Virgin Media Community

[gerryd72]

Hi all,

I had an engineer visit today to install a second box in an extension. The second box is a Virgin 360 box. 

The original box is still in situ in another part of the house. The engineer told me that the new box will be able to record to the original Tivo box and also play recordings from that box. 

The engineer changed my router and the original box is connected to this via ethernet.

Because the new 360 box is so far away from the router it is connected to internet using an extender (TP Link plug)  which is connected to the 360 box also using ethernet cable. 

The new box works fine in terms of watching TV, using Netfix, YouTube etc. but when I try and view recordings on the new box, or try and record using the new box, I get the CS6031 error message. 

I didn't try this function when the engineer was still at my house so I have no idea if it actually worked before he left. 

Any ideas what the issue may be?

[japitts]

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@gerryd72 wrote:

I had an engineer visit today to install a second box in an extension. The second box is a Virgin 360 box. 

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if your new box is a 360, then so must be your main box. 360 & TiVo are completely different software platforms and cannot be mixed. You're either a TiVo/V6 customer (with a mixture of TiVo & V6 boxes) or you're a 360-customer (with a mixture of master & miniboxes).

There are pictures of the different boxes here if you want to check. A V6 & 360 are the same physical box, but have different remote controls and different software, and are consequently referred to differently - a bit like laptops can run Windows 7, Windows 10 or Windows 11.

If you have, for example, a V6 & a TiVo and convert the V6 to 360, then the TiVo is swapped for a 360-mini. The only difference with a mini is that it doesn't have a hard drive and relies on the 360-master for recording. I suspect, that what you have is a 360-master & a 360-mini, but can you confirm? There's photos of the two 360-versions below - the mini is half the height of the master.

[gerryd72]

Hi,

So based on the pictures in your link, I have a Virgin TV V6 box in my living room. Had this box for 2 years or so. 

The box installed today is the Virgin TV 360 box. 

Why would the engineer fit a new box that isn't compatible with the original box?

[japitts]

If you have a V6 in one room, you should not have a 360 in any other room. As I said, you either have all V6 or all 360.

Error code CSxxxx are usually 360-platform. Let's make double-sure here.. all TiVo-powered boxes (TiVo or V6) have the TiVo-logo in the top-right corner of the menu system, below the video preview. 360 doesn't.

If you genuinely have a V6 & 360 combination, that's not good and needs sorting. But you won't be the first in these parts to get them mixed up, so let's be sure. Perhaps take photos of the menu system on both boxes and post them up, if you're at all unsure.

[gerryd72]

Hi,

I have attached pics of the two different menu systems. The top picture is the menu from the new box.

Edit: the picture isn't appearing straight away. But yes, the living room box has the Tivo symbol below the TV preview. The new box is totally different. 

[japitts]

Golly, you genuinely do have what I feared you have, that will need VM intervention to resolve. All pictures posted on here need manually approving before being publicly visible.

First & foremost then - do you expect to be a TiVo/V6 customer? Or have you requested a conversion to 360? Migrating from the TiVo/V6 platform, to 360 is entirely voluntary but is one-way. If you've requested a conversion, then the fix here is converting your existing V6 to a 360. If you've not done so, then the additional box that's been installed hasn't been done correctly - and it should have been an additional V6. Best keep this simple and not start a TiVo/V6 vs 360 debate, but just whether you were expecting a V6 or a 360.

They are the same hardware, but I'm unsure at what point the software is defined - whether it's at the warehouse, or on being installed. I would assume the former, but I'm guessing.

I will flag this post for VM staff to respond to, which should get you a response on here quicker than would otherwise be the case. You may still get a quicker response by calling in, but whether they can resolve it could well depend on the skills/experience of the agent you speak to.

[Ernie_C]

Oh dear. No wonder the TV 360 mini can’t find a hard disk. It doesn’t speak TiVo.

[gerryd72]

I have not requested any change. My contract was up for renewal and my new deal included a second box that was installed today. I had no idea that there were two systems. I don't really care either way as long as I can watch recordings on both boxes. Sounds like the engineer has messed up by not checking. 

[japitts]

Just a bit of advice before the staff pick up on this...

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@gerryd72 wrote:

I don't really care either way as long as I can watch recordings on both boxes.

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You need to be very clear on some of the differences between the TiVo/V6 platform, and 360 - they are substantially different, and a few people on here have been caught out by going for a "free upgrade" without checking some of the differences, because recording management is one of them.

If you've not asked for a conversion, I recommend you hold firm (at least for now) and don't accept one. There are valid reasons why having the additional box as a V6 rather than a 360, is a better way to go - if you choose to convert later on, it's a simple software download.

The longer version is that in 360-land, multi-room boxes are minis that don't have hard drives, so you only have one recording box - and the second box does all its recording via multiroom streaming. In V6 land, you have the facility to multiroom stream, but each box has a fully independent hard drive. That's not the whole story, but is what you need to be aware of if VM offer to convert you and install a 360-mini as your multiroom box.

@Ernie_C  has given an excellent one-line summary, by the way. Kudos to him!!

[gerryd72]

So, are the staff on here able to solve this for me or do I need to do an online chat on the Virgin Media site?

Thanks for your help as well. Really good.