Virgin 360 - A massive step back in usability

[adrewetx]

Massively fruistrated with Virgin 360.   Bring back V6, all is forgiven.

My issues are with recording.   
(1) The remote doesn't have a "My Shows" button, so it now takes 7 seperate button presses to get to recordings.  Home button, scroll left x4, click OK, click show all.  With the old remote it took 1 button.  Have I missed a shortcut somewhere?

(2) The interface now longer has "continue watching".  Click into a recorded video, watch 10 minutes.  Now return (using the back button) back to live TV.  Now..  try and continue watching.  It's the 7 clicks just to get to the recording, another 3 clicks to get to the recording you want, and then the ONLY option is "Watch from start".  How do I continue watching?

(3) The interface doesn't make it obvious what is or isn't available to watch.   E.g. I've set up to record Gold Rush, and it shows me for the latest season, the full suite of episodes.  Weirdly, it says I can't watch episodes 12, 13, 14 (because they aren't scheduled until a future date) but I can watch episode 15 which is already recorded.  Why is this broken?

I'm finding the interface so frustrating.  

Am I doing anything wrong?   Or has Virgin, despite making it easy to record 6 channels at once, made it massively difficult to watch anything?

Adrian

[japitts]

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@Jdap wrote:

I then try to change the system back to the V6

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You chose to convert to TV360, which remains entirely voluntary. If you weren't 100% sure, then why did you either ask to convert, or accept an invitation to do so?

[adrewetx]

Good question!  We base on our belief and understanding of 360 on the advertising campaigns.  The reality can be different.  But this isn't a question about whether or not people should move,  it's following Virgin Media's advice to use the forum to highlight features that we do or don't like.     Hopefully, someone in Virgin is listening

[1979Damian]

Because at 1st glance the new UI/UX seems like a massive step forward from the previous version, so inevitably most customers when asked/offered will think something along the lines of "well it at least looks like it's from this decade AND VM are offering to me, so surely it must actually be better"...From reading the other threads it also seems like there isn't a "rollback" process (or at least VM seem to have advising customers that this is the case), this means that customers have no means to 'trial' the new UI/UX, it basically just "do you want to change to a new fancy TV box software, oh by the way, once you're gone ahead with you CANNOT change your mind!

Frankly I think it's pretty obvious why people would want to give the new UI/UX a whirl.(assuming that they don't regularly frequent these forums). Your comment that included "You chose to convert to TV360, which remains entirely voluntary. If you weren't 100% sure, then why did you either ask to convert, or accept an invitation to do so?" seems to me to be childish and obtuse, given the limitations in terms of both the functionality and the lack of a process for rolling back the changes, I think these points speak for themselves TBH.

[japitts]

A comparison could be "upgrading" from Windows 10 > Windows 11 without due research into the many differences. It's not incumbent on Microsoft to highlight the pros & cons beyond their glossy promotions, but once W11 is installed - AFAIK the only way of getting W10 back would be via reformat.

[1979Damian]

Nope, that's not at all an accurate comparison. If a person upgrades from Windows 11 to Windows 11, that person has a 10 day Window where they can rollback to their previous Windows 10 installation (that what the "windows.old" folder is for). As a result the user does NOT have to reformat their system drive to "go back" to their original Windows 10 installation.

It's VERY rare that a company offers a customer an 'upgrade' that is functionally worse than what the customer already has and it's even more rare for said company to NOT offer a short term rollback option, or at least make it clear to the customer that it's an "all or nothing" proposition.

[japitts]

Fair enough on the Win11 rollback option, I wasn't aware of that and stand corrected.

Unfortunately for anyone with buyers remorse over a TV360 conversion though, TiVo-software & Horizon, software are totally different and it's correct to believe that requests to convert are one-way processes.

[banhamm]

Playing Devil's advocado (sic) here, after two years on TV360 I am pretty happy with the whole thing and pleased I made the move from the V6. I was round at a friend's house yesterday who still has a V6 and thought how dated the interface looked and how tricky it was to get to radio stations (a two button press on the 360 remote).

The 360 remote voice control is great for skipping through adverts when watching recordings and for switching channels if you can't be bothered to get the guide on screen. 

I get why people don't like change and I'd say if you like your TiVO interface then stick with it but as previous commentators in this thread have indicated, the TiVO / VM relationship will end soon enough and the 360 will be the only option.

I also don't work for Virgin Media 😁

[Tavis75]

The 360 doesn't even actually have the radio channels though, I believe there's an app that plays radio, but that doesn't allow you to record radio programs.

I find a fast-forward button great for skipping adverts, plus it works with my Harmony Universal remote, rather than needing another special remote kept at hand that needs to be picked up and have a button pressed before you then have to talk to it. 

I can also understand why people upgrade thinking it's going to be better, the interface obviously looks more modern and if you list just the basic features (record TV, apps etc.) then the boxes sound largely similar and VM obviously push extra features (voice control and profiles), you do need to look at the more advanced features and the way the features actually operate to appreciate that the V6 is far superior in what it actually does, but obviously you really need to search to find those details and VM aren't going to make a point of detailing them.

I don't think people mind about change, just change for the worse. The amount of actual improvements offered by the 360 are minimal, but the list of missing features or features that don't work as well is pretty huge.

As pointed out, the forced changeover is inevitable and probably not that far away, which is a real shame as there simply isn't a PVR available in the UK that offers the features and functionality of the V6, if there was I think a lot of people would be less annoyed by the 360!

[1979Damian]

100% agree with all points 👍

[nodrogd]

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@Tavis75 wrote:

The 360 doesn't even actually have the radio channels though, I believe there's an app that plays radio, but that doesn't allow you to record radio programs.

The V360 does have access to radio channels, but they are not listed on the EPG. When you press the home button you will see a radio icon on the right. They are really only there for the benefit of TiVO users & when TiVO retires it will be Radioline/BBC Sounds access only. As stated before, Horizon was built for Liberty Global's other European operations, & most of these dropped their broadcast radio services when cable went digital, so recording of broadcast radio was never consideration in the platforms development.