Multiroom set-up help please

[hunter365]

Hi my question is about multiroom box functionality and also whether I need cable installing on several floors from outside not just one?  

I am shortly moving house and am moving my elderly parents in and want to know the best set-up so that they have full functionality and also the best reception - i.e. no wifi buffering problems.  

The house has three separate floors and my parents will have their lounge on the top floor, directly below will be a bedroom (although may be a lounge in the future) and on the ground floor there will be our lounge. So whilst initially I need a multi-room situation on the ground and 2nd floors, ideally to make it future proof the 1st floor needs to be TV ready too. 

So I want my tv and also that of my parents to have full recording, pausing etc functionality, so do I need 2 main 360 boxes?  I see that the mini 360 box can pause but only for short periods - my father has a habit of holding the news for up to 30minutes?  Also for the best reception do i need to get the installer to put cables into each of the 3 floors? I am sorry if that is a stupid question but I just want both of us to have the best picture quality possible. I have seen reference to the 2nd tv/minibox needing to be ethernet wired and don't understand how that can work if the router is downstairs? As you can see I am not very technical but any help and explanation you can give would be great.  

I was looking at the £85per month Volt2 package which includes 1.1TB broadband, multi-room, sky, talk and O2.

Thanks in advance for any help

[nodrogd]

Firstly, you can only have two V360 Main boxes as a conversion "perk" from the existing V6 TiVO platform. If you are new to V360 it has to be one Main box & a maximum of two Mini boxes.

Then you come across your second problem. All boxes require a coaxial connection. Virgin will not wire from outside above 1st floor height, so any box on the 2nd floor must be fed internally through the house. VM will also not install more points than are required for the equipment you are having installed, as this affects the performance of the connection.

I would also suggest either feeding Ethernet to the top floor box or investing in a mesh system to make sure you have connectivity with the top floor Mini box.

[japitts · Accepted solution]

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@nodrogd wrote:

Firstly, you can only have two V360 Main boxes as a conversion "perk" from the existing V6 TiVO platform. If you are new to V360 it has to be one Main box & a maximum of two Mini boxes.

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The workaround is that anytime you might want to pause a programme on the mini-box for more than 4 or so minutes, you should set that programme to record.

That way, the master-box's HDD is used. As already mentioned, multiple 360-master is only an option when you're converting V6 boxes which don't have this limitation - but is irrelevant for new installs.

[hunter365]

Thank you for the advice

[hunter365]

Thank you very much for your response.  

So, to clarify, I can't get two main boxes but I could get Dad to record every time he wants to pause (thanks japitts). And the installer will not go up to the 2nd floor.  If he would go up to the 2nd floor is that the best possible solution?

Is there any chance Virgin would sell me another main box? My dad is very quick with the delete button and if he had the mini but with access to all of  our recordings, he could potentially reek havoc with what we have recorded. 

If I have a mini box on 2nd floor and Mains box on ground floor, in order to get the best reception upstairs would the mesh network provide the best possible solution or would I still be better pushing a cable through the two floors internally.  I have never had Virgin only Sky, is it the same type of coaxial cable that they both use? And would you just put a two-pronged splitter on it where it came through the wall? Sorry if that is a daft question.  

Thanks very much for your help

[nodrogd]

No, you will not be able to get two main boxes. Everything will run from the one main box. As said before, either direct wired Ethernet or a mesh system would work best for recording streaming & app operation. Any coax to the 2nd floor would have to be internal. Virgin use specialised cabling to avoid interference from broadcast services that use the same frequencies. Any existing satellite or aerial cabling would not be adequately screened.

[hunter365]

Thank you very much for the response and for your patience.

I think I understand now

Best regards