General : Virgin TV box of mystery

[Krilltis]

Seeing as it's mega hot and my brain is melting....any of you gals/guys/non-binary etc....know what this little gem is?

No clues....well....ok....just the one clue....'You don't have to be a Virgin Media customer to own one'....emphasis on the word "own"....

So....it's....what?

[cheekyangus]

Though it says VBox and the styling of the EPG is like the Liberate era software, I think it might be from the time VM did a Freeview DTT box for broadband customers not on their Cable network. The clue being the channel order, which is the current Freeview channel order of those channels.

[Mr K]

I think it's a toaster.

[BenMcr]

Originally Posted by cheekyangus

Though it says VBox and the styling of the EPG is like the Liberate era software, I think it might be from the time VM did a Freeview DTT box for broadband customers not on their Cable network. The clue being the channel order, which is the current Freeview channel order of those channels.

Yup

https://www.techradar.com/reviews/au...-129068/review

[Krilltis]

It's not a Toaster....I tried it with 2 slices of bread...nothing seemed to happen...just loads of crumbs everywhere...maybe try some crumpets later....

Yep...it's a freeview box from Virgin Media National....here's a couple of box pictures for you

Still all works and I do especially like the cute little remote control, it looks almost like new

Oh....any DPA fans/freaks/non-binaries out there....don't worry....there aren't any customer account details ingrained in the box....it's just a freeview box....of which, yep, as per that article...you could buy outright and use on any telly

Wonder if there's still a market out there for DTT if they ever try residential 'beyond cable' again....cos I kinda like it...

[spiderplant]

I'm impressed that it still works and you've got the packaging.

I've got a U.S.Robotics 56K Faxmodem still in the shrinkwrap here. It's dated 2001. What's that worth?

[epsilon]

Originally Posted by spiderplant

I'm impressed that it still works and you've got the packaging.

I've got a U.S.Robotics 56K Faxmodem still in the shrinkwrap here. It's dated 2001. What's that worth?

You might get a few pennies for the shrinkwrap...

[Krilltis]

Cripes...56k...y'know there's a cash machine ATM in the local off-licence that uses some kind of dialup modem, you can hear it dialup and do that weird squeaky handshake thing....then you get your £10....at least I think it's a real tenner....maybe it's just a Fax copy...probably is ;-)

And yep....tis an old piece of kit....and the photos that I took of the VBox were from using the 'James Webb' telescope...to see into the past....well....just wack a 'NASA' watermark in the bottom corner and it may aswell be...:-)

Anyway...it is funny what still actually works

[cheekyangus]

Originally Posted by spiderplant

I'm impressed that it still works and you've got the packaging.

I've got a U.S.Robotics 56K Faxmodem still in the shrinkwrap here. It's dated 2001. What's that worth?

I wasn't surprised it works, I've got a much older Freeview box that still works.

[JMcB]

Originally Posted by Krilltis

Seeing as it's mega hot and my brain is melting....any of you gals/guys/non-binary etc....know what this little gem is?

No clues....well....ok....just the one clue....'You don't have to be a Virgin Media customer to own one'....emphasis on the word "own"....

So....it's....what?

TV looks like old analogue cable tell and the use of scart shows it's not HD

[Mr K]

The Jerrold analogue cable box you could fry an egg on, it was dual purpose.
Can't cook anything on these new rubbish ones.

[Dingbat]

Reminds me. Got an original BT Freeview box in the loft somewhere from when I was field trialling for the launch of BTTV.

Oh, and also in the loft is a Zenith 486 laptop with Windows 3.1 and a 28.8k modem PCI card. Got that in about 1993.