Recent changes on the VM Network

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  • Not sure if they'll give you two main boxes. I had three V6's on "Ultimate Oomph" before migrating to the 360 pre release "trial". These were replaced by one main and two minis.

    The reduced recording space didn't really affect us as we hardly used the space on one box let alone all three (got most of what we needed from catch up and on demand and tended to delete as soon as something had been watched but everyone's requirements are different!!).

    To counter some of the complaints, my experience of the box so far has been fairly positive - the interface is cleaner and it responds really quickly. The voice facility is something we're getting used to but it seems to add a lot of funtionality that isn't directly available on the remote ("Go back twenty minutes" for example). Having the HD channels as standard if they're in your package is also good. I don't have to keep swapping to HD when my wife has gone to an SD version - the SD versions don't even appear in the EPG (that may bother some who record the SD variant to save disk space but I've always preferred to have the higher PQ) as is the ability to order the EPG any way you like!

    Still a few teething problems which will apparently be addressed in future firmware updates.

    However if you're happy with the V6 solution I don't think 360 is being forced on anyone yet (apart from new customers?).

  • SID 1307 Welcome has been added to the NIT of remaining networks but the "hide reversal" flag has been removed, so it is currently hidden from the EPG.

    Changes to VOD frequencies were noted on the overnight scan for Basildon 1-4, Exeter & Plymouth, Hersham and Norwich.

  • Not sure if they'll give you two main boxes. I had three V6's on "Ultimate Oomph" before migrating to the 360 pre release "trial". These were replaced by one main and two minis.

    The reduced recording space didn't really affect us as we hardly used the space on one box let alone all three (got most of what we needed from catch up and on demand and tended to delete as soon as something had been watched but everyone's requirements are different!!).

    To counter some of the complaints, my experience of the box so far has been fairly positive - the interface is cleaner and it responds really quickly. The voice facility is something we're getting used to but it seems to add a lot of funtionality that isn't directly available on the remote ("Go back twenty minutes" for example). Having the HD channels as standard if they're in your package is also good. I don't have to keep swapping to HD when my wife has gone to an SD version - the SD versions don't even appear in the EPG (that may bother some who record the SD variant to save disk space but I've always preferred to have the higher PQ) as is the ability to order the EPG any way you like!

    Still a few teething problems which will apparently be addressed in future firmware updates.

    However if you're happy with the V6 solution I don't think 360 is being forced on anyone yet (apart from new customers?).

    Some other disadvantages I have picked up:

    Can no longer record Radio programmes as they are not on program list.

    If you record a TV series, watch an episode and delete that episode before it is repeated then that episode will be re-recorded – what a waste!

    You cannot recover deleted programmes.

    TV channel will no longer store 90 minutes in background while you watch a recorded program, although if you pause a live channel it will store up to 3 hours, but this 3 hours will be lost as soon as you watch a recorded program.

    TV channel list only shows icons of channel, you can longer click on icon, making channels hard to identify.

    You can only set record for episode or series that is currently on the software i.e. you can no longer set it to record any new series.

    ?

  • I already wasn't on-board, this make it much worse.

    In my experience the V6 tuner buffer has been 60 minutes for a long time. 90 was a long time ago, when we had an original VM Tivo.

  • I'm not impressed with any of that. Sounds like a step backwards.

  • Telling people to contact Ofcom rather than attempting to resolve problems is a weird policy. Ofcom releases statistics regarding complaints, so they are basically telling the customer to make them look bad.

    VM's EPG data is vast, even the DVB version, carrying all of the regional variations as well as so many channels. With a full 14 days of data that's going to be quite a big file, probably a bit clunky to be held in RAM.

    That's the whole point- they aren't solving problems. People either can't get through or are ignored when they text, email etc. If Ofcom make them look bad that's good, because they are!

  • I'm not impressed with any of that. Sounds like a step backwards.

    Totally agree. The only upside is having access in a bedroom etc, but this is soon overtaken by the numerous downsides.

    When I had my V6 installed 4 years ago, a senior engineer rang me to see how the installation went. He said that they were working on a system where people could "watch TV in any part of the house". I assumed that this was their failed Telly Tablet venture, but now i'm wondering if he was actually referring to the 360.

  • That's the whole point- they aren't solving problems. People either can't get through or are ignored when they text, email etc. If Ofcom make them look bad that's good, because they are!

    It looks that way, it just beggars belief that they are readily encouraging customers to give them a poor customer satisfaction record.

  • Totally agree. The only upside is having access in a bedroom etc, but this is soon overtaken by the numerous downsides.

    When I had my V6 installed 4 years ago, a senior engineer rang me to see how the installation went. He said that they were working on a system where people could "watch TV in any part of the house". I assumed that this was their failed Telly Tablet venture, but now i'm wondering if he was actually referring to the 360.

    The multi room option would be fine, a little box in every room perhaps. It seems though that each mini box will need a co-ax connection and that has to be a massive disadvantage.

  • The multi room option would be fine, a little box in every room perhaps. It seems though that each mini box will need a co-ax connection and that has to be a massive disadvantage.

    I just wish they’d either give you the choice of having a mini-box or to have the two main boxes, although a decent alternative would be a 2 Tb 360 recorder box.

    Then the main disadvantages would be that you can only record series already on the software and it cannot be set to record new stuff only. Automatically re-recording programmes that you have just seen is positively Stone Age in tech terms.

  • The latest scan shows that Knowsley 1-2, Knowsley 1 TRIALS, Preston 1-2, Preston TDN, Liverpool TDN, Liverpool TDN TRIALS & Southport networks finally dropped from 4 to 1 VOD stream.

    VOD frequency changes were noted for Birmingham 750, Birmingham TDN, Derby, Manchester 1-3, Stoke, Wrexham, Watford & Wearside.

  • I can't see V6s being updated to TV360 unless this is possible.

    Just to be clear, unless there has been a change by VM in recent months, the main hardware for 360 is the V6.

    At some point, VM will withdraw being able to record on the boxes and at that point, the V6 will be "cut" in half (it's already two separate boxes connected together) and anyone who orders 360 in the future will get the top box only which will not have the hard drive in it, which is currently in the lower box.

    The only new hardware is the mini boxes and new routers.

  • Just checking which networks are still configured for more than one VOD transport stream, except for ex-NTL Langley, where we can't see the data.

    Bristol 1 & 2 are configured for a range of 6 streams but 5 of them were assigned to normal broadcast transport streams, so that is recorded as a VM configuration error.

    Wolverhampton 1 & 2 and Wolverhampton TRIALS, Scottish ex-Telewest networks (Edinburgh 1, Dundee (Edinburgh 2), Uddingston, Perth & Falkirk), Haringey, NGRHEE Knowsley and Crawley are still configured with 2 VOD transport stream frequencies.

  • Just to be clear, unless there has been a change by VM in recent months, the main hardware for 360 is the V6.

    At some point, VM will withdraw being able to record on the boxes and at that point, the V6 will be "cut" in half (it's already two separate boxes connected together) and anyone who orders 360 in the future will get the top box only which will not have the hard drive in it, which is currently in the lower box.

    The only new hardware is the mini boxes and new routers.

    Erm, we're talking about existing V6 With Tivo customers having their boxes upgraded with a software upgrade. We know the hardware is the same and weren't saying otherwise.

    It's not clear that VM intend to do a software upgrade, as had first been assumed when we knew the hardware was the same, it now looks like they are just swapping out boxes for those with the software already installed.

    If they do eventually intend to upgrade via a software update, customers would want, and expect, to keep their recordings. Which is what we were talking about.

  • It really shouldn't be a problem to preserve recordings through a firmware change. The trouble is, if the firmware is significantly different, it may require the drive to be reformatted and that's going to remove any recordings too. That wouldn't go down well with a lot of users.

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