V+ Box - On or Off?

mark99 · 01-07-2008, 10:07 AM

I've been leaving my V+ box switched on all the time but wonder if this is necessary, especially as it seems to get quite warm and the fan makes a bit of a noise Do others put it on stand-by overnight or even switch it off at the wall?

MarkyPancake · 01-07-2008, 11:22 AM

I leave my Sky+ box on all the time at the mains, so it can record future programmes when I'm not around, and always put it on standby when not in use, e.g. overnight, when I'm not at home, etc.

DavidT · 01-07-2008, 1:05 PM

I leave my V+ switched on at the mains but put it in standby when I'm not using it. With the newer software I find the V+ to be cool and quiet when in standby.

David

ScottBT · 01-07-2008, 2:40 PM

I always leave mine on at the mains. It shuts down after about 1min so is completely silent.

t11rmh · 01-07-2008, 3:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mark99

I've been leaving my V+ box switched on all the time but wonder if this is necessary, especially as it seems to get quite warm and the fan makes a bit of a noise Do others put it on stand-by overnight or even switch it off at the wall?

There is no fan inside. It's the hard disk you're hearing...

CMcK · 01-07-2008, 4:10 PM

The V+ box puts the hard drive to sleep if it;s not in use after about 2 minutes. It's pretty quiet after that.
Personally I leave the box on standby if there is anything set to record. If there are no recordings set I turn it off at the mains until it's needed. The heat it generates makes me wonder how much electricity it uses.

mark99 · 01-07-2008, 4:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by t11rmh

There is no fan inside. It's the hard disk you're hearing...

Ah, thanks, didn't realise that. Probably best to put it in stand-by when not in use and switch it off at the mains for longer term non-use, such as holidays.

def · 01-07-2008, 5:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mark99

Ah, thanks, didn't realise that. Probably best to put it in stand-by when not in use and switch it off at the mains for longer term non-use, such as holidays.

Putting it in standby doesn't do anything, really. You'll still hear the drives spin up at random times...

Kenp8257 · 01-07-2008, 8:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by def

Putting it in standby doesn't do anything, really. You'll still hear the drives spin up at random times...

I'm sure the instructions state that the box is designed to be left on at all times.... only standby when not in use over a weekend or so and they suggest only turning ot off at the mains if you've no planned recordings and will be away on, say, holiday......

As such mine's permantly on. Very quiet and no problems......

ScottBT · 02-07-2008, 1:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by def

Putting it in standby doesn't do anything, really. You'll still hear the drives spin up at random times...

but if you don't put it in standby the drive never spins down.

def · 02-07-2008, 5:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScottBT

but if you don't put it in standby the drive never spins down.

Mine does. It's also quite frustrating, because when the drive spins down it's not doing the auto-record function. So when I left it on the tennis, came back after 10 mins and tried to rewind it told me it couldn't do it because it was "resting".

Cool. I'll be sure to tell my customers I can't deliver the stuff they order because I'm "resting" too...

DavidT · 02-07-2008, 6:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by def

Mine does. It's also quite frustrating, because when the drive spins down it's not doing the auto-record function. So when I left it on the tennis, came back after 10 mins and tried to rewind it told me it couldn't do it because it was "resting".

Cool. I'll be sure to tell my customers I can't deliver the stuff they order because I'm "resting" too...

You are in a unique position, I have not heard of anyone else's V+ spin down the disk when left "on", how does the V+ know you are not watching live TV and will want to rewind?

David

Badger0-0 · 02-07-2008, 9:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DavidT

You are in a unique position, I have not heard of anyone else's V+ spin down the disk when left "on", how does the V+ know you are not watching live TV and will want to rewind?

David

Hmm, have you actually tried to rewind live TV, whilst the HDD isn't doing anything?
The last time I tried, it didn't work, because the HDD had gone into standby, something that really wound me up a couple of months ago.

Are you telling me this function has been reinstated in the last code drop?
I hope so.

Scoop007 · 02-07-2008, 11:22 PM

I have experienced the same fustration. Not being abe to rewind live tv because the hdd is resting lol. Can anybody comfirm that this does not happen anymore or is it still a problem for people? I dont think ive experienced it for the last week or two, however i dont really need to rewind live tv very often.

mark99 · 03-07-2008, 8:05 AM

What do you mean by the HDD spinning down and resting? My daughter set the box to record some programmes last night and I put it it stand by when I went to bed. The programmes had all recorded OK when I checked this morning.

def · 03-07-2008, 3:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scoop007

I have experienced the same fustration. Not being abe to rewind live tv because the hdd is resting lol. Can anybody comfirm that this does not happen anymore or is it still a problem for people? I dont think ive experienced it for the last week or two, however i dont really need to rewind live tv very often.

It happened to me 2 days ago, so unless there's been a code drop since it's definitely still a problem.

Quote:

What do you mean by the HDD spinning down and resting? My daughter set the box to record some programmes last night and I put it it stand by when I went to bed. The programmes had all recorded OK when I checked this morning.

The TVDrive has a "memory" feature. Turn the box on, leave it for a few mins then press the rewind button - the TVDrive will "rewind live tv" without you setting up a recording. It has a 70-ish minute buffer that begins filling up every time you turn the TVDrive on or change the channel.

The problem is that this feature doesn't work when the TVDrive goes into "resting" mode after not being used for a while - it stops filling up the buffer so you can't rewind live TV. Which is somewhat retarded, because the exact time you're likely to want to rewind TV is right after it's not been used for a while.

DavidT · 03-07-2008, 7:53 PM

I'm struggling to understand this "resting" issue. My V+ has never done this despite not being "used" for a while. I can watch a 2hr movie all the way through and then rewind live TV with no problem. I can also turn on the V+, watch for a few minutes and then rewind live TV without a problem.

So how can this issue be replicated? Am I missing something?

David

Badger0-0 · 03-07-2008, 8:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DavidT

I'm struggling to understand this "resting" issue. My V+ has never done this despite not being "used" for a while. I can watch a 2hr movie all the way through and then rewind live TV with no problem. I can also turn on the V+, watch for a few minutes and then rewind live TV without a problem.

So how can this issue be replicated? Am I missing something?

David

Are you sure you never changed channel or something while watching the film? This would probably restart the HDD.

The last time it happened to me, I was watching a footy game. There was a bit of a controversial goal, so of course I hit rewind to have another look.
The fact that it didn't work nearly made me cancel on the spot, as IMO, this is blatant lies by VM, along with their Broadband addys that they have just been censured for

Anyway, rant over.

You can probably replicate this by putting a channel on and totally leaving it for 2 hours. The HDD will go into rest mode and stop buffering, as said.

The rewind feature worked perfectly about 6 months ago, but it meant the HDD was constantly running and a fair few people complained about the noise this caused. Hence the change in the last code drop.

It really should be an option, IMO, IE, put up with the noise or loss of rewind live TV.

It's just another reason I want to leave VM

mr-monday · 07-07-2008, 12:52 PM

These problems have been caused by the latest code drop. Basically the box was never going into standby and consuming more electricity than it should. It does now, but it even goes into standby when it's switched fully on and may be in use!

Crazy.

mark99 · 08-07-2008, 12:01 PM

I must admit I rarely use the "pause live TV" facility. That said, I did on Sunday for the grand prix as I was doing the washing up and knew I would miss the first ten minutes. I sat watching the whole race about ten minutes behind "live", a fact that my mum just could not grasp! "How do we know who's really in the lead?" she kept saying!!!

Anyway, it worked perfectly OK - no probems at all.

steve4800 · 08-07-2008, 12:37 PM

If you turn off the v+ box at night then you will not get any recordings you may have set. Leaving it on standby is recommended. virgin can send down signals to update the box and if it is turned off you won't get them

splatz · 08-07-2008, 12:43 PM

I cant remember where I read this, so cannot say whether this is entirely true, but I remember V+ used to display a message stating that it was about to go into energy saving mode. You could choose to override this. Unfortunately if you had Plasma TV and were away from the screen there was a chance of screen burn - which people complained about.

So VM decided to switch off the energy saving feature, thus your hard drive would continue spinning.

Then they release the latest code drop that added energy saving again, but this time there is no prompt message to ensure no screen burn issues.

So now you have the Live TV LED displayed on the front of the V+ box even though the box is asleep and isn't recording.

Like I say I might have got this wrong, but this was my understanding of the history.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Badger0-0

Are you sure you never changed channel or something while watching the film? This would probably restart the HDD.

The last time it happened to me, I was watching a footy game. There was a bit of a controversial goal, so of course I hit rewind to have another look.
The fact that it didn't work nearly made me cancel on the spot, as IMO, this is blatant lies by VM, along with their Broadband addys that they have just been censured for

Anyway, rant over.

You can probably replicate this by putting a channel on and totally leaving it for 2 hours. The HDD will go into rest mode and stop buffering, as said.

The rewind feature worked perfectly about 6 months ago, but it meant the HDD was constantly running and a fair few people complained about the noise this caused. Hence the change in the last code drop.

It really should be an option, IMO, IE, put up with the noise or loss of rewind live TV.

It's just another reason I want to leave VM