V+ : V+ problems every midnight

[Rileylou]

I've noticed that my V+ box throws a wobbler at about midnight every night,in that if I try to watch a recorded programme it freezes and then fails to respond properly for about 5 minutes after.

This is now happening every night.
Tonight it reset my V+ box (at midnight) half way through watching a recorded programme.

What's going on here?

[Jameseh]

EPG and software updates. The box sounds like a aeroplane taking off and it decides to do it after midnight.

Thanks to the geniuses at Cisco.

[sniper007]

Midnight is a silly time. I'd prefer sometime during the day, say infact midday.

[toady]

Originally Posted by sniper007

Midnight is a silly time. I'd prefer sometime during the day, say infact midday.

I'm trying to watch TV at midday so that would be a big no no

[scaseman]

I feel a survey coming on!!!

[Rob]

This has been an issue with the V+ since it was first created. The EPG only lasts a day so it has to be updated. Unfortunately it seems the V+'s processing capacity is so inadequate that it cannot do the update and handle viewing requirements simultaneously. On the other hand a replacement V+ STB I was issued with a few months ago has proven much less prone to these hangups than the original V+.

[PCTT]

Hi,

The V+ problem has been rattling my cage for nearly a year now.

There must be many more V+ watchers with the same problem who just ignore it – I wish I could ignore it.

Please take the time to read my blurb below.

Thanks

I have been in “negotiation” with virgin media about my V+ box crashing/updating since before the summer of 2011.

At this time my V+ box ran slowly and updated around 01:00 hrs this changed to 00:00 hrs (midnight) when the clocks went back.

I was told by the Virgin call centre that all boxes are updated nightly.

I was told that I was only guaranteed a service 21 hrs daily and if I wanted to watch normally outside that time I would be better of with a standard box. That the V+ box would run slowly during updates and might reset and any recordings I had planned during this update window might fail.

I took umbrage at this and immediately contacted Virgin and was told they had never heard of this and investigation was started.

I was contacted by a Virgin Media representative who arranged an engineers to visit and check out my equipment.

The engineer told me it was normal to update the box at night and that was all that was wrong with my box.

I was told by the Virgin Media investigator that if that is what the problem was it was out of their hands and they could do nothing more about it.

To further escalate my dispute I asked if I could have a copy my original call to the call centre and was told that it didn’t exist and that call were not routinely recorded.

Without the recording of my conversation with the Virgin Media call centre all I have no record of my original query.

In conclusion I feel perhaps Virgin should be more upfront and tell you about the trouble you will have watching a V+ box in the hours of the morning (after midnight).
That if you like watch late, record or even if you are shift-worker their service may be unreliable during these early hours.

[roger skillin]

I'd much rather it was done between 3 and 4 am, i have V+ both downstairs and in my bedroom so when i'm trying to get to sleep around midnight, the aeroplane taking off keeps me awake until it's finished.

[Mr K]

Aaahh my insomniac V+, how I miss it. It was good company in the small hours. Not perfect but preferable to TiVo which is steadily going backwards.

[Rileylou]

It all just sucks don't it?
I guess that if this was a Freeview recorder bought from a shop it would soon be returned for refund due to it being unfit for its purpose...

[Digital Fanatic]

Originally Posted by Rileylou

It all just sucks don't it?
I guess that if this was a Freeview recorder bought from a shop it would soon be returned for refund due to it being unfit for its purpose...

TiVo doesn't have this "feature", so maybe that's an option?

[dodgem22]

The v+ has always locked up around midnight /1pm depending on bst/gmt however it used to lock up for about 5 minutes but now it only seems to lock up for a minute two at the most and I can live with that but I suppose some boxes take longer due to age or something?

[PCTT]

It is not a question of "age" my box has been exhanged (and the remote). Yes the box plays up for 5-10 min at midnight then again around 00:50 and continues to play up on and off for a further few hours. This is daily and 7 days a week.

Why do they need to update evey box daily?

If it was once or twice a week it would still be annoying , but less so.

Virgin say it is to gather usage data, e.g pay for view.

Why can't they do it after 4am and less do it less frequently!

I know what ever time they did it it would annoy someone but I am sure there are less people wating at 4am then at midnight.

Perhaps they are updating from a non UK location which is many hours ahead of us. This is still not an excuse for such inconvenience caused to paying customers...

[Digital Fanatic]

Originally Posted by PCTT

It is not a question of "age" my box has been exhanged (and the remote). Yes the box plays up for 5-10 min at midnight then again around 00:50 and continues to play up on and off for a further few hours. This is daily and 7 days a week.

Why do they need to update evey box daily?

If it was once or twice a week it would still be annoying , but less so.

Virgin say it is to gather usage data, e.g pay for view.

Why can't they do it after 4am and less do it less frequently!

I know what ever time they did it it would annoy someone but I am sure there are less people wating at 4am then at midnight.

Perhaps they are updating from a non UK location which is many hours ahead of us. This is still not an excuse for such inconvenience caused to paying customers...

It's an EPG update, without it the box will have out of date data.

[Lew]

Also, I seem to remember spiderplant saying once that there was a technical reason why it had to happen at that time of night.