[marcosscriven]

Hi there

I've got two V+ boxes on my current subscription, and like the service. I don't really like the menu system though, and I'm non-plussed by the Tivo version.

Now I realise, from Googling, that people have used Nagravision decoders and such for nefarious purposes in the past. E.g. To get cable free.

I'm not interested in that at all - I'd just like the nice clean menus of something like Windows Media Center, with the Virgin content.

I also know that it's against their terms to connect an authorised device - which I'm not going to do.

The questions is : I read somewhere that in most other European countries, you just call up the cable company with the key for your chosen set top box (be that a standalone box, or a PC card, the 'key' being associated with the CAM).

So what's different about the UK system? Is there a technical limitation that means they can't have *legitimate* alternative cable decoders, and they just send out the card, or both the card and an associated CAM?

I understand there'd be a support issue too. But maybe you could pay more, or opt out of support or whatever?

The other possibility I considered is whether the 'official' boxes send back juicy usage stats, that other boxes wouldn't, and that's the real reason they don't want to let you use something else?

Finally, I suppose there's the on-demand films - is that part of DVB-C, or is it an entirely proprietary protocol?

Just to be clear, I'm not interested in breaking the law, just curious as to why it's not possible to use an alternative decoder, with a *legitimate* subscription. Is it for technical or business reasons essentially?

[Boostrail]

There is no way that what you propose would be acceptable to VM. All cards these days are box ID paired so the hackers now hit a brick wall.

Whats wrong with the VM menu system or do you mean epg? It works!

Yeah its basic and in black and white. However my wife thinks its great c/w the couple of freeview boxes we have and far less confusing than my sons Sky HD box where she baby sits twice a week/

She is resisting my ambition to upgrade to TiVo as she thinks it will be too complex!

IMHO you should just go for TiVo - may be a bit of a learning curve to get the best but seems to do what you want out of the box

[marcosscriven]

Thanks for the reply, but the whole question was, out of interest, why is it unacceptable to Virgin, when it doesn't appear to be so in the rest of Europe or US?

Also, I don't like the Virgin box because it's just a bit slow. Prefer the integration of Windows Media Center.