Thanks V.I.P, I reckoned it was the cables or box- the box records stuff I didn't want so it must be faulty in some way, although perhaps they all do that. You would think virgin monitor this forum so they could get in touch with complainants- but they probably know they would be overwhelmed.
Like a lot of organizations these days, they want the profits but don't want to spend anything on actually dealing with customers who provide those profits.