So with the new Virgin TV 360 boxes I have less storage space overall than on the old V6 boxes?

[partugyan]

So my contract ran out and my Dad signed up as a new customer to take advantage of a better deal (stupid that they didn't just let me get the new customer deal, but whatever).

The new TV 360 UI is nice and the new features are actually quite amazing (the catch up service for watching a past programme you haven't recorded, is the same quality as recording the main channels now and has a wider selection of channels available, eg. BT Sport Ultimate on catch up is exactly the same quality as if I was watching the channel or my recording).

But if I understand correctly, only the main box has storage space, the 2 mini boxes do not. The set up I had before with 2 x V6 boxes was that each had its own dedicated storage space.

So I have less recording space overall now than before? I feel like I've lost a feature. I suppose you could argue this is evened out by the beefed up Catch Up Service which makes recording less of a requirement than it was before.

Also I feel misled, I was under the impression the mini boxes didn't need coaxial connections, but it turns out they do.

What does everyone else think of all these changes?

[Tavis75]

The 360 box is a significant step down from the V6 in regards to features and as far as I'm aware the catch-up content that is available is identical between the two systems, as that just depends on your package not the box (possibly, you're now on a better package).

As well as the reduced storage space if you have mini boxes instead of main boxes, some of the missing features are as follows; Wishlists (where you can set the box to record programs on certain subjects or featuring certain people), undelete, series link+, series link manager, suggestions, setting of series links for programs not in the current TV guide, ethernet control, keyboard support via USB, switching between tuners with constant buffering, skip-back on fast-forward, quickplay, cancelling individual recordings from a series link, multi-channel series links, radio channels allowing recording of radio, separation of recordings between boxes, watching recordings when internet is not available and probably a few others I've forgotten.

[japitts]

There's a few bits here

1: TV360 is designed around one master box with additional minis - providing one pool of recordings that all boxes access. Hence the common list of recordings.

2: If you have multiple V6, they are converted into TV360-master and retain their HDD, mitigating this although still use the TV360 recording pool which is software-driven.

3: You mention having TV360-minis, which would happen if you either installed additional boxes or swapped out legacy TiVo's.

4: Your package change and voluntary conversion to TV360 are two different elements, albeit done at the same time

5: The OnDemand service - as far as I know - is identical between TV360 & V6. As mentioned above, if you've taken a package change at the same time this could explain some additional options.

[newapollo]

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@partugyan wrote:

So my contract ran out and my Dad signed up as a new customer to take advantage of a better deal (stupid that they didn't just let me get the new customer deal, but whatever).

But if I understand correctly, only the main box has storage space, the 2 mini boxes do not. The set up I had before with 2 x V6 boxes was that each had its own dedicated storage space.

So I have less recording space overall now than before?

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Hi partugyan 

New customers only receive one box with a hard drive. 

If you had negotiated a new deal and requested a switch to 360 instead of your Dad signing up as a new customer then your two V6 boxes  would have received over the air updates to the 360 interface and you would have retained recording capacity on both of those boxes.  I appreciate that you wouldn't have received new customer pricing (again)  but you may have been able to barter a deal close to that price. 

I have two main 360 boxes (converted from V6) however if one of those boxes developed a fault which necessitated a box change then it would be replaced with a mini box which would put me in the same situation storage (recording) wise as a new customer

The 360 boxes (main and mini) use the same Horizon interface which is in use in the rest of Europe for Liberty Global's other companies and they don't receive a main box, they are all issued with mini boxes.

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[davorg]

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@partugyan wrote:

What does everyone else think of all these changes?

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Two years on, I remain mostly unimpressed - Virgin TV 360 — First impressions

[nodrogd]

Horizon V360 & Stream are both products that can run on cloud storage. In Europe customers are all provided with mini boxes & 2Gb of cloud storage per account. Unfortunately for us, the content owners in the UK & Ireland have blocked this feature, meaning that VM has had to provide alternative HDD storage to customers here.

As previously stated, if you had just renegotiated instead of changing the account holder, you could have got an existing customer deal, for which migration to Horizon is currently completely voluntary.

New customer deals on VM are loss leaders, so VM actually loses money if they are given to existing customers, hence they don’t make a habit of it.

[1701-e]

The on-demand service on 360 is far superior than TiVo V6.   High quality pictures with proper FF RW where you can see you location in a programme.

[japitts]

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@1701-e wrote:

The on-demand service on 360 is far superior than TiVo V6.   High quality pictures with proper FF RW where you can see you location in a programme.

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Out of interest, can you cite a specific example of where TV360-VoD gives a higher quality picture than the V6 equivalent? @1701-e 

Video preview whilst fast-forwarding would be a valid point, if a relatively small one. I'd be interested in examples of resolution differences.

[1701-e]

I can't give you the technical numbers just my own experience watching having had a V6 for many years and now the 360 since November.  I used to hate watching,say, a show from sky witness on-demand on the V6 but now it's as good as the recordings on the 360.