V360 Service is Terrible!

[SteveH8]

On the old V6 service, when fast forwarding and then pressing play, the box took into account what was being displayed on the screen and people's reaction time and when pressing play, the V6 box went back a few frames and started playing from that point. The V360 service just plays from the point that "play" is pressed.

In this respect, the V6 service was well thought through. While the new V360 service is a backward step, however, while this is an irritation, it is not the worst problem by far.

The V360 service has an option to see only those programmes that were recorded on the box that is being viewed, but when selected, this option is not retained, so it has to be selected every time the viewer wants to see only those programmed on that box.

I have 2 V6 boxes, under the old system, it was possible to record the same programme on each box, or watch a programme recorded on one box from a different TV, this also worked very well.

Under the new V360 service, the programme can only recorded on one box but displayed on both boxes, so in theory, it is possible to watch a TV programme on either box.

The problem with the service is that when watching a TV programme from a different TV box to the one that contains the recording of the TV programme, the programme plays for a few seconds, then stops and displays a message saying "Buffering", this continually repeats and makes it impossible to watch the programme on the second device.

Suspecting a network problem, I checked the diagnostics menu of the Virgin boxes and both say that the internet connection is good and the connection speed is high.

When I called Virgin for advice, before talking to a person, the system said that my boxes are not connected to the internet, which is not the case as the diagnostics show that they are and I can watch streaming services such as Netflix without a problem.

So my advice to anyone reading this who have more than one Virgin box is think carefully before upgrading as you have a similar experience to me.

[japitts]

From the sounds of it, you've converted 2 x V6 into TV360-masters, each with their own hard drive. In doing that, you have slighly mitigated one of TV360's multiroom shortcomings and retained all the hard drives.

When you set a recording, there's a facility under "Advanced options" to choose which box the programme is recorded on.

As far as multiroom streaming is concerned, how are your 360's connected to your homehub - wireless or Ethernet?

[SteveH8]

Thank you for your response. Yes, I have converted both V6 boxes to the V360 service as Virgin sent me two new remote control hand sets so it seemed reasonable to convert both units.

Thank you for pointing out that it is possible to choose which box to record a programme, but if I record a specific programme on box 1 the system will not let me record the same programme on box 2, so if I want to watch that programme on the box that does not contain the recording it has to be streamed and that is when the buffering occurs.

I suspected a network connectivity issue, but the diagnostics on each unit show that the speed is high.

The V360 boxes are using WiFi to connect, exactly the same as the V6 boxes. When using the V6 service I did not experience a problem steaming programmes from either box, but it is a major problem with the V360 service.

[Megan_L · Accepted solution]

Hi SteveH8, 

Thanks for using the forums to get this issue with your V360 connection looked into, I am sorry if this has been causing some frustration. I would be more than happy to look into this for you.

Thanks as well for giving us that lengthy feedback about the capability comparison between the V6 & V360, I can get this sent off to the 360 team so they can choose to make improvements in future in line with what you've pointed out. 

As for your internet connection on the V360 box that is streaming the recordings, I understand both are connected by WIFI. Is the problem box in the same room as the Hub, or in a different room? 

Thanks,

Megan_L

[SteveH8]

Hi Megan_L,

First, let me thank you for such a constructive response, it is good to know that feedback is taken seriously and will be passed to the people who are responsible for developing the V360 service.

I do hope that they take notice of it and deal with the feedback that they are getting, as improvements to the service will benefit everyone and take the service from something that, in my opinion, is not good enough to launch, to something that Virgin should be proud of and that customers will love.

As for your question about the location of the devices, the router and the V360 boxes are all in different rooms and are being connected by a Mesh WiFi network.

[John_GS]

Hi SteveH8

Thanks for coming back to the thread. I have taken advice on this and you should have a main 360 and a mini. Not two main boxes. This would be causing the issue with the networking. Would you like us to replace one of them with a mini box?

Let us know and we can do this via PM.

Kind regards,

[SteveH8]

Hi John_GS,

Thank you for coming back to me on this matter. If your suggestion resolves the problem, then, yes, I would be happy to go with that solution.

[japitts]

Just be aware that replacing a master box with a mini box loses the hard drive storage on the mini.

[SteveH8]

Thanks for that information, do you think the service will be worse if I accept Virgin's offer to replace one of the TiVo boxes with a mini box? Virgin is suggesting that the buffering is caused by me having two main boxes.

Personally, I can't see how the replacement of a main box with a mini box will improve things as before moving from the V6 to the V360 service, everything was working well.

[roy247]

Hi SteveH8,

You have said you are using a mesh system so I guess the virgin hub is in modem mode, have you tried switching it back to router mode and using the virgin wifi to see if it makes any difference as an aid to fault finding your problem.

I would also try to keep hold of both boxes with hard drives.