[MGF]

Got home from work to find a new BT Vision box waiting for me. I have to install within 28 days or my old one stops working apparently...

Any idea why I've been sent a box? Its a black one, which I think is the latest model, I'm not sure of its advantages over the old silver one, but I have a lot of recordings to watch!!

cheers

mike

[moox]

If they're doing it nationwide it may explain the sudden influx of BT Vision boxes at car boot sales and the like.

Do they work without being connected to a BT connection? It's a shame; otherwise potentially useful PVRs going to landfill.

[TraceT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MGF

Got home from work to find a new BT Vision box waiting for me. I have to install within 28 days or my old one stops working apparently...

Any idea why I've been sent a box? Its a black one, which I think is the latest model, I'm not sure of its advantages over the old silver one, but I have a lot of recordings to watch!!

cheers

mike

I've read lots of similar posts on the BT Community forums.
My own silver box is well over 3yrs old, how long have you had yours if you don't mind my asking?
[They only ever sent me a new pair of Powerline Adapters out of the blue so far].

[Pure Genius]

Quote:

Originally Posted by moox

If they're doing it nationwide it may explain the sudden influx of BT Vision boxes at car boot sales and the like.

Do they work without being connected to a BT connection? It's a shame; otherwise potentially useful PVRs going to landfill.

They sent me one And I'm not even a customer!

Its in the loft!

[MGF]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TraceT

I've read lots of similar posts on the BT Community forums.
My own silver box is well over 3yrs old, how long have you had yours if you don't mind my asking?
[They only ever sent me a new pair of Powerline Adapters out of the blue so far].

I've been a customer for just two years....

[scotty2808]

They are getting replacement black boxes out to the customer base in a staggered fashion.
I received a replacement after ~3years.

The black box is improved. Don't remember all the details off the top of my head - the main difference is that it has a faster processor in it and a different type of hard drive. It is better at on screen graphics etc.

I suspect they are gearing towards future upgrades and replacing things now to avoid a rush of STB changes down the line.

My other main thought is that eventually the g1s will be phased out in order to rationalise the client development costs. There are 2 versions of the Silver STB and 2 different clients due to bugs with subtle hardware differences. I reckon they'll have a locked in spec for the black boxes so will only have 1 firmware client to develop for it.

With a Vision2 predicted I can see BT wanting to only have the black box and the next gen box being worked on in order to minimise costs. Replacing boxes is probably cheaper long term instead of incurring development costs.

[Pure Genius]

Quote:

Originally Posted by scotty2808

They are getting replacement black boxes out to the customer base in a staggered fashion.
I received a replacement after ~3years.

The black box is improved. Don't remember all the details off the top of my head - the main difference is that it has a faster processor in it and a different type of hard drive. It is better at on screen graphics etc.

I suspect they are gearing towards future upgrades and replacing things now to avoid a rush of STB changes down the line.

My other main thought is that eventually the g1s will be phased out in order to rationalise the client development costs. There are 2 versions of the Silver STB and 2 different clients due to bugs with subtle hardware differences. I reckon they'll have a locked in spec for the black boxes so will only have 1 firmware client to develop for it.

With a Vision2 predicted I can see BT wanting to only have the black box and the next gen box being worked on in order to minimise costs. Replacing boxes is probably cheaper long term instead of incurring development costs.

It could be that or they could just be clearing stock in prep. for the HD box, if they ordered Vision boxes in line with their subscriber forecasts they must be sitting on tons of hardware!

[kesterwww]

Hi all, sorry to go slightly off subject, but I don't use forums a lot, and wondered if I'm correct in thinking that the posts of PureG is what is known as trolling?
I've come across posts on other threads and believe i've identified a troll. Correct?

[MP34L1fe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kesterwww

Hi all, sorry to go slightly off subject, but I don't use forums a lot, and wondered if I'm correct in thinking that the posts of PureG is what is known as trolling?
I've come across posts on other threads and believe i've identified a troll. Correct?

Don't think he is a Troll, just think he has a hatred for BTV and a love affair with $ky lol, I tend to get banned if I say too much lol

[bilsat]

The Black box doesn't have an RF output only a Aerial loopthrough, the RF adjustment in the menu doesn't work.pain in the a**e if you run a feed to another room!
Some improvement.......

[MostynDS]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kesterwww

Hi all, sorry to go slightly off subject, but I don't use forums a lot, and wondered if I'm correct in thinking that the posts of PureG is what is known as trolling?
I've come across posts on other threads and believe i've identified a troll. Correct?

Not remotely correct. PGs views are his own and are equally as valid as mine, yours or anyone elses.

If you don't use forums a lot, my friendly tip would be to think twice before attacking someone who's views you might not agree with. Failure to do so often results in prolonged periods of silence, then the next thing you know, you're banished to the BT community forums (Think of the bar scene in Star Wars).

[Magnetron]

Black box arrived last weekend, installed and working but no Iplayer so far (the silver one had that for a few days before the black one arrived).

I called support and was told it could be the end of this week before Iplayer was available again so can only hope.

They don't seem to have a reason they can say for box replacement but as has been said there is a letter saying to replace it within 28 days to avoid loss of service.

[scotty2808]

Not totally down to this (as many were getting replaced) but there are a number of Silver STBs with issues linked to iPlayer.

They may be trying to get boxes replaced before people notice...

[stoapit]

I'm still using the box I got as a triallist years ago, no problems with it. Got quite a surprise today when the black one arrived seeing as how I cancelled BT Vision on Monday!

I'm left with the original remote though, which really is tatty.

[Pure Genius]

Quote:

Originally Posted by stoapit

I'm still using the box I got as a triallist years ago, no problems with it. Got quite a surprise today when the black one arrived seeing as how I cancelled BT Vision on Monday!

I'm left with the original remote though, which really is tatty.

they must like sending kit to non-customers...!

Maybe a new sales tactic?

..or maybe shows how incompetent they can be.

[SimonBlackham]

Quote:

Originally Posted by stoapit

I'm still using the box I got as a triallist years ago, no problems with it. Got quite a surprise today when the black one arrived seeing as how I cancelled BT Vision on Monday!

I'm left with the original remote though, which really is tatty.

Perhaps it was sent before you cancelled...

The BT Vision remote is terrible (we have a silver one) - we have used a 3rd party remote virtually from day 1. Remote will operate BTvision (Silver), new Panasonic TV and new Samsung BD player.

One annoying problem is that BT iPlayer will stop if you switch the TV off - which is what we want if we watch (via RF) in the bedroom late night. BT vision is connected via HDMI (1) but set to non HD so the aspect ratio is correct via RF (BTW TV says it is 576p) - maybe if I use a different HDMI connector it will stay on? - I will have to try.

Seems we won't want a black box if we will lose RF...

[spaceman05]

guess i will miss out on bt sending me one of these, as i purchased one of a well known auction site, a few months ago for £30, guess bt will know i am using a new box and not bother sending me another

[beerhunter2]

Are they sending them out to ALL BT Vision customers, even those who only use the PVR and PPV. (In other words, those who do not pay subs.)

[Magnetron]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Magnetron

Black box arrived last weekend, installed and working but no Iplayer so far (the silver one had that for a few days before the black one arrived).

I called support and was told it could be the end of this week before Iplayer was available again so can only hope.

They don't seem to have a reason they can say for box replacement but as has been said there is a letter saying to replace it within 28 days to avoid loss of service.

Update to previous post. Iplayer now working again for me as new box received an update today.

I did notice when it arrived in my silver box prior to the swap that the audio output level had dropped significantly but the black box doesn't have the same issue.

[spookyLX]

Got the new black box sent to me today , phoneded them up about having no iplayer and I need to wait for an update for it

I asked why the boxes were being replaced and the man said that there are are a number of glitches and bugs in the silver boxes that are becoming more apparent since iplayer has been rolled out also asked if there were any new services in the pipeline because of the sudden upgrade in boxes but he said not not yet

[Ehlert]

Quote:

Originally Posted by moox

If they're doing it nationwide it may explain the sudden influx of BT Vision boxes at car boot sales and the like.

Do they work without being connected to a BT connection? It's a shame; otherwise potentially useful PVRs going to landfill.

The very first V boxes needed a broadband connection to BT internet for them to recieve the aerial broadcasts.

[beerhunter2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ehlert

The very first V boxes needed a broadband connection to BT internet for them to recieve the aerial broadcasts.

BT Vision boxes need a BT Broadband connection to even boot let alone receive anything.

[Broxbourne]

Got the new box earlier this month and it's still in the box unopened. Franlkly I just don't believe the 28 days stuff.

Here's my question. The current box we are using has plenty of recordings on it. Of course we want to watch those recordings, but we are still recording stuff on a daily basis as well.

So how do I "break the circle"? How do I use the old box just to watch old recordings while setting up the new box to watch and record new stuff?

[leigho]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Broxbourne

Got the new box earlier this month and it's still in the box unopened. Franlkly I just don't believe the 28 days stuff.

Here's my question. The current box we are using has plenty of recordings on it. Of course we want to watch those recordings, but we are still recording stuff on a daily basis as well.

So how do I "break the circle"? How do I use the old box just to watch old recordings while setting up the new box to watch and record new stuff?

I have just done this with success. Set up the black box to be your new one going forward. Connect the silver to another Scart or HDMI input and make sure you start it up with the ethernet cable plugged in and let it go through the start up process. Once you start seeing menus you can move the ethernet cable back to the black box. After a while the recording menu should appear on the silver box. I could see all of the other menus first with no recording menu so I didn't think it was going to work but after 5-10 minutes it appeared and I am now able to view the old recordings.

Whether it will still work after the 28 days I don't know but at least we can work through most of them.

[MGF]

I eventually got around to installing the new box yesterday....seems quite cool, not sure on the disk size?

On the plus side, if you set the output to 1080 you dont have the sound dropout issues that I had with the silver box.

On the downside, I dont have iPlayer anymore, and of course I cannot remember the default pin to set the parental controls....the new box did not come with any new manual, cables, or remote.

Cheers