What are V+ boxes useful for nowadays

[WeArethelosers]

Virgin media have slowly been phasing out the V+ service to concentrate on their TiVo powered service! Can any section of the V+ service be accessed or does it just not boot up at all?

[Mute]

Virgin media have slowly been phasing out the V+ service to concentrate on their TiVo powered service! Can any section of the V+ service be accessed or does it just not boot up at all?

None of the pre TiVo boxes are supported any more, support for the last V+ and VHD boxes ended last summer. All the Interactive and video on demand services on these boxes were withdrawn ages ago. I believe that all but the main PSB channels are now hidden on these boxes, so they aren't really of much use. The box may boot up, but there probably isn't much that you can do with it.
TiVo and V6 boxes are still supported, but Virgin Media are focusing on their new TV360 platform now.

[Pete]

My Samsung V+ box sits as a decorative item on my shelves. It took enough effort to get hold of them back in the day and they're not getting it back.

[VMPhil]

My Samsung V+ box sits as a decorative item on my shelves. It took enough effort to get hold of them back in the day and they're not getting it back.

Jealous. Was excited when our silver Telewest TVDrive broke and had to be replaced. Less so when they turned up with one of those ugly repainted Scientific Atlanta boxes. The only PVR designed for your nan’s 80s TV setup.

[WeArethelosers]

When was the Help function withdrawn for the V+ "the ones with the help videos"

[WillPS]

There's a hard drive in there that you can repurpose, along with other components that could be useful if you're a fan of electronics projects...

[mrwish]

Virgin media have slowly been phasing out the V+ service to concentrate on their TiVo powered service! Can any section of the V+ service be accessed or does it just not boot up at all?

None of the pre TiVo boxes are supported any more, support for the last V+ and VHD boxes ended last summer. All the Interactive and video on demand services on these boxes were withdrawn ages ago. I believe that all but the main PSB channels are now hidden on these boxes, so they aren't really of much use. The box may boot up, but there probably isn't much that you can do with it.
TiVo and V6 boxes are still supported, but Virgin Media are focusing on their new TV360 platform now.

I'm not convinced that the PSB channels would even show now on a significant number of them, as they're mainly MPEG4 rather than MPEG2 nowadays. Some of the boxes did support MPEG4 I think but not the older/more reliable ones!

[Mute]

Virgin media have slowly been phasing out the V+ service to concentrate on their TiVo powered service! Can any section of the V+ service be accessed or does it just not boot up at all?

None of the pre TiVo boxes are supported any more, support for the last V+ and VHD boxes ended last summer. All the Interactive and video on demand services on these boxes were withdrawn ages ago. I believe that all but the main PSB channels are now hidden on these boxes, so they aren't really of much use. The box may boot up, but there probably isn't much that you can do with it.
TiVo and V6 boxes are still supported, but Virgin Media are focusing on their new TV360 platform now.

I'm not convinced that the PSB channels would even show now on a significant number of them, as they're mainly MPEG4 rather than MPEG2 nowadays. Some of the boxes did support MPEG4 I think but not the older/more reliable ones!

Yes, I forgot about that, it would depend on which model of V+ box you have. The original V+ box (which was just a rebranded version of the Telewest TV Drive) was made by Scientific Atlanta and only supported MPEG2. You would be able to see the PSB channels on the EPG, but not actually watch them. The "newer" V+ box that was made by Samsung does support MPEG4, so could still be used to watch the few channels that still appear on the EPG. As the Samsung boxes were only withdrawn last year I would expect there to be a lot more of them still around than the older Scientific Atlanta boxes which were withdrawn a few years earlier.

[James Martin]

We had the Scientific Atlanta box, it was in use as late as 2014. It did look very dated though, a bit like an 80s VCR.

[WeArethelosers]

When did V+ users lose access to the Help Menu