Functionality of Virgin 360 vs. TiVo V6

[VO2Max]

What initial impressions do we have on the user experience, for changing from the old TiVo V6 to Virgin360? (As far as I can tell, V6 was made/software by TiVo, 360 is made/software by Humax?)

I've gone down exactly that route: I went from a single V6 box on my main telly downstairs (my upstairs telly was previously on Freesat), to Virgin360 downstairs and a 360 minibox upstairs (which was fortuitously able to use my existing Freesat cable running from the outside of my house).

I like what 360 can do:

I like the way it integrates Netflix/Prime into the channel list, and Youtube into the programme search function.

I like the voice search function on the remote control, the voice recognition works very well.

BUT:

The Rewind/FFWD function is very clunky and rubbish compared with TiVo? TiVo was far smoother, and if for example you FFWDed through the ads, as soon as you saw your programme you'd press Play, and the V6 would instantly rewind a few seconds to take into account your reaction time, rather than having to jog backwards and forwards manually. Plus, you could go through the video frame by frame if you wanted, which was very handy sometimes.

I put my 360 downstairs box into standby when I go to bed, and then maybe continue watching TV in bed for a few minutes before putting my head down for the night (decadent, I know 😁). But it seems like if there's more than a few minutes' gap between, the minibox is unable to 'talk' to the main box, for example to access my recordings on it. A message comes up to say the main box is turned off. But if it's within say, 5 minutes, it's as if the main box hasn't quite gone into a deep sleep.

I like having almost the same functionality on the minibox, although there's only 5mins of rewind buffer. I guess it has a small, solid state memory whereas the main box has the big hard drive?

I wonder whether some of these things might be addressed with software updates? 🤔

What comments do other folks have on 360 vs. TiVo V6?

[japitts]

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@VO2Max wrote:

As far as I can tell, V6 was made/software by TiVo, 360 is made/software by Humax

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TiVo refers to both the legacy TiVo box, but predominantly TiVo-software which drives the TiVo & V6 box.

Humax are one of VM's hardware suppliers, TV360 is VM-UK's marketing name for the Horizon software platform.

You've mentioned the multi-room storage - on TiVo-platform, all additional boxes are fully functional with their own storage and bidirectional streaming. TV360 is designed around one master box, hence the lack of HDD in the minis.

[Tavis75]

The skip-back on FFWD is a TiVo patent, so unlikely to get that on the 360. I think that Netflix\Prime being in the channel list is the same on the V6\TiVo, though on the V6 you also get the more useful Series Link+ functionality which integrates streaming into your recordings, so everything is in one place.

The 360 is also missing:

Series Link Manager

Multi-channel series links

Undelete accidentally deleted recordings

Setting series links for shows that aren't being shown in the next 14 days

Wishlists - This is a big one as it's another really nice piece of patented TiVo functionality I believe

Suggestions

Radio channels (making radio stations recordable)

Separate boxes having their own sets of recordings, while still being able to stream from other boxes if required

Continuous recording on all 6 tuners and the ability to swap between them

Record a partially shown program from the beginning (if it's in one of the buffers)

Control over ethernet with a published protocol

And probably a few other things I've forgotten, you lose a lot more than you gain. The 360 interface looks a bit more modern, but the general opinion seems to be that it's harder to navigate, with more clicks to get where you want and a greater focus on advertising stuff to you.

[VO2Max]

Hi, thanks for your reply.

In which case, is there any chance the Horizon software might be improved with updates then, or are we likely stuck with what we currently have?

For instance the RWD/FFWD functionality, also perhaps the ability of the mini-box to 'wake up' the main 360 box to access recordings?

The mini-box shortcomings arising out of its smaller capacity SSD are of course fixed (and not such a big thing tbh), but the two issues I highlight above would benefit from improvement?

[VO2Max]

Tavis, 

On my 360 main box I do have the Watchlist function, also Series Link?

I'd forgotten about the TiVo's ability to record 6 channels at once though, and I do miss that. Both for the ability to switch between two or three channels and Rewind on each, and also for the ability to record from the beginning of something you just switched channel to (that obviously depended on whether it was a channel you'd viewed recently, the TiVo box seemed to learn which 6 channels you viewed most).

It just seems as though Virgin have thrown the baby out with the bathwater though, bringing in a new box, wouldn't it have been great to keep the good aspects of the previous TiVo box, while adding new features? That's what progress really is, keeping good stuff, adding new good stuff.

How much of that would be due to existing patents, who knows? 

[japitts]

TV360 has series links, but the additional functionality on TiVo/V6 has more tweaks.

Multi-channel - not on TV360

Integrate VoD with recordings - different on TV360, not as seamless.

Tweak the SL for new-only/repeats/everything - more basic on TV360

TV360 is more integrated with the TV-Go app so you can add programmes to your saved list on mobile devices and pick them up on your STB. Can be done on TiVo/V6 but not as easy.

[roy247]

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@VO2Max wrote:

I've gone down exactly that route: I went from a single V6 box on my main telly downstairs (my upstairs telly was previously on Freesat), to Virgin360 downstairs and a 360 minibox upstairs (which was fortuitously able to use my existing Freesat cable running from the outside of my house).

I put my 360 downstairs box into standby when I go to bed, and then maybe continue watching TV in bed for a few minutes before putting my head down for the night (decadent, I know 😁). But it seems like if there's more than a few minutes' gap between, the minibox is unable to 'talk' to the main box, for example to access my recordings on it. A message comes up to say the main box is turned off. But if it's within say, 5 minutes, it's as if the main box hasn't quite gone into a deep sleep.

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The mini box needs connecting to a Virgin coax cable usually coming from a wall mounted white Virgin connection box in the same room to receive live TV not to a Freesat connection, or have you just used the cable to feed back to a Virgin splitter, I am guessing it's the second as you say you can't pause for longer than 5 minutes, to do that you need to press Record on the mini box, it will then use the hard drive in the main box.

The main box needs to be set to fast start or active start for the mini box to 'talk' to the main box,

Press the Home button and go to Settings > System > Standby power consumption.

You have 3 choices, Fast start, Active start, and Eco start, if it's set to Eco start set it to Fast Start or Active Start.

[VO2Max]

Hi, 

Yes, my mini-box is connected properly to my Virgin junction box on my outside wall, I was simply able to use the same (high quality) coax cable I'd used for Freesat. The Virgin engineer was fine with it, saved him pulling out the old cable and installing new. And fortuitously, it was exactly the correct length for him to even use the existing connector, once unscrewed from my dish and rerouted to the Virgin junction box! (The dish is nearby).

As for the three various standby modes of the main box, I had the same thought as you, and I tried them all, but the mini-box was still unable to wake it up 😕

[roy247]

I have my main box set to active start and the mini has no problems waking it up, is the main box connected by ethernet cable or wifi to the hub if it's connected by wifi try using a ethernet cable to see if it makes any difference.

[VO2Max]

By WiFi, ethernet cable isn't an option where the mini-box is located.

But I don't see why that should make a difference? The instruction still goes via the Hub5, and from there the instruction would follow the same path to the main 360 box?