My V+ box experience
 

Well having been an NTL customer since analogue days, through thick and thin, I was pleased to hear that the Virgin takeover would finally get me on par with Sky customers. I duly ordered my V+ box and bought an HD ready TV and waited for the engineer to arrive last Friday. All seemed to go well, he connected up the box and transferred my old Samsung box to another room. He said that the channels may take a while to come through on the V+ and that I should turn my tv off before connecting the HD cable.

Things went ok on Friday, the channels appeared and I managed to record some programmes using the V+ button and it seemed very easy. Similarly Saturday went well too, only when I connected the HD cable I didn't get a signal on the TV (Viewsonic 2600w).

On Sunday things went pear-shaped! When pressing the V+ button nothing happened and then the box froze on certain channels. I rebooted a few times and swore - why do such things happen when Customer Services is closed.

That's when I searched the web and found this Forum - however I couldn't see a quick fix so had to wait to today to call 150. I have to say I got through quickly and spoke to a Welsh sounding assistant, however there was nothing he could do over the phone and I have to wait for Thursday evening for an engineer to come out. I asked if they had had many problems and he said that the box was tending to lock up and/or change channels slowly.

I have sent a complaint message to Virgin through their web-site.

I am pretty p***'d off as I have been a loyal customer for years and having thought at last I was getting something that was the latest and greatest it has let me down.

I will update you after Thursday or if a miracle happens in the meantime.

Fortunately the old box is working fine still!!

Re: My V+ box experience
 

new toys, new problems . :)

Re: My V+ box experience
 

Did you set the HD up on the V+ box first? If you didn't I understand it can all go a bit wonky. I think there's a section in the V+ manual about the correct order to do it.

Re: My V+ box experience
 

Didn't get a manual!

Re: My V+ box experience
 

Re: My V+ box experience
 

Thanks.

Seems from the various comments that the engineers need to spend more time helping to set up the boxes and/or pre-book return visits just in case things don't go to plan.

Do Virgin Media people read this Forum?

Re: My V+ box experience
 

I think another user mentioned that he was told it takes upto four hours for the new signal to arrive for the V+ box - in which case, it's reasonable for the engineer to do as much as he can, then leave the final instructions.

I'm having mine fitted Saturday - and will let you know how I got on.

Re: My V+ box experience
 

Just have some questions please. At present I have the basic STB. If I upgrade to the V+ Box and want to use the basic box in another room, does the engineer set this up with the cabling to an upstairs room and do they charge for this? Also, is the V+ box any bigger than the basic box in height, as I have a very restricted space. Thank you

Re: My V+ box experience
 

He did mention that it would take time for the signal to come through, but he did not leave detailed instructions and even the ones on ther website do not seem to go into the detail that other users here would have appreciated.

My issue is that from other posts it is not that straightforward and given the importance of CS to VirginMedia I think that more effort is needed to help users get going.

In my case the old STB was moved to another room which already had broadband so he was able to put a splitter in and take a new cable to the STB. As mentioned before luckily for me and the family that is all working fine - just the new box which is giving me grief! As for height I am sure if it is no higher than my old one it certainly fits the slot with room to spare - which according to the V+ preview is important as the box needs to be well venitlated.

Re: My V+ box experience
 

No charge to move and install your old box in another room. Mine was put upstairs and new cabling was installed to run it. My V+ worked from the moment the engineer installed it, with all channels. He even set up the HDMI 720 connection before he left.

Re: My V+ box experience
 

Yeah, mine too. I think the biggest problem with the installers is the amount of time they are given. My V+ & Samsung installation was fairly easy - V+ near the cable modem, and Samsung in the bedroom which already had an NTL box. He was therefore able to take his time and make sure both boxes were working perfectly, which took him about an 75 minutes. Which according to him was all he would have had if he needed to put the extra line into the bedroom. So it's no wonder they often make a half-arsed job of the install, with their stupid laptop whinging at them to get to the next customer. Plus, he said he'd only had his V+ training less than a week before!

Re: My V+ box experience
 

Thanks for that. i wonder if one of you techies could help me out. If I have the V+ Box downstairs, obviously I don't need my VCR to record, only to play back. However if I have the basic box intsalled upstairs where I have another VCR which I use to record off analogue, could I have it set up so I can watch programmes through the STB but still record off the TV in analogue. I ask because I tried to use my downstairs VCR but I can't get it to tune to the TV channels since I had the STB installed. Thanks,sorry to be so long winded!

Re: My V+ box experience
 

;) I am not a techie, but the VM engineer who fitted my STB wired my VCR so that when I switch it on I am back in the land of analogue for watching tapes and recording.....ask the engineer!!

Re: My V+ box experience
 

I'm getting my V+ installed tomorrow morning, I'm hoping it all goes smoothly, so I can record the rugby.

Re: My V+ box experience
 

Had my V+ box installed today,engineer was very thorough and stayed until everything was connected and tested,even set up the volume control on V+ remote to match my Bush HD tv,and left his phone No in case of any problems(which means i wont have to wait for customer service).Only watched the BBC tests at the moment but picture quality is superb

Re: My V+ box experience
 

OK, back in business, connections hadn't been tightened sufficiently! Today's engineer admitted minimal training and learning as they go along!

Re: My V+ box experience
 

My TV Drive/V+ experience.

The week TV Drive became available in my region I got it (Early summer last year). Being an "early adopter" by nature and having a very good technical understanding I took to it like a fish to water.

The product in my opinion IS far superior to SKY's. However I have experienced and am experiencing multiple problems to which I feel nobody at Telewest/VirginMedia are preparred to either accept or indeed address. Here's the issues that I have had:

1. Slow navigation when using “Live TV� between 10 – 20 seconds when channel hopping
2. Picture freezing during Live TV the only way to resolve is to change channels which seems to refresh the feed or catch it up
3. Pixels appear intermittently
4. If the box goes to sleep it cannot be woken up in the mornings and you have to reboot to resolve but then you only get 2 -3 mins before it starts freezing and you have to repeat this many many times
5. We have tried turning the box to standby at night but that makes no difference, we experience exactly the same issues as above
6. Teleport is often not available giving various error codes, like 1061
7. TV Drive is often not available
8. Missing program information is quite a regular thing
9. When we do finally get the box to wake up in the mornings the channel information box sometimes stays on screen for ages and flashes Red, if we do get rid of it the whole picture flashes Red
10. It seems that between 23:45 and 00:45 (could be later but I usually give up and go to sleep or watch a DVD) that the functionality of the box just disappears completely. Whatever channel is being viewed is the only channel that can be watched. You can select other channel numbers but the box will not go to other channels
11. About 5 times a day we will hear a loud “white noise� type click which sounds to me like digital distortion and then the sound will disappear which then slowly builds back up - this has recently increased in frequency and in a 30 min program can happen up to 3 or 4 times. I am convinced it is something to do with the HDMi output but as I do not have any other HDMi devices I cannot "acid test" this. It doesn't do this via SCART or on my other TV. I'm very unhappy about this as my HD TV was purchased in OCT 06 and my warranty is running out slowly but surely. I am convinced that this is a signal thing but cannot get that confirmed.
12. We can be watching Live TV and without warning rhyme or reason we will get a flashing Red on screen message saying that TV Drive is unavailable and to reboot or restart the set top box – I have to stress this is without us even touching the remote.

Before we moved back in Sept 06 we had about 5 boxes replaced because the engineers either cannot (due to time restraints) or will not (due to intelligence and product understanding) fault find the problems. When I call 150 I tell them my isues and try to stress that as an experienced "user" and as somebody who tech supports TV and Media companies with their hardware & software for a living it feels like the problems are either the feed (the signal coming down the pipe) or indeed a software/firmware problem. Am I listened to ?? NO!!! I get goofy engineers come out to my flat scratch their arses for a couple of minutes who then say "we need to replace your box mate" - what a joke !!!

Since September and being in a new property have had another 7 boxes swapped over. I have had reductions off my bill by way of apology but still no resolve. During a 6 week period I had over 10 engineers come out to me all with a different idea of what the problem was and each contradicting the last engineer. I honestly don't think that the engineers are up to speed with the TV Drive/V+ boxes just like the people on the phones.

I still do think that this product has the potential to be far superior to Sky's box. However, I am not pleased that this product had been rushed to market just so it can compete with Sky before it was ready. I do feel like I am Beta testing the product which I don't mind doing but I do recent paying full whack for this. I am providing Telewest/VirginMedia with a service and I think they are missing this point. Consumer feedback is surely the best way to improve products and move them forward!!!???

These problems can easily be fixed by firmware updates that could be performed once they have accepted and resoleved them.

The best thing Telewest/VirginMedia can do is to set up a specialist
TV Drive/V+ team who know the product dare I say use the product and can then support it's customers. For me to ring up and speak to some muppet who is reading from a script and has absolutely no technical understanding of the product is an insult. I have tried so many times by asking to speak to somebody who knows the TV Drive/V+ product but this seems to be impossible.

How I am left feeling about VirginMedia is, New name same B u l l s h i t

Will they sort it out?? Do they care ?? Does anybody in the company understand the product ??

I really don't know - but I'm getting a pretty clear idea. I am learning to live with my issues and treat them as little idiosyncrasies as Telewest/VirginMedia seem to be inadequate in solving my issues.

With all that said and done, when it does work it is fantastic no doubt about it.

I think the only way forward for Telewest/VirginMedia is to run a consumer feedback program and keep developing their product based on this. Could end up being a White Elephant otherwise.