General : Virgin TV 360 users (Horizon)

[RobboEdin]

Originally Posted by Skie

Does it still record (buffer) other channels whilst watching another?

No.
There is a function called Startover for some of the channels that allows you to watch all of a programme that has already started.

[fox35]

Originally Posted by RobboEdin

No.
There is a function called Startover for some of the channels that allows you to watch all of a programme that has already started.

Its a bit of a con really. This "Startover" is only available on select shows where the concerned episode was already available in that channels Catch Up app, where it was already previously available to watch anyway. BBC content just plays from the start akin to iPlayer. All of which the V6 TiVo previously done.

[RobboEdin]

Originally Posted by fox35

Its a bit of a con really. This "Startover" is only available on select shows where the concerned episode was already available in that channels Catch Up app, where it was already previously available to watch anyway. BBC content just plays from the start akin to iPlayer. All of which the V6 previously done.

Startover is different, I believe, than what was available on V6, covering more channels.
To quote the TV 360 Virgin Media guy on the community forum:
“ Essentially we record everything in the cloud for the enabled channels and that’s what you can tap into for Startover”

[BenMcr]

Originally Posted by fox35

Its a bit of a con really. This "Startover" is only available on select shows where the concerned episode was already available in that channels Catch Up app, where it was already previously available to watch anyway. BBC content just plays from the start akin to iPlayer. All of which the V6 TiVo previously done.

Startover and Catchup are different.

For Catchup you have to wait until the programme has finished before you can watch it from On Demand.

Startover is available while the programme is still showing on a supported channel. That's not something you can do via On Demand on a TiVo or V6 box outside of the BBC iPlayer.

As for the BBC, they are very strict about non-linear content access - everything has to go through the iPlayer app for Connected devices.

[fox35]

Originally Posted by BenMcr

Startover and Catchup are different.

For Catchup you have to wait until the programme has finished before you can watch it from On Demand.

Startover is available while the programme is still showing on a supported channel. That's not something you can do via On Demand on a TiVo or V6 box outside of the BBC iPlayer.

As for the BBC, they are very strict about non-linear content access - everything has to go through the iPlayer app for Connected devices.

Well coincidence then that every single programme with the Startover symbol (which is not really a lot) in the epg is already available in the Catchup section for that channel. Most content in the epg with this symbol is faded out, meaning you have to wait for it to actually finish before it's added to the relevant Catchup service in order to watch.
With BBC live content aside, this Startover gimmick is just a rebrand of Catchup on the V6.

---------- Post added at 08:50 ---------- Previous post was at 08:42 ----------

Originally Posted by RobboEdin

Startover is different, I believe, than what was available on V6, covering more channels.
To quote the TV 360 Virgin Media guy on the community forum:
“ Essentially we record everything in the cloud for the enabled channels and that’s what you can tap into for Startover”

That engineer is a liar.
Try it for yourself, all Startover programmes with this symbol are already available on demand in the relevant Catchup players or Apps. Even if the symbol is faded out ( which is most), you can't access it until the channel provider has made it available, after broadcast, via its own catchup service or app.
The 360 box is just accessing the Catchup content, not the cloud. Same as the V6, but just rebranded Startup.

[BenMcr]

Here's an example of what happens for new content for 'record in the cloud':

MTV HD - I Used To Be Fat.

Two episodes are accessible as streaming content. Both are from this morning. One is live now and is a Startover option. The other was on earlier this morning and is now part of Catch Up.

The next episode at 10:00 is only available to record. It's not a show you can already watch via On Demand. When it starts though, it will have the Watch live / Watch from start option, and once it is finished it will be part of Catch Up.

---------- Post added at 09:40 ---------- Previous post was at 09:24 ----------

Conversely a non-startover channel is E4 HD. 'Don't tell the bride' is only a Catch Up program. So the episode that's showing now you can't go back to beginning on it until it's finished and is added to On Demand.

But even if or where the 'Watch from start' option links to existing content in On Demand for repeated shows on supported channels, why is that a bad thing?

It makes that content easier to access rather than having to know whether it's available to watch and where it is in the menus.

[RobboEdin]

“ That engineer is a liar.”

... or perhaps fox35 doesn’t want to understand THAT THIS IS A NEW FUNCTION.
Thanks to Ben for explaining.

[fox35]

Well it is clearly not a "new function", but rather a rehash of an existing way to view shows from the beginning in Catch Up TV, either via the box or the relevant stand-alone Apps.
The 360 is flawed and a vastly inferior product to the V6 Tivo in every regard.
My 2 360 boxes are due to be changed back for V6s within the next week, thankfully.

[RobboEdin]

As I said, you simply don’t want to understand because it’s not the answer you want to hear.

[cheekyangus]

Originally Posted by RobboEdin

Startover is different, I believe, than what was available on V6, covering more channels.
To quote the TV 360 Virgin Media guy on the community forum:
“ Essentially we record everything in the cloud for the enabled channels and that’s what you can tap into for Startover”

I wonder if this is indirectly related to why there were a host of "new" channels on VM TV Go app when I booted it up yesterday for first time in a few weeks.

There were lots of +1s and HD versions, and some that haven't been available either ever or for ages. If they are now recording everything to add to "the cloud" to enable Startover then that same feed can be used for streaming.

[BenMcr]

Unless you have a 360 box the channels should be the same as they were in TV Go i.e. it should only show those you can stream to watch in the app.

360 customers will see more channels than can be streamed as the recording management functions are in the app too instead of the separate TV Control needed for TiVo/V6. So those customers need to see the listing of channels in their profile so they can set the recordings on them.

[paul0363]

Originally Posted by BenMcr

Here's an example of what happens for new content for 'record in the cloud':

MTV HD - I Used To Be Fat.

Two episodes are accessible as streaming content. Both are from this morning. One is live now and is a Startover option. The other was on earlier this morning and is now part of Catch Up.

The next episode at 10:00 is only available to record. It's not a show you can already watch via On Demand. When it starts though, it will have the Watch live / Watch from start option, and once it is finished it will be part of Catch Up.

---------- Post added at 09:40 ---------- Previous post was at 09:24 ----------

Conversely a non-startover channel is E4 HD. 'Don't tell the bride' is only a Catch Up program. So the episode that's showing now you can't go back to beginning on it until it's finished and is added to On Demand.

But even if or where the 'Watch from start' option links to existing content in On Demand for repeated shows on supported channels, why is that a bad thing?

It makes that content easier to access rather than having to know whether it's available to watch and where it is in the menus.

Most of the Discovery branded/owned channels, CBS channels and a good few others have the Startover option. The only way it seems to appear though is if you scroll to the channel by pressing OK and using the "mini-guide" at the foot of the screen then hitting OK to view the channel or selecting the channel directly from the main guide - in those cases a pop-up gives you the option to "Watch Live" or "Watch from the Start". If you access the channel directly (by entering the channel no.) the pop up doesn't appear but pressing the ... (info) button will give you the option.

Also, for the Channel 4 group of channels, while Starover isn't available, scrolling back through the guide and selecting will play the programme in HD - All4 and C4 catch up on the V6 was only SD IIRC.

[BenMcr]

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter

- The search function is no longer universal.

Prime Video is now part of the search, so it covers the majority of content available on the box

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5...ly/m-p/4517441

Netflix isn't in the 360 search, but that's down to Netflix not currently wanting to do search integration rather than a technical limitation.

[cheekyangus]

Originally Posted by BenMcr

Unless you have a 360 box the channels should be the same as they were in TV Go i.e. it should only show those you can stream to watch in the app.

360 customers will see more channels than can be streamed as the recording management functions are in the app too instead of the separate TV Control needed for TiVo/V6. So those customers need to see the listing of channels in their profile so they can set the recordings on them.

It's showing channels that are in my tier, it's just that there are many more now, there was a limited selection compared to my V6 before.

I'll look closer, I didn't have enough time to fully see what it would allow. Thanks BenMcr.

[muppetman11]

Originally Posted by RobboEdin

Startover is different, I believe, than what was available on V6, covering more channels.
To quote the TV 360 Virgin Media guy on the community forum:
“ Essentially we record everything in the cloud for the enabled channels and that’s what you can tap into for Startover”

So basically Catch Up made available via a prompt whilst tuning to the channel.