to spend a bit of time with your parents showing them how to operate the box

[CT4BB8]

Is it free to upgrade to this box? What’s the difference between the 360 and the V6? 

[jb66 · Accepted solution]

The V6 is very similar to tivo software wise but is being phased out with the 360 software. If your upgrading rather than calling for a fault I'd expect you to move to the newest software.

[newapollo]

Hi @CT4BB8 

Some of the functions on the older TIVO box are copyright to TIVO and so aren't available on the 360 box.

If you do switch to a 360 box and aren't happy then you can't go back to the older box. 

Also be aware that you can't transfer recordings or series links from one box to another.

Read this thread which explains some of the differences between a TIVO/V6 box and the newer 360 box.

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Virgin-TV-360/360-Features-v-TIVO-Features/td-p/4804820 

[japitts]

There's photos of the different boxes on this page - if your parents have a TiVo, the logical upgrade is to a V6 which runs the same software as they're used to, but on a much more capable box.

It has some of the newer streaming apps such as Amazon Prime, and also 6 recording tuners rather than 3.

TV360 is a very different software platform entirely, so consider a conversion to that very carefully. VM will almost certainly try to sell you/your parents an upgrade, it has pros & cons as newapollo has mentioned. If you do upgrade to a V6, you can always software-convert to a TV360 later on.

What you can't do is revert to TiVo/V6 after converting to TV360.

[Roger_Gooner]

You say that "there’s an Amazon Prime channel but it won’t let me access it". Does this mean that the box has the Prime Video app but it doesn't work? If so the box is a V6 and a reset might get the app working.

[CT4BB8]

Hi, there’s just a channel, the box is very old. I’m upgrading them to a 360 box and saving nearly £10 a month!