General : TV360 - pro and cons

[OLD BOY]

Originally Posted by Taf

After several weeks of the message to "upgrade to 360" popping-up. I got the "2nd June" message yesterday.

So goodbye to decent software and options, and a large step back to the 360 system.

Luckily we are still in the famine of US shows that happens every xmas to Spring, so I only have a few to watch before they get erased.

I shall have to make a copy of my Series Links first. I wish there was an option to copy them somewhere.

If they are available on demand, there’s nothing to worry about.

[Itshim]

Guess it's typical virgin, make a bit of a song and dance about what is a cheap selection of old that.

[RichardCoulter]

Originally Posted by Taf

After several weeks of the message to "upgrade to 360" popping-up. I got the "2nd June" message yesterday.

So goodbye to decent software and options, and a large step back to the 360 system.

Luckily we are still in the famine of US shows that happens every xmas to Spring, so I only have a few to watch before they get erased.

I shall have to make a copy of my Series Links first. I wish there was an option to copy them somewhere.

If you really want to keep the FAST channels, they are available elsewhere for free, no need to lose the TiVo software if you don't want to.

[Itshim]

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter

If you really want to keep the FAST channels, they are available elsewhere for free, no need to lose the TiVo software if you don't want to.

Wonder what the viewing figures are for these channels, I thought at the time they were brought to virgin to inflate the number of channels they carry.

[nomadking]

There's 2 types of FAST channels. There's the non-VM ones, eg Rakuten TV, Wedo Movies and the VM ones. Both types are going.
The non-VM ones are available elsewhere, and the VM ones are just bundling of on-demand content and is available anyway.

[RichardCoulter]

Originally Posted by Itshim

Wonder what the viewing figures are for these channels, I thought at the time they were brought to virgin to inflate the number of channels they carry.

Exactly right. They don't cost Virgin anything to carry and are there to make it look like there are more channels than there actually is, as more and more proper channels are removed for various reasons.

[andrewilley]

Starting to resign myself to the fact that downgrading to the 360 is going to have to happen at some point when Virgin finally lose their licence to operate the TiVo software. This will no doubt reduce their licencing costs - which presumably they will be passing on to customers via lower bills? Or maybe not. Is there any final date known for when this might finally be forced?

Meanwhile, back in the real world, the recordings on our V6 box are minimal at the moment so this might be the best time to bite the bullet if we are really going to have to do it. I'm fully aware any existing recordings (and sadly Series Links too) will definitely be lost, but that has been the case for a long time ever since Virgin broke the very handy Series Link backup facility on their website. I also know that I won't be able to recreate all 200+ of our current historical Series Links until such time as each programme in turn becomes available again in the upcoming Channel Guide. Grrr.

I know the downgrade will unavoidably lose the undelete functionality, the lovely reaction-time rollback when exiting from FFwd or Rewind (which is a TiVo copyright functionality), older Series Link reviewing/editing, ability to switch to a different tuner that you know already has an hour's delay cached on a different channel, single-button access to things like My Shows/Recordings, subtitles, delete item, etc. Hence my statement about it being mostly a functional downgrade not an upgrade.

I've been having play with a friend's 360, and a few questions arose, although there will probably be more. To preface, I'm not in the slightest bit interested in silly voice commands, pretty icons/graphical interfaces, or streaming channels. At all. This is just about using the box for watching and recording broadcast TV, while using a tactile remote control. We rarely use On-Demand/Catchup services if we can help it, as apart from the BBC iPlayer (which itself has an annoying added BBC logo in the upper-left) it is not possible to spool through adverts.

1. When Fast-Forwarding or Rewinding though a long programme, how do you jump by 15 minute increments to quickly get to (for example) the last quarter-of-an-hour of a two or three hour show? On the V6 you just tap the ">|" or "|<" buttons while winding.
   
2. Is there any way to stop the incredibly annoying action when pressing the >> or << buttons multiple times that it incrementally speeds up but then reverts back to slow winding? Currently to get to the fastest speed I just rapidly jab the >> button several times, and I certainly don't expect the scrubbing speed to drop back to very slow again if I press the button once too often. I found this dreadful logic really annoying when testing our friend's 360 remote.
   
3. When you are spooled back to watching an earlier point in a live program, how do we get back to the live broadcast again with a single action? I can't see a Stop button. In fact, the transport controls seem rather lacking all round.
   
4. Is there now any simple way to get to Shows/Recordings using a single button on the supplied remote (not some silly voice command nonsense) as that is probably the single most used operation for us?
   
5. When we have multiple episodes of a show recorded, we only ever list the show as a simple flat scrollable text list, ordered by original broadcast order (such as s01e01, s01e02, etc), with the oldest seasons/episodes at the bottom of the list and newest at the top (not by recent recording date, but broadcast series order - with the original first-broadcast date available in the info details). Can this be done with the 360, as I could only see a cumbersome list with the series numbers shown down the left hand side, and oldest stuff at the top.
   
6. We use two remote controls for our V6. My wife uses the supplied Virgin one, while I use a programmable universal IR remote with macros - the excellent XSight Touch, which hasn't been available for years but still hasn't been bettered in the meantime. My remote also controls my local file-streaming box, surround amp, BluRay player, TV, and even some room lighting, etc. I would absolutely need to program this remote with complete IR codes to control the 360, has anyone successfully done this themselves (e.g. using a "Ziggo" codeset I believe?) such as the advice in this thread https://www.avforums.com/threads/vir...-them.2347467/ . That thread also seems to imply that Recordings could be available via a single learned IR code, which would be a bonus. What about discrete power-on and power-off IR codes, which are immensely useful when programming universal macros which cannot know the current state of the equipment (everything else I own has hidden discrete on/off IR codes available).
   
7. Finally, I don't think there's a video "pass-through" option which would avoid deinterlacing 1080i or SD material, thus allowing my rather better 4K TV to do the job itself? Do Virgin actually broadcast anything in native 1080p anyway? Other than perhaps Sports or Movie channels, neither of which we watch.

Anyway, that's quite enough for now! Hopefully someone can comment on at least some of the above. Thanks.

Andre

[newapollo]

I use a programmable universal IR remote with macros - the excellent XSight Touch.... My remote also controls my local file-streaming box, surround amp, BluRay player, TV, and even some room lighting, etc. I would absolutely need to program this remote with complete IR codes to control the 360, has anyone successfully done this themselves (e.g. using a "Ziggo" codeset I believe?) such as the advice in this thread https://www.avforums.com/threads/vir...-them.2347467/ . That thread also seems to imply that Recordings could be available via a single learned IR code, which would be a bonus. What about discrete power-on and power-off IR codes, which are immensely useful when programming universal macros which cannot know the current state of the equipment (everything else I own has hidden discrete on/off IR codes available).

I don't know if they will work for you or not, but the attached picture shows Harmony codes that were posted on the Ziggo forums. See thread https://community.vodafoneziggo.nl/t...to/td-p/114252 which needs translating to English.

I use my LG Smart remote (set up as Ziggo Media box next) and also the 'One for All' 1240 which has 4 selects (tv/sat/amp/dvd) as an additional remote. The 1240 recognises the code 1582 to control the box. It need direct line of sight when setting it up.

The 'OneForAll' URC7125 also works using the SimpleSet setup process and Ziggo as the manufacturer.

I realise you aren't "interested in silly voice commands", but I prefer the voice control as I find it to be the easiest method of controlling the 360.

[Itshim]

I won't copy Andrews post but with the exception of the remote, l totally think he sums up the question \ concerns l have. Thank you for taking the time to write them .

[1701-e]

When you are spooled back to watching an earlier point in a live program, how do we get back to the live broadcast again with a single action?
Press the TV button

[andrewilley]

Originally Posted by newapollo

I don't know if they will work for you or not, but the attached picture shows Harmony codes that were posted on the Ziggo forums.

Thanks for the confirmation, that's roughly what I'd gathered from Google searches but the results were a bit old. I'm sure my remote will be able to accept the Ziggo codes, there's good community support for an excellent third-party code editor package for it. I think I'll program Ziggo into a spare slot and take it round to our friend's house to try it out.

I expect a lot of people like using voice commands, but the only time I think they are sensible is for in-car use where your hands are occupied, or for a phone while you are using a headset. Disturbing other people by constantly talking to the TV seems a bit counter-productive to me. But then I also turn off any confirmation beeps etc, and would be much happier if turning the TV volume up or down didn't bring up unnecessary flashy indicator overlays on the screen, so it's probably just me.

Andre

---------- Post added at 09:17 ---------- Previous post was at 09:07 ----------

Originally Posted by 1701-e

Press the TV button

Thanks, I guess that's obvious when you think about it.

Andre