Horizon IS coming to existing V6 boxes - or is it?

There's an interesting thread on Virgin's own Community Board developing about next year's introduction of Horizon software on existing V6 boxes. Around halfway through a Virgin staffer writes: 

Pending successful trials, from next year any existing customers with 2 x V6 boxes will be able to upgrade them to 360 over the air and keep the entire 2TB storage across both boxes. 

Some ultimate oomph customers are being contacted very soon to join the trials. We would like to contact all of them but far too many people are opting out of marketing these days.

This contradicts earlier reports that Horizon won't be replacing TiVo on existing hardware. Meanwhile, the ever-reliable Spiderplant on Cable Forum has confirmed that:

There are 3 boxes: 

Arris boxes: Can run either TiVo or Horizon software

Humax boxes (with or without a hard drive): Can only run Horizon software

I wonder if existing recordings, series links etc on a V6 are preserved during the upgrade to Horizon? I suspect the answer is no but I'd be happy to be wrong on this.

V6 Review from Pocket Lint - "Better than Sky Q"?

Overall Pocket Lint gives the V6 a positive review and concludes:

There is absolutely no doubt in our minds that if you are an existing Virgin Media TV customer you should upgrade to the V6 box...
The fact that the box works so well with an existing TiVo device to provide a multiroom solution should be considered too. It’s a great upgrade option for existing TV subscribers.

Read the full review here: Virgin TV V6 and here’s their review of the Sky Q system, too

[Original post edited after Sky updated Sky Q firmware]

What's your favourite feature of the V6?

Okay, so we all love the fact that it’s not just faster than the old Samsung/Cisco TiVo boxes, but actually BLOODY FAST, sometimes surprisingly so, but what else do you like about it?
Me? I love the fact that I can watch recordings from either of my V6s on my main telly. With my old set up I had a 500Gb TiVo in the basement that my wife would watch her favourite movies on (recorded in SD as it’s only a 24in TV) but inevitably we’d decide we wanted to watch one of them on the bigger telly upstairs ... but couldn’t as they weren’t recorded on the 1Tb TiVo upstairs.
However, with our two V6 TiVo connected not only do we record everything in HD thanks to the bigger, shared capacity but we can watch everything on either TV - perfect. I’ve even taken to recording all our movies on one box, keeping the other for everything else. It’s fantastic and I can’t recommend it highly enough to anyone who has yet to take the leap.
What does everyone else like? Anyone used all six tuners yet (more if you have linked boxes)? Offline viewing on your tablet/computer? iPlayer you can watch the same day as you fire it up? The improved responsiveness of the new remotes? Anyone played with 4k content? Let me know.

V6 - a few problems UPDATED

All new hardware has bugs or, as one of my engineers once claimed, ‘undocumented features’, and the V6 appears to be no different. Overall I am very pleased with the new boxes and wouldn’t for a moment consider swapping them back for my old Samsung and Cisco TiVo relics, but over the weekend a couple of problems occurred that I’ve posted on the VM Community Boards in threads that suggest the difficulties I have had are not unique.
Power Save
Lots of reports on the Community Forum about this here: http://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Virgin-TV-V6/V6-Wake-from-Standby-Issues/td-p/3291846
The automatic power save function is the default setting but I strongly recommend that you disable it as it seems to have a life of its own and waking the box from Stand By is often a long and sometimes fraught process, requiring a full shut down and start up if the box locks. I didn’t want my boxes on though all night so I have tried manually putting them into Stand By overnight. Seemed to work but this morning I found that this had led to a failed recording from BBC1 HD reported in Recording Hiccups as “Power Lost”. There was no power cut and the only difference I can see between the successful recording made at 9pm and the failed one at 10.30 was that the box was in Stand By.
According to the V6 User Guide (you don’t get one but it’s online here: https://assets.virginmedia.com/help/assets/documents/Virgin_TV_V6_user_guide.pdf) you can’t view recordings remotely on either another box or device if the V6 is in Stand By either.
I can’t find any details of the difference in power consumption between On and Stand By, so I’ve set both my boxes now as Always On until Virgin Media fix it. Of course, there’s no longer a need to worry about any impact on Climate Change now that has been finally exposed as an evil Chinese plot... ;-(
Netflix
There appears to be DNS issue if you are using a VM SuperHub in Modem Mode with an external router rather than relying on the SuperHub’s own Wi-Fi. I’ve found my SH2 Wi-Fi to be unreliable so have an Apple Time Capsule as my router. I have one V6 connected directly into the router via Ethernet, a second connected by Wi-Fi.
iPlayer and YouTube worked fine but Netflix failed initially on both boxes, showing an error that said “Application is loading. Netflix is loading onto the TiVo box. Please wait a moment and try starting Netflix again. (V312)”. Turns out I’m not alone and there’s a thread on the Community Board forum on this that suggests it’s a DNS problem. I resolved it for my V6 with the Ethernet connection by turning Modem Mode off on my SuperHub, rebooting the V6 and then Netflix worked. I then switched back to Modem Mode and it still works so that box is fine now.
However I was unable to do that successfully with the Wi-Fi connected box, despite wasting several hours on Sunday running up and down the stairs (not literally - I’m still recovering from a broken leg) and rebooting and re-rebooting anything and everything. Still no Netflix on that box, which is annoying as that ain’t connected to a Smart TV and so there’s no Netflix or similar downstairs at the moment.
Neither of these are showstoppers with the V6 but they are annoying and if I continue to get Failed Recordings that will be a serious problem.
Anyone else experiencing similar?

UPDATE: Virgin Media engineering have acknowledged that there are bugs with the Stand By functionality and I’ve been recommended to disable it for now.

Nialli's initial experience of the V6

I had my two TiVo boxes swapped yesterday for a pair of V6s. Here are my initial observations:

The Installation:

1. It’s a pretty straightforward hardware swap – the most time-consuming part is when the engineer has to call VM to activate the boxes. Our man was on hold for around 15 minutes. As always, the hold music emanating from his mobile was dire…
2. Total time to install both boxes was under half an hour
3. The speed of the V6 makes the configuration a doddle. My boxes did three software downloads, each faster than the previous
4. The EPG was fully populated within the hour – I seem to recall this could take several hours with the TiVos and even longer with the V+
5.  I’ve got one V6 wired to my router using Ethernet. (My router is a SuperHub 2 in modem mode, connected to an Apple Time Capsule for reliable Wi-Fi coverage.) Our second V6 is just on the Wi-Fi, which meant it took a little longer to do the downloads as my Wi-Fi speed drop in the evenings (it was around 75mbps during the install). I didn’t have to hardwire the second box before the Wi-Fi option appeared – it just worked
6. Overall, I was impressed. Our engineer didn’t know much about the new box and it was the end of his shift and my dinner was ready so I ushered him out of the door rather than have him attempt instruction. Besides, it's always more fun to play...

The V6:

1. My two TiVos weren’t as sluggish as some people’s but even after a few hours I couldn’t go back. Has anyone else noticed how unbelievably nippy and snappy the V6 is?? I’m seriously impressed, and TiVo software running at this speed suddenly feels lively and modern
2. If the V6 was the same size as the old TiVo then the design of the new hardware would feel like a throwback to the old cable boxes of the nineties, but it ain’t – it’s about half the width and it almost disappears in my TV stand. In fact the second box I’ve put on its side and tucked away behind the TV, so you can’t even see it
3. Connecting the two boxes so they can share recordings works faultlessly
4. Streaming to my iPad works fine too
5. The TV Anywhere iOS applications no longer seem to have the connectivity issues I was experiencing with the TiVos
6. The engineer left both of my original remotes as well as the new, which work fine with the V6s so I have spares now which is useful. The new remotes automatically control my Sony TVs, which saved me having to do that remote code fun and games to get the volume and on/off buttons working

Overall, I’m impressed and delighted with the new boxes. Well done Virgin Media!

New TV Anywhere iOS app reveals V6 capabilities

Virgin Media updates its iOS TV Anywhere app over the weekend and in doing so, gave an early insight into the new TiVo V6 box’s streaming capabilities. If you check out the Help menu, you’ll find this:

ARE ALL RECORDED PROGRAMMES AVAILABLE TO WATCH OR DOWNLOAD ON THE APP?No. Some recorded shows cannot be streamed or downloaded to your mobile or tablet due to rights restrictions. Shows that can be downloaded will have the ‘Download’ button active. Shows that can be watched will have the option to ‘Watch on iPad’ when you select the ‘Watch Now’ button. If these buttons are greyed out then the show cannot be watched or downloaded. There may be some cases where you can stream a recording but not download it. If you cannot watch a show on your mobile or tablet, you will still be able to watch the recording on your TV.
HOW MANY PROGRAMMES CAN BE DOWNLOADED AT ONE TIME?You can download one show at a time. If you want to download more, we’ll pop them in a queue and they’ll start to download when the previous one is complete. When you select a show to be downloaded, you can choose the quality of the download – basic, medium or high. The lower the quality, the faster you can download it.
WILL PROGRAMMES STILL DOWNLOAD IF I CLOSE THE APP?No. You’ll need to keep the app open for the download to complete. If you close the app, the download will be paused. It will continue to download again when you open the app and are connected to your home WiFi.
WILL DOWNLOADS CONTINUE IF MY DEVICE AUTO LOCKS?When you’re downloading a recording, the app will prevent your device from auto locking. It’s a good idea to keep your device plugged into power when downloading though, so it has enough juice to last for the whole download.
HOW CAN I CHECK THE PROGRESS OF A SHOW DOWNLOADING?Go to My Shows and select the ‘On iPad’ or ‘On iPhone’ button in the middle of the screen. You can see the progress bar, MB and time remaining for the download. If the download is paused, you will see a downwards arrow. Just tap this to continue the download. You can press the pause symbol to pause the download
CAN I WATCH A SHOW WHILE IT IS BEING DOWNLOADED?Usually No. If the content provider has restricted the show, you’ll need to wait for the download to finish before you can start watching it. (Find the popcorn and get comfy on the sofa while you wait)
WHERE WILL MY DOWNLOADS APPEAR ONCE THEY’VE COMPLETED?You’ll find them in My Shows in the ‘On iPad’ or ‘On iPhone’ section. There will be an R symbol with a padlock when the download is complete and an egg timer will indicate that the show has been partially watched and will expire soon.
HOW LONG DO I HAVE TO WATCH A DOWNLOADED RECORDING?Once you download a programme you will have a maximum of 30 days to watch it. Once you have started watching a programme you will usually have 48 hours to watch it before it expires. Sometimes expiry times vary between content providers.
HOW MANY TIMES CAN I DOWNLOAD THE SAME PROGRAMME?You can download a programme twice per household. If you download more than this, you’ll see an error message telling you that the show cannot be downloaded again. You can still watch this programme on your TV. The number of times a show can be downloaded can vary between content providers.
WILL I GET 48 HOURS TO WATCH MY DOWNLOAD IF I START WATCHING ONE DAY BEFORE THE CONTENT IS DUE TO EXPIRE?No. Downloads are only available to watch before they expire
CAN I WATCH A LIVE OR ON DEMAND SHOW WHILE A PROGRAMME IS BEING DOWNLOADED?No, you’ll need to download the programme first – or do it later.
HOW MUCH STORAGE SPACE WILL A DOWNLOAD TAKE UP?When you select a programme to download, you can choose the download quality – Basic, Medium or Best. The default is set to Medium.
Based on which quality you select, it will tell you how big the file is before you download it. To give you an idea, an hour show is around 450MB for basic quality and 1 GB for best.
If you don’t have enough space on your device, you’ll see an error message letting you know you’ve run out of space.
SKY CINEMA & SKY SPORTSIf you’re subscribed to Sky Cinema or Sky Sports, you can watch those on your tablet or mobile with the Sky Cinema or Sky Sports app. Just download the apps, then select the Virgin Media logo on the sign-in page, and sign in with your My Virgin Media username and password.
The Sky Cinema and Sky Sports apps are available in the Apple App Store for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch and Google Play for Android mobiles and tablets. You can also watch online via the Sky Cinema and Sky Sports websites.
You can find out more about the Sky Cinema and Sky Sports channels here
Other Sky live and on demand channels such as Sky 1, Sky 2, Sky Arts, Sky Living, Real Lives, Sky News and Sky Sports News HQ are available to watch on the TV Anywhere app or online, as long as you have them in your Virgin Media TV package.
DO I HAVE TO BE A VIRGIN MOBILE CUSTOMER TO USE THE VIRGIN TV ANYWHERE APP?No. You just need to be a Virgin TV customer.
DO I NEED A WIFI CONNECTION TO USE THE VIRGIN TV ANYWHERE?You need a WiFi connection to be able to watch live TV on the app, but on a 3/4G mobile connection, you can still manage your viewing, set recordings, browse the TV listings, delete recordings and more. To use the app at home as an advanced remote control or to watch or download some recordings (if you have a V6 box), your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch will need to be connected to the same router as your TiVo box.
CAN I USE VIRGIN TV ANYWHERE WHEN THE MY VIRGIN TV BOX IS SWITCHED OFF?If you have a V or V+ Box, you can use the app whether your set top box is on or off.
If you have a TiVo box, your app will still work when the box is in standby. However, it won’t work if it’s switched off. If you have a V6 box, you may also see this message if you’ve got your V6 box switched on but your Hub is switched off.
WHAT HAPPENS IF I LOSE OR CHANGE MY IPAD, IPHONE OR IPOD TOUCH?If you lose or change your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch, you’ll need to download the app again. You’ll need to register your new one if you want to watch live TV using the app.
If you’ve lost your device, we also recommend changing your My Virgin Media account password. That way no one else can use your device to manage your TiVo box without your authorisation.
WHAT CAN I DO IF I HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THE VIDEO QUALITY?For streaming a recording, live or VOD, the app automatically chooses the best quality based on the WiFi connection. The picture quality for downloaded recording can be chosen if you have a V6 box. If you’re still having problems, try chatting with some experts on the Virgin Media Community forum

New TiVo box - Virgin TV V6

Picture posted on Virgin Media’s corporate Twitter account today. All they are saying at the moment is that it is ‘powered by TiVo’ and 4K UHD Ready for Netflix and YouTube.

Smaller than the current box (assuming that’s not a giant remote control alongside) but not exactly stunning looks. Certainly NOT a TiVo Bolt then...