Upgrade to V6

[scurtis]

Morning,

Yesterday I spoke to Virgin about changes to our TV package, which all went fine.

Then I thought I'd ask about upgrading from Tivo to a V6 box. The chap I spoke to put me on hold to go ask about it, then said it could be done for a reasonable charge. I asked him to confirm that it was a V6 box (having read here about the 360 box, I really didn't want that), and (after he went off to ask again) I'm sure he said it would be a 360 mini-box, as there's a shortage of V6 boxes.

So I would like to ask the helpful experts on here:

a) Isn't it the case that a 360 mini-box could only be used when there was already a V6 or 360 box in the house?

b) Does 'a shortage of V6 boxes' mean they're pretty unlikely to get any more hardware that can run the Tivo software? Or is it worth trying again from time to time?

The chap I spoke to was helpful, but I think my queries were outside his usual realm of experience, so I don't want to get him in trouble!

(And the reason I asked for the upgrade is that I could do with the extra tuners. Our current Tivo box generally works fine, but needs a reboot every so often otherwise things like paging through the programme guide gets very slow. So I'm happy to stay with it rather than go 360.)

Thanks,

Sue.

[japitts]

There's a few bits in there, with a bit of sales-talk probably for good measure.

I don't know whether there's a shortage of V6 boxes, only VM would know for sure, however what there undoubtedly is, is a sales push to get existing TiVo/V6 users onto 360. Make no mistake, a conversion from TiVo/V6 > 360 is entirely voluntary although no doubt encouraged in any retentions conversation. I would only ever recommend a choice is made in full knowledge of the many differences between the two platforms. Opinions vary wildly, it's very much marmite, but you can't revert if you do take 360 and wish you hadn't.

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@scurtis wrote:

a) Isn't it the case that a 360 mini-box could only be used when there was already a V6 or 360 box in the house?

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No - TiVo-platform (which drives TiVo & V6) and 360-platform are completely different. You either have one or the other, you can't have both.

You also have a bit of marketing terminology here. Both TiVo/V6 & 360 both support multiroom. In TiVo/V6-land, there is no difference between multiroom boxes - they're all the same, with their own recording tuners & hard drives. In 360-land, multiroom boxes are HDD-less minis. They can set & play recordings, but are reliant on the master-box for all this functionallity.

Existing V6 can be converted into 360 and will remain masters. But any additional installs post-conversion will be minis. The same applies to TiVo-conversions. If you have TiVo's and convert to 360, they'll be swapped out for minis. If you have TiVo's and upgrade to V6, they have their own HDD and can subsequently be converted to 360-masters.

[scurtis]

Thanks for your swift response!

I didn't phrase my question (a) well. I meant that I didn't think you could use a 360 mini-box without a master box, so offering me a 360 mini-box as a direct replacement for an old Tivo box didn't seem like it was technically possible.

Thanks,

Sue.

[japitts · Accepted solution]

If you have a V6 & additional TiVo and are looking to convert to 360, there's 2 ways it could pan out...

1: Convert to 360 - you'll get the V6 software-patched, and the TiVo swapped for a mini.

2: Upgrade the TiVo to a V6, and then software-convert the 2 x V6 into 2 x 360-master.

If you only have one TiVo, then that's hardware swapped to either a V6 or 360-master, depending which platform you'd prefer. The hardware is (effectively) the same, but the software very different.

[scurtis]

I just have one Tivo, nothing else.  I just want to swap that out for a V6 (not 360). I can't see that offering me a 360 mini-box instead of the Tivo is actually possible.

But it's a moot point because I didn't take that up. Maybe I'll try again another time!

Thanks,

Sue.

[Martin_N]

Hi scurtis,

Thank you for your post.

I'm glad to see the community were able to assist you. 

Please do let us know if you need any assistance in the future.

^Martin

[scurtis]

Hello Martin,

Perhaps you could answer the other part of my query - is it still possible to get an upgrade from single Tivo to a V6 box? Or has that ship sailed now?

Thanks,

Sue.

[Travis_M]

Hi @scurtis

Thanks for posting on our community forum

If you'd like to make a change to your package / upgrade the boxes please contact our customer care team on 150 or 0345 454 1111.

They'll look to get this sorted for you 🙂

Regards

[scurtis]

Hello Travis,

Thanks for your reply.

The thing is, I came here for info because of something I was told while on the phone to the customer care team.

But your answer gives me hope it might be possible.

Thanks,

Sue.

[scurtis]

No, I was told there was a shortage of V6 boxes, and what I was offered was not a V6, so, no, I didn't go ahead with it.

Hope that helps,

Sue.