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Virgin TV360

GBX

Just got a mail from Virgin about doing the trial for the new V6 box. I know it was asked plenty of times on the Virgin Forum when they had reps here. I get there are people with issues with Virgin but at least its progress.

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NeitherJohn

Does it not upscale 1080p channels to 4k? Some of the supposed HD channels on the Horizon box are absolute rubbish.

Julabo

Is there any word when Virgin will start supplying this package to all?

Calibos

NeitherJohn wrote: »

Does it not upscale 1080p channels to 4k? Some of the supposed HD channels on the Horizon box are absolute rubbish.

I'll hopefully get a chance to play around with 4K next week as I mentioned in my post earlier today.

What I would love to see happen is for them to move everyone to these new boxes and then they can free up bandwidth by removing Mpeg2 encoded SD/HD channels and use H264/H265 that the new boxes can decode. Get rid of all SD channels and have every channel HD. With everything encoded in H265 you could have everything in HD, reduce the 'effective' compression (cause H265 is much more efficient than mpeg 2 and even H254) and increase quality, all the while using less broadcast bandwidth than all those crappy Mpeg2 SD channels use up now.

Its 2020, why do SD channels still exist, why are they still the majority of channels and why are we still paying extra for HD. Not Virgin Specific, same applies to Sky.

Calibos

Wabbit Ears wrote: »

It does have CEC on by default, some people have turned to off, especially with amps etc, but for me its handy that it turns on and off the tv in one click.

Another cool thing is keep your old D4A (not horizon) remote as it works with the new box as a backup.

There is also a nice 'find my remote' feature (press channel up on box for 10 seconds). My kids love it.

Gave that a try. How does the 'find my remote' thing work in practice. The remote only bleeped when I picked it up. Doesn't help much if it only bleeps after I find it and pick it up!!

Calibos

RunDMC wrote: »

Bear in mind that the app will only allow two devices to view TV. Not even simultaniously, you can only have two devices registered in the app at any time.

R

Can confirm that this is not the case. You can indeed use the VirginTV Anywhere app on two devices simultaneously.

I got VirginTV Anywhere working on my ODroid N2 with Android 9.0 (PIE) installed on it and even better, was able to integrate VirginTV Anywhere into KODI. Just need to get KODI to autostart on boot up and I'll have a fantastic little KODI/VirginTV Anywhere integrated appliance. ie. Turn on with remote, straight to KODI main Menu, select my thousands of TV Shows and MOVIES in KODI via the TV SHow or Movies Menu items or select the VirginTV Menu item. VirginTV app opens instantly and when closing the Virgin app you are straight back to the KODI main menu.

Having to use my Wireless Keyboard with touch pad to interact at the moment but once I get the compatible WeChip G30 remote and get everything configured perfectly I'll record a Youtube Video of the setup in action.

Picture Quality from the VirginTV Anywhere app on my ODroid N2's on the 720p plasma I tested with is on par with the PQ from the 360 TV STB's themselves.

Really thrilled at how its working out. So much so, that I won't now be hassling Virgin to bend the rules and let me pay them another €11-€22 per month for 2 more 360 mini's. As long as their VirginTV Anywhere app keeps working on my Android 9.0 ODroid N2 boxes, then I will never need any more real 360 TV boxes from them.

To finally get back to the point.....I loaded up the VirginTV Anywhere Bookmark in my Chrome browser on my bedside PC and selected RTE2 HD and maximised the screen. Then went downstairs and set up the ODroid N2 with Android 9.0 running the VirginTV Anywhere Android app and selected ITV3 to test. Loaded the channel and played back without issue or any onscreen message/warning, ran back upstairs to find Serengeti on RTE2 HD still playing away on my bedroom PC without any onscreen message/warning about simultaneous play. So can confirm, You can watch two different channels on two different devices simultaneously with the VirginTV Anywhere app

EDIT

Went into settings on the app on my PC and it says '0 of devices' registered. The app is aware of my main 360 box and tells me to turn back on main box to play content recorded and on its hard drive and a userprofile I setup on one of the Mini's downstairs is available to select in the app on the PC. Yet the app is saying 0 of devices registered?? Perhaps the new 360 integration with the app means they have disabled device registrations and/or their limitations during the trial period for 360. So maybe me being able to have two instances of the Anywhere app simultaneously is temporary. We might need someone else without 360 yet to see can they run 2 instances of the Anywhere app on two of their phones or tablets simultaneously to be sure.

RunDMC

Calibos wrote: »

Can confirm that this is not the case. You can indeed use the VirginTV Anywhere app on two devices simultaneously.

I was able to watch TV on two phones and a PC simultaneously this morning, which had not been possible before. They must have made a change to the limits.

R

Calibos

RunDMC wrote: »

I was able to watch TV on two phones and a PC simultaneously this morning, which had not been possible before. They must have made a change to the limits.

R

Yeah, it definitely sounds like I was on to something with my edit. ie. that temporarily or otherwise, their integration of 360 TV functionality into the VirginTV Anywhere app has disabled the Active Registered Device limit of the app either by mistake or by design.

Not overly worried if they eventually do re/apply a one device at a time limit because its unlikely the two rooms I’ll be using these Android boxes with the Virgin app in, will be occupied at the same time. They really should keep it at 2 simultaneous devices though given multiple family members in the average household will have smartphones and tablets.

Bodan

Hogzy wrote: »

Really disappointed I didnt get selected for the trial. I have bitched and moaned enough about it over the years!!!

If you google Virgin Media 360 quite a bit of info comes up on it. Here is the official VM Link https://www.virginmedia.ie/virgintv360support/

Also see this video of it in action
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjJwiaG4Ij0

Interesting video. It shows TG4 , Channel 4 , E4 and More 4 all with replay Tv. That is not available on the current horizon Box. Also Ch4 HD ,E4 HD and More HD are higher up on the epg list, where they should be.

mackersdublin

For those that have been selected for the trial, is Channel 4 HD, E4 HD and More4 HD really on 111, 112 and 113 as the video screen grabs in the previous post show? And if so are there any more EPG changes? The EPG badly needs to be tidied up, it's been years since a reshuffle

[Deleted User]

This new box Virgin have looks just as brutal as the rest of their tv services, Sky Q to rule for another decade.

Col_30

Deleted User wrote: »

This new box Virgin have looks just as brutal as the rest of their tv services, Sky Q to rule for another decade.

I think most people who already subscribe to Virgin and use the Horizon box will be thrilled with the performance of this new box and won't care if it's as good as Sky Q or not.

Wabbit Ears

beauf wrote: »

The main complaints with the TV product is the poor and buggy software of the horizon box. That they would ignore a decade of complaints, and give us an updated version of the same software (I assume written by the same team that produced years of bugs and bad design in the original software) is not a good sign.

That is has taken years to get this to trial here when they have better solutions in place elsewhere is just baffling.

The old horizon box software was NDS (cisco) Snowflake which was a customized XBMC (Kodi).

https://www.multichannel.com/blog/first-look-liberty-globals-horizon-gateway-and-guide-324158

The new box is using "Horizon 4 RDK"

https://rdkcentral.com/liberty-global-launches-horizon-4-platform/

Delta2113

150 BBC Four SD
174 QVC SD

All the Plus one channels except for RTE & Virgin are in the 500's.

All the Sports and Movies HD are at the start and SD pushed out.

Surprised they put BBC2 HD on 109.
709 BBC2 Northern Ireland SD

All the other SD replaced lower are now in 700's.

Kurn

I’m sure customers will welcome it. But the interface could be 10 years old. Nothing modern about it.

Wabbit Ears

Kurn wrote: »

I’m sure customers will welcome it. But the interface could be 10 years old. Nothing modern about it.

:rolleyes:

Kurn

Wabbit Ears wrote: »

:rolleyes:

Disagree? admittedly im going on the video.

Wabbit Ears

Kurn wrote: »

Disagree? admittedly im going on the video.

Yes, I have used the box for a good while now where you havent even seen it in real life, so rolleyes is pretty much as worthwhile a discussion we can have on the topic.

Kurn

Wabbit Ears wrote: »

Yes, I have used the box for a good while now where you havent even seen it in real life, so rolleyes is pretty much as worthwhile a discussion we can have on the topic.

That’s nice.

icdg

Cool it both of you please

Armonline

Any word on when this Trial will end and the v6 box will be available to existing customers?

RunDMC

Calibos wrote: »

Yeah, it definitely sounds like I was on to something with my edit. ie. that temporarily or otherwise, their integration of 360 TV functionality into the VirginTV Anywhere app has disabled the Active Registered Device limit of the app either by mistake or by design.
.

The restrictions seems to be back in place, limited to two registered devices.

R

Delta2113

The Rook 8 episodes is the only 4K content available at the moment.

Dannyor1990

Armonline wrote: »

Any word on when this Trial will end and the v6 box will be available to existing customers?

Looks like September/October VM Engineer told me today due to Covid-19. It’s taking so long I’d say because they learned a lot of mistakes with horizon and they want to make sure that there is no major standout issues with the new V6 box during the trails.

Mearings

I like the fact that the new box is smaller.
Roberts SB1 soundbar on lower shelf of tv stand; Horizon box + Traxdata cd-r + Toshiba blu-ray player on middle shelf. The Toshiba 40" tv takes up the top shelf. I suppose the H box was so big because it included a modem. Fortunately I never had to use the latter. Supplied with Hub 3.0 modem.

Antomus Prime

I've had my 360tv boxes since December (I'm an insider lol). We had Sky Q in the living room with virgin BB, and the horizon in the bedroom. Since getting the 360, not only did I stop using the Sky Q but i cancelled it altogether when the contract expired.
The responsiveness of the box, the speed of navigating menus, the replay tv content and voice control are all fantastic in my opinion.
You can also cast to the main and bultiroom boxes from your phone too which we didn't even know in phase 1 of the trial

nicelives

Do you think Virgin would give me a V6 box as a new TV customer if I asked, I have their broadband already, tried the UPC Horizon box a few years ago and found it fairly slow?

Cancelled Sky today as their IT system just doesn't let me upgrade to Sky Q despite numerous tickets raised almost a month ago so in the market for alternatives.

Antomus Prime

nicelives wrote: »

Do you think Virgin would give me a V6 box as a new TV customer if I asked, I have their broadband already, tried the UPC Horizon box a few years ago and found it fairly slow?

Cancelled Sky today as their IT system just doesn't let me upgrade to Sky Q despite numerous tickets raised almost a month ago so in the market for alternatives.

As it stands now the 360tv (its not called the V6 here) will be available to existing customers mid July and to new customers in October. We haven't been told yet if "existing customers" means existing TV customers or if BB only customers can get it. If I hear anything more I'll let you know

nicelives

Antomus Prime wrote: »

As it stands now the 360tv (its not called the V6 here) will be available to existing customers mid July and to new customers in October. We haven't been told yet if "existing customers" means existing TV customers or if BB only customers can get it. If I hear anything more I'll let you know

Thanks for that Antomus

beauf

I've have BB. But I won't get that Horizon box back.

Calibos

More 4K content and Virgin getting BT Sports back would make me fully content with Virgin. Love my 4x 360 Main and Mini Boxes, the TV Anywhere App I have running on 2 of my little KODI Android boxes and have always been very happy with their BB as I have always gotten 100% of my package speed 24/7 and have had about 10 hours total downtime for my connection in the last 10 years.