Upgrade to TV 360 box

[IanL3]

• I wish to exchange my Tivo box for a 360 box which I understand I can do for a fee of £49-95.  I was told the Chat Line was faster than phoning so I have tried this twice. The first time this afternoon I waited 105 minutes before giving up. I tried again this evening and gave up after 125 minutes despite being told I could expect to wait about 30 minutes.  Each time I got to the point where I was told one of  the Care staff would be with me as soon as possible and to stay in the queue. That was as far as I got. Is there any way I can actually make contact with anyone on this? If the Chat Line or phoning are the only options then I'm not prepared to waste any more time on this - I guess I'll just have to forget the idea. 

[newapollo · Accepted solution]

Hi @IanL3 

Sadly the Forum Team don't have access to systems regrade packages or equipment, and there isn't a customer facing email service.

You need to be subscribed to broadband with VM to be able to switch to a 360 box.

The best method and time to contact them is to call  150 from a Virgin landline or mobile, or 0345 454 1111, but best to call at 8am when lines first open to avoid call queues.

Replies from the following methods aren't instant, roughly around 4 hours at times, often longer, as telephone calls take priority dependent upon staffing availability and call queues

You can text VM on 0753 305 1809 or speak to the team on WhatsApp on 0730 532 7112. 

[shawty1984]

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@IanL3 wrote:

• I wish to exchange my Tivo box for a 360 box which I understand I can do for a fee of £49-95.  I was told the Chat Line was faster than phoning so I have tried this twice. The first time this afternoon I waited 105 minutes before giving up. I tried again this evening and gave up after 125 minutes despite being told I could expect to wait about 30 minutes.  Each time I got to the point where I was told one of  the Care staff would be with me as soon as possible and to stay in the queue. That was as far as I got. Is there any way I can actually make contact with anyone on this? If the Chat Line or phoning are the only options then I'm not prepared to waste any more time on this - I guess I'll just have to forget the idea. 

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If your TiVo box is a V6, then don't do it, not worth it. 

[IanL3]

HI, Thanks for your reply. It is not a V6 it is the previous Tivo model

[japitts]

Without passing any comment on the pros & cons of each platform, if you're just looking to replace an elderly TiVo - which is entirely understandable - make sure you're aware of the differences between TiVo software & Horizon-software.

A V6 should be available to you, albeit without the same sales inducements - and runs the same software as your TiVo on exactly the same physical box as TV360.

[IanL3]

Hi, Thanks for your reply. I finally got through on the phone at 8am this morning. I explained at the beginning that I had a Tivo box and I wanted to replace it with a 360 at a cost of £49-95 as per their website. After going through it all for 20 minutes the agent said I would be sent a new remote to update the software on my box. I told him that is not what it says on their website. According to my understanding, if you have a V6 box then yes, you can update it to 360 functionalty but I haven't got a V6, I have a basic Tivo box. If you have a basic Tivo box then you need a new 360 box at a cost of £49-95. I was in the middle of explaining this to the call centre agent when I was cut off (? did he cut me off - he hasn't called me back.).

Is my understanding correct and what's the best method of re-establishing contact on this? I didn't catch the name of the call centre agent.

[japitts]

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@IanL3 wrote:

According to my understanding, if you have a V6 box then yes, you can update it to 360 functionalty but I haven't got a V6, I have a basic Tivo box. If you have a basic Tivo box then you need a new 360 box at a cost of £49-95

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I would take slight issue with the terminology here, by means of explanation. First off, pictures of the boxes are at https://www.virginmedia.com/care/tv-fault/which-tv-box - and TV360 is a complete change of software much like Android is different to Apple. It's not a functionality update as you've described.

TiVo refers as much to the legacy box as it does the TiVo platform/software which TV360 does not run - it is Horizon based and is completely different.

A TiVo box cannot run Horizon and is hardware swapped to a new box running TV360 - either mini or master depending on your multiroom setup. Minis don't have hard drives.

A V6 can be reformatted and have Horizon software installed - to convert it to a TV360.

If you have both V6 & TiVo's installed as a multi-room setup, then you can do one of two things...

1: Upgrade the TiVo's to V6, retain the HDD and then subsequently software convert to TV360 if you choose.

2: Convert to TV360 in which case the V6 is software patched, but the TiVo is hardware swapped to a TV360 mini and loses the hard drive.