RichardCoulter
Member
- Joined
- Apr 19, 2012
- Messages
- 215
- Reaction score
- 49
- Points
- 28
- Age
- 59
- My Satellite Setup
- TV with built in Freeview/ Virgin Media TiVo V6 box
- My Location
- UK
Virgin Media have now started the process of switching away from TiVo software to Horizon software. I suspect that their right to use TiVo will expire either in either October 2021 or October after in 2022. They last signed an agreement in October 2017. Whilst it could have been a 4 year contract, I suspect it will have been for 5 as it would be difficult to complete this in less than a year.
All new customers now receive the Horizon software on a V360 box and some exsting customers have changed over (by invitation only).
In my opinion the new software has many more disadvantages than advantages and this, along with the seriously deteriorating customer service from Virgin Media, means that after over 20 years I will be moving back to satellite with Sky Q!
The downsides:
- There are less apps than the V6, including no All4 or My5.
- You cannot record radio or select radio with a channel number.
- Upon changing the box or software on your existing box, you lose all your recordings.
- You lose all your series links. Any new Series Links created have to be done on each and every channel that you think the programme will be broadcast on; you cannot set it to check every channel as you can currently.
- There is no Wishlist function.
- Those with more than one V6 box can keep them, but new customers are limited to one box with a HDD and, therefore, 1TB of recording capacity.
- If you delete a programme because you've changed your mind or have watched it, it will record it again!
- You cannot recover deleted programmes.
-The TV channel will no longer store 90 minutes in the background while you watch a recorded program (although if you pause a live channel it will store up to 3 hours, but this 3 hours will be lost as soon as you watch a recorded program).
-The TV channel list only shows icons of channels, you can no longer change this to text, making channels hard to identify.
- The search function is no longer universal.
- You will no longer be able to use the QuickView facility.
- It's supposed to be free, but some are reporting that they have been charged a one off fee of £15.50
The upsides:
- A free box for multi room as standard (but this usually won't have a HDD) and requires a coax connection.
- Profiles could be useful for multi occupancy homes.
- Voice control could be useful for some disabled or visually impaired customers.
The Virgin Media customer forum has people asking to go back to the V6, but Virgin Media are either ignoring their attempts to contact them or promising call backs that never materialise. This isn't unique to these customers, it's now the norm for Letters and emails to be ignored, live chat is now a useless bot and people report holding on the phone for up to an hour and a half before being cut off or staff putting the phone down on them!
All new customers now receive the Horizon software on a V360 box and some exsting customers have changed over (by invitation only).
In my opinion the new software has many more disadvantages than advantages and this, along with the seriously deteriorating customer service from Virgin Media, means that after over 20 years I will be moving back to satellite with Sky Q!
The downsides:
- There are less apps than the V6, including no All4 or My5.
- You cannot record radio or select radio with a channel number.
- Upon changing the box or software on your existing box, you lose all your recordings.
- You lose all your series links. Any new Series Links created have to be done on each and every channel that you think the programme will be broadcast on; you cannot set it to check every channel as you can currently.
- There is no Wishlist function.
- Those with more than one V6 box can keep them, but new customers are limited to one box with a HDD and, therefore, 1TB of recording capacity.
- If you delete a programme because you've changed your mind or have watched it, it will record it again!
- You cannot recover deleted programmes.
-The TV channel will no longer store 90 minutes in the background while you watch a recorded program (although if you pause a live channel it will store up to 3 hours, but this 3 hours will be lost as soon as you watch a recorded program).
-The TV channel list only shows icons of channels, you can no longer change this to text, making channels hard to identify.
- The search function is no longer universal.
- You will no longer be able to use the QuickView facility.
- It's supposed to be free, but some are reporting that they have been charged a one off fee of £15.50
The upsides:
- A free box for multi room as standard (but this usually won't have a HDD) and requires a coax connection.
- Profiles could be useful for multi occupancy homes.
- Voice control could be useful for some disabled or visually impaired customers.
The Virgin Media customer forum has people asking to go back to the V6, but Virgin Media are either ignoring their attempts to contact them or promising call backs that never materialise. This isn't unique to these customers, it's now the norm for Letters and emails to be ignored, live chat is now a useless bot and people report holding on the phone for up to an hour and a half before being cut off or staff putting the phone down on them!
