New set top box
 

As per comment from an article that later this year virgin are moving QAM broadcasts to IP and a new set top box coming without hard drive and cloud storage, unless they are referring to virgin stream

"Later this year Virgin will complete the move from QAM broadcast to IP transmission, bringing in small form factor setup boxes, with bookmarking in the cloud replacing hard drives. Bouchier says the big change will come in the install experience. “There is no longer a need to have that cable running around the house if you want more than one set top box. It allows us to be as kind of nimble as the S watts themselves and connect to a TV wherever it is in the home using again a great install experience that we have with Virgin Media where our engineers will ensure that your broadband travels around the home.”

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https://www.broadbandtvnews.com/2025...l%20experience.

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I imagine that they'll eventually want everyone on their streaming box by the end of this year, which is why I was surprised that they brought out the 360.

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By the end of THIS YEAR?
It'll be many years before they will stop the recordable boxes

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If they're still giving out 18 month contracts specifying a "V6 Box powered by Tivo", they can't fully shift away from Tivo by the end of this year.

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The phasing out of TiVo and the 360 won't come yet. Another 5 - 10 years yet, I would have thought.

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I'll resist the temptation, but I think this time you may have a prediction something about right.

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For once you are correct OB.

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A lot more than you acknowledge yet, Legendkiller!

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Given there isn’t any public information about this topic no-one is correct.

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Last week Bouchier said that Virgin TV would be changing from QAM to IP so, unless the V6 & 360 can cope with mainstream TV being delivered over the internet instead of traditional cable, they'll have to convert everybody to their streaming box. There again, Virgin promises & deadlines rarely come to pass...

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VM Broadband uses QAM, so it will still be used. It's not specific to TV. It's a general transmission method.

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Correct. The two will run side by side initially.

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This says that the 360 is being phased out as we speak, so what about the older V6?

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.ph...ini-boxes.html

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That's TV 360 mini boxes

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Ahh, so it's the extra boxes and not the 360 itself- thanks.

Do you know if the main 360 box is able to show live channels & record from IPTV when traditional cable TV is axed?

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Read post #13, nothing is changing for quite some time

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Do the extra box(es) simply stream the same content over IP or do they use a tuner on the main box over WiFi (as with Sky Q)?

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They've never bettered the Jerrold analogue cable box. It also provided central heating for the house, and cooking facilities if you wished to fry an egg. None of these new boxes can do that .

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They always remove the best features. :D

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Show, Yes. Record, No, they won't. Just as they cannot record the IPTV delivered FAST channels already provided now. Recording is driven from the DVB-C cable tuners.

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So, in theory, those with 360 boxes could have their traditional cable TV cut off to effectively become stream boxes?

If so, could the V6 be reconfigured to do the same, or will they have to be converted to the 360 software first?

I imagine, when the time comes, those with V6 Boxes will receive an automatic update whether they want to change over to the 360 or not.

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Not sure how that would be honouring their contracts of supplying "Virgin TV V6 Box, powered by TiVo" for the next year or so. The Tivo features would still have to be there.
Don;t know whether V6 with Tivo is supplied for new customers.

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TiVo V6 hasn't been available for new customers for some time.


Any withdrawal of TiVo V6 is some years away.

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Apparently Virgin have got this sewn up in the contract with a 'We may change the equipment/software blah blah' clause. When the time comes i'll have a legal bod run over it, which may mean that I have to see out my contract with one of those horrid 360 boxes.

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Why wait? If you are so worried about it, look at your contract now.

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I'm happy with the V6 and aren't worried. I have looked and offered my interpretation of what the contract says, but i'm not a lawyer. If there isn't a period of time where i'm forced to take the 360, then i'll have no need to trouble our legal people.

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The contract is to supply a box with Tivo features and functionality.Any changes have to keep those.

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My assumption is that full fibre migration will come with wholesale box swaps. You will need a Hub5x provided, so why not also provide Stream boxes at the same time.

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Well they've stopped selling tv360 to new customers... Flex/Stream only from now on

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I posted about this yesterday.

https://www.cableforum.uk/board/show...&postcount=311

You can still get V360 through an agent if you pay a £50 activation fee.

All part of the eventual migration to full fibre. It is already causing confusion where new full fibre customers are expecting a box that only works on the coax network. And when VM start using both in the same areas it would only get worse.

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If VM is no longer making the V6 or 360 boxes available to new customers, and only the Stream box is available, that means the days of being able to record TV through the platform is coming to an end?

There's no way I would consider paying VM for a TV service without the ability to record TV.

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isn't pretty much everything pretty much available on demand? new aired stuff anyway

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Do what most people would do in the circumstances. Add it to your watchlist (bookmark it).

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What major provider does still offer RECORD on their current stb?

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The EE TV Pro box can record both Freeview broadcast & IP Streamed channels. However, if you want to record the Sky or TNT channels you are out of luck, as they are provided by the NOW & Discovery+ apps respectively & not IPTV.

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Indeed, there's no point to it . Streaming is available for free other devices . Tvs do it, no need for a box. VM have developed their tv service out of business.

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Sky Q ?

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Like the 360 - SkyQ has now been removed from open sale. Still available if you try really hard but Sky Stream is the model you get on their site.

Sky Stream has bookmarks etc. to stream everything.

So you don't record - you bookmark to watch from streaming later.

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Yes, it can record from live TV (Freeview), but that won’t be possible when Freeview closes down because the transmitters will no longer be available for TV broadcasts.

As for ‘recording from IP streamed channels’, are you sure about that? Some systems may describe ‘recording from the cloud’, but it is effectively drawing your requested programme from on demand.

Although you may think that BBC programmes are ‘recordable’ from IP streamed channels, you are effectively accessing those programmes from the BBCi-Player.

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"If", not ‘when" ”Freeview closes down"…

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https://www.bt.com/help/tv/learn-about-tv/bt-tv-boxes

"Watch your favourite free-to-air content without the need for an aerial"

"Record up to 600 hours of TV on the 1TB hard drive, across up to four channels at once when watching in aerial mode and up to two channels at once when watching in internet mode"

Sounds convincing to me.

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Now TV channels are on the EPG and can be recorded if you have Now subscription via EE TV

TNT Sports 1-10 and Ultimate are also on the EPG and can be recorded

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Another example of having a wrong opinion but stating it as a fact?

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Why the constant pokes? I can add links as well.

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.ph...g-feature.html



Extract from EE’s Customer Email

As you’re watching EE TV in Internet Mode (without an aerial), the way you watch your BBC recordings will change.

From 21st August [2024], your BBC recordings will launch through the BBC iPlayer app. There’s no change to how you’ll record a programme, or where it will be stored.

Put another way, the recordings may oddly still be stored on the box, but your access to record and re-watch related content is going to be limited by iPlayer’s policies. For example, much of iPlayer’s content is only made available for 30 days after broadcast (sometimes longer, sometimes shorter) and downloaded programmes are generally available for the same amount of time. But not everything gets added to iPlayer and content does expire, which will also impact your recordings (i.e. you won’t be able to watch what isn’t available).

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The programme is still recorded on the box, it’s "related content" that is different…

And this is only relevant to

"Until now those with ‘Internet Mode’ enabled on the related set-top-box could still record TV content directly to local storage on their Pro Box from the streamed BBC channels, much like you can when watching via a regular aerial connection. "

Not those using

" ‘Broadcast Mode‘ "

You appear to have accidentally overlooked these relevant points which were either side of what you quoted…

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So, in a nutshell, content is still recorded on the harddrive and isn't bookmarked iPlayer content as you originally claimed.
It would be much better if you would stick to reporting the facts rather than re-framing everything to fit in with your vision of the future.

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Thank you for clarifying, but yes, I am aware. Yes, the ‘recording’ goes onto the hard drive, but it is basically no better than on demand. It is not permanently recorded if you fail to delete it - it disappears when it’s taken off the on demand system.

It’s all smoke and mirrors.

---------- Post added at 17:14 ---------- Previous post was at 17:12 ----------

It’s a technical point but it’s no different from on demand in practice. It appears on the hard drive. The similarity stops there.

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Its either recorded, or it isnt, there is no "smoke and mirrors".

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Not really, it's a BBC issue rather than an EETV issue. It is similar to how they encode their DASH audio streams over the internet to control access and prevent services such as Radio 1 Dance from working on Wi-Fi radios. They also, largely, have full control of their audio / video TV streams on other platforms so, if they wished, they could encode the streams so that they, say, need a live synchronisation signal from the internet. They could, technically, turn off the hypothetical synchronisation to time out recordings even without them being hosted on iPlayer.
The audio streams are, supposedly, encrypted so that they only work on BBC Sounds. In reality, they are designed not to work with the DASH stream implementation of Wi-Fi radios. The streams can be made to play on stand alone audio players.
That, by the way, is an actual technical point. ;)

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Thank you. I guess the point I was trying to make was that the EE recording from streamed BBC programmes were no different from bookmarking. They both disappear from your list when the date for retention runs out.

That doesn’t happen with normal recordings.

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It doesn't happen with all IPTV recordings either but it is possible. Most providers haven't enabled IPTV / Cloud recording in the UK. Aunty Beeb is a total control freak when it comes to managing content.

It goes further, traditional Wi-Fi radios now seem to be being replaced with internet enabled radios. That is radios with a BBC Sounds app, a TuneIn app (remember that the UK prevents TuneIn from delivering content from overseas stations to UK customers). A Spotify app, maybe Amazon Music, Deezer, Tidal etc but no direct access to web radio streams. Not progress, a massive step backwards akin to what you call bookmarking. There is no need for this other that the "powers that be" restricting content availability. Welcome to your future...

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The BBC iPlayer does allow you to download programmes to a device for watching offline, so I assume the box uses this same functionality.

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Not any device any more. They removed the download facility on pc/mac. https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-68283165
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Still works on tablets.