360 first impressions

[davorg]

I got my 360 remote yesterday and upgraded my V6 box. Having used it for 24 hours now, I'm not sure I've made the right decision. There are two big problems for me.

1. I miss series link+ and wishlist searches. It seems that the new search will only find shows that are in the current EPG (i.e. shows that are being broadcast in the next couple of weeks). When I was setting up all the series links that I had on the TiVo software, this caused many problems as I wanted to set up links for shows that will be coming back at some point later this year - and I couldn't find a way to do that. It's also annoying that 360 series links are tied to a particular channel. I made heavy use of links that would record stuff from any channel. I also had many wishlist searches set up, particularly for people's names - so, for example, my TiVo would record any programme which featured Alice Roberts. I can't see any way to do this on 360.

2. I've used VM since it first existed (I was an NTL customer before that) and I'm used to the numbers that are assigned to various channels. My muscle memory will automatically type 601 when I want to watch BBC News. But it seems that 360 makes an effort to hide these numbers from users. I've set up a load of favourite channels (so that the guide is a manageable size) and now the system has largely forgotten the real channel numbers. If I type 601, I don't get the news. For BBC News, I now have to type 57 - because it's the 57th channel in my favourites list. Not only is that a new number to remember, but it will change as I add or remove channels from my favourites. That seems a really unintuitive user interface and I'm not sure how anyone ever thought it was a good idea.

So, in its present form, 360 is a bit of a nightmare for me. I assume there's no way to go back to the TiVo interface so I'm just going to have to get used to it. But I'd like to know if the crippled series links and the weird numbering are things that might get fixed in the future. Or whether that's just the way it's going to be moving forward.

I've written this up in a blog post so that people can get a better idea of what they're upgrading to.

[japitts]

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@davorg wrote:

So, in its present form, 360 is a bit of a nightmare for me. I assume there's no way to go back to the TiVo interface so I'm just going to have to get used to it.

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You assume correctly - a conversion from TiVo/V6 > 360 is a one-way trip.

Wishlists (searching for programme based on cast, genre etc) & multi-channel series-links are - as you've established - currently missing from 360 and one area where TiVo/V6 is more functional than 360.

I'm sure improvements to the recording/SL feature-set are on VM's "to-do" list, but as for how long that might take - answers on a postcard please...

[davorg]

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I'm sure improvements to the recording/SL feature-set are on VM's "to-do" list, but as for how long that might take - answers on a postcard please...

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And I bet there's no chance they'd consider making their roadmap public 😞

[japitts]

Got it in one!

I've just taken a read of your blog page, and "kudos" to a well-reasoned review.

Some of the other VIPs or regulars who do use 360 may be along with a hint or suggestion regarding the channel numbering & favourites.

[Ernie_C]

Don’t forget the voice button.

Just press the voice button and say BBC News.

[thrice]

If you have set up a personal profile you can arrange channel numbers in any order you wish. I have the channels I watch the most set up 1 - 9 so that I can access them with a single button push. You can do this via the 'settings' tab, and then favourite channels.