General TV360 - pro and cons - Page 23

ozsat · 09-07-2026, 19:08

Yes - there have been more channels leaving Sky than usual over the past few months. The end is coming to Sky satellite and VirginMedia's linear services. Maybe a few years yet but the services are already seeing channels leave.

Sky's stream service has a lot less channels than SkyQ - Virgin has two less channels on their stream service when compared to their V6/360 platform.

VirginMedia has more UHD channels in their EPG over Sky.

The tv services isn't really that big in difference - the broadband services are quite different to many. I have a choice of 1Gbps with VirginMedia and 60Mpbs with any other wired ISP.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gunner45

As you say, the end is coming. Are you aware that Sky Q, like VM's TV 360, is not available to new customers online? You may be able to get these boxes for a while by calling Sales, but they are being phased out.

raging bull · 12-07-2026, 16:28

Been trying to get me to ditch my V6 and go for the 360, currently not in contract and ignored the numerous calls trying to get me to swop.
Last night my bookmarked programs + couple of films decided to leave my V6?
Maybe its time to go for the 360?

RichardCoulter · 12-07-2026, 16:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by gunner45

As you say, the end is coming. Are you aware that Sky Q, like VM's TV 360, is not available to new customers online? You may be able to get these boxes for a while by calling Sales, but they are being phased out.

Yes, it's telephone only now so that they can try to persuade people to get Sky Stream.

---------- Post added at 17:49 ---------- Previous post was at 17:47 ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by raging bull

Been trying to get me to ditch my V6 and go for the 360, currently not in contract and ignored the numerous calls trying to get me to swop.
Last night my bookmarked programs + couple of films decided to leave my V6?
Maybe its time to go for the 360?

Tbh I don't think this will be down to Virgin doing anything to the box. The V6 deletes older recordings if it needs the space, could it be down to this?

japitts · 15-07-2026, 10:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by raging bull

Last night my bookmarked programs + couple of films decided to leave my V6?
Maybe its time to go for the 360?

Bookmarks suggest a VoD shortcut, so most likely the underlying asset expired.

Nothing to do with V6/TV360, everything to do with recording versus streaming/OD availability.

smokieukuk · 22-07-2026, 07:57

I'd been with "Virgin" since the Telecential days in the late 90s and used to own a Thompson Mk 1 TiVo which went when Virgin rolled it into their boxes. Been thinking for some time of getting rid and this year, given we thought that Virgin might eventually just switch us over, we made a concerted effort to watch/delete the 80% full recordings and ditching it. I found a new rather tech solution (Channels DVR) which has similar functionality and set that all up on a Pi 4, got a shiny new 1Gb internet, and cancelled Virgin.

During the cancellation phase and with something between AI slop and pure bad luck the Pi crashed the database which took me over a week to diagnose and repair and suddenly Virgin didn't look so bad, so after a negotiation we are back on Virgin, with the 360 box which is probably sightly better than expected.

Anyway there is a question here. We were trying to set a pass for The Hairdresser Mysteries from the Virgin Android app TV Go and can't see how to do it. We can set for other things but I'm sure there are others we might not be able to. I have looked around here but not managed to find anything. She prefers to record rather than watchlist or play from streaming.

Any ideas anyone? TIA.

gunner45 · 22-07-2026, 16:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by smokieukuk

I'd been with "Virgin" since the Telecential days in the late 90s and used to own a Thompson Mk 1 TiVo which went when Virgin rolled it into their boxes. Been thinking for some time of getting rid and this year, given we thought that Virgin might eventually just switch us over, we made a concerted effort to watch/delete the 80% full recordings and ditching it. I found a new rather tech solution (Channels DVR) which has similar functionality and set that all up on a Pi 4, got a shiny new 1Gb internet, and cancelled Virgin.

During the cancellation phase and with something between AI slop and pure bad luck the Pi crashed the database which took me over a week to diagnose and repair and suddenly Virgin didn't look so bad, so after a negotiation we are back on Virgin, with the 360 box which is probably sightly better than expected.

Anyway there is a question here. We were trying to set a pass for The Hairdresser Mysteries from the Virgin Android app TV Go and can't see how to do it. We can set for other things but I'm sure there are others we might not be able to. I have looked around here but not managed to find anything. She prefers to record rather than watchlist or play from streaming.

Any ideas anyone? TIA.

The record facility on the app is I believe heavily restricted, so do it with the TV 360.

smokieukuk · 22-07-2026, 19:41

Thanks, guessed it might be. I think she's managed to do it on some programmes, just not all though. So not a lot of use then as a mobile app is it!! :-)

While on the whole I'm happy with the 360, it's certainly missing some of the features we used on the old one. I guess they are pushing everyone towards streaming as it costs so much less for them - so we'll need to get over the need to store stuff locally - it doesn't really make much sense when it's all available online anyway...

carbon60 · 23-07-2026, 11:45

My TiVo 500GB died yesterday. It now just shows a black screen and occasionally makes the error sound. Tried restarting it, etc. It'll show Starting Up for a bit and then go back to the black screen.

gunner45 · 23-07-2026, 12:34

The TiVo's hard drive is almost certainly failing. It's obsolete and won't be replaced, so you'll be offered a TV 360 or a Stream box. In both cases you'll need VM's broadband. Do report back on what happens.

carbon60 · 23-07-2026, 15:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by gunner45

The TiVo's hard drive is almost certainly failing. It's obsolete and won't be replaced, so you'll be offered a TV 360 or a Stream box. In both cases you'll need VM's broadband. Do report back on what happens.

It's a second box, main box is a V6 which we don't want to convert to 360 which means very few options.

smokieukuk · 23-07-2026, 16:45

I explicitly asked when I signed up again recently whether they would still replace a broken recording box with a recording box and they said yes. YMMV

nodrogd · 28-07-2026, 14:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by smokieukuk

I explicitly asked when I signed up again recently whether they would still replace a broken recording box with a recording box and they said yes. YMMV

It entirely relies on local stocks of Arris boxes with the TiVO firmware pre-loaded. If the tech has one in their van you will get it. If not then there is no option but to take one pre-loaded with the Horizon UI. I got lucky 3 months ago when one of my V6s failed, but it's now a lottery as to whether you have to migrate or not.

Mr K · 28-07-2026, 19:53

I am looking after my V6 so it doesn't die. Deleted series links i'll never watch, let it power down when inactive. Plus I've given it 30 days annual leave a year with access to mental health support, and an index linked pension. Its agreed to keep going. I'm a good employer

**Paul** · 28-07-2026, 23:55

I think powering disks up and down all the time can actually shorten their life.

nodrogd · Yesterday, 07:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul

I think powering disks up and down all the time can actually shorten their life.

I think you would have trouble beating the amount of times the TiVO firmware fires up the hard drive in standby. It can be 2 or 3 times in any one hour period. If you switch it to always on, it would be permanently buffering 6 channels. Using the off switch is by far the best idea to stop wear and tear.