TV 360 boxes have less storage space overall than on the old V6 boxes

[RonaldWoodward]

So my contract ran out and my Dad signed up as a new customer to take advantage of a better deal (stupid that they didn't just let me get the new customer deal, but whatever).

The new TV 360 UI is nice and the new features are actually quite amazing (the catch up service for watching a past programme you haven't recorded, is the same quality as recording the main channels now and has a wider selection of channels available, eg. BT Sport Ultimate on catch up is exactly the same quality as if I was watching the channel or my recording).

But if I understand correctly, only the main box has storage space, the 2 mini boxes do not. The set up I had before with 2 x V6 boxes was that each had its own dedicated storage space.

So I have less recording space overall now than before? I feel like I've lost a feature. I suppose you could argue this is evened out by the beefed up Catch Up Service which makes recording less of a requirement than it was before.

Also I feel misled, I was under the impression the mini boxes didn't need coaxial connections, but it turns out they do.

What does everyone else think of all these changes?

[MOD EDIT: Subject title changed for clarity]

[newapollo · Accepted solution]

Hi @RonaldWoodward 

If you had re-negotiated a new deal instead of leaving and your Dad signing up as a new customer, then you owuld have been retain your existing V6 boxes and had them upgraded to the 360 firmware via a dowload update. This would have meant you  kept the hard drive for recording features on each V6 box.

The dowwside to that is that although you would have probably received a good deal you wouldn't have obtained the new customer pricing

All new customers receive one main 360 with a hard drive, any additional boxes are mini's which don't contain hard drives as they are slaves to the main box.

The 360 which uses the Horizon interface is based on the boxes VM sell in other territories, for example Holland, where they only receive mini boxes because they have cloud recording. The UK companies won't allow cloud recording so VM are in between a rock and a hard place.

A lot of people have been under the impression that the mini boxes don't require a coaxial connection, unfortunately they do, however you can use a wifi connection on the mini for ewverything apart from live channels. At least the mini boxes are UHD capable, unlike Sky Q's additional boxes. 

VM have just brought out a new box, Stream, which doesn't need the coaxial cable as it's all internet based, however there isn't a hard drive on these mini boxes and no cloud storage. Further to that you can't have as an additional box, it's for broadband only, and broadband and landline only customers, and is restricted to one box per property.

[japitts]

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@RonaldWoodward wrote:

the catch up service for watching a past programme you haven't recorded, is the same quality as recording the main channels now and has a wider selection of channels available, eg. BT Sport Ultimate on catch up is exactly the same quality as if I was watching the channel or my recording

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OnDemand for all of the main "terrestrial" channels, and many pay ones, are now HD on both V6 & 360 boxes.

TV360 customers also have the same channels as TiVo/V6 with the exception of UHD that is only on V6 & 360.

It sounds like you chose to voluntarily convert to 360 at the same time as changing your package, but it's worth noting - although irrelevant for yourself - that this is not compulsory. A change of TV software and of package are two completely different things.

They are often done at the same time, but don't need to be and can be done independently of each other.

[RonaldWoodward]

Thank you for the explanation. It is clear for me. Exactly what I needed! You just saved me several hours. Thanks!

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[Harley2017]

I had the same problem when I converted my V6 boxes with the software update...
Vey interesting that they allowed you to let you dad take out the new customer deal as I thought you need to wait 90 days...