Virgin Media Stream TV - New Streaming box

bk

Looks like Virgin Media have launched their new streaming TV service and box:

€15 per month for new customers who also sign up to Broadband:

https://www.irishmirror.ie/lifestyle/technology/virgin-media-streaming-tv-box-32266988

https://www.virginmedia.ie/bundles/broadband-tv-phone/?intcmp=streaming-tv-card

icdg

”Launch” seems to mean something different nowadays than it did when I was younger - this box has been knocking about 9 months at least now.

Vodafone did the exact same.

What’s annoying with VM is that if you are upgraded to fibre you are forced onto this box with all the recording limitations that go with it. I mean, hopefully they’ll be sorted out, eir have managed to do it for all but RTE and VMTV (which I suspect is not about rights issues but wanting to push additional pre roll advertising on the Player). It is a serious downgrade for many people, despite the advantages of having a box that can be more easily moved about.

You’d wonder why they bothered launching TV360 so late in the day at all, I mean Horizon 3 is terrible, and was in bad need of replacement, but if this was coming so soon? (And at least Horizon 3 for all its faults can record!)

Delta2113

If you are a new Customer to Virgin on fibre or HFC you 'are forced onto this box' so the "Launch" refers to the fact that they are dropping the 360 box with hard drive for HFC addresses.

AJB39

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121851626#Comment_121851626

These days companies have soft launches where you release a product onto the market with no publicity followed some time later with a proper launch with lots of publicity. The theory been that you iron out any problems during the soft launch period before the proper launch.

LambshankRedemption

I was on their website yesterday as I might want to change providers, but I can't figure out how to get the box and or package without broadband.

I've got broadband that I am very happy with and I dont want to change it. I may not be able to anyway as I am in a contract.

Can anyone point me where/how I can get the box without broadband?

lertsnim

You have to have Virgin Broadband to use this box. So said the ad I saw on television for it.

VM offers:

Mobile phone service

Broadband+TV (including tv on the go)

Broadband+TV+Landline Phone

But currently no standalone TV

LambshankRedemption

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121852204#Comment_121852204

Thanks for the clarification.

Then the statement "€15 per month for new customers who also sign up to Broadband" is a bit misleading.

odyssey06

There are legacy customers on TV only.

icdg

To be fair I don’t think they’ve offered TV only since TV360 launched and Sky are now the only company offering a broadband-neutral linear pay TV service here - everyone else only offers tv to their own broadband customers.

But VM is the successor of the old cablecos, its origins lie in TV delivery even though it would now see itself as primarily a broadband company. So they would still have TV only customers. You’d have to pity their customer support people as there are at least four generations of STB still out there including UPC Mediaboxes that are still being used as multiroom boxes in Horizon 3 households.

LambshankRedemption

To be fair I don’t think they’ve offered TV only since TV360 launched and Sky are now the only company offering a broadband-neutral linear pay TV service here - everyone else only offers tv to their own broadband customers.

Fair enough, but it's not exactly clear cut and if it's not obvious to me, it's not going to be obvious to anyone else.

eoin2nc

Anyone else lost the ability to replay any RTE programs? Incredibly infuriating......

AJB39

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121935203#Comment_121935203

Yep. The same thing has happened on the Virgin TV360 box. It’s happened before and lasted a few days before been fixed. It is really annoying.

cloudhopper19

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121852179#Comment_121852179

You can't but you could get the new Sky Stream Service which is the same basically with Netflix included

.

icdg

VM Streaming TV and lack of recording features in the Irish Times today.

https://www.irishtimes.com/your-money/2024/05/20/ive-begged-virgin-media-to-restore-my-old-service-i-cant-record-rte-and-my-phone-wont-work/

susan678

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122159291#Comment_122159291

The really sounds interesting however that is a pay site.

Any chance of providing us with the highlights.
The day I cannot record my soaps and he cannot record his football is going to be a painful one.

icdg

Nothings raised in the article that hasn’t been said in the thread, it’s (after a very long intro) a tale of someone who was upgraded, wanted to go back and was told no.

The moral is if recording RTE is mission critical, get Sky Q while it’s still available, or even supplement your pay TV solution with a Saorview PVR for recording RTE.

youcancallmeal

Just got it today, didn't do enough research so didn't know about being unable to record non Virgin channels. It's not a deal breaker for me but very annoying. I didn't do a huge amount of recording on sky q box I just moved from, mostly gaa and match of the day type stuff. It's crazy to me though that virgin is releasing new hardware that is less functional than their older boxes, must be huge cost savings for them despite the backlash

bk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122179405#Comment_122179405

You could use your 14 day cooling off period to cancel it and give that rubbish back to them!

youcancallmeal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122179432#Comment_122179432

Like I said not a dealbreaker for me but I happily would if I felt strongly enough about it. I switch between broadband+TV providers every year for their 12 month introductory offers. So after this 12 months is up I may have to take them out of rotation

Delta2113

What channels exactly can you not record?

My understanding is it's RTE and BBC channels but I haven't seen any specific reliable information on it myself.

Luckily I still have the 360 box with internal hard drive.

youcancallmeal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122181143#Comment_122181143

From doing a quick check this is what I've found so far:

No - BBC, RTE and TG4

Yes - Virgin, Sky and Channel 4(E4 etc)

It's really BBC and to a lesser extent RTE(player mitigates it somewhat) that are the big losses for Irish customers I reckon. You'd wonder why they could come to an agreement with Sky but not RTE 🤷🏻‍♂️

icdg

RTE hasn’t come to an agreement with anyone. Even eir who have managed to fix the recording issue to a greater extent than anyone else.

It’s those bloody pre-roll adverts that they seem so desperate to force feed us. I wouldn’t mind if they were making money out of them but a large chunk of them are promos rather than paid advertising.

Delta2113

I wish BBC and RTE would sort out an agreement but RTE in particular and the fact you have to pay the tv licence but they insist on handicapping the streaming boxes (also replay function on 360 box) is particularly annoying.

measurement

Its not that people don't do the research, but when you phone for a better deal, they sell you the streaming box without checking if you use recording a lot, and ethically advising you to wait a while before changing.

I've tried to support 2 people who got stuck - there's no way back to the Horizon, or older 360 box because they took the software option away from the technical staff that would have allowed a reverse.

measurement

Anyone come across a situation where a 2nd streaming box that was working fine suddenly stopped working when the user accidentally hit a 'wrong button'? Both are connected over wifi (VM hub) as ethernet gave even more buffering and box 2 is nowhere near an ethernet outlet anyway.

On reset (of everything, I'm told), a msg came up faintly on the screen saying 'not programmed', which seems to have been down to panic unplugging and replugging the wrong HDMI socket.

However, sound, but no picture is the current situation (including no display of menu, settings etc., not even the banner that would allow HDMI to be selected), and the tv remote doesn't display the menu to allow brightness etc. to be checked.

My assumption is that the screen may have been dying, and finally expired coincidentally with the hitting of the 'wrong button' but its not my tv, and the owner won't want to buy a new one, if its a VM solvable problem.

Any suggestions?

icdg

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122283098#Comment_122283098

Anyone migrated over because their home has been moved to full fibre cannot physically change back even if they wanted - as I understand it there’s no longer a coaxial cable outlet to plug the DVB-C boxes in.

measurement

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122283369#Comment_122283369

If its the same one that I have been dealing with, there is still 1 coax cable, but the 2nd one is redundant. The boxes (shaped like a beermat, but thicker) use either ethernet(if available) or wifi to communicate to the VM hub, which is where everything is distributed from. One end of the HDMI cable is plugged into the box (maybe the hub?) and the other end is plugged into the electricity socket via a supplied plug. Both boxes in this case are plugged into the electricity supply (to pick up the wifi?? doesn't seem right)…… not sure why the coax is still needed for the main one, but a technician left it in place on the main tv setup when he called out to fix the incredible buffering on the tv service even when no recordings are being accessed.

Delta2113

If your modem (VM hub) is beside "the main one" and box is shaped like a beermat then the coax cable is going in to your modem and not the box.