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TV360 claims to have 6 tuners but where are they?

Manj75
Dialled in

Upgraded from TiVo to TV360 (had to to get 1Gb broadband in a package) which also has multiple tuners, I understand 6 recording and 1 for live watching.  I really liked the way TiVo handled multiple tuners and wanted to check if similar functionality is available in TV360, although I can't see any way of doing it.

TiVo used to have all its tuners tuned to a channel ensuring that up to 1 hour of the live programming was being buffered.  This gave the ability to switch to the channel that may be on a different tuner and be able to rewind back 1 hour of the tuner's live programme.  If a recording is then actioned it would also incorporate the buffered programme into the recording.

Not sure how TV360 works, but it appears on the surface as a single tuner for watching live and if you are not recording anything then the remaining 6 tuners are doing nothing, which is a waste.  There is no capability to view all tuners and the channel they are tuned into, neither is there any buffering being carried out from what I can see.  I suppose the main difference is that TV360 incorporates playback of programmes from start using catch up from on-demand video, however it would be superior to have a hybrid of the TiVo features, i.e.

  • Buffer up to 1 hour on all 7 tuners simultaneously and able to see what channel each tuner is on
  • Easily switch the live watching between each tuner allowing a rewind of the programme up to the buffered duration.
  • If the buffered duration includes the start of the programme then allow watching from start using the buffer, otherwise give option to play from start using catch-up on-demand

I've not had the TV360 to carry out extensive testing but really do miss this from the TiVo, and surely these feature are not copyrighted IP of TiVo and as the V6 is the same hardware it should be completely possible to implement in TV360 software.  Would be nice to know if something like this is forthcoming.

 

7 REPLIES 7

Ernie_C
Very Insightful Person
Very Insightful Person

I doubt this will ever be made available, as I suspect it is a function used by very few.

 

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Only the channel you are watching is buffered, but it does it for three hours compared with the V6's one hour.

--
Hub 5, TP-Link TL-SG108S 8-port gigabit switch, 360
My Broadband Ping - Roger's VM hub 5 broadband connection

This is good to know - then I should be able to rewind back up to 3 hours, will give it a try. It means the remaining 6 tuners are just idle doing nothing if there is now current recording active, which is poor use of resources in the box. So, even with the 3 hours buffering I seriously think there is significant room for improvement in TV360.

japitts
Very Insightful Person
Very Insightful Person

@Manj75 wrote:

Not sure how TV360 works, but it appears on the surface as a single tuner for watching live and if you are not recording anything then the remaining 6 tuners are doing nothing


Fundamentally, TV360 is a totally different platform to TiVo. Calling it an upgrade is a bit like saying "Android is an upgrade to iOS" or vice-versa. Opinions will vary wildly. You also mention that you "had to" convert to TV360 as part of your package - despite what sales talk you were likely given, conversions are completely voluntary and no-one is currently being forced to migrate. Encouraged, absolutely, but not forced.

As per the replies above, and I'm sure this point has been covered on this forum previously, this is one of the differences between the two platforms. As to whether it will be changed, it's potentially an easy SW alteration but without being part of the development team that's speculative.

The live restart you mention, is available on V6 using the iPlayer app - the difference with 360 is that it's available on multiple channels and is baked into the EPG. Ultimately, recording any programme you're likely to want to watch is the best solution.

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When the 360 was launched the boxes were built by Humax, and subsequently the V6s (built by Arris) were given the capability of being migrated to 360s. There are thus two different boxes out there which may be acting as a limitation on what identical functionality can be developed on them.

--
Hub 5, TP-Link TL-SG108S 8-port gigabit switch, 360
My Broadband Ping - Roger's VM hub 5 broadband connection

That clear's it up then - hardware constraint that could holding back development.

Interested to know if the V6 box is significantly superior to the Humax?

Ernie_C
Very Insightful Person
Very Insightful Person

I simply don’t believe it’s anything to do with hardware constraint as both boxes are capable of recording to all six tuners.

It is more likely not worth putting effort into replicating the ‘buffering on all six tuners’ as this is not a core function and likely used by very few.

You have to remember that Horizon software, as used elsewhere, doesn’t have hard disk recording but records to the cloud. Hard disk recording has had to be created solely for the UK.

The UK can see some of this cloud based recording in the Startover function available to us.

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