Do Virgin's new V6 boxes require Internet connectivity?

[Vertigo]

Bit confused here. Was talking to my parents at the weekend who have a couple of Tivo boxes at present. These are both connected solely to the incoming coax - there's no separate connection to the Internet via either Ethernet or Wifi.

They've been offered free upgrades to V6 boxes but have apparently also been told that these now require Internet connectivity. Firstly, they were told that this was because all content was now delivered via the Internet but I don't believe this for a second and think this was just some hopeless misinformed rep spouting nonsense.

The question is, assuming the V6 boxes still connect to the coax as the old Tivos did, do they now rely on an Internet connection for any additional on-demand services? At present the current Tivo allows them to access on-demand and catch-up stuff directly over the co-ax and without an Internet connection. My fear is that the V6 boxes have changed this and now rely on a separate Internet connection for some stuff.

If this is the case then this is a non-starter as there's no Internet available for the main living room box to connect to (without major hassle) and would thus result in reduced functionality compared to their current Tivo.

Can anyone clarify the situation? Cheers.

 

[Broken Hope]

It does require internet but it has built in WiFi.

 

[Steampunk]

Bit confused here. Was talking to my parents at the weekend who have a couple of Tivo boxes at present. These are both connected solely to the incoming coax - there's no separate connection to the Internet via either Ethernet or Wifi.

They've been offered free upgrades to V6 boxes but have apparently also been told that these now require Internet connectivity. Firstly, they were told that this was because all content was now delivered via the Internet but I don't believe this for a second and think this was just some hopeless misinformed rep spouting nonsense.

The question is, assuming the V6 boxes still connect to the coax as the old Tivos did, do they now rely on an Internet connection for any additional on-demand services? At present the current Tivo allows them to access on-demand and catch-up stuff directly over the co-ax and without an Internet connection. My fear is that the V6 boxes have changed this and now rely on a separate Internet connection for some stuff.

If this is the case then this is a non-starter as there's no Internet available for the main living room box to connect to (without major hassle) and would thus result in reduced functionality compared to their current Tivo.

Can anyone clarify the situation? Cheers.

The V6 does need an internet connection for (IIRC) on demand and some stuff to do with the EPG or the catch-up service. The V6 does have a wireless connection, so if you can't connect directly to a router or the Superhub via a network cable, you can connect via wi-fi. I have heard some people say they could only do this after a wired set-up, but others have had no problems. If the worst comes to the worst, you can temporarily run a some Cat 5 between the V6 and Superhub until it gets itself on the network, and then set up the wi-fi connection.

The V6 is a much better bit of kit than the old Tivos, so if you can make it work, it's worth taking the free upgrade.

 

[Vertigo]

Thanks for the responses.

The V6 may be a "much better bit of kit" in some ways but this is a backward step IMO. The old Tivos work perfectly well without an Internet connection and now the new boxes require one to provide the same services?

Internet connectivity in the living room of my parents house isn't available, either via Ethernet or Wifi. To provide it would require something like a powerline set up which is more hassle.

 

[M1k3H]

Virgin's new Hub & V6 box uses a splitter to split one coax into two... you plug one into the V6 box and one into the router, which then gets internet... Can you not connect the router in the living room?

 

[stuie]

Old tivos were dire. Dont be fooled into thinking the new v6 boxes are anything other than a massive upgrade. Remember though the old tivos required an internet connection too, it just ran using the built in modem off the coax lead but it was limited to 10mb/s which partly why it was crap. The new ones have ditched it in favor of a network connection which is much more stable and uses your 100+mb's internet link

 

[Steampunk]

Thanks for the responses.

The V6 may be a "much better bit of kit" in some ways but this is a backward step IMO. The old Tivos work perfectly well without an Internet connection and now the new boxes require one to provide the same services?

Internet connectivity in the living room of my parents house isn't available, either via Ethernet or Wifi. To provide it would require something like a powerline set up which is more hassle.

Try going to a Virgin shop or a friend who has a V6 and you'll see how much of an improvement they are over the old Tivos. You might find the massive improvement in all features is worth a couple of powerline plugs if you can't run a bit of network cable or get any wi-fi signal. Having to use a proper network connection is worth it for the massive improvements you get.

Otherwise you can still stick with your old Tivo until it breaks or gets obsoleted by VM, when you have to deal with the issue of the network connection anyway.

 

[james.miller]

I don't believe for a second that 10Mb would limit the box speed in any way. It's more likely just a cost saving exercise as the internal modem is now no longer required.

 

[Steampunk]

It might be related to getting off network services like Netflix, Iplayer and Youtube at 4K. Also some things like the TV Anywhere and remote control apps go via the local network.

 

[Vertigo]

Virgin's new Hub & V6 box uses a splitter to split one coax into two... you plug one into the V6 box and one into the router, which then gets internet... Can you not connect the router in the living room?

No, because then I'd just have the opposite problem where the Wifi wouldn't reach back upstairs. It's a 100+ year old house with very Wifi-unfriendly walls.

 

[M1k3H]

Well, I don't see how you can get around either using a signal booster for the wifi, or powerline adapters. I was sceptical of using powerline adapters myself, but they are pretty good. Granted my house is a new-built so new wires and all that probably contributes to the speeds I get (usually 400-500Mbps on a theoretical 1200Mbps adapter).

 

[Musty Pie]

I use power lines to run my Tivo V6.

Best upgrade to a service i've had in ages. The box is RAPID, although this is not because of the connection to the network, but just down to better software and hardware of the actual box itself.

Not that i watch any TV - Its there to keep the misses entertained.

 

[ssmacc]

I use power lines to run my Tivo V6.

Best upgrade to a service i've had in ages.

Hi,

Could you let me know the model of the power lines as my folks could so with some. V6 currently on WiFi and it drops out a fair bit...

Cheers,

 

[Musty Pie]

I (think) use the following:


Roll over image to zoom in

TP-LINK TL-PA4020KIT AV500 Nano Two-Port Powerline

 

[Kol]

Buy the PA9020 kit. It's solid. Everyone seems to moan about powerlines not being able to sustain or even hit good speeds. My VM connection is 200mbit. Forgive the short time frame this screenshot display (I had to reboot) but the PA9020 at the other end of the house gets the same speed as if I was in the lounge where the router is.



Averaging 21.7MB/s (174Mbit), but if I'm not using it for anything else (I was also VPN'd into work on another machine doing some intensive tasks) it usually sits happily around 25MB/s which is contrary to a lot of people's complaints about powerlines.

For the record, my house was last rewired in the 80/90s (early Victorian place).

 

[WantoN]

Virgin have suggested that this thing needs direct connection to the hub via Ethernet.

I want to go modem mode 2ac > mikrotik > Switch > V6 box.

Anyone done something similar?

 

[Kol]

Mine goes V6 > unifi switch > SH3 and works perfectly. I suspect they might not be telling the whole truth as it also works perfectly well on the built in wifi (which our installer initially set it up with).

 

[Steampunk]

Virgin have suggested that this thing needs direct connection to the hub via Ethernet.

I want to go modem mode 2ac > mikrotik > Switch > V6 box.

Anyone done something similar?

Also works on wifi. Mine goes Tivo ->hub ->hub ->router ->Superhub in modem mode, and it works perfectly.

 

[paintguy]

My V6 box has only ever used wifi to connect to the hub. Hasn't caused me any issues.

 

[WantoN]

I try to keep as much as I can wired. I leave WiFi for guests, and portable devices.

Good to know I can run it through a switch when I make the move to Mikrotik. Thanks chaps.